First Loves

Today something exciting happened, well in our little world it was exciting.   It's all because of our amazing boys.

So earlier today the boys and I were just hangen out and I said "Braiden, I love you".  Right after Caleb in his talk said "I-uh-yew".   In case that makes no sense to you, it was an I love you to Braiden.  It was the first time he's said that, and I've gotta say that I've never seen Braiden smile so big.   I'm not so sure that Caleb knows what it means, but I'm very happy that he has heard it - enough to repeat it.  

A big part of why it was so awesome - and made us all so happy, is that Caleb is not a big talker.  Oh trust me, the kid babbles A LOT!  But he doesn't say very many words at all.  He is with a speech therapist now, to help him out with saying more words.   So when we heard him trying to say the actual words it was very exciting around here.  We of course tried to get him to say it again, and he did - 2 more times.  And the thing is, is he would only say it to Braiden - which of course made Braiden very happy.   After that though we have had no luck getting him to say it again.  Which really isn't an uncommon thing for him.   But I do hope he does say it again soon

      It doesn't surprise me that he would say it to Braiden first.  Even if he doesn't understand the meaning of it, it still feels right.  Caleb idolizes Braiden.  Caleb always wants to be with him, and will do everything that Braiden is doing.  They are pretty great brothers.

Something that we have learned with Caleb in speech is that we are to pick a few words that we would like him to be able to say and repeat them over, and over, and over....  So that he will eventually say it himself.   And so far it does take a ton of repetition for him to copy what you say.  So it makes me feel great to think that in order for him to say this - there are a lot of "I loves you's" going on in this home.

Winter day

Yesterday I was feeling way to cooped up - as I usually do in the winter.  I did have a lot of stuff I needed to get done around the house, but I just had to get out.   We decided to head out snowshoeing.  We haven't done any yet this year mainly because I wasn't sure how it was gonna go with Caleb.  He's getting pretty big, and I wasn't sure how easy it would be to haul him around.  Come to find out it wasn't so bad for me, since Blaine was the one who carried him. :)  

 About to head out.  We tried to stick to areas where we were not having to forge through the woods to much.  A couple times Caleb would get whacked in the head by tree branches, so we attempted to stay in more open areas.  

 Blaine hauling Caleb on his back.  Caleb was loving it - he didn't complain at all.  I did feel bad for Blaine though having to carry that heavy boy around.

Later in the afternoon we loaded up the sleds, picked Braiden up from school and headed to a sledding hill.  It was a lot of fun, I'm always up for sledding.  And I was really impressed with Caleb that he walked back up every time.  We didn't have to carry him up the hill at all.  

 Here is Braiden sledding.  He would go on the area that was a little bit higher - but it had a few crazy jumps on it which made it even more fun

 Caleb and I heading down.  Man can you say cheese?  haha  Caleb was pretty funny.  As your sledding down he had to yell WHEEE!  And even sometimes before you even started sledding he would begin yelling.  I'm pretty sure he loves sledding as well.

It was definitely a great day yesterday and it just felt really good to get out.  Especially since now I've gotta get all that cleaning done that I didn't do yesterday - but oh it was worth it!