caleb is two!

Caleb is a strong-willed, stubborn, independent, and occasionally surprisingly mature little boy, so much so that sometimes it feels like he has been two since at least the beginning of the summer, if not longer. Today, though, is the official day. Here are a few snapshots of Caleb on his second birthday.

• He looks up to Garrett, and is always watching him carefully so that he can emulate his every move.
• His favorite food is a cold yogurt fruit smoothie. He will gulp his down and beg for more before the rest of us have been able to take so much as a sip.
• He is still an avid fan of Blue's Clues. Magenta is his favorite character. Whenever she hops onto the screen, he grins and calls out, "Genta! Genta!"
• And speaking of speaking, Caleb is a talker. He now tries to use words to communicate more often than any other method, and his attempts at replicating words we say and eventually recalling them on his own are, to me, pretty impressive. Some of my favorites of his vocabulary include: hooray, paw print, mine, me, blanket (bandie), baby, cebu, water, cookie, hello, doggy, peek-a-boo, poopy, train (wee-wee), spoon, more, apple, Elmo, umbrella, Garrett (Dar-rett), bubble, bye, go, lap, help, llama, balloon, yellow, and, of course, Mommy.
• He is also starting to speak in short phrases and small sentences: Thank you; Go away; Here you go; I got it; Hi Dad; I did it; Where's Garrett? and What doing?
• He adores babies and is forever taking care of (i.e. swaddling, bottle feeding, etc) his dolly.
• Caleb is incredibly thoughtful, and will often bring Garrett his blanket or a toy without being asked to. (It's really a shame that Garrett usually isn't as grateful as he should be.)
  
• His own silky blue blanket appears to have magical properties. Hand it to him, and his two fingers automatically pop right into his mouth and he is instantly soothed.
• He is also a very good helper around the house. He's the first to help clean up toys or put his dirty clothes in the hamper, and he's the only one of my boys who sticks with the job until it's done. I hope this tendency lasts longer than I'm pretty confident it will.
  
• But he's not all sweet goodness. When he gets mad he gets really, really mad, and he manifests his anger by throwing things -- really hard.
• His favorite part of his evening routine are taking a bath and brushing his teeth. The mere mention of either sends him into a mad dash in the direction of the bathroom.
• Caleb loves to dance and has some pretty sweet moves.
• He also loves to sing. (And by "sing" I mean "fingerplay the words.") His favorite songs are: "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Book of Mormon Stories," "Popcorn Popping," and "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home."
• All that dancing and singing (and playing and running and climbing) makes for a very sweaty boy. Because he is constantly on the move, he is also constantly clammy.
• He still has freakishly awesome, gravity defying hair. It probably isn't fair of me to wish that it will remain like that as he grows into adulthood, but I never want it to change.