Trip to the Zoo

Caleb got to go on his very first field trip this morning. I dropped him off at school and then they rode the "big yellow bus" to the zoo and I met them there. They rode the carousel, saw the animals and had a great time. I love our little zoo here in Madison. It is completely free and just a gorgeous little facility. The animals are well taken care of and are in really nice enclosures.

I am glad I went because Caleb got freaked out several times. Miss Maria tried showing him a spider and he just about jumped out of his skin. Then, we went into the aviary and it was so loud that he started to freak, but we managed to get him out of there just fine. However, he was so jumpy the rest of the time that I think he was glad to get back on the bus and leave. There was one bright and funny incident....as we were leaving the penguin exhibit, Caleb asked if he could bring one home with us. Too cute!

All in all, it was a good trip and Caleb had a great time, but I am glad I was there to keep him from melting down. He just doesn't seem to do well in completely new situations like the zoo. I think we are all going to have to go back there a couple times this summer so he can get better accustomed to the animals. I don't want him to be freaked out by every little thing, but is isn't even 3 yet and he is so little that everything must seem HUGE to him, especially things like bears and lions, even if they are behind glass.

More highlights

Here I go again with the bullets:

• Caleb learned how to do "thumb up" this week (6/18/07) and has been eagerly showing everyone that he can do it.
• Caleb started swimming lessons two weeks ago (6/13/07) and is doing great. I expected him to be super nervous and stubbornly refuse to participate but he is taking to the water like a little fish. He won't put his face in the water, but for a kid who has only gone in the pool a couple times that isn't a big surprise. He was even jumping off the side of the pool into the water last week!
• Funny story: On our way home from daycare one day, Caleb grabbed his upper lip and said "Ow!". I asked him what was wrong and his reply was "My mustache hurts". Too cute!
• I think we can safely say that Caleb is potty trained! He still wears a pull-up at night but I am not worried about it. He sleeps so deeply that he just doesn't realize he needs to go and I refuse to get him out of bed in the middle of the night to make him try. He still wants help using the potty and for now I am alright with that as well.
  
• We went camping recently (6/15/07) with some friends and had a great time. Scott dunked his cell phone in the lake but we managed to get it dried out and working so I let him live. Caleb did great and only asked to go home at the very end. We got rained out the last morning but we were all so tired we didn't care and headed for home.
• We have been doing a lot of geocaching or "treasure hunting" as Caleb calls it. Found some great caches and met some great people
• My neighbor had a garage sale this past weekend and let me put some stuff in it. We sold quite a bit of stuff and made$22.50. Not a ton of money but more than if we had given it directly to Goodwill like we had originally intended.

I am hosting bunco night at my house this month on Wednesday and I have to get my house super clean in the next couple of days. Unfortunately, I have to continue the constant battle with clutter AND deep clean at the same time which makes things hard, especially with a toddler running around. I tried to get a bunch of stuff done this weekend, but just couldn't do much and entertain Caleb at the same time. I let him play in the backyard where I could see him while I did the dishes, but I was checking on him so often I still didn't get anything done. Scott spent the morning golfing 18 with Marty so he wasn't any help and then he wanted to work on the pergola refinishing when he got home so that didn't give me any relief either. Finally got Caleb down for a nap and then I had to go grocery shopping.

Hopefully I can make it through the next few days without passing out or screaming, but I am not making any promises.

Sara