DPP Day 2: Breakfast With Caleb

Caleb is not the best at meals. I mean, he's great at eating. He's not picky and has a good appetite. But sitting still long enough to eat an entire meal is difficult. More often than not, he is joined at the table by toys of his. This is a habit I probably need to break, but it keeps him at the table, even if not seated the entire time.

Like the Nutella mustache? I do. Very dastardly villain, if you ask me. Caleb is joined by RPM, No Stall, and Lightning McQueen (of course!)

Cars

Caleb loves cars. Actually, Caleb loves any mode of transportation...cars, truck, buses, boats, planes, trains, bikes, helicopters...you name it, he's a fan.

But cars are the easiest to carry around (and, unfortunately, the easiest to lose. The count of lost cars in the month of December was five. Out of those five, 100% of them were brand new Christmas gifts.) Even with five men down, our house is still filled with cars.

He likes to push them around, race them on any surface, and make motor noises for them. He likes to announce what cars he has. As soon as he walked into the nursery at church today, he held up his Dinoco blue Lightning McQueen and announced, "I got Yakeen!"

He's really keen on lining them up very neatly, as seen here, and then running at them and smashing them all together in one big movement with his arms and yelling "CRASH!"

The only thing Caleb doesn't like to do with his cars is share them with other kids!

3/365

Movie Time

Day 2/365! It's on!

Today we took Caleb to the Cineworld theater in Bury St Edmunds for his very first theater movie. He's a huge fan of the first Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. (Me? Not so much.) So when we heard there was a sequel...err, a squeakquel, apparently...we thought this might be a good opportunity to try a theater with him.

This Caleb, pre-movie, wearing Lightening McQueen shoes, McQueen shirt, and holding both regular and Dinoco McQueen cars. Overboard? I don't know the meaning of the word!

This is my wonderful husband scraping the ice off the windsheild while Caleb and I warmed up the car. Thanks, babe!

And this is Caleb overwhelmed by the candy options at the theater. We eventually decided on strawberries and cream cone-shaped candies that were okay.

Caleb actually did pretty well at the movie. He wasn't heavy enough to keep the theater seats down and kept getting folded up, so he sat in my lap most of the movie. Unfortunately, when I left to use the restroom, he wanted to follow me.

When I returned, Tommy and Caleb were waiting on the edge of the theater for me, and after that, he wasn't willing to return to his seat for about ten minutes or so. So I spent some time trying to prevent him and his blinking McQueen shoes from running across the front of the theater. Luckily, after a bit, he was willing to return to my lap. I may or may not have lured him with popcorn.

We went to the movies with some friends from the squadron. They were on the same Paris trip we went on over Christmas and Caleb loves their kids. He thinks their son is the funniest person alive!

On the drive home, it began to snow! Big, fat, beautiful flakes that my husband said reminded him of peices of bread. (??) It lightened up for a bit, but it's snowing again as I type this! I'm hoping we'll get enough to make another snowman since Caleb love singing Frosty the Snowman. This is me from our front door.

And now seems like a perfect time to curl up under a blanket and read a book. So on that note, have a great day. See ya tomorrow!

To the Left, To the Left...

We have cars! Tom and I were both able to close on two cars (which from the outside are almost identical. A little matchy-matchy, I know, but it's kind of just how it worked out! We weren't trying, I promise!) Tom has 2000 BMW 323i, and I have a 99 BMW 318i. They are both blue. And they are both beautiful cars!



Now whether or not they will fit in our tiny UK garage is another story! (We've been told that yes, many cars will fit into UK garages! But don't plan on being able to actually open the doors and get out of the car once you are in the garage!)

Of course owning cars means more driving! I passed the driving test this morning. (I got an 84% - just over the required 80%. A little low for my academic pleasing, but enough to get me on the road!) We've both successfully navigated our way through numerous round abouts today, and neither of us have tried to drive in the right lane...yet!

I'll say this...when there's traffic on the road, or if you're heading straight, staying on the left is not difficult. It's turning onto a new road with no traffic immediately visibile that makes me stop and think. (It's so super dorky, but I find myself singing Beyonce, "To the left, to the left" to remind myself where I'm going. Ha!)

And, yes. I have tried to get in the passenger's side door more than once today. And I reach for my seatbelt on the wrong side. And I reach to shift on the right before I realize it's on the left.

It will certainly take some getting used to! But hopefully if we are cautious and alert we'll be able to avoid any craziness!

On the house front, it looks like we'll be moving into the house on or around February 9th. Our household goods have arrived, so we're just waiting on a housing inspection and for the landlord to finalize some details on the house itself. Very exciting!