NOOOOOO!!!! (hands clutching the air)

disclaimer: all about caleb's naps. so if you're not interested, i'm not offended if you don't read.

i think caleb is trying to transition to one nap per day. i'm not ready! i'm not ready! i am attached to my morning and afternoon breaks, even if they are only an hour each. he used to nap once at 9:45/10 am, get up around 11 am, and then nap again at 2:45/3 pm and get up around 4... maybe 4:15 or 4:30 depending on how long i can leave him in the crib without him getting too upset. now? sigh. now he's not falling asleep until past 11, and a second nap is always up in the air. if he ends up taking one, it's around 4, and i end up stressing out about whether or not he'll go down to bed at 8.

i knew that this would happen eventually. i knew that i was due since caleb is now 14 months old. but oh, how i dreaded this day. why? because the kiddo doesn't sleep for 2-3 hour stretches like most others. he's always been a 45 minute sleeper, an hour if i'm lucky. when he went from 3 naps to 2, he simply dropped the nap. his other naps didn't get any longer. so as a result, i lost 45 minutes of my personal free time. my fear now is that he'll drop his morning nap without lengthening his afternoon nap... resulting in even less time for myself. (sniff sniff... i feel tears.) and heck, when am i going to take a shower, brush my teeth, and change if i don't have that time in the morning anymore?

i feel such sadness.

i'm nervous.

the family is travelling soon to attend a wedding in chicago. flying with caleb has always made me a neurotic mess... now, with this liquid ban at airlines... i'm probably going to drive victor crazy with my anxiety. thankfully, he's gotten to be the age where he doesn't eat baby food anymore, and can drink regular milk... but still, what a PAIN! i always bring a sippy full of water and another full of milk with me just in case. well, i guess not anymore. then, on top of all that, with the heightened security, how long will it take to get through all the lines? sigh.

yes, i want to be safe. yes, i know they're just doing their jobs... but man, what a headache when you've got a little kiddo hanging off your hip.

the last time we flew (to NYC), the flight going out was delayed 3 1/2 hours, and the flight coming back was delayed 2 hours. we had worked things around caleb's nap schedule perfectly, but the delays threw everything out the window. there's just no perfect planning when traveling with a young kid, i suppose.

anyway, on a separate note... caleb has suddenly become so much more communicative lately. (thank God!)

he has been saying "bao bao" (carry me) since he was about 10 or 11 months old, but for a long time, that was the extent of his communication skills. at about 11 months, he started pointing to show us what he wanted or where he wanted to go. at around 12 months, he started signing "more" to let us know he wanted more food, and swatting things away if he didn't. at 13 months, he could say "bir" for bird, and "ba" for ball... which subsequently, also included balloon and bubble. he also learned the ever useful, but dreaded word "no". then suddenly, within the past week or so, he started signing tons of new things... well, "tons" meaning 3... but to me, that's "tons". (now, as a side note, i've never really been vigilent in teaching him sign language. it's just something i had read up on and thought might be useful, but i never had the patience to really sit down and teach it to him.) fortunately, he's at the age where he is picking up on it quickly. he realizes now that i understand what he wants when he does the signs. the first time i responded to his request, he actually started laughing. (as if to say "mwa ha ha... i've discovered i have power.") he now signs "milk", "water" and says "wa wa" along with it, and "eat" (which he uses way too often. that's all he ever wants to do).

if only i could say that life is easier now that we can communicate better...

all about poop

whew! (warning: gripe session coming)

these past few days have been torrential. caleb has been ... difficult, to say the least. for some unknown reason, he's been waking up at 6 every morning (his usual was 7:30 or 8) yelling. i feel like he has some vendetta against me. he's so happy with victor. but once victor hands him off to me to get ready for work, he freaks out. crying, clawing, backbend, screaming. this pretty much continues throughout the day unless we're with other kiddos, or until daddy comes home. the other morning, sunny brought justin over, and caleb acted as if he didn't know the meaning of tantrum. sigh. he is an extrovert to the extreme. PLUS, he has been pooing 5 (sometimes 6) times a day for the past 6 days or so. it's so strange. he's gone from once a day to 5 or 6 times? what's going on? i'm not sure, but i think the culprit is

the gerber soft straw cup. up until recently, caleb rarely drank much water. maybe 4 oz a day if i was lucky. he also didn't ever hold his own sippy. he was too lazy to hold it and tilt it back. so we bought this cup for him. he LOVES it. with it, he has been drinking around 14 oz. a day on his own, without me having to hold it for him or even cajole him to drink. do you think all the extra water can cause him to poo that much more? well, if it's because of the water, then i don't mind as much. but if it's because he's sick in some way, then i'm more concerned.

uh oh. the boy has woken from his nap. let's pray that he's in a good mood and that he'll treat mommy kindly.