Caleb is TWO!

I know I sound like a broken record because I say this all the time, but how is it possible that Caleb is growing up so fast?!  I can't believe he is already two years old!  Really, it seems like only yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with him and now he has been a part of our family for two years.  He is so funny and smart and we are so blessed to be his parents.  Although this is a tough and challening age (hello, temper tantrums and defiance!) it is also a really fun age.  He is learning and saying new things every day and he constantly has us laughing.  It is such a joy to watch him grow and learn and for me, such a blessing to be able to spend every day with him!  So, what has Caleb been up to this past month?

*  He weighs 29 lbs (60th percentile), is 35 1/2 inches tall (80th percentile) and has a head circumfrence of 19 3/4 inches (90th percentile).  It's hard to believe that our little below-the-charts skinny mini baby is now a larger-than-average kid!


* His vocabulary has taken off tremendously!  I cannot even begin to list all of his new words, phrases, etc.  He says anything and everything now and is putting together sentences on his own.  It is so fun (and funny, too) to hear his vocabulary expand.  Sometimes he really surprises us and will say some fairly long sentences.  And he is repeating a lot of things he hears us say so we really have to be mindful of that!  (not that we say bad things, but you just have to be more careful about what you do say since he is repeating everything).  Before having kids, I guess we got into a (bad) habit of telling the dogs to "shut up" when they go crazy barking (which, is quite often unfortunately).  We have discussed before that we need to say something else (like "hush" or at least "be quiet") so we've really been trying to change that, but sometimes "shut up" just slips out.  Well, the other day the dogs started barking and Caleb said "shut up!" - oops!!  Like I said, you have to watch what you say around him!!  He has not said it since then, so hopefully he will not be adding that to his vocabulary!


A few of the first fairly long sentences he's said that I can think of:

"Daddy working the wood outside"  (yes, he's still obsessed with wood working)
"Mama/Daddy eat ______ too"  (fill in the blank w/whatever we are eating)
"Daddy go back to work"  (after Rhett was home w/us for a week and then went back to work)

*  Like I said, he is still obsessed with tools and wood working and pretty much anything that Daddy does.  I'd say he plays with his toy tools probably 95% of the time right now.  I don't even know why we keep any of the other toys out because he's happy with his drill, hammer, saw and scrap wood.

*  He's also a little obsessed with Home Depot.  He loves to go with Daddy.  If we are near our HD, he is quick to point it out.  We drive by another one on our way to church/MDO and he always points it out too.  He now also points out Target ("ta-get") and Walmart ("wa-mock") and of course, Chick-fil-a (he just calls it "chicken").


*  He's become rather destructive, specifically with his books.  He's torn up several books lately, including one he got for his birthday.  It is an Elmo book with pop-ups (I didn't realize it was a pop-up book when I ordered it, otherwise I would not have bought it).  The first time he opened it and saw something pop up, he tore it right off!  I was not happy about this!  Is he destructive because he's a toddler or because he's a boy?!


*  He's been a little better lately about going to sleep at night.  We haven't had a really late night with him in a few weeks (that I can remember).  We still put him down around 8:30pm and {knock on wood!!}, he has been going to sleep by 9:30pm and sometimes even by 9pm, which is a great improvement for him.  He still goes right to sleep at naptime and we usually have to wake him up...we do not let him sleep past 3pm!  (as I am working on this post, Caleb did not go to sleep until after 11pm - oh no!  I jinxed it by saying something!!)


*  He figured out how to get both feet off the ground when he jumps!  (his vertical is about 3 inches now)

*  He has always loved to dance to music, but it seems like he's really enjoying dancing even more lately.  He really gets down and has started moving side to side, too.  I need to get it on video!  He loves dancing to all the songs on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the songs/music videos that come on before and after the show. 

*  He has also started singing, but I can rarely tell what it is he is singing.  It is a sweet sound, though!

*  He's gotten significantly better at eating on his own with his fork or spoon.  This has been a slow process, but we are getting there.  He will still eat some things with his hands but he's using his utensils a lot more now...actually, he usually asks for a fork when he sits down at the table.

*  He likes to hold our hands and say the "beffing" (blessing) before we eat.  Then he will say "amen!"  On one occasion, he bowed his head on his own and mumbled something followed by "amen!"  It was so cute!


*  He has been a little better about trying some new foods, but he still will not eat just anything.  Some new things he's eaten:  lasagna, some oven-cooked chicken thigh meat, and some chicken teriyaki meatballs.


*  He's been going to Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays since Aubrey arrived and he seems to really enjoy going.  He says "pay fins!!"  (play with friends) and "church!" on our way there.....the ENTIRE 20 minute drive!   On our way home, he says "bye bye pay fins" all the way home, LOL.  He even knows some of his "fins" names - "Iya" (Isaiah), "Evwet" (Everett) and "Dosuff" (Joseph).  I guess he doesn't have any girl friends!  The other day when we got home, he kept saying "Dosuff get you" and "Evwet get you" - I guess they had been playing a chasing game?  It was cute!

*  Suddenly, he is very private about going "number 2" - he goes in his room and gets really quiet.  If you interrupt him while he's going, he gets very upset and he doesn't want you in the room.  I don't know why he started this all of a sudden, but it's kinda funny.

*  He has cut one of his 2-year molars (bottom, left).  This happened the week we brought Aubrey home and Rhett was home with us.  Caleb was in the worst mood all week long and we didn't know if it was because of Aubrey or what.  Well, late in the week it dawned on me to check his mouth and sure enough, I found a molar coming in!  Since it broke the surface, he has been in a much better mood and that couldn't have come at a better time....when Rhett went back to work and I started caring for both kids on my own!  I am not looking forward to the other 3 coming in.

*  I read in "Bringing up Boys" that boys will be boys and eventually turn everything into a pretend gun...a banana, stick, sandwich - you name it.  Well, instead of a gun, Caleb turns things into a pretend hammer....crackers, pieces of bread, etc.  He has done this on more than one occasion and it cracks us up!  He'll eat it down to where it's kinda shaped like a hammer, then hammer with it and say "hiya, hiya" (that's his way of saying hammer).

*  His favorite episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is called "Minnie's Mystery" and we watch it every day.  Can you guess why he likes it so much?  Because one of the "mouse-ka-tools" is a hammer and they use it to fix a broken chair made of wood!  You'd think he would get tired of the same episode but it is clearly his favorite and he wants to watch it every day.

*  Twice after MDO, I drove through the drive-through at McDonald's to get Caleb a fruit and yogurt parfait for a snack (healthier than ice cream but still a "treat" to him).  The other day when I picked him up I asked him if he wanted to go get yogurt, to which he replied "yogut!  McDon-o!"  I didn't even know he knew it was called McDonald's so that surprised me.  He picks up on way more than I think he would!

Now for some pictures...

Haylee has kept Caleb for me several times so I could go kid-free to my doctor's appointments (thanks, Haylee!!).  This was when we went to my 36-week appointment.  The boys had a blast playing together (and with some ribbon, apparently).  Too cute!  Oh, and Caleb has started calling Isaiah by his name now....Isaiah = "Iya"  :-)

Caleb still loves to "hep" (help) by swiffering the floor.  Here he is fixing the swiffer with his screwdriver...

We finally hung up the letters spelling out Caleb's name in his room (I've had them since I did his nursery and never hung them up).  I found this idea online (thanks, to Pinterest - the best site EVER!) where you lay out whatever you're wanting to hang up on wax paper or parchment paper and make marks where the holes need to go...then you hang the template up on the wall and drill your holes based on that.  It made it so much easier to get the letters straight!  Anyway, Caleb really wanted to help Daddy drill!  And they just so happened to be wearing the same thing - adorable!

admiring his work!

Caleb is so silly - somehow he managed to get his shirt pulled over the back of his neck and he couldn't get out....

He's figured out how to buckle things (Aubrey's bouncy and swing and his high chair).  Now he goes around buckling everything...

We see this face a lot!

Mmmm....Chick-fil-a hashbrowns are yummy!

Caleb & Isaiah playing in his room.

Isaiah was pulling on Caleb's leg and he thought it was hilarious!

Checking out sister...

reading some of the new books he got for his birthday...

yummy cupcake for the birthday boy!

washing it down with milk in his beloved Elmo cup...