Journey to Thirty

Caleb’s Stats:

More words. We’re talking A LOT! “Lemon”, “pineapple”, “two”, “seven”, “all done”, “watermelon”, “more”, “cool”, “shoes”, “echo”, “ouch/owwie”,”cheese”, “please”, “hi”, “hot”, “keys”, “all done”, “thank you”, “cuckoo”,  “fishy”, “open”, “oh man!” (probably going to stop trying to keep up with his new words from here on out because in the last 10 days there have been too many to count). One strange thing is that Caleb is now calling me “mommy”. I have NO idea where it came from since I only refer to myself as “Mama” but it started once he became overly possessive of me (remember last month I posted about how he will not let Tyler snuggle with me?) At school a little boy in Caleb’s class came up and hugged me and Caleb ran over and shoved him away. He points at my arm and says “Maw-meee” in a very demanding tone. He’s also become hyper attached to Tyler. Just this morning he walked around the house yelling “DaDa” at the basement door, in the office, at the bathroom and at the bottom of the stairs.

Caleb really likes to hurt himself and run to one of us to give him kisses. Sometimes he doesn’t even hurt himself and he runs over and shoves his hand in your face so you will kiss it. He really enjoys washing his hands and face and is learning to do so before and after meals. Caleb went down a big twisty slide by himself! That was so excited to watch. However, the day the hot slide burned his leg led to him insisting the slides are “hot” at all times. He loves humming/singing Twinkle Twinkle and trying to say his ABC’s; he does this during bed time and randomly walks around our house singing. It might just be my favorite thing he does. Everything is about jumping, running/chasing and throwing. Everything. This month Caleb is really into helping around the house. He cleans up and especially loves “washing dishes”.

Eating: We pushed Caleb up to our table so now he can actually sit with us and eat. We have candlelit meals, daily. He loves having the candles lit and saying “hot” and trying to blow them out (see photo evidence above). He’s been eating really well except during the days his eye teeth are coming; eating is pretty scant on those days. He loves this tower so much though. Tyler built it for him (it’s Ana White’s Helper Tower) and it is so cool. I bet all kids want this. (It’s in the process of being painted. I painted a yellow base coat but Tyler and Caleb are going to tackle that bad boy with other paint so it should turn out- interesting).

Bed: Sheesh. Bedtime has been taking a long time lately. He fights it like the dickens and will sometimes try to tickle us, sing Twinkle Twinkle, yell Mama or Dada or kick his legs. We could just lay him in his crib and walk out but we still rock him and snuggle him to sleep. I love it. It is one of those things I like doing and I know he will grow out of it someday so it’s something we can do until he “grows up”. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned Caleb’s desire to snuggle after he wakes up and randomly throughout the day. I can safely say he demands snuggle time. After naps and in the a.m. he wants to snuggle for at least 20-30 minutes before he starts to go crazy. It is so sweet. I treasure those times.

This month is mostly marked by language and growth. Literally. Caleb is huge. He is in size 7 shoes and 3T/4T tops. Holy crap, we know he will be big but he just seems to have grown 3 inches overnight. He is as big as the 3 years old in his school! The coolest thing is that Caleb’s school has a great online program in which his teachers email us photos and cue us in on his emotional development. Last week we got pictures of Caleb using scissors. He couldn’t quite figure them out but for some reason reading about his persistence with those scissors made me tear up. He is getting so big and blossoming into such an inquisitive and loving boy.

Caleb’s Stats:
Height: 34 inches (95th percentile)
Weight: 28.8 lbs (85th percentile)

Caleb has suddenly started saying A LOT of new words! It was like one day he just decided to speak up! He’s been doing this hilarious thing where he covers his face in shame and yells “uh oh what you do!?” He’s also saying “school”, making dolphin sounds (which is just him doing a silly laugh), a shark noise (hand on head humming the Jaws theme), mouse (squeaking), squirrel, goat sound, finally making a cat sound, “blast off!”, “bless you”, “apple”, “lemon”, “nonono”, “bad”, “hot” (this one is funny because he has created his own sign to show us something is hot), “owie”.  Along with saying “owie”, Caleb now points at the things that “hurt” him and yells and says “owie” while shaking his finger (he does this to the biter in his class too). It is something I showed him and it helps diffuse crying when he does get hurt because it averts his attention away from his bonk to the floor or wall and he forgets what hurts.

Caleb has really been trying to sing along with songs/mimic tunes. He can hum the Mickey Mouse theme and starts his ABC’s. He is also face planting in the bath- because he thinks it is hilarious. It is not. He seriously has no fear at all. The first time he did it I freaked out. He needs swimming class ASAP. One of my most favorite things ever is that Caleb is now really good at holding our hands. He’s been pretty good at since they have to hold hands at school but now he holds our hands all of the time. I feel like I am walking with a five year old sometimes. This works really well outdoors. However, the moment you try to hold his hand in a store, specifically, a book store, the game is on. He wants to run free and be chased. Speaking of, chase is Caleb’s favorite activity. We chase him around our house in the circle from the living room to kitchen to dining room. He chases us too and he loves it. He is also really into basketball lately. We have a Little Tikes BBall hoop our friends got him and Caleb and Ty play this all of the time. He’s gotten so good at throwing things and now he is pretty close to actually getting the ball in the hoop.

This month, Caleb went to gymnastics for the first time. When we left he said “bye school”. I guess he interprets a lot of kids to mean he is in a school? So far, he has been twice (I work on Fridays so I can only take him during breaks but I plan on doing this regularly during summer). I’ve read that gymnastics is one of the best activities for young children and after watching Caleb there- I see why. Balance, ankle/knee strength in jumping, running, catching yourself and pulling your own body weight- it works all of his large and small muscles but mainly- it challenges him mentally. He has to follow rules, which is tough at his age but when we leave, he passes out HARD.

Have I ever mentioned Caleb’s huge feet? He has been in size 7 shoes for the past couple of months because his feet are gigantic. If baby feet are like puppy paws- then I guess that means he will be a Great Dane. Books are still one of his favorite things in the world and we read about 15 books a day. When I am home Caleb rarely lets Tyler read. In fact, he rips books out of his hands and brings them to me. No idea why but I guess he likes my style! One of the other things is that he will not let Tyler snuggle with me at all. If Tyler tries to snuggle with me, Caleb gets mad and shoves him away and yells. Maybe it’s a boy thing with mama but it is quite interesting.

Sleep: Since daylight savings time affected Caleb (I hate DST! I seriously think it is pointless) he has been going to be around 7:30pm and waking around 6am. One morning he slept until 7:30 and I almost piddled! Some days he takes mega naps that last 3 hrs but normally he naps for around 2.5 hrs. He is rarely waking through the night now- YAY!!! Eighteen months later!!!

Eat: A big difficulty has been getting Caleb to eat salad. Usually he will such dressing off and spit the lettuce out. Today I made kale chips and and he devoured them! Success, and because kale has so much iron in it we are also attacking his anemia!He has always loved broccoli and is finally really starting to eat meat.

I feel like there is nothing big to update in terms of food or sleep since he seems to be leveling out in those areas. The big things right now are words, climbing and tantrums. He’s been screaming when he wants something and cries very quickly. He’s also yelled “no” at me once and hit my leg. That was fun. I guess this is the beginning of tantrums and what I read seems to be true. I’ve read it isn’t really the 2′s that are terrible; it is 18 months and 3 years old. Makes sense.