Caleb at 15 months

I can't quite seem to catch up to Caleb.  The past few weeks we have sensed such a change.  He looks older, he acts older, he has taken off eating solids (finally!), he learned to climb and his vocabulary has exploded.  So far every age I have thought was the "best age yet" and every time he moves on to the next stage I am also sad that he is growing up.  The word bittersweet has taken on such a real meaning these past 15 months of my life.  But this age is for sure the best one yet!  I absolutely love it.  He is so much fun. 

Some of my favorite things right now are when brings me a book, climbs into my lap and says "book-a, book-a," and then when he said "again, again" when I'm done (his favorite book hands down is the Bible...he has a thing for Bibles.  It's the first thing he often goes to in the nursery, he loves our Bibles and his own 2 and asks for them regularly.  He also really likes his "Noah" book from Auntie Renee right now), when he says "bumpbo" for "rainbow," how he emphatically declares "P! P! P! P!" for "please,"  when he folds his hands and bows his head to pray (every time someone says "pray" he does this), when he feeds himself with a fork, when he runs, when he blows kisses and gives hugs, when he says "YEAH YEAH!!!,"  when he puts his hands behind his back and bows (yes, he has lived in Asia almost half his life), and when he pops a new word out of the middle of nowhere that I never knew he could say.  Oh yea, and the way he says "shoes" is priceless.  And I am absolutely in love with his laughter.

He recently learned to climb and also realized if he climbs on top of his lego table, he can reach the lightswitch.  We moved the lego table to the other side of the room.  Just waiting now for him to figure out he can move it back.

Ready for summer!  And good thing, because it is really warming up here.  I hear it gets a lot warmer...

Caleb has a thing about his shoes...he loves them. And loves going outside in them.  He "helps" us put them on by doing the velcro and he sits down and takes them off (reluctantly) when we get home.

He also has a thing about toothbrushes ("bru, bru" as he calls them) lately.  I think it is because he is back teething again (story of his life) but he seems to be able to find them and they mysteriously disappear and then re-appear throughout the day.  It's the second thing he asks for in the morning (after his music is turned on) and he hates parting with them - carries them around most of the day. Pictured above he just woke up from his nap. 

He has a hard time parting with them when we go "buh buh."  Whatdoya mean I can't bring my toothbrush with?!?  Aww, mama!

He enjoys going "up up up" the stairs (he says that every time he goes up any stairs now) and "dow" the slide.

He seems to enjoy all the attention he gets everywhere we go (in Korea, blonde American babies are a big deal).  He lost his shoe and three girls stopped to help him.  He also has to greet Every.  Single. Person we meet whenever we walk somewhere.  He waves or smiles or goes up to them and gives them a high five.  If they don't pay attention at first, he tries harder. 

He really enjoys sitting on this bench near a busy road by our apartment and watching the cars.  He will sit there like this for a long time, pointing out various cars ("ca! ca!") and buses ("bu").  We practice our colors this way...."yeah, Caleb, that's right.  That's a blue car" etc.  He thinks it's pretty fun. 

I try to sneak in as many of these as I can, while he is occupied and sitting still!

Since learning to climb, he likes to climb up in a chair or on the couch, climb down and exclaim " 'gain, 'gain" (again) and climb back up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. We are working on sitting down when we are on couches and chairs. 

He also really likes to lay on the couch and do puzzles or read books.

Here you can watch him saying "shoe" "buh buh" "oussigh" (outside) and "dow" (down):