Time with my babies - Caleb

Going on special outings with just Caleb allows us to do so much more at this stage in our lives than what we'd be able to if we dragged the whole family along. We don't want Caleb to miss out on trying new activities because his siblings are too little to participate (nor do we want to bore, scold, or over tire Hadley and Reid visiting places that are just not age appropriate). Sometimes it just works out for the best if we can find time to get away, just us and our five-year-old. 

The older that Caleb gets, the bigger and more interesting the adventures we can take with him become. In April, when Grandpa McKinstry was up visiting for Caleb and Hadley's birthdays, Dave, Caleb, and Grandpa took a trip to the Air and Space museum. It was the perfect trip to reinforce the space unit we had finished recently, and the museum was right near Dulles airport which made it a convenient place to stop before dropping Grandpa off for his flight home. 

Haha! This is the look we get when he tries to force an unnatural smile for us.

Dave said Caleb was so impressed with the size of the space shuttle.

Who is that on TV with the astronaut?

Dave thought it was neat that they could see his work building from the museum. Right there in the center.

Caleb got a hold of the camera at one point. You wouldn't believe all the crazy pics they came home with.

The main thing Caleb was excited about before they went was trying out the astronaut food I told him about. Dave scolded me for mentioning these overpriced gift shop traps, but hey, live a little! :)

Back in the spring, I wrote about a trip we took with Hadley to Build-A-Bear. I didn't realize until we returned just how interested Caleb would be in such an activity too. Since I try to be fair about things and we had already spent about the same amount of money to take him to the caverns and reptile zoo as we did on Hadley's bear, I didn't think it fair to spend more to take him on another big outing. However, knowing he had a birthday soon, I suggested to Grandma that she buy him a gift card to go. Since she didn't get to see his face opening an actual toy, her and granddaddy decided to go with us to watch him made his bear - and of course NaNa wanted to go. 

The closest Build-A-Bear is about 45 minutes away, so we had a bit of a drive. When we arrived though, I think it was worth the wait. 

Caleb had a bit of a hard time choosing at first. Originally, he thought he wanted this little pup.

When he spotted this Avenger themed teddy bear though, it was settled immediately. He picked out a pair of pjs, some rain boots, and a soccer ball to go with him. While he didn't have enough on his gift card to cover all of it, NaNa helped him a little since she had done the same for Hadley the last time we were there.

Filling his heart with all the good traits he wanted his bear to have

The lady told him to step on the pedal, but for some reason Caleb sat on it. She laughed saying she'd never had anyone do that before.

Hold it up high

Put it on your nose

Tuck it in

Giving "Avenger" bear a good scrub at the bath station

I'm not sure how he came up with it, but this bear ended up with the name "Frat.''

While we were at the mall, we tried out an Italian restaurant there too before heading back home.

This was definitely a good purchase. Both Hadley and Caleb love these bears and sleep with them.

Being so busy with t-ball and such, we didn't do any outings with Caleb in May, but one June evening, I took him out to Country Cookin' - one of his favorite restaurants. (He has good taste!) As usual, we invited NaNa to come along too.

My boy loves silliness!

...and there was lots of it on this trip...

After supper, we even had a little time before dark to play at a nearby park. Being so late in the day, we pretty much had the area to ourselves. It was a good thing - because NaNa and Mommy got a little crazy trying things out.

Help her, Caleb!

Is there any wonder where he gets his silliness?

Another day in June, Caleb and I had our special time at home playing Hungry Hippos while the babies napped. This summer (and even still) he's been transitioning out of taking a nap, so on the days that he didn't sleep we had some extra time together sometimes.

Then came July. Caleb used to spend the night with my mom a fair amount before my dad passed, but those sleepovers kind of slowed down for a while until some time this winter. Once spring and summer hit there was kind of another lull for a while; instead, Hadley ended up being the one spending the night usually. NaNa didn't forget about her oldest grandchild though. One day she came to pick him up and look what they made together while he was there: 

Blueberry pies!

NaNa isn't the only one trying to get some alone time with this big boy. When Hadley had dance camp one Friday morning and Dave was off and able to watch Reid, Mommy took Caleb to the Daily Grind (a coffee shop in the same building as the dance studio) for some snacks.

Oh no! The sillies strike again!

The rest of July was a bit slow moving. Caleb had to get his tonsils out toward the end of the month and didn't feel like doing much of anything for a few days. The doctor had warned that he shouldn't have any physical activity for two weeks, so when Dave took the little ones to the park, poor Caleb was left behind. To try to make things a little better, I decided to take him to Petco in town - not much physical activity required there!

Since he was supposed to be eating lots of ice cream to get the swelling down, we also went to Sweet Frog - a place we'd never tried before. (Caleb kept asking to come back afterwards, and recently just earned another trip by filling up his behavior chart with stickers. This time he picked Daddy to take him!)

I really liked the companies motto they had posted out front. Makes me want to visit again just to support them.

It wasn't long after that before we had another ice cream date a few days later when Caleb tagged along with me to go to a doctor's appointment. The two of us stopped at Chick-fil-A afterwards, and since he still wasn't allowed any solid foods, my boy got to enjoy a milkshake while I scarfed down some nuggets.

In August, Aunt Courtney got a special day with Caleb too. He had been wanting to go to the "pick your own" farm near her house to pick corn, but it is too hard for me to do with all three kids. When he called to ask her if she would take him, she was more than happy to, so it worked out great. Court said he got tired of it after picking about two ears though, so she had to quickly try to finish filling the basket by herself. Then they went back to her house for a while to play with the antique jukebox someone gave her recently. He also said he loved picking out which essential oils to put in her diffuser...LOL!

Dave finally got another turn to get out with our oldest son again the weekend before last when the two of them went to Ledo's Pizza for dinner and then did a little grocery shopping together. Nothing big, but a good time for Caleb to have his Daddy's undivided attention.

That wasn't their only outing together lately though. This past weekend, the library was hosting a Lego building event, so the two of them checked that out too.

Being much more introverted than Hadley, Caleb definitely thrives on this personal time together. You couldn't ask for a better behaved kid when he's out just us and him. I hope I never lose sight of the importance of quality time with him - both to him and to us, who don't want to ever get to busy that we miss slowing down to catch the details of his personality at each stage of childhood.