Oh Caleb. Sometimes I lag behind you a little bit and let you walk ahead of me just because I love watching you. I love the way you walk. I love the way you run. I love talking to you, listening to you, and being your mom. This has got to be the very best age in the whole world and part of me wishes that I could just freeze you right here forever. The other, bigger, part knows that part of the thing that makes this age so special is getting a glimpse of what you will be like as you continue to grow. People bag on the "terrible twos" but I love you at this age (sharpie marker on the wall, vinegar in the sugar bags, and all).
Official Stats:
Things to remember:
-If you ask him if he's a dinosaur (or a puppy etc...), even if he's pretending to be a dinosaur, he will respond "No! I'm just Ca-wub." It makes me laugh every time. (A variation is "No, I'm just a Ca-wub." and the extra A makes me smile.)
-He's started saying "I'm 2" both unprompted and when people ask how old he is. Also, frequently when they ask an unrelated question he will also answer with "I'm 2!" He holds up his two fingers, sometimes having to use his other hand to get that tricky third finger down.
And yes, this boy is 2. He is keeping me on my toes. Nothing is high enough, low enough, or hidden enough to keep it out of his reach. He found a sharpie marker in our basement that we were using to mark 2x4s and he drew all over the downstairs stairway. Not maliciously, in fact, I kind of laugh when I see it because you can see exactly where he took off the lid and started drawing while slowly walking up the steps. He gets into things with only a moments unsupervision and he is genuinely cheerful about the thing he's "exploring". He's a handful and I often can't keep up with him.
Once I called my mom and in the course of our conversation I asked "How many hours can you strap your two year old into a highchair to keep him out of trouble while you homeschool your other kids? Asking for a friend." She laughed, but she didn't realize that I was serious and I often strap Caleb into the highchair and give him toys or food or ice cubes just to keep him contained.
He's just the epitome of a happy, loving, energetic, curious two year old.
These two pictures pretty perfectly capture the range of his two-year-old-ness. One day he pulled out all of the containers of baking supplies out of the cupboard. He accidentally knocked over a bottle of vinegar which soaked through all the remaining items in the cupboard - including about 8 bags of sugar. The vinegar soaked through the bottom 1/3 of each of the bags. *sigh* His curiosity = a big mess (not really his fault, but still..) But on the flip side, he has started "massaging" my shoulders unprompted. He mostly just rubs his hands across the top, but you can tell his intention is to do something kind for me and it melts my heart.
We have been putting a LOT of hours into finishing our basement. It's a huge project and Caleb has been a good "helper".
We took Caleb's first true road trip and we headed to California! He was a great traveler and the highlight of the trip for him was the ocean HANDS down. He talked for weeks and weeks afterwards about the waves in the ocean. He loved standing in the path of the waves and letting them come and wash over him. His delighted shriek and kicking legs were probably the highlight of my trip, too. Also, I'm so glad that we went to the ocean with a five adults for the six children (including the two babies) because otherwise I think Caleb might have gotten washed out to sea and I'm so happy that he didn't.
He also took about 20 minutes to chase the pigeons all over the beach and every time he would get close to them, they'd fly about 20 feet further away and he'd resume his chase of them without being deterred. They went around and around in a big circle.
Austin requested to go swimming for his birthday at the Legacy Center and it was fun to squeeze another swim day in before it got too cold.
Caleb loves books and is to the point where he has very specific books that he wants to read each night and has several words/phrases memorized.
He loves watching the train go through our backyard. Whenever we hear it we run to the window to watch it go by.
Caleb loves Lucy and it's so sweet. He's such a good big brother.
Building an airplane at Home Depot.
Picking apples and peaches at an orchard.
-He's sleeping better than he was. But he's still particularly concerned about alligators and will still often wake up in the middle of the night in tears and it takes him a while to be able to fall back to sleep.
He loves his siblings and I love them together.
-The other day I unloaded all of the groceries onto the floor of the kitchen then went upstairs to nurse Lucy and put her to bed before putting the groceries away. I came down and Caleb and Austin had worked together to put ALL of the groceries away. There were a few things (like pilsbury biscuits) that ended up in the pantry instead of the fridge, but they did a great job and it was so kind.
We painted pumpkins instead of carving pumpkins this year. Caleb enjoyed painting his pumpkin then came and stood by me while I was penciling out my design. I was enjoying his company but wasn't paying particular attention because I was very focused on my design. I finally glanced up and saw a whole package of wooden skewers sticking out the side of my pumpkin. Ha!
Did I mention that he loves books and snuggles?
We went on a field trip to see a fire truck. He loved it.
(I love watching him sleep)
He was a "knight" for Halloween to go along with Austin's dragon but I didn't get a great picture of them together.
An adventure to the aquarium. The picture on the right is an alligator and Austin is putting his arm around Caleb telling him that he doesn't need to be scared because alligators are nice. I love this picture. I love those brothers.
I said that he's a great big brother, but he's also the best little brother. He follows along with the other kids and plays with them and does what they want him to do, for the most part. I love their relationships together.
More basement stuff. Caleb liked climbing the step stool, watching the big crane deliver the sheetrock and all around being involved in anything he could regarding the basement.
-He drops the G at the end of words and although I know I should correct it, it's darling. "Workin'" "Playin" like this--- "Mom, I'm just playin'!
He's lucky to have grandparents who love him so much.
-One of my favorite things that I haven't been able to get a picture of is the way he goes down the stairs. He steps down onto the top step, sits down, then straightens his legs and slides down the steps on his bum.
Bowling with Dad.
He looked extra darling on Thanksgiving. He also ate his placesetting candy turkey before any food was actually served.
Time for a haircut! Look at those wavy locks. I love them and am sad to see them go.
He's really starting to love helping me cook in the kitchen. Making pancakes is his fav.
Oh Caleb boy, we love you do. Your tantrums and messes are far overshadowed by your bright and cheerful personality and we are so grateful to have you in our family!
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