the jellyball family blog

Dear Caleb,

You are 34 months old now. Really, truly, a big boy. In just two months, you will be 3 years old, and that's when I will write my last monthly newsletter to you. I'll still aim to write them from time to time, and I hope to keep the blog updated with your latest adventures.

This past month has been bittersweet for your mama, because I'll be heading to work on Monday. For the past three years, you have been my constant companion, and I don't know what I'm going to do when you're not there to point out all the big Mack trucks, to sing songs out of tune with me, or to to give me what you call back massages, except you massage everything BUT my back - my boobs, my arms, my leg, etc.

When I'll be sitting at work on my computer, I'll think about how you love being on computer. I hooked you up with my old laptop - which you now call "your" computer. You do online puzzles, play on the Disney/Pixar Cars website, and sometimes you humour us by playing one of the educational games we bought for you. Sometimes when you haphazardly click away while navigating a website, you end up on random pages that you don't recognize, and then you tell me that there's been an accident, and would I fix it? Damn those banner ads with their flashing animation. I'm starting to think about parental controls and you're not even three years old.

You have made incredible progress this past month speaking English. I find it amazing that you can now have a fairly good conversation in English and that you're able to express yourself now. When you don't know the word, you use the French one, so sometimes your sentences are half in English and half in French, like today when you wanted the Dustbuster and you said "Mommy, I want the aspirateur." I used to worry that you would be going to nursery school in the fall and have a great deal of difficulty because English was not your primary language, but just seeing the progress you've made this past month, I know you are going to be just fine.

You'll be starting at our local nursery school in September, going there three afternoons a week - and while I say "afternoon", it's really just a little over 2 hours, but it will be the first time you'll be spending any amount of time on your own, away from us or a direct family member. I am definitely nervous about it, but I know that you're going to be fine, or that you WILL be fine, and I'm glad your Papa is going to be the one taking you there, because I know I would be a big fat wreck about it. I have a feeling that within no time, you will be all "don't let the door hit you on the way out". Kind of like when our neighbour Helen shows up for your playdate and you tell me to hit the road ("Mommy, not go here.") or when you are anxious for some alone time with your father when he gets home ("Maman, va prendre ta douche." - Mommy, go have your shower)

You are still a huge fan of trucks, cars, and trains - as you have been since you were old enough to play with a toy. The movie Cars has been your biggest obsession in the past month - perhaps even surpassing your current love of Thomas. All we've heard about in the past few weeks is Lightning McQueen this and Lightning McQueen that, and now, when you meet complete strangers, instead of spouting off about Thomas, you will be all "Hello, how are you, Lightning McQueen race car goes fast fast fast! Vroom vroom! I am speed!" We've started a small collection of toy car characters from the movie, and damn all the merchandising - it seems like you can't go anywhere without seeing Cars branded stuff. You have Cars themed pyjamas, underwear, sandals, backpack, books, and toys.

We're officially back to no naps for you, though there are definitely days where you wake up too early and end up being Mr. Crankypants all day long, and forget it if there is a late afternoon or early evening car ride, because then it's snoozeville. We've dropped the nap because it just made bedtime unbearable - you just didn't want to go to bed and you spent hours wailing about the injustice of it all. I remember the good ol' days where we would put you to bed wide awake at bedtime, close the door, and that'd be the end of it.

When we moved to the new house about a year ago, all the changes brought on a huge sleep regression and since then you haven't been able to sleep with the door closed. The protesting at bedtime started when we told you that you couldn't suck your thumb anymore (this happened a few months ago), so instead of quietly sucking your thumb in bed until you fell asleep, you had nothing else to do and decided that incessant babbling, wailing, and acrobatics were the way to go. And then there are the million excuses - I have to go pee, I'm thirsty, blow my nose, I need a hug, I want to give you a back massage (this was my favourite one from last night's hour of procrastination). Quite frankly, I'm looking forward to the day where we put you and your brother in the same room and you guys can commiserate to each other and leave us out of it altogether.

You've become a pretty good eater, and most of the time you eat all your food groups (though you're still fairly weak in the vegetable department). Occasionally you will consider a new food, though normally you're happy eating what you always eat. You love eating watermelon, pot roast (or roast beef, if we call it pot roast), fish sticks with lemon juice (I think you mostly love squeezing that big plastic lemon with the juice in it), and you're pretty much a world traveler when it comes to food - you love Lebanese, Greek, Vietnamese, and of course, good old French Canadian meat pies. Ice cream is by far our most valuable currency.

You're now officially toilet trained and you no longer wear diapers or Pull-ups. It was a little scary at first, because I never knew how long of a window we had when we did outings, but now we can do our normal routine of a quick outing before lunch without really having to worry about toilet stops. We haven't had any accidents out and about - I think partly you're just too busy when we're out to remember that you have to pee. We've had a few accidents here at home which included a couple of nightime accidents and one afternoon one where you were sitting with me at the dining room table, playing on your laptop, and you looked right at me and said "It's no big deal" in French, and then I looked under the table to see a river of pee streaming down the chair. That was NOT COOL, and I think that particular instance was pure laziness - I mean, you were in the middle of colouring Lightning McQueen. It's pretty amazing overall that you are doing so well with your toilet training.

You play really well with your brother, most of the time, though you do have a tendency to steal his toys on a fairly regular basis. It's pretty funny to hear you talking to him - sometimes you repeat word for word the things we say to you, and you say them back to him in a really parental tone. Like how I just heard you say to your brother that he has to hold your hand because you're both walking in the parking lot, except of course, you're not in the parking lot, you're in the kitchen, which you tell me is the shopping mall. You guys are really cute together.

You are truly an easygoing little guy. You're trustworthy, eager to help, and affectionate. You have your difficult moments too, when I have to tell you a thousand times to do something, or you get upset over not getting your way. These moments, while they sometimes feel like they go on forever, are really few and far between. You're truly a good kid and I'm always so proud of you.

I know you're going to have a great time at home with your Papa. You tell me that it's OK for me to cry at work when I miss you. I know I will be itching to get home every night to tackle you with a million hugs and kisses, and it will only make me appreciate more and more what a wonderful person you are.

Love,
Maman