Cowboy Kaleb has, on this 16^th day of September, entered the ranks of Trail Riding Hardies. Our little champion trucked along on his little pony for a whopping 1.5 hours at our local Bird’s Hill Park. The weather was fabulous, the company even better (neighbours & friends), and the pace deliciously relaxed. Once the two horses I was handling figured out their rhythm, I could kick back and enjoy the day.

A summer full of horsey fun, and our boy is ready for the change of seasons. “Apparently”, when leaves fall it means Fall is here, which is “Fabulous” and “Hilarious”. Hang around him for any small amount of time, and Kaleb will likely ask you “So... How’s it going?” and proceed to tell you some whopping story about aliens or mountains or some other such nonsense that occurred “yesterday”. Just on the trail ride today, he commented that our two horses were a pair of “bickering buttheads”. Oops. Mouth, Mommy!

We just love his independence and self-sufficiency at this age. He understands things like napping in the cab of the truck at the horse show, responds to the phrase “adult words”, and safely entertains himself playing outside for hours while we whittle away at yard work. His energy and inquisitiveness can wear a person down Right Quick and I’ve lost how many times I’ve asked him to just please close his mouth. His hugs and kisses are still plentiful and as precious as ever. The smell of a stinky little boy who’s spent his entire day getting into all things Child is my current fragrance of choice. I cannot imagine life getting any sweeter than this.

Anyhow, enough chatter... on with the show:

An Old Pro

Our Entourage

Winning 1st Place in Lead Line

(just like every other toddler in the class *wink*)

Chillin at the show, Cowboy Style

Show Boatin' Boys

The gorgeous weather has made for a lot of fun for our little man. He's been enjoying some shore fishing with Dad and some horse showing as a family!

Kaleb on his 2 year old Gotland Pony, Scout.

They got a ribbon for 1st place in 'Lead Line' at our local show last weekend!

More on the entire day to be found at http://www.mynorsehorse.blogspot.com/

He's really growing up fast, now. Very independant and proud of his accomplishments, he uses words like "actually" and "apparently" - lol! Part of me is sad to see the baby growing out of him, and part of me is relieved and excited. It was so nice to sit and chat with a friend this evening while he rode his bike around the yard. The reasoning and democratic negotiations are still raging too far out of control for my daily sanity and I'm quite relieved to partake of part-time day care. He loves the rowdy house full of delightful children and learns and grows even faster with their encouragement and excitement. He can open and close all the car doors "all by myself".

Tomorrow, we hit a friend's pond for some swimming and beach time, provided she hasn't popped with number two... I have yet to check a text that came in a short while ago... Fabulous Days...

Birthday Boy!

We hit 3 today. A couple of days celebrating with friends and family...

Yesterday we hit the Steinbach Pool. He unfortunately suffered some motion sickness from the car, the pool slide, and the whirlpool so the shine was rubbed off his usual favourite place in the world. But he bounced right back with a McD's lunch and romp in their indoor playground.

Today we discovered his new favourite place in the world... Kid City. A ginormous indoor playground complete with cars, couches and zillions of other kids. We were there before the doors opened and his face lit up the the second we crossed the thresh hold. A full two hours later and we finally called it.

Then of course, we wrapped up the day with our traditional pasta parmasan chicken as his dinner request, followed with a chocolate Mickey Mouse cake and some presents. We were delighted that he seemed to love our choices... another wooden train for his track set, a huge bin of gloriously coloured building blocks of numerous shapes and sizes, and the ever-popular hockey stick and ball. I had my reservations about this toy when I found it in the store - I do NOT want to be a hockey mom, but my gut was right. His joy at the gift blew any other thought from my mind and I even helped him get the hang of it, the adorable little turd.

Not a great photo of the Man, and of course I forgot my camera for the playground. He placed the candles himself... poor Mickey ended up rather anatomically correct... eek. His favourite joke. Boyz.

As this year dawns, we are almost overwhelmed with how much joy Kaleb brings us, daily. His self-expression is constantly entertaining us; "My boots is grumpy" (socks or pants bunched when he puts them on), "What's going on in here?!" "A little help here, please..?". He's still as sweet and loving as ever. Loves to sing his ABCs, almost completely correct. Knows half his letters by sight and can count to 12. He likes to select his own clothing and is learning not to give up easily when tasks are tricky, to keep looking for another solution. He brushes his own teeth, wipes his own -er... nevermind. TMI. Puts his own dishes and garbage away, likes to put things in their place when it's time to clean up. We're still working on sharing when it comes to something high-value, but he's generally very social with everyone he meets.

We're quite happy with his manners and behaviour most of the time. It seems that being firm with our expections from early-on and giving him as many tasks as he can do to build his confidence and sense of self-responsibility is all really paying off. He's still a 3 year old boy, but I'm amazed all the time by how high we can set that bar. He will proudly try his heart out every time and if he can't quite do it we know we've asked too much and reframe our approach so that he can find success. It's heartbreaking when he thinks he can't do something. I never imagined working with a like-minded teammate to shape and form a wonderful, productive little personality was even part of the journey, nevermind how truly awe-inspiring it could be. I feel good things for this amazing little person, blooming right in front of us.

He still smells more delicious than anything else I've discovered on this planet.

No Cabin Fever Here!

What glorious weather we've had this winter! Even Kaleb was feelin' the need to take advantage of it... PICTURE POST!

Holidays are THE BOMB

The boy could not believe that Santa really got him the green bike he asked for. Lots of great family visiting across the board. Lots of amazing food as well as yummy junk, of course. Kaleb handled the hectic schedule well, though some food from somewhere along the road didn't agree with him, the poor nugget. He took it in stride, though, and marched right along with the play once cleaned up.


"They" talk about development landmarks, in particular chemical short-circuiting in the brain during growth spurts during the 2-4 year mark, as well as the 13-14 year mark. I can say for certain that we've witnessed such evidence in our own son. A completely happy and reasonable, well-mannered child will instantaneously dissolve into a thrashing puddle of dramatic emotion over absolutley nothing... we cannot mark any trigger or pattern. There's no reasoning until the storm passes, just as abruptly releasing our child as it overtakes him. Fortunately, we seem to be leaving this stage behind us more and more.

Mom scored as well as Son. A cute new hat, a Zumba certificate to my favourite instructor, and a Kobo! Totally unexcpected and totally addictive. Hence my absence from the internet... oops.

Looking forward to getting back into a normal schedule. Work is humming along and I'm getting back on the horse (finally!). Kaleb continues to adore and thrive in his daycare situation and the hubby is nicely occupied by his own work schedule. Still lots of play... it's ice fishing season and mild weather just begs for more hoofprints in the snow.

Life is good and the journey is sweetly lazy.