This a conversation Caleb had with his mommy today.
Caleb (talking to Yvonne): I was in your tummy for a long time
Yvonne: Yes, Caleb. You were.
Caleb: It was dark inside. It was really dark. I couldn’t see anything.
Learning Words and Numbers
Caleb loves learning. He’s known numbers and letters for probably almost a year now. He was pretty good at counting up to 20. But recently, he’s been practicing past 20. Caleb also loves reading, and he’s always asking about words in the books he’s reading. “What’s that word?†is a common question he asks while reading his books. Of course sometimes he points to numbers in the books as well. Generally, when Caleb picks up on something, he runs with it. For example, we were reading a garbage truck book for bedtime recently. On the last page, it says, “Who am I? The garbage truck, that’s who.†So you might hear Caleb say, “Who am I? The garbage truck, that’s who.†Or he may even vary it a little bit, by saying, “Why am I? Caleb, that’s who.â€
Now this is all fun and cute if he recalls the proper things. If you go to Amazon.com, you can take a look at this book inside, First Virtues for Toddlers. You can click the “Search inside this book†link and view the table of contents. Well, Caleb was doing his duty on the potty chair. While he was reading this book, he points at a number and asks what this number is. I answer 69.
Caleb, unaware of the sexual connotations of this number, uses it to answer many things that have to do with numbers. Caleb lately likes to ask, “what time is it?†Of course I tell him the time, even though he really doesn’t understand the concept of time. It’s all a set up for him. It’s like tossing up a softball. He already knows what he’s going to say.
Caris & Chris
Caris is chatting it up. Well, kind of. This video was taken about a month ago… so, she’s more talkative now.
Caleb’s Sleep
So, Caleb’s sleep has always been easily disrupted. About a month ago, new neighbors moved in behind us with a dog who loves to bark. I was praying that the dog would quickly learn to be quiet so he wouldn’t wake up my son anymore from his mid-day nap. I noticed shortly after that there was no longer any barking. Yay, prayer answered affirmatively! 🙂 So, Chris & I have been wanting to visit our new neighbors with a welcome gift. We finally got around to going to their house this past Saturday. We learned that they gave their dog to the animal shelter since he wasn’t adjusting to the smaller house and backyard. Awh, now I feel bad. But my son is back to taking longer daytime naps.
Caleb has been talking in his sleep sooo much lately. In the middle of the night, he yells out these words and then goes back to sleep, usually. I’ve just spent the last hour listening to him babble away in conversation with himself. He’s practicing all these sounds, words, and phrases. Kinda cute. But not as much at 5:30AM. This boy just can’t shut off his brain. Sleep seems to always be the first thing affected when things change in Caleb’s life… good or bad things. Oh well, another developmental phase. Hopefully, we’ll have a big boy who can communicate better with us soon. We love you so much, Caleb.
Oh, How They Grow
Just to update you a little on Caris. She is doing great. At this stage in her life, she is sleeping great. She has problems with wanting to sleep, which is something Caleb has always had, even now. Caris does what a regular baby is suppose to do. She sleeps. She eats. She poops. And she doesn’t fuss much at all. She didn’t even cry when she came out of the womb! Relatively, she has been an easy baby. We get less sleep because of her, but she does make it as easy as possible for us.
Compared to Caleb, it’s almost night and day. Caleb was wailing the moment he came out of the womb. Caleb couldn’t be soothe by simply holding him. We had to pull out all the weapons to get to stop crying at times. And then he didn’t want to sleep either. He required to be held to sleep. He’d cry whenever we put him down. He hated the car seat. No HATED the car seat. From that first cry in his first ride home until he was tall enough to see outside, he’d cry in that car seat.
Not much has changed with Caleb. He’s still the loud boy that he was born as. He cries loud. He screams loud. He even talks loud. But he’s our big boy. And boy has he ever grown. He’s learned to sleep (mostly) through the night. He’s thickening up again. His butt is so big. His feet are so big. His head is so big. I went in tonight to go soothe him cause he was crying right after holding Caris, and my goodness. I keep forgetting how big a boy Caleb is now.
Now we just need to protect his brain until he gets older. There’s the cure for cancer in there.
Among the other things he’s grown into, he’s learned to talk. And not just talk, but talk a lot. They say a 2 year old boy can say an average of 50 words. I said before I thought he knew about 80 words. Well, he just keeps learning more and more each day. We counted the words off the top of our head, and have them listed here.
- mama – Mommy
- dada – Daddy
- doo doo – Gung gung
- popo – Grandma
- bah – ball
- ba ba ba – blueberry
- uh oh – uh oh
- doo doo – reverse, backing up
- baahh bah – Bob (the Builder)
- poo poo – Poop
- watermelon
- banana
- water
- mango
- magnet
- strawberry
- up
- down
- help
- out
- more
- milk
- no
- bao bao
- head
- heart
- square
- bus
- duck
- dog
- squirrel
- deer
- mouse
- cat
- cow
- walk
- toast
- toes
- nose
- train
- hat
- diamond
- oval
- bike
- car
- star
- moon
- boz
- digger
- grandpa
- grandma
- natalie
- button
- computer
- gorilla
- done
- monkey
- crocodile
- butterfly
- bird
- horse
- rooster
- sheep
- bunny
- baby
- wagon
- tofu
- applesauce
- one
- bubble
- truck
- stuck
- light
- peek-a-boo
- fish
- bowl
- book
- turtle
- bear
- shoulder
- door
- goat
- boat
- fire truck
- airplane
- helicopter
- bye
- bucket
- booger
- open
- hot
- watch
- sock
There are probably more, but this is what we could remember. If you count, that’s 93 words that we know of that he speaks. Sure, they all sound very similar and he doesn’t say them correctly, but they are distinct. Our big boy is a genius.
Of course he’s also very assertive. I’ve been taking him to Gymboree the past few days while I’m home, and he likes them boys with curly hair. He likes them a little too much. So much in fact that he likes to pull their hair and hit them. Or maybe he just likes to make them cry. I don’t know. But we have to channel him in the right direction. At this point, he can be a great leader. Or simply a bully. The latter we’re trying to avoid.
Picture Time
Caleb with his new toy (our new massage thingy) 
Yvonne multi-tasking. This is why she doesn’t get enough rest. She always has to be doing something. 
Caleb eating. He’s so big. 
Caris sleeping. She’s so small 
Their feet. 
We got Caris’ first week pictures today. But their printer was down. Once we get the CD, we’ll post them up. That last picture there was done by Kiddie Kandids.