January has held a couple of wonderful highlights for our little family, the biggest of which are times Caleb has been able to spend with his cousins!

Jolie, Josh, and Linda came to visit us! We loved sharing our California life with our dear family.  Caleb adores these three, especially DeeDee (Jolie).  I was delighted when looking at pictures with him today that he also got excited to see her parents, and yelled out “Bubba!” and “YuYu!”

Maddie has been Caleb’s only younger cousin for some time now, and he really looks forward to any time spent with “Mammie.”  In fact, Buddy has had a really hard time in the church nursery, but now that Mammie is there he is always a happy camper through the whole service.  Phew!

But Maddie is no longer Caleb’s littlest cousin. I don’t have any pictures to prove it yet, but Caleb is super intrigued by his brand new, itty bitty baby cousin, Charlotte.  I’m thankful to see how cautiously curious he is about the tiny girl who has already won our hearts!

And since the theme for this post is “little loved ones,” it’s an appropriate time to acknowledge a dearly loved little member of our family: our cat, Artemis.  We need to part ways with Artie and are so thankful to have found a wonderful home for her.  We thought we’d have this sweet tabby well into our forties, but it isn’t meant to be, and tomorrow we’ll hand her over to a new owner.  Thanks, Artie, for being such a dear cat in our little family.  Your antics and cuddles will always warm our hearts – I’m so glad we plucked your tiny, clumsy, soft little body from the cage at the shelter!  We love you!

I started crying the other night while saying goodbye to Artemis, and Chris made me laugh by singing “Friends.”  Aw, Artie… you’ve been a good friend.

But we’ll keep you close as always / It won’t even seem you’ve gone / ‘Cause our hearts in big and small ways / Will keep the love that keeps us strong…

our "three kids" as of April 2010... now we're trading in a furry one for another little boy!

In early November, Caleb and I spent four days in Seattle on a babysitting business trip.  It was wonderful to bring Buddy back together with his Takano side of the family after missing them for nearly four months! He recognized his Grandma & Grandpa (whom he calls Papa) with glee and quickly warmed up to everyone else – though none quite as much as his beloved Jolie. When we moved to California in the summer, Caleb was around 15 months old and not the most social with other kids in terms of playing together. My, how a few months have grown his social development! He ADORES his big cousin Jolie (to him, DeeDee) and absolutely lit up whenever we were in her presence. Even six weeks later, he’ll still pretend to talk to her on any cell phone he can find, and squeals his version of her name with delight whenever we’re around a picture of her.  Too cute!

In later November, we all went to Pajaro Dunes for our annual Thanksgiving bash.  Caleb was a cute, squishy blob of 8 months last year, so it was fun for him to be “all grown up” now, running and talking and eating real food and interacting with dozens of adoring cousins, aunts, uncles, and so on.  One of the greatest joys of parenthood so far in my life was seeing Caleb’s first experience of the ocean.  His version of the word water is “wawa” and I think he shouted it at the top of his lungs about 400 times while pointing to the ocean.  Nobody in all of history has ever been so in awe of anything as my tiny guy yelling “WAWA!!! WAWAAAA!!!” at the crashing waves.  Chris and I loved running into the freezing water with a tight grip on our laughing, soaked boy.  That was joy at its most adorable.

Alright, now pictures! I know you skipped to these anyway!

My parents gave us an early Christmas gift: membership to Gilroy Gardens. Our first visit was super fun on a chilly evening in early December.  Caleb’s first stop: the carousel.

Next we rode the train as a family. Buddy was just as excited for the “toot toot!” as he was for the many trees, stars, the moon, and some waterfalls that the train passes on its track. He pointed to and named just about everything he saw.

We brought the stroller since this was an evening trip. I asked Caleb for a smile when I took this picture. Behold.

 

And speaking of cold weather, Vannie made sure that Caleb’s head and hands would be warm in the chilly winter ahead.  Thanks for the hat and mittens, Vannie!

In keeping with winter health and wellness (though he did catch a brief, brutal flu bug) Caleb is a champion nose-blower.  Well, not really. But he loves wiping his face with kleenex.

 Perhaps the most wonderful part of this season is the arrival of Ben, Jess, and Maddie Jane.  Caleb and Maddie are 3 months apart in age and almost exactly the same size and weight. (Her tummy is a little bigger, his head is WAY bigger.)  It has been such a joy already to have them nearby, and watching these cousins play side-by-side or together is a delight.  Caleb’s love for big cousin DeeDee is equally matched in his adoration for little cousin Mammee.  How great to have little family around our little guy!  Here’s a montage of those two kiddos over the last few days.

Same height, weight, toy preference, and DNA.

Maddie and Special Uncle Chris warmed up to each other REAL quick. The three of these kids really enjoy hanging out together.

Chasing each other around only resulted in about 17 head bonks.

Cracking up at Chris, who kept popping up from behind the couch.

Looking for Dada/Uncle Chris.

I usually post pictures of Caleb smiling or at least giving a serious stare (something he does often) but my son does indeed have his more difficult moments. Here he is being savagely attacked in a vicious session of face-licking.

His usual love and exclamation of "PUPPY! PUPPY" fades away when he's tired.

Not responding happily to the corgi love.

Well, that’s about all for tonight! I hope this massive post makes up for a 2-month absence. After all this blogging, I’m pooped. Though not as exhausted as these three men…

Seriously, I found them this way and grabbed the camera. This was NOT for the purpose of taking a picture. I'm not sure how it happened.

Merry Christmas to you and yours! May Jesus fill your hearts with joy as He has filled ours.

Here’s Caleb dancing at Chuck E. Cheese.  He sometimes asks to watch this video by pointing to the camera and asking “Moup?”  That’s his word for mouse… and his name for both Chuck E and Mickey.

We still have dance parties around here, but with my growing tummy, I tend to be an observer rather than a participant.  Here are my two boys dancing their little hearts out.

Clothes are overrated.

Caleb and I are getting some wonderful quality time these days. We just found out that Baby #2 is a boy, and we’re so excited for his arrival in early March! In the meantime, I’m thankful to just be at home parenting the world’s cutest toddler boy.

He painted both our faces.

My camera died after only a few shots of our afternoon at Chuck E’s, but I was able to snap a few!

No sir, I did not see a sign about a minimum age requirement of 3 years.

Helping Chuck E. drive the school bus. Or as Caleb calls it, the school "bup."

I don't like the way you're lookin' at me, mouse.

Though this instant in time looks miserable, he actually LOVED this ride and requested it over and over. It's Clifford!

GUCK! GUCK! WAY-O WAY-O WAY-O!

Our little buddy has developed a deep and devoted love of fire trucks.  Whenever he spots one or is playing with a toy one, he’s happy to frequently say “guck!” and mimic the siren with an adorable “way-o way-o way-o.”  On a few occasions now he’s been able to climb inside a real fire engine and hang out with real fire fighters in all their gear.  His happiness at those times takes the form of intense concentration, a trait that’s all Chris and not a bit me.  It’s SUPER cute.  I’m thinking that somebody’s 2nd birthday will need to have a fire truck cake and party theme!

 

 

Having 12 teeth and progressively better coordination means that Caleb gets to feed himself all sorts of delicious dishes.  Here are some of his favorites.

He's holding in his mouth a cracker with cream cheese on it. He kept it between his lips because we kept laughing.

Shoveling that cracker into his face.

And now for some corn on the cob.

Different day, same cream cheese.

Nutella on toast = Nutella on Caleb's face, hands, and head.

We’ve been in California for only two months, but it feels like it’s been home for a much longer time.  Work is going well for Chris, Caleb and I are settled into our at-home routine, Inside Baby is growing and kicking with vigor at halfway through this pregnancy.  That’s the update, so now onto the main event: pictures and videos of Caleb!

Checking out the water... cautious at first.

Silly boy!

There's only one way to get a drink from the water-ball!

Aftermath.

My apologies for becoming such a lazy blogger! Honestly, my excuse is so lame: it’s warm here in San Jose, and our computer is in our room where it’s even warmer, so I haven’t wanted to sit down for the hour it takes to blog.  But let me delay no longer – here is Caleb in his new habitat!

His room is my old room.  My uncle painted it when I was 13 or so; I was really into clouds, can you tell?

 This is the crib that we bought for Caleb when he was born and that he has slept in maybe 20 times in his life.  The intent was to put him back in here after the move, but alas… there is something about sleeping in a closet (maybe how dark it gets?) that Caleb really prefers.  He’s back to the porta-crib!  He does get into this crib daily to play with the stuffed animals, though.  He calls them all “bee-uh!” which translates to “bear!” and is often followed by “rawwwwwh!” which correlates to “roar!”

Here’s Caleb zooming his car around the hope chest.  He likes to lift the lid and peek at even more stuffed animals inside.  You can tell he’s starting to eye the closet door… this photo shoot came shortly before nap time.

A better view of his really cool world map rug, the waterfall in the corner, the window, and his closet sleep-room.  Just after I took this he turned to me and asked, “Nigh-nigh?” while pointing at the porta-crib. Hey, who am I to say no to a kid who wants a nap?

The space under the stairs was our domain when my brother and I were kids.  Now it belongs to Caleb!  He loves his little world o’ toys.  It continues behind the couch here with a bookshelf filled with more of his toys and tons of books.  When he’s old enough, he’ll see the value of hiding under the stairs and grabbing his dad’s ankle to startle him…

And finally, this video.  We’ve been working on some fun animal sounds (+ Sesame Street’s the Count) with Buddy and he is now a pro at them.  I’m just glad he did them for the camera today!  (Sorry it’s so dark.)

Yep, a bee says “thhhhh.”  It’s his best version of “zzzzz” and we love it.  He has just started the next step in language (two word sentences) and one of them involved this sound yesterday.  He was watching a fly on some flowers in our backyard – this boy LOVES all bugs – and it flew away.  He turned to me with his brows furrowed and his palms up, and with a careful pause between words asked, “Thhhh go?”  Genius child.

I didn’t take any pictures of our adventure to Monterey Bay Aquarium, but Heidi took a couple so I’ll ask for those and post them soon! And this time when I say soon, I mean it.

 

It’s official, we have moved to San Jose! The first week of life in California has held a lot of manual labor (Chris and my dad) loads of organizational genius (my mom) and many episodes of Chopped (me).  While there are still some businessy things to nail down, like driver’s licenses and insurance, we feel very well settled in.

There will be many things to report about this new chapter of life for the Takano three.  The first thing to report is that our days as the Takano three are numbered: some time in late winter 2012, we’ll be the Takano four!  Hooray!!

And because I’m in my first trimester, I’m pooped out and need to go to bed.  But I promised a blog today to fans of Caleb who’ve been missing him dearly (lookin’ at you, Grandma and Aunties!) so here you go!  Little Buddy spends a ton of time every day in the backyard, so this first installment of California dreamin’ is Caleb in the yard.

Shades, check. Ball, check. Swing, check.

 

Caleb likes "helping" Vannie water the plants. We've learned by now to put a swim diaper on him beforehand, since he gets SOAKED.

 

So over this backyard thing. Let me in, folks.

Different day, same story. At least Geoff will let me into his house!

Caleb cracked up Heidi and Vannie and me by running through the hose AGAIN AND AGAIN! Look at the joy on that face!

Click this one to zoom in on the face. Do this any time you need a laugh in your day.

After the toweling-off snuggles, Caleb and Vannie chat on the swing.

I wanted to see his face, so I asked him for his paci. Money shot.

An evening Arty chase in his new Elmo pajamas - we found them at Walmart, Grandma!

Small airplanes fly over every few minutes, much to Caleb's delight and happy pointing fingers.

You can see what a happy camper Caleb is.  We’re thankful our dude is settling in so well and falling in love with family he hasn’t been able to spend much time with until now.  Van & Vannie and Geoff & Heidi are now part of his every day fun, and while there’s no replacing our dearly missed Seattle crew, we’re proud of Caleb’s great attitude.

Coming soon: a look at our house, finding out we’re pregnant, and news on the job front!

I took these tonight because I wanted to get pictures of him in this outfit.  Little did I know the cute stuff he’d be up to…

First, he played video games with Uncles Bubba and Ben.

Then he stuck a Frap cap in his bottom lip.

And kept it there.

And kept it there.

And kept it there, against all odds.

Then we visited the water table. He stayed dry for a minute.

Before soaking himself in freezing cold water.

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