Earlier this month, Caleb turned 2 years old. Being the new-ish dad that I am it has taken some time to really wrap my head around what this event means to him, to me, to us as a family. People said to me that getting married would 'change everything'. It didn't. Becoming a father did.

One thing I've heard about raising children is that you need to provide them with structure in their lives. It keep them grounded and helps them to feel safe. It hasn't been until recently that it has been something that I needed to worry about. Here's the story of our child-care woes.

Over the weekend we went over to Brookside Gardens to see the bulb show and walk around. I snapped this picture right after Caleb reached up to grab Alyson's hand. He holds your hand now not so much so he won't get lost but more so that he can make sure you don't get lost. He worries for you like that.

I've always been something of a fan of Consensus reality... the idea that certain things exist because we agree that they do. It fascinates me because there are some things that exist even without our belief in them.. a good portion of math, physics, and biology for instance. But then there are some portions of Quantum Physics that seem to exist because there are holes in our attempt to model them, yet we treat those gaps as if they were reality.

Closer to home and every day life, things like Language, Color, and Emotion all have meaning because we give it to them and agree to that shared definition.

For Halloween we took Caleb out Trick or Treating. The original plan had been to head out to the mall for whatever they were doing, do a little bit around my mother-in-laws, and then visit a friend with an extra-little one over by the Rockville Town Center. Plans didn't work out quite that way but were close and I'll get to that later.

It has been a little over a week now since we declared Caleb's first word. He's said a number of 'words' just to say them or to mimic us. His first word where he knew what it was and was able to say it? Squirrel. (Or as he says it SKRL) So the first thing a good Mommy and Daddy do is make sure he has a little toy squirrel to carry around. In this video Caleb spends a little time trying to see the video screen of the camera before we switch it around so he can see himself. I think Alyson did a fabulous job keeping him in the frame. We then let him show off his first word. For the record he knows 'Go' and 'Car' now and is getting better at mimicing our words but with meaning.