Tonight was playdate night for Cale. Cale's buddy Bennett came over, along with his parents. We haven't hung out with the Olivers in awhile so it was good to get together. We opted for take out at our house this time, hoping to avoid any restaurant drama and give the boys a little extra playtime. It's so funny to watch Cale play with another child his own age. Everything was "mine" and things that are usually of absolutely no interest, suddenly became very enticing once in the hands of some competition. We got to see how selfish our little guy can be. But who can blame him? He's still is in the egocentric stage where he can't really understand that the world doesn't exactly revolve around him. And I don't think his daddy and I are doing him any favors in this area. Right now I think we are pretty much 100% wrapped up in Cale. But, I guess in February when the new little one comes along, things will be put into perspective for the "big brother". To tell you the truth, I almost feel a little sorry for him.

Cale is getting to the age where he knows how to get what he wants from us. Of course he still whines and throws fits and tries all of the usual tactics, but lately he's realizing that other strategies work quite well to get attention. He often lifts his arms up to me and says, "Hold you mommy, please", and what do I do? Well, hold him, of course. Works almost every, single, time. I threw that almost in there just to make myself not sound like such a softie. Yes, even when I'm cooking, cleaning, trying to dry my hair, or doing any other thing in which holding a 26 pound kid is completely ridiculus. Cale has also discovered how to say, "Boo boo, hurt". He had a really bad infection on his finger that actually began looking pretty rough. He got quite a lot of attention during that time because we knew it was very painful and that it was making him uncomfortable. Well, that finger has looked almost healed for days, but Cale keeps telling me how much his boo boo hurts. As if he doesn't get enough attention already. The other morning, he literally winced in pain, said, "Boo boo, hurts" and held up his finger. He held it up for about 10 seconds until he realized it was the WRONG finger. Nice try, Cale. Yeah, I think he's playing us for a little sympathy, wouldn't you say?

The bad thing is he cracks me up so much. Sometimes when he's doing his most mischievious/ornery things, we find him the funniest. The other night, Cale got upset because he wasn't getting his way. Imagine that. He put his head into the side of the couch and began bawling. Then, he looked up thoughtfully, and decided to take it a step further. He completely layed himself face down on the floor and bawled, because I guess standing with his head leaning against the couch crying wasn't quite as dramatic as throwing himself on the floor in a full out hissy fit. Carl and I just sat there and laughed and laughed. No, not out loud. We're not that awful! We just quietly chuckled as we watched our child trying one of his new attention-seeking, get-my-way (only occassionally successful), techniques. It's amazing to look back and see how much Cale has changed, even if sometimes he seems at his hardest stage. He is also at his most loveable, funny, and curious stage. He's just becoming such a little person, instead of a baby. He amazes me every single day.