I love to read. I have always loved to read.

I will read almost anything, provided it is at least modestly well-written, and will invariably finish what I start unless the content is incredibly boring, or I somehow otherwise lose interest. (I tend to read a few books at a time, unless they are so captivating that I read them through in one sitting. So, quite often, I will return after a few weeks to finish a book I put down to start and/or finish another one.) I used to describe myself as ’someone whom will read anything, from the side of a serial box to a tome from Tolstoy’ (though I haven’t yet opened War and Peace, I have read Anna Karenina, and yes, the former is on my to-do list).

Naturally, either through osmosis, or more likely from regular exposure to books by Megan and I since the moment his prenatal ear buds were forming, Caleb also loves to read. He reads by himself, he reads to his animal friends (eh-hem…when he is supposed to be sleeping at night, we sometimes open his door and find him reading a book in his bed to his stuffed animals), and he sits patiently (as patiently as a 3-year old boy can sit, I guess) while we read stories long and short to him. And occasionally, if we are so lucky, he even reads to us.

One of my most cherished memories is of the time that Caleb read to me (from memory) The Giving Tree when he was about two and a half. I gave him the book for his first Christmas and changed all of the gender references of the tree from a female to a male. It is probably my favorite children’s book, and I cherish sharing it with Caleb (which we do at least once a month). To say that he had me in tears by the end of the book would be an understatement.

So what are we reading now?

Among the usual fare of normal kid’s books, we recently read my childhood copy of Robinson Crusoe (which, after dozens of under-the-blanket-with-a-flashlight reading sessions by me as a young boy, is rather worn down and dog-eared) and have started the 7-book series, The Chronicals of Narnia.

While Robinson Crusoe is probably my favorite book of all time (sheesh, that sounds rather cheesy), The Chronicals of Narnia hold special meaning to Megan and I. We both read the series as children, Megan with her parents and on her own, and me several times on my own throughout my childhood and teenage years. Caleb and I are about three quarters of the way through The Magician’s Nephew (book one, which unknown to many, precedes the most popular book in the series, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). Caleb is engrossed in the story and determinedly does not like Queen Jadis or Uncle Andrew one bit. The Lion (Aslan), on the other hand, he is entranced with. (His favorite of his stuffed animals is his lion, P.L.C. Lion, whom often sits with us while we read.)

The set we purchased (pictured above) is my top recommendation for parents who want to read the series to kids under the age of 8 or so. It contains the full text, but is beautifully adorned every few pages with color illustrations. Indeed, while there are often three pages in a stretch without an illustration, I find that Caleb’s attention can easily be maintained throughout a full chapter in one sitting (often two) because the periodic illustrations routinely give him a visual on which to hook the story.

So the next time you see Caleb, be sure you ask him about Digory and Polly and what he thinks of Queen Jadis!

OK, so I’m still trying to catch up. Here’s a link to some photos from Christmas. You’ll see my nephew Alex (my sister’s son) in few of the shots. The rest are mainly of Caleb having a great time. The one below is of Caleb and Nadine opening presents.

We are back in sunny and warm (Whoops! I mean gray and cold…) Boston! I’ll get around to a regular post in a few days but in the meantime you can check out some of our photos from the trip here. Thank you again for an amazing weekend Uncle Vinnie and Aunt Linda!

Below, Caleb is in Heaven playing in the sand with a shovel, his shades, and the giant red monster truck…

These are from just after Christmas, on a day when the temperatures soared to the sweltering high 40’s and low 50’s… (Click on the photo to the right to see more.)

While we had quite a fun time in the snow a week earlier, it was nice to see it melt down into the ground and drains along with the colder temperatures. For a moment, we thought that we might be back in sunny California, until we went to the park and encountered the mud fields (which, a day before, were vast snow/ice/slush fields). Ahhh, there is nothing like a beautiful white snow scape turning into a sticky, messy, mud dump.

These are from a little over a week ago but certainly worth posting. They were taken in the aftermath of our family playtime in the snow (we got over a foot) and before we headed out of town for the holidays.

Nadine loved the quinzhee. No, really, she did. She’s just ducking to peek out… Yeah.

More choice photos of our dog. Nothing like scratching the top of your nose with your tongue, right? I think we were trying to put together a family photo in the snow or something.

I was having a nice time resting on the couch. Then I invited the dog up and had no space left. Not wanting to be left out, Caleb decided to lay on top to ensure my comfort level was optimal.

Caleb Nadine and I took a trip to Great Brook Farm State Park yesterday morning for some hiking and to see if the animals were out. It was an awesome day — crisp, beautiful, and not too cold — and Caleb and Nadine were excited for the trip. (Click on the photo to the right to see more pictures.)

We didn’t hike for as long as I had hoped — Caleb’s energy waned pretty quickly and it became obvious that he would benefit from a solid nap at home — but it was still a lot of fun. Nadine found a goat friend and Caleb had a great time watching the animals and hiking.

As indicated in an earlier post, we spent this Thanksgiving up in the White Mountains, in the wonderful comfort of the Highland Center. My parents drove up from New Hampshire to spend the holiday with us and everyone had a great time. (Click on the photo to see more images from our trip.)

We filled the daytime with a lot of hiking and playing, and the evenings with games and stories. We did a number of short hikes and a few more ambitious hikes but also had fun building snow forts and messing around in the powder in front of the lodge.

Caleb had a fantastic time and really enjoyed winter hiking. His boots performed wonderfully though his mittens became wet due to frequent contact with the snow. Even so, Caleb’s hands stayed nice and warm and everyone was happy to be out in the cold and snow.

For evening games, we played Caleb’s favorite version of ping-pong each night (”Crazy Ball!!”), a round of CandyLand, and some hide-and-go-seek.

We look forward to our next trip to the White Mountains and certainly to the Highland Center.

(Thank you Vinnie for being so hospitable!)

Just a quick post to share a handful of my favorite photos from this weekend. We had a wonderful time and when asked, Caleb continually cites “hiking” as his favorite part of the trip (which, of course, makes me incredibly happy). He did an excellent job staying on his feet despite the slippery trails, had a great attitude, and endured my every five minute check-in asking whether his fingers, toes or body were cold. The weather was fantastic — we had a few snow showers and the temperature was perfect (in my opinion) for winter hiking. Just cold enough to keep the trails more sparsely populated (mid 20’s), but warm enough that you could hike in a base layer and shell (popping your gloves and hat on and off to maintain your temperature, of course) if you heat up like me when hiking at a fast pace.

Here are a few quick teaser photos (a full post will come in the next few days):

Caleb and Megan in the lodge before a hike in the morning during snowfall.

The happy hikers while on the trail about 45 minutes later.

One of the countless beautiful scenes we experienced while hiking.

Caleb running to me during a hike around the lake at dusk. He had his lion (PLC Lion) in his backpack.

Caleb listening to stories in the lodge on our last evening.

While this may not seem like a relevant Caleb & Me post, Megan and my recent trip to New York City to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary most certainly is to us. It represented the first multi-day trip away from our son. Caleb stayed with Nonna and Boppa for three days and two nights while Megan and I traipsed throughout New York. My awesome friend Nora lent us her apartment in Grammercy while we were there, which meant that Megan and I more or less walked all over Manhattan taking full advantage of the perfect location of the apartment. (Thank you again Nora — thank you, thank you, thank you!)

Click on the photo below to see more images from our trip.

Early this November Caleb and I headed back to the White Mountains for a few days to keep Megan company as she attended a two-day wilderness first-aid class. (Click on the photo to see photos from our trip.) The class, held at the Joe Dodge Lodge, was part of her job at AMC and taught her a ton of excellent skills necessary to allow her to take AMC donors out on a hike. Fracture something or come down with hypothermia while you are hiking? I hope you have Megan with you…

The class entailed two full-day sessions so Caleb and I had plenty of time to romp around and do some hiking while Megan was learning, role playing, and taking tests. It was a tad cold (mid 30’s and 20’s without wind chill the first and second day) so we stuck to hikes that were short and offered easy retreats (i.e. close to the lodge and less than a mile out). The first day we hiked up a portion of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail and the on the second day we hiked up to Square Ledge. We filled the time in between with some reading, a lot of playing tag and chase, and some flying (essentially chase with our arms stretched out while pretending to be planes).

We are on our way back up to the White Mountains this weekend for Thanksgiving. There is snow on the ground and the temperature is quite chilly (it’s in the low 40’s right now, but the temperature has ranged from 9°F to 28°F during the past week (eh, before windchill, which dropped the low end to the negative teens…). So, we are headed up there armed with some new gear for Caleb: new Sorel boots (comfort rated to -25°F), super-warm snow bib pants, and new thermal bottoms and tops. He’s still bringing along his blue parka, trusty mittens, beanie, and a few fleece layers to pile on and peel off, and we may outfit him with a second hat depending on the temperature and wind.

We’ll see how he does and can always retreat to the lodge if he is uncomfortable. We picked out a few short hikes that we have already done and know are accessible, and may simply choose fun activities like trying out snowshoeing or building snow forts if the conditions are too rough.