My Fun Caleb

Caleb is loving his new school, but especially his new neighborhood. Chris and I have had to let go a little bit and extend his boundries when he plays outside. He loves to go down the street in front of our house and play basketball in the road with "his friends". Normally, playing basketball in the road would not be something Chris and I would approve of for a six year old. But this road is not busy at all and all the neighbor kids play in it. We've had the whole talk with Caleb about being safe, and it helps that this road is right in front of our house so we can see if Caleb is being safe and playing well.

That's where the quotations around "his friends" comes in. The "friends" he was playing with (Caleb calls everyone his "friends" - even if he's never met them. If they're kids, they're automatically his friends) are 4-6 years older than him. So you can imagine how that goes when he tries to play basketball with them. They're nice kids, they're never mean to him. But Chris and I thought it'd be best if he just play basketball on the hoop on our back patio. Then he can practice dribbling and granny-throwing as much as he wants.

There's a neighbor boy who Caleb also plays with, he's eight, and he has Asberger's. He must be highly-functioning because you wouldn't know he has it. He and Caleb get along really well. Although I'm not used to kids walking up to my livingroom window and knocking on it instead of the front door. Or interupting our dinner to see if Caleb can play, or wondering what time we'll be back from the store so he can come over and play with Caleb when we get back. Comes with the territory, literally, I guess. I'm glad Caleb has a friend to play with.

Caleb's in T-ball and loving it. I think he mostly enjoys getting out in the backyard and practicing throwing and batting with Chris. Have I said yet that I love having such a great sized (for Oregon) backyard? I love it. He hasn't had a T-ball game yet, but I can't wait to watch him play. Watching him at practice, I think he'll be pretty good.

He's a really great big brother and helper. He willingly, with a great attitude, does so many things when it comes to Anna. If I need him to play with her so I can get some things done, he's more than happy to do it. I don't know how long this will last, so I'm enjoying it while it does. :)

We have gotten into the doing-whatever-I-want, "I forgot", showing-major-attitude stage. I shouldn't say stage, this will probably be something we'll have to deal with to some degree until he leaves home. But, we're dealing with it. We have a great kid, it's just the inevitable discipline issues that rise up from time to time. Being parents isn't always fun! :)

Alright, congratulations if you read all of this. I realize it won't be fascinating for everyone but I wanted to do it for family. Have a great week!