A Boy's Boy

Calum was 16 months old on Tuesday and as he enters toddlerhood he is no longer a baby but a true "boy's boy". Up until now I haven't noticed much difference between what he's into and what our baby girlfriends are into but in the last couple of weeks he's really started to show a true affinity for cars, beating people up, making a mess, and a few other things characterised with being a boy/man (is there a difference?!).

Case in point? Calum's favourite thing to do in the kitchen while I'm cooking is push the chairs from one end to the other, not an easy feat considering the kitchen is about 20 feet long. Once he's got a chair on one end he will usually try to push his high chair over for a chair party and has even tried to push me over on the bench. His strength amazes me.

Chair pushing

Last week we received a package from my Mom, always a treat since it's guaranteed to include a few issues of Cooking Light, a bag or two of Jolly Ranchers and Sour Patch Kids (gold dust since we can't get them here) and treats for Mr. Spoiled himself (I passed him the title when he entered the world, from one only child to another!). When we were in Seattle my Mom gave Calum a fire truck he could ride around on and no surprise with all the shopping we did, we couldn't fit it in the luggage back home so she sent it in our package and he's not taken his butt off the thing since! Within a day he learned how to steer it around and go backwards and forwards. Pretty cute although it might be hindering his walking as he's still not taken any more then a couple of steps since Aug. 18th (the day he took his first ever unaided steps!).

Driving

My clever boy also finally realised the stairs are made for climbing. Within about 3 seconds flat he can get from the bottom to the top which is pretty impressive considering there are 13 stairs in total and a landing in between! Not great for us though as we have not one, but two flights of stairs and the stairs going up to the 3rd floor are narrow, windy and particularly fun to climb.

Victorious after a stair climb
In action

What else do boys do? They watch football of course! By accident I discovered that at certain times in the day Calum will sit with me and watch tv (the only time I can get a real cuddle, priceless) and I caught Mark and Calum watching the Spurs play in the Championship League the other night. Mark has looked forward to watching football with Calum for ages and I realised this is actually going to be a bonus for me as maybe he will finally stop asking me to watch the games!

Watching football

We took Calum down to Brighton last weekend and he got to go on his first ride, worth every penny of the 50 pence, and I took him last Friday to Greenwich Park where we played in the sand pit and enjoyed our last day of "summer vacation" (I had two weeks off work while my mother in law was in Portugal on holiday). We've been busy putting the finishing touches on the house now that the big stuff is done, pictures to come soon. Work has picked up and I've had a pretty good month so let's hope it continues. This weekend marks the end of the summer here in the UK and is a 3 day "bank holiday weekend". We're off on a date tomorrow (YAY!), and then plan to spend Sunday doing odd jobs around the house (now that we have a house to do them in!). Hope you enjoy yours, more soon x

In the sand pit

With Sean at Greenwich Park

On the ride, notice Mark's FIRM grip!

Just the two of us...

Dear Daddy,

While you were away this weekend on a "work trip" in Cyprus, Mom and I had lots of fun. Well, mostly I had lots of fun whilst Mom caught up on the Hills, the City and Big Brother while drinking wine and eating what seemed to be lots of junk (I wouldn't know as she only gave me a few measly bites of what she was having and I was left to the same old stuff I always have!).

We:

Had a little(!) temper tantrum when I couldn't figure out the zipper on my sleep sack
Had some fun playing with the Velcro on the new sneaks Auntie Dett helped me pick out in LA
Went to the mall where Mom had me try on this ridiculously cool and fashionable scarf (which we didn't actually buy because it was Timberland and was £25! for a scarf!)
Bumped into cousin Rhys who is looking oh so grown up-remember when I was that big?!
Played with my new turtle who sings opera and even has an underwater voice-Mom couldn't resist
Smiled because we were having so much fun together
"Walked" around the house about a million times
Played dress up... AGAIN. Mom tried to get me in a hat-wasn't having it.
Checked out the birds at the duck pond after our walk and glass of wine (for Mom!) with Zoe and Sean
And finally we read some books. Well, Mom read the books while I tore out the pages. The library is going to love us!

So all in all we had lots of fun in the 3 days since you've been gone. We realised we can get by without you, which is probably a good thing since you told Mom you're going back in September. Mom actually kind of liked the peace and quiet except when it came to going to bed at night in what is still a relatively new house. Most of all, we both just loved getting to spend every second together and learning more about each other as every day goes by without those niggly little interruptions we usually have like Mom's work, Mom having to make dinner and etc.

This morning when Mom got me up I heard some noises downstairs and was getting excited until we came downstairs and I realised it was just Nana.... It was great talking to you on the phone yesterday, but when are you coming back? Mom is great and all, but she just doesn't tickle like you do, isn't near as much fun to wrestle with and just can't make me laugh in quite the same way.

Love you!

Calum