Fire Chief Caleb

As most of you know, Caleb frequently declares his intention of being a fireman when he grows up. He never tires of driving past the fire stations or seeing the firetrucks driving around. So Thursday's playdate was pure heaven to our little dude. We went to Frisco's Central Fire Station (Brian's old stomping grounds) for a tour and Caleb was completely psyched! He geared up in his "uniform" and looked very much the part, along with best pal Trevor (whose old Halloween costume still fit and won the admiration of my dude). They quickly made friends with Fireman Drew and Caleb made sure to tell him about his own career aspirations!

They had so much fun going through the firehouse and seeing everything from the kitchen and media room, to the bedroom. But Caleb still wasn't feeling quite up to snuff and didn't care to wander around too much...until we got to the bay with all of the big trucks! He wouldn't tour the ambulance without me, but when it came time to get up into the ladder truck, he did not hesitate to jump in and explore! His first real outing in many days proved to be a huge success and he can't stop talking about it! I wish all of you could have been there to see the admiration in his eyes when Fireman Drew first came out to meet us!

Patiently waiting for his friends to arrive! He was eager to get exploring!

Trevor chatted up Fireman Drew while Caleb looked on in awe! Tatum hung back a bit at first, but she got into the groove with the help of her very affectionate big brother. They were so adorable!

Not too excited about the ambulance. If I had to guess why, it would be that Caleb doesn't like people to be hurt and he knows that ambulances take people to the hospital...

Fire Chief Caleb!

Absolutely loving the Firetruck!!!

Thinking about his life as a fireman...apparently when he turns six.

Caleb, Trevor and Leah

I get to organize summer playdates for Mom2Mom and we had an amazing turnout for this one!

Caleb and Fireman Drew

We rounded off the playdate with a group lunch at the mall food court and a quick run into Target to pick out a new playpool (they were slim pickings, but he seems pleased with his zebra pick). Caleb was quite whipped when all was said and done, but he recovered enough to enjoy his new pool before bed. I love the stars in his eyes and how easy it can be to make his day!

Caleb and Leah...the last to leave and still having fun!

Our mall has so many fun adventures around every corner!

Taking a dip in his new zebra pool. Not quite the pirate or shark pool that I had envisioned, but Caleb is thrilled and that is ALL that matters!

Overheard...

Daddy: I just can't think straight.

-thoughtful pause-

Caleb: Do you think backwards Daddy?

while eating dinner last night:

Caleb: I will keep the rice beside me. I'm a rice expert!

And can we just say that we love this age! He will spontaneoulsy give us big hugs and kisses and tell us he loves us! Melts us every time!

Improving!

It has been a long week, but Caleb is showing signs of improvement! Yesterday was our first fever-free day and his cough finally went from the barky croup cough to a congested one. However he is now coughing more and still tells us that his lungs hurt. He basically dissoloves into coughing fits if he does anything that involves movement, but don't think that slows him down! We ventured outside on Tuesday to ride his bike. It had rained the night before, so I had hoped it cooled things down a bit....if it did, you couldn't tell due to the humidity! But our neighbours had their sprinklers on and Caleb had a blast riding his bike through the "carwash." We also built a cave and spent the day reading, eating lunch, playing and watching movies from within it's cool walls. Caleb loved it so much that he asked to build it again yesterday. Since he has been stuck at home since Saturday I happily obliged and we had another wonderful cave-day! It really does help the hours tick by! His one outing since the ER visit has been to the dentist, where he reminded them about his model-patient status and wowed them with his perfect teeth! He informed first the dental assistant, then the dentist, that he was "three, then I will be four, then five, then a fireman!" He told us quite a while ago that he would be a fireman when he grows up...he will be a very disappointed six year old!

Today we get to go on a playdate and he is super excited! It is a tour of our local fire station! He has his fireman raincoat and hat ready to go! He also gets his new play pool for the backyard today, so stay tuned!

He was so excited to be outside, hunting for puddles in his spidey-boots!

Caveman Caleb in Tuesday's cave. He looks the part eh!

He added a front-part to the cave all by himself!

Wednesday was good for dancing! He had to stop often when it induced coughing spells, but he didn't care!

Crunchy

This morning, Caleb told us that he felt crunchy and that he had garbage in his tummy. I love that he is old enough to start describing to us how he feels...even when some translating is required.
A trip to his pediatrician today confirmed that he has not improved and he will be on steroids for two days. Our poor dude was so tired and droopy all day which meant non-stop Mommy cuddles. He did get to go pick out some movies and we cuddled our way through The Tigger Movie. But he was feverish, not himself and won't eat...so my heart was breaking for my precious little man. He did perk up a bit after Daddy came home with his first dose of steroids. Praying for a better day tomorrow.

Croupy Caleb

My Mom said it best this afternoon when she pointed out that this is the first time Caleb has really been aware of his illness. We did our best to make him entertained and comfortable throughout the day, but I am pretty sure that we were fighting a losing battle. I think that Brian deserves a Father's Day re-do next weekend! But again, my Mom said it best...this is what Daddy's do. And Brian is spectacular at taking care of his dude, which he showcased all day long.

While Caleb did sleep in, it wasn't near long enough to make up for last night. So he was happy when he woke up, but quickly started showing his fatique and telling us how he hurt. One of the first things he said to me this morning was that he needed to go back to the doctor because his lungs still hurt. Broke my heart.

He was a trooper. But we are exhausted from the efforts of keeping after him today. My parents came over for a visit after church,  proving they are troopers as well (we were supposed to spend the afternoon at their place, in their pool), but not even Chai cheered him up for long. We are praying that Caleb sleeps really well tonight and feels better in the morning. He crashed at 5pm tonight, so we are also praying that he doesn't wake up in a few hours convinced that he just took a nap.

I have spent a lot of time in the last 24 hours thinking about our dude when he was 11 months old, extremely sick, and had his first trip to the emergency room. I will never forget that experience. Our dude is so precious to us and we hurt whenever he is not well.

Best Laid Plans...

I don't normally sit up at 1:30 in the morning posting blog entries and listening for sounds that my dude has indeed crashed. But tonight was not a normal night. I had intented to complete a post tonight that praised VBS and detailed how much fun Caleb had this past week. The train rides, petting zoo, Lads concert and dinosaur bones were non-stop thrills for our little dude and he was quite unhappy when we told him it was his last day. I took a picture of him with all of his crafts, which he is very proud of, and had not idea that he was carrying around another souvenir from his week. Croup.

A VERY low fever for the past day or so did not clue us in. He occasionally gets fevers with no other symptoms and this was VERY low. His difficulty sleeping in the early part of the evening last night didn't clue us in either. He seemed a little congested and he was over-tired, so it wasn't unexpected. And he did settle down for a good night's sleep by 9pm. When he woke up this morning he declared he was fine, so we proceeded with our day.

It was our first Saturday at home in almost two months and we were so excited for our family day! We went to Caleb's soccer game where he did great! He didn't get tired of it until halfway through and his coach bribed him back out onto the field with the promise of a new race-car hotwheel! He got in some great kicks and we are so proud of him! He clearly enjoyed himself too, which was all we needed to see!

A lazy afternoon and then we decided to take Caleb to his favourite restaurant. He wasn't acting sick. He sounded hoarse all day, but again, we chalked it up to allergies. Clearly we are not doctors. He was thrilled to go and we love our little outings there, just the three of us.

Then it was bedtime. He could only sleep about fifteen minutes at a time and then he would wake up hacking, coughing, wheezing and crying. A very scared, pitiful, hurting cry. By 10:30 we knew we had to take him to Children's and off we went. We weren't expecting his diasnosis, but are very grateful for access to such amazing medical facilities, doctors and medicines. Our little dude arrived at the hospital very lethargic and droopy, but left rather perky and talkative thanks to a shot of yummy cherry-flavoured steroids. This is why I am sitting up waiting for evidence that he is sleeping and breathing okay. I sent Brian to bed. It is, afterall, Father's Day. And he deserves a good rest!

Please pray that Caleb's croup doesn't get any worse!

And to all of our favourite Daddies: Happy Father's Day!

He was so sad that it was his last day at the Dino School.

Prestonwood did an amazing job with their Creation Expo and we were blessed to be able to be a part of it!

A week's worth of fun! He is so happy to have it on display (on the fridge)!

Great kick Caleb!

So cute!!!! Seriously!

Leaving Gattitown and totally oblivious to what our night still held for us...

(please don't think badly of us for for toting him to soccer and Gattitown...we had no indication he was so sick and hate to think that he may have left his germies all over town!)

A Big Big Day

Today was a big day for Caleb, and for Mommy and Daddy. In three-and-a-half years, we have never dropped Caleb somewhere (other than a friend's house, or Grammy and Pop's) and left him there. But today was the first day of VBS and we bit the bullet! It was not easy for Mommy to walk out of that church and drive away, but I held my head high and remembered my brave dude walking right into his class without so much as looking back!

Since our church is doing evening VBS, we registered him at Prestonwood Baptist. My dear friend Angie spoke very highly of the program from last year and I can see why! The theme is Creation Expo and when we walked into the lobby, it looked like a dinosaur museum! Seriously! The dude was hooked! They were even playing the theme from Jurassic Park which Caleb loves!

I had a terrible Mommy moment when I forgot my tag which showed the workers that Caleb did belong to me...which caused some drama...sorry everyone!...and seriously upset my precious dude. So I spent the rest of the day doing my very best to make him forget all about it! We went to Willowbend with his buddies (also VBS attendees and their too-young siblings) Trevor, Tatum, McKenna, Littler Caleb, Reagan and Landry. They had a picnic in the foodcourt, watched some boys surfing and then Caleb and the older girls played in the playarea.

We wrapped up the day with Toy Story and a dip in the pool at Trevor and Tatum's house (his favourite part of the day). So it was a very full, very fun (mostly) day with a big first for all of us! Our dude is getting big and we are so proud of him!

Dinosaurs!

The following two photos are just two of the dinosaur fossils/sculptures on display!

Pretty cool eh!

The lunch crew. Notice that Caleb refused to stop eating and look up for the picture!

Caleb looks sad, but he was just focused on something. They all had so much fun!

Surfing inside the mall! Caleb asked me if he could try!