We started Kaleb's birthday off with a swim party at our YMCA. He was able to invite 20+ friends! And most of them came!! Angry Birds are a favorite of Kaleb's right now, so that was our theme. We had an hour before swimming when we played Pin the tail on the Red bird, Angry Birds Space, had cake, and opened a gazillion presents:) I was really impressed how well-behaved these kids were, especially considering most of them were boys! Kassidy was my big helper for the first game.
Grandma and Grandpa got him a brand new bike! His favorite color, too:) He's super speedy now!
Now onto his well visit. Kaleb weighed in at a whopping 34.6 lbs. I know that doesn't sound like very much to most of you out there, but we take any weight gain we can get. He gained 1 1/2 pounds this past year. Again, not a huge jump but at least it is a jump. That puts him in the .04 percentile for his age. For height, he measured 44.5 inches, also a 1 1/2 inch gain since last year. That puts him in the 5th percentile for age. For BMI he is at 12.28, below 2nd percentile, down from 12.55 last year. So what does all this mean??? Well, the best I can figure out is that he is definitely growing, but at a slow rate. He is still picky but eating MUCH better!!! He still refuses to drink anything besides water, so we started him on Pediasure. That will at least make sure he gets all of his nutrients in each day and a little extra calories, too. So far he likes the vanilla flavor and drinks it without too many reminders:)
I think we will always struggle getting Kaleb to eat "normally". However, he does eat a good amount of food each day. I think the main problem is that the foods he does eat just aren't very high in calories, except a few. Some of his favorites are spaghetti with sauce, tuna helper (no big chunks of tuna), PB sandwiches, yogurt, popcorn chicken, cooked carrots, mashed potatoes, bananas, and as always pancakes...but planet pancakes! He is getting much better at trying new foods and has found out that 99% of the time he actually does like what he tries:) I've managed to sneak in some oatmeal in his favorite chocolate chip cookies, very veggie sauce on spaghetti, corn and black beans mushed up in the food processor in his cheese quesadillas, and other little sneaky tricks. Just don't tell him my secrets!!!
Kaleb is having a very good year so far in 1st grade:) It's still very easy for him, but he is challenged in reading, writing, and comprehension. We check out tons of books from the library also to keep him busy. His hand writing has improved immensely since Kindergarten! He still picks up on things very quickly, and many times answers Kassidy's homework problems when we're all doing homework together. He has done real well with adding and subtracting and is picking up multiplication now with big sis. I'm just so glad that he doesn't have to struggle with learning, his struggles with eating is enough!
Kaleb is still my big sweetie pie and very caring towards his friends and family. He always runs up and hugs people with a huge smile on his face:) He and Karson have become best buds lately and will play together for hours on end! It's so cute listening to them pretend together and get along so well. Keith has been waiting and waiting for the day when the boys wanted to sit and watch football with him...well that day has come! Kaleb is getting into watching football now, learning the rules and teams, and just loves to cheer on the Browns with Daddy. Needless to say, Keith is in heaven when this happens!!! Soon enough they'll be traveling to Ohio to watch the Browns in person!
Well, I hope that gives you a little glimpse into our first boy's life and personality. He is such a blessing to us and makes us laugh so much with his funny little sayings and noises and most of all his famous belly-laugh:) We sure do love you Kaleb!!!!! Happy Birthday cutie:)
