Callahan's Journal

Callahan ate cheerios and banana for breakfast. For lunch he ate ground beef, whole wheat pita bread, cucumber, and ate his fruit cocktail.  So it's Toy Exchange Monday and the kids are very busy as usual. Sometimes on New Toy Monday's they don't even want to stop for Story Time, but today we read several books. What you see in the first picture is the first thing Cal did after waving bye to Daddy and Hudson at the window. He grabbed a hardhat and got some keys. And headed right for the same holes he used with the keys 16 weeks ago!! :) Next two pictures - Here are a couple activities that Cal did in the Preschool Room. He was using the drill to screw in a couple of bolts and then used the wrench to take them out. (That's a life skills activity!! Ha.) And in the second picture Cal is threading the beads on the standing pegs. He was having fun doing it his way rather than following the pattern with colors and shapes. But that's ok and we'll try to follow the patt...

Callahan ate brown rice and one raisin for breakfast. For lunch he ate salmon, whole wheat dinner roll, no riced cauliflower/sweet potato mix, and ate mangoes. The Food Program monitor showed up unannounced to observe a meal at breakfast, but the kids did great and it was a very minimal interruption. She has a 1 year old and 3 year old herself so maybe they sensed how comfortable she was around the kids. She was getting a kick out of Miles saying, "I'm done, I'm done" while shoveling more food in his mouth!! Haha. Cal and Svea were already done and playing and that was adding to his need to be done!! And I had  no  deficiencies so that was good as well!!  Cal and Svea were playing a "game" where he was holding onto her dress (nightgown) and they were running back-n-forth from the couch to the window; about 100 times!! :) They crashed and both were howling. We snuggled for awhile and then Cal asked Svea, "Do you wanna play that game again?" Well of ...

Callahan played hooky - I guess it was with permission -  with Tu Tu this morning and was not here for breakfast. For lunch he ate ground beef, whole wheat elbow noodles, most of peas, and ate his applesauce. This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon. Svea yelled for me to come look what they were doing. "Gary!! You gotta come quick!! There's something REALLY BIG over here!!" (I like the "come quick" part. Ha.) They'd built the duplos in a single line from the wall to the mattress. That really does take a lot of pieces to go across there. :) All three contributed to their project. Second picture: I took this picture moments after Tu Tu dropped off Cal and he was at the window waving bye to her. He was pouting and I told him to stick out his lip so we could see the full effect in the picture. Ha. (He only does this for Tu Tu's benefit.) I showed him the picture and he started laughing. So I guess everything is ok. :) Next picture: I was sit...

Callahan ate two servings of whole wheat toast and ate fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch he ate Hearty Paleo Stew with meat, carrots, green beans, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, and cauliflower. He ate two servings of saltines and ate peaches. Here's an assumption I usually make when working with Children ages Infants through Preschoolers. I assume they are  NOT  thinking like I think and I'm usually correct. We adults just assume kids think like us, but they don't and aren't capable of that yet. I find it hilarious!! Here's a quick story about Grandson Gideon from yesterday. He's 3 and playing hide-n-seek with a 2 year old cousin. She was "counting" and saying, "2, 2, 2, 2" while Gideon went and hid and then she cried because she couldn't find him. The Cousin's Grandma asked what was wrong. Gideon said, "She's sad because she can't count." :) Cal was walking around saying, "Geezo Peezo! Geezo Peezo!" L...

Happy Tuesday! Or as us Numbers People call it: "2's Day!!" 02/22/2022. Ok, I know! I know that's lame, but I still like it!! :) Callahan ate half of his waffle serving and ate two servings of grapes for breakfast. For lunch he ate chicken, whole wheat tortilla, corn, and also his apples slices. First picture: Note Cal's left foot. Ha. This was self-inflicted and intentional. He was using his other leg to push himself around and around hanging on to the chair. I was expecting this to not end well, but it was all good. Ha. Second picture: This was very shortly after arrival and Cal said, "That was fun Miles." And that was the end of it; a one time run.  Next picture; Svea was reading to Cal and Miles was reading his own book and occasionally taking a peek at their book too. :) Following picture: Svea had lots of food laid out for their lunch. Cal was cooperating with her for the most part, but occasionally he'd do something to disrupt her plan. Ha. He...

Callahan ate oatmeal and ate his apple bites for breakfast. For lunch he ate half of his hamburger stew with meat, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and green beans. He ate his whole wheat dinner roll, and fruit cocktail.                                               - Humorous Notes -  :) Svea was using a doll blanket like a cape and the boys wanted to join her. Soon the boys each had a cape too. Svea said, "If you're gonna be Batman you gotta wear a cape." Probably five minutes later I heard Cal tell Svea, "Batman has to go potty!! I'm gonna tell Gary that I....uhhh.....Batman has to go potty!!"  :) Svea had the boys playing some kind of game. I watched, but I had no idea!! :) Svea saw me watching and said, "We're playing a game." Cal asked, "What game are we playing?" Haha. He was obviously as much in the dark as me!! First picture: So here's Nurse Svea apparen...

Callahan ate whole wheat English muffin and dried plums for breakfast. For lunch he ate pulled pork, two servings of whole wheat toast, ate half of his peas, and ate strawberries. Cal was the first one here today and shortly after arrival he came over and sat on the couch beside me. "WoooWeee. I'm gonna take a rest! That was a looonnnngggg week!!" Haha. And he uses the same inflection and intonation that he's heard when the adults say that. His memory for words is pretty impressive. He makes me laugh a lot and it's frequently with repeating phrases he's heard. Awesome. Cal was so happy to see Svea. This was the first question he asked upon arrival. "Is Svea coming today?" And she was happy to see him as well. When those two have been apart for a couple of days - like the weekend - they're pretty much inseparable the first day back. You can see by all the pictures today they played various activities this morning and only had a couple of minor squ...

Callahan ate whole wheat toast and a large serving of mangoes for breakfast. For lunch he ate two servings of ground beef with marinara sauce on top of whole grain spaghetti noodles, bites of his cauliflower, and ate a large serving of fruit salad.  First picture - Miles and Cal taking advantage of the two large "boats" built by Nicole. She'd left with her Mom and Dad to go to the Hospital and prepare for a baby Sister. Cal was able to push the boat with Miles hitching a ride. Seeing Miles so close to the changing table reminds me of a large donkey we had when I was a kid. That donkey loved to rub it's rider up against a tree on the way by. :(  Ornery thing!! Next 6 pictures!! As soon as we were done with breakfast we headed outside and the boys were having so much fun we just stayed out there until time to put Lunch on their plates. Svea is hanging out playing games with Grandma, so it's just Cal and Miles again today. Second picture: The boys played on this litt...

Callahan ate most of blueberry bagel and two large servings of grapes for breakfast. For lunch he ate shrimp, brown rice topped with berry juice, no broccoli, and ate mixed berries.  I probably should not have thought this first picture was quite so funny, but it really made me laugh!! I'd intentionally set my phone on the big window sill in "selfie mode." (Kind of a trap, but I'm calling it an experiment. Ha! Creating a teaching moment!!) Both boys walked over to look and saw themselves. I asked, "Who is that?" They were repeating the same one word sentence; "Me! Me! Me!" :) And it captured them perfectly.  Svea is not here today as she vomited when Grandma and Grandpa were taking Avi to school. So it was just Miles and Cal and our house guest Nicole joined them for about an hour. Next picture: Miles did puzzles several times and Cal was reading books. I moved the Preschool books to a more easily accessible spot and Cal was thrilled. :) "Gary...

Callahan ate bran cereal and a couple of raisins for breakfast. For lunch he ate chicken topped with avocado, half of his whole wheat pita bread, half of his cucumber, and ate his pears. Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope your hearts are full of love. :) Almost immediately after Miles arrived Cal was happy to see they both had Yoda shirts. Cal said, "Miles, you have a Yoda shirt just like me!" :) Cal noticed it before I did. Which really isn't much of a compliment; I may never have noticed it without someone pointing it out. :) In the following picture Cal had lots of the "new" books laid out on the floor so they could get a better look at them. There are doctor toys in this toy exchange and in the next picture Miles was taking Cal's temperature. Miles didn't want to stop when Cal was ready to be done. I was impressed that Cal cooperated as long as he did!! Earlier Cal had taken my temperature and then had a stethoscope to listen to my heart beat. Excep...

Callahan ate cream of wheat cereal and ate his dried plums for breakfast. For lunch he ate bites of chicken, bites of brown rice, no broccoli, and ate pineapple. After Miles was done washing for Lunch I told Cal to climb up and wash his hands. Cal said, "Ok Bob; Bob Hansen!!" LOL. He cracks me up. First picture: Svea wanted Cal to hide the eggs so she could find them. Ok, no problem. Haha. You can see he's working at getting them hidden and when he was done all 22 eggs were in a radius of about 4 feet. Ha. Svea wasn't super thrilled. :) Next picture: Well this is kinda what it looks like: Svea preparing to build with the duplo's and Cal watching. :) Additionally Cal was looking for a specific piece to grab before Svea got it. Ha. Following picture: We decorated some hearts with stickers, markers, and stamps. (Not everyone used all of those.) Last picture: Svea and Cal were experimenting with the magnetic activity. 

Callahan ate waffle and three servings of fruit cocktail for breakfast. For lunch he ate ground turkey, whole wheat tortilla, bites of sweet potatoes, and ate fresh mandarin oranges. I'm sitting in my chair doing Blogs and Svea came running over and said/whispered, "I need to kiss you." "Huh?, What? Please repeat." "I need a tissue." Hahaha. Sometimes hearing loss is quite entertaining; but probably only for me and not anyone who has to put up with me!! :) First picture: Svea was working hard at this little puzzle right after breakfast. She got it done and asked Cal if he wanted to join her. It was pretty cute because she was trying hard to help him be successful too. It's a small puzzle, but you have to be able to identify numbers and sequence them. AND you can turn the thing over and do it in the opposite direction! So she was giving him hints; "Can you find the 2?" "No that's not it." Then using color hints; "It'...