A little Friday fun--Thumbs up!!

Caleb has always been one who likes little, daily traditions. A couple of years ago he started adding in this big routine to goodnight kisses. A simple kiss on the cheek alone just would not do. We had to kiss left AND right cheeks, nose kisses , then butterfly kisses on each side, then something he called “cheek plops”…Then, there were “ear plops” and “hair plops.” Yes, it started to get ridiculous and there’s always that FINE line between being obsessive and being reasonable. :) We definitely let him go a bit too far before we put an end to the length of this little routine. …but it was very sweet and he would skip off to bed contentedly after this little 20 second routine. Some people get the “one more glass of water,” I guess. We did this never-ending, bedtime ritual instead. :) A couple of years later I miss this. Most days it was a sweet thing. When he was trying to extend his time up by thinking of new things we had to nix it and get back to basic bedtime kisses.

Around that same time he started with this thing in the morning. If he was awake before Todd left for work, he’d always watch him as he left and give him “thumbs up.”…just a good way to start the day I guess. He just started this particular ritual out of the blue one day. When Todd was backing out of the driveway he ran to the window and gave him a thumbs up. So Todd did it back and the daily tradition was born! :) (at least in Caleb’s mind) He went through this phase where he would BURST into tears if Todd backed out and didn’t see him at the window giving him thumbs up. BIG, CRAZY DRAMA. He was totally unreasonable about it, but I think Todd helped him realize how ridiculous he was being by doing this little, fun thing if he forgot. If he got to the office and realized he forgot, he started sending him an email with “thumbs up” pictures. (see below) Some have been hilarious over these months….more than a year now…so I decided I should keep a record of this. :)

Here’s the conversation that happened this morning after Todd sent him the latest picture after he got distracted by taking the trash out and forgot to look for the thumbs up in the window.

Me: “Caleb, do you know who this is?”

Caleb: “George Washington?” I laughed and told him it was George W. Bush.

Caleb: “Ohhhhh, what did I say?”

Me: “George WASHINGTON”

Caleb: “Ohhhh!” (laughing, realizing what he’d said)

Me: “Would you rather get thumbs up from President Bush or Daddy?”

(within a millisecond…no hesitation whatsoever)

Caleb: “BOTH! Because family and last president!”

I love how he’s so quick and decisive with his answers. :)

Here are some past “thumbs up” that Todd has sent when he got to work and realized he forgot…or Caleb called him to remind him that he forgot.


Caleb’s favorite color was a big hit. :)

OUR FAVORITE BY FAR! :)

It’s fun that his insistence about these little things have given us a favorite family thing to do…emailing these “thumbs up” pictures. :)