Checking in on the Household: Caleb

Oh my goodness, it seems that life has been consumed with new baby, Down Syndrome, 2-yr-birthday, the holidays, the terrible twos....whew! Despite all the craziness, the last few months have been really wonderful. Caleb has bloomed as a big brother, and James loves him like crazy. Jon and I find ways to spend one-on-one time with each of the boys, and we enjoy them both so much. They make us smile and laugh, and sometimes I'm just giddy because my heart is so full with a husband who loves me dearly, and two boys who bring me so much joy. I am very happy and blessed with my house full of boys.

Caleb. What can I say about Caleb? I wish I could give you live streaming of an average day around here, so you could truly get a sense of who Caleb is. Caleb is lively, with a song in his heart and a dance in his step. He beebops around the house humming to himself, or does a happy jig with a delighted, "Look at me, Mommy!" He is very observant, and I have caught him imitating me applying my makeup or tying my shoes. He understands things quickly, and has almost gotten "left" and "right" down. One of his favorite songs is the "Clean Up" song. The way I sing it goes like this:
Clean up, clean up
Everybody, everywhere
Clean up, clean up
It's time to do your share

The way Caleb sings it goes like this:
Clean up, clean up
Everybody do my share!

And that's generally what happens. He's content to sing the song while everyone else cleans up. But, that said, he is very helpful, and the song itself is a good way to get him excited about putting things away. Caleb also loves to help in the kitchen. The minute he sees me in the kitchen, I hear, "I help you!" and then, under his breath, "...yellow stool..." as he heads to the bathroom to obtain this favorite object that grants him access to so many things. He carries the stool to the kitchen and promptly finds the least convenient spot to put it (usually directly between myself and the counter) so that he can "help" me measure and pour, stir and shake. His favorite, of course, is washing dishes. What little kid doesn't love running water and soapy bubbles?

Caleb's favorite playtime right now is with Daddy. All Jon has to do is lay on the guest bedroom bed and put his feet up, and Caleb climbs over, under, and on top of his Daddy. This often happens when Jon gets home from work, and they both love it.

Caleb loves to watch movies, though we haven't really gotten into the more popular ones. We stick to Veggie Tales and I'm trying to introduce the old musical classics to him. It's funny to hear him quote a movie randomly in the day. Quoting from Veggie Tales' story of St. Nicholas, he said, "Thank goodness for snow!" only it sounded like "Tae doodiss fur know!" He was so pleased with himself, but it took several tries before I figured out what he was saying.

He's starting to be the poster child for "Kids Say the Darndest Things"--usually pertaining to his potty habits. He has told me he needs to go potty by saying, "There's poop in my booty" or "There's peepee in my [...]" Once the deed is done, he will categorize his poop by size, and yesterday he decided that that particular offering to the porcelain god was "his favorite." It's hard to keep a straight face when one's little boy is so proud of his poop.

 In contrast to his potty humor, Caleb is enamored with royalty. He puts most any object on his head as a crown and proclaims, "I'm king!" He wraps blankets over his shoulders for a majestic train. If he sees a lady dressed to the nines, he will ask, "Her queen?" And we've often discussed the differences between a prince and a princess, as he's as likely to claim himself one as the other. This has led to frequent comments from Caleb about whether someone is a girl or boy. His pronunciation of "girl" is more like "doy-you" and always makes me laugh.

If you haven't gathered from this post (or personal experience), Caleb is a talker. He is always saying something, and if he runs out of things to say, he'll start making nonsense noises. He's full of imagination, and can turn any object into something else. Currently he likes finding see-saws in odd places: a pine branch resting on a pile of things, the bow on my shoe (with the knot being the fulcrum of the see-saw). He imagined that a ball of carpet fuzz was a string of Christmas lights. And his building blocks are always turning into houses or train stations.

His life is full of extremes. Things are "very, very, very, very bad!" or get an approving, "Dat's dood!" He has many "favorites" and is starting to claim his friends (I'm his best friend, by the way).


Not to deceive you, Caleb is definitely two. He throws fits and glowers at us with a frown. He yells and screams, and sometimes outright disobeys us. We spank him, yell at him (because we're not perfect, either), discuss with him, and worry over him. But at the end of the day, we smile.

"No, Mommy. Don't take my picture."

"I said DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE!!!"

 When Caleb started acting like a two-year-old, it really threw us for a loop. Jon and I didn't know how to handle this willful being, and I was afraid the terrible twos would cure me of ever wanting any more children. However, we've gotten into the groove of things and learned a little about how Caleb ticks at this age. When he's angry and glaring at Jon, Jon will say, "That's a good angry face! Now show me a happy face." And Caleb would beam, all anger forgotten. And of course, instead of saying, "No more movies" we say, "Hey Caleb, let's go get your dinosaurs!" and we usually avoid a meltdown.

At some point I have to quit talking about my boy, so I'll end with this little clip of a conversation with Caleb: