...And he's off !

As a follow-up from my last post, Caleb is now walking 100% on his own,  with no inhibition at all.  Those first steps I shared about a couple weeks ago occurred on a Sunday evening, and then that following Thursday (Sept.8) Caleb was standing by himself in front of me on the lawn to say goodbye to his Gigi (Regina), and he just walked away from me (took 12 steps), then repeated the same thing again right afterward.

The next day he took 24 steps (again on the rather uneven lawn surface), and from there he was off!  We went to the shoppe for lunch that day and he was walking all over the place as if he had been doing it for awhile - and of course, OH SO PROUD of himself!  I think its one of those things where he probably would have been capable of walking on his own a while ago, and we know his legs have been strong and sturdy enough for a long time, but it was just a question of him deciding that he was ready to take those steps without our help.  I can now let him spend more time playing outside without worrying about him getting filthy and trashing his shorts scooting around!  Here are a few videos from the past two weeks:

Day 1 all on his own.  He was a bit more into the bread than the walking here, but I thought it was still cute :)  The finger in front of the camera at the end of the video is Caleb touching the camera lens..  And sorry for the shaky camera skills...

First steps and first kiss

Well, its happened!  Caleb is just about 14 months old, and on Sunday he officially took his first steps, totally free from any extra hands assisting him.  He was sort of cranky this night and not too excited to do so, but he is usually thrilled when he stands and balances on his own.  So glad it happened when daddy was home to see it!

Since Sunday Caleb is testing the waters more and more, letting go of the ottoman to take a couple of steps, and a few more going short distances from one person to the next...  Although it may mean mommy having to soon chase after him, it is a welcome achievement, as our 27 lb. toddler is getting harder and harder to tote along with this growing belly of mine!

...And about the first kiss... Don't actually have a picture of this, but just have to share the cute story.  Several of us got together and Tim and Caprice's on Friday night for pizza.  Sarah's little girl, Kendall (an OLDER girl... she's almost 2) and Caleb were sitting on the floor playing, and for no apparent reason, they both leaned in and gave each other a kiss!  I thought that Jimmy kissing girls at age 5 was young, so we'd better watch out for this little guy...!

Tidbits from our SoCal vacation

We had a great 10 days down in Southern California visiting everyone - David, Dana, Deacon, Joey, Lindsey, The DeLeon Fam, Eli, Camila, Ethan, April and Ben... it was great!  Here are a few additional tidbits from our time away from home with Caleb...

 Caleb and I visited the San Juan Capistrano Mission while daddy was golfing.  It is actually the mission that both Jimmy and I did reports on back in the 4th grade, and I had never before visited.  It was beautiful, and the fountain full of huge Koi fish was fun for Caleb, especially getting to feed them.  I was just glad that he threw the food pellets into the water and didn't try to eat them himself.

Loving on daddy at the beach.
This little chair was wonderful... it kept him in one place and minimized the amount of sand that ended up in his lunch!

Uncle Joe stopped by to see us in Laguna

For those who know Caleb well, he is not a 'mellow' baby - he is constantly on the go, so this was a first - he was watching cartoons with daddy and actually sat still long enough to fall asleep!  Miracles never cease...

This pool was so fun for Caleb - the outer edge of it was all beach, but the center just a regular pool.  He could sit, splash, and spin, without getting too chilly or clobbered by waves. He had fun playing with (well, next to) baby Michael DeLeon!

Dinner with Auntie-to-be Lindsey, Uncle Joe, Uncle Dave, Auntie Dana, and baby Deacon

Cool like my daddy :)

Kind of blurry because of the dim lights, but if you look closely you can see the shark to the left of Jimmy's hat.  This was inside of the walk-thru shark tank at SeaWorld. We also saw the Shamu Show, the turtles, and lots of tropical fishies.