As a knitter, and as a mom, in general, I've always had the idea that homemade is better. I even managed to fall into making homemade babyfood for Caleb, despite how ridiculous it sounded to Jamie and I when someone first recommended it.  The whole idea of hand knit baby items has a certain nostalgia to it, certain pride and ownership goes into each item, and usually they are kept to hand down to the next child. We get these ideas that a handknit "blankie" is certainly better than any Wal-Mart mass market blanket.  Caleb would certainly agree.

Well, that is until Tuesday night......when "woobie" turned on him. You see, Caleb has a beloved blankie. It's a massive baby blue crochet blanket that a friend's wife made for Caleb. We call it "woobie". (I forget why.)  He absolutely adores it, he can't go to bed without it, nor leave it behind in the crib after he gets up.  The length, and big holes make it fabulous for cuddling with but it is also his favorite plaything. 

The other night though, we had settled him into bed. He cried a bit, then eventually fell asleep. That is until the phone rang around 8:30, waking him up.There was a problem at the office and I had to go back to work. When I got back, I checked in with Len, and he told me Caleb cried for a bit, then fell back asleep, but he had woken again a bit later, cried, then went back to sleep. I tried settling into my evening again, but again Caleb woke up. This was very unlike him, so Len went in to check on him, make sure his bum was dry and I hear, "Al, come quick I need help." So I brace myself for the inevitable, assuming that he's sick, only to find Len attempting to hold Caleb and wrestle "woobie". Somehow, in his sleep, Caleb and put his chubby, big toe through one of the holes, wound it tight, and it was cutting off his circulation.  So with Caleb wailing and no way of detangling it from his now purple toe, "woobie" had to be cut off.  After, the couple seconds of drama, a quick fix with a crochet hook, we were able to calm both Caleb and "woobie" down.  We had to laugh though, as "woobie" lay on the floor for the reconstruction, Caleb kept pointing at it and babbling quite accusingly.

I am happy to report that "woobie" has since apologized, they have cuddled and made up. But take this as a warning to knitters everywhere....never turn your back on your knitting, it may attack when you least expect it!

Caleb is a 1 1/2 now so I decided it was time to move him out of the baby category I had created for him. 
He's running around now, he has a small vocabulary...fish, dis, dat, mom, dad, yes...to name a few.
He's in his third session of swimming...he blows bubbles, goes down the slide, and jumps off the edge.
He has a brand new pair of big boy shoes with a hard sole...shiny, bright yellow rain boots. (I wanted a pair too but they didn't have my size )
He loves being home with daddy but loves playing with Keyzia, Ephraim, Alexis and his church friends too.  His grownup church friends can hardly believe that he was the little baby, not so long ago, that slept in the manger at Christmas. 
Today, he dug in the dirt outside, talked to the puppy, Lucy that lives behind us, smelt the flowers and dug in the dirt. (and ate some too of course!)
Here's a short video of Caleb doing a few of his other favorite things....splashing and talking.....