Callen's 2 Year Appointment

Callen has never been a fan of the doctor. Probably because he's never been a fan of people he doesn't know very well talking to him, let alone touching him or sticking things in his ears. So all week, I've been playing doctor with him, talking to him about what Dr. S would do, and even going as far as to buy a special set of pull-back cars and telling him that he could have them after his appointment IF he was good and let Dr. S look him over. The preparation (and bribery) seemed to work, and while initially he was resistent to letting her get too close to him, instead of screaming bloody murder like he has the past four or five visits, he did warm up to her and let her measure and examine him. Yay! Thankfully there were no shots today, either, so I am hopeful that his next visit will go just as smoothly.

Cal is healthy as can be, on track with his vocab and motor skills, and, as expected, GIANT for his age. At 31 lbs (80th %ile) and 37.75" tall (off the chart,) he is in the 13th %ile for BMI (which they start keeping track of at 2 years) and is the size of the "average 3 and 1/2 year old boy." Doc even went as far as to say that she had to keep reminding herself of his age when she was asking him questions; to just look at him she said she was expecting him to speak in clear, full sentences. She also said that his height has the potential to cause problems for him for the next couple of years because people that don't know him will expect so much more from him socially and verbally than he is capable of. But he is healthy and happy and to me, that is all that matters!

Moments to remember

Tonight was my turn to put Audia to bed. (Chris and I take turns every night with the kids.) After Jammies, teeth brushing, potty, and books come songs, then snuggling and telling her good things to dream about. When I sing, I sing three songs. The first is 'Once Upon a Time' from the Broadway musical version of Peter Pan. The second song rotates between a few different favorites including 'La La Lu,' 'Goodnight My Angel' (Billy Joel,) and 'I Have Never Loved Someone' by My Brightest Diamond. The third song is always 'Twinkle twinkle little star.' The past month or so, the second song default has become 'La La Lu.' But tonight I decided to mix it up and sing 'I Have Never Loved Someone' instead. When I started singing it, Audia snuggled in closer to me and I could feel her smiling. And when I got to the part that says "When you grow to be Queen or Clown or Pauper...." She said to me, "I'll never be any of those things, mommy. I'll always be your sweetheart even when I'm an adult." I told her that she can be whatever she wants to be and be my sweetheart at the same time, then finished the song and the rest of bedtime. Moments like that are so fleeting, but the types of moments that make everything else melt away. They are the moments I want to bottle up and relive when we're having a rough day and not getting along so well. We had a very long day of cleaning and errand running....the type of day where too much menial stuff was planned and there was very little quality time spent. The type of day that I try to avoid, but sometimes just have to trudge through even though I'd rather be doing a million other things instead. But it is so refreshing to know that even though today was not filled with fun things and quality family time, my sweet daughter still would rather be my sweetheart for the rest of her life than a Queen. :-)

Now You Are Two.....

Callen on the day he was born

Callen at 1 year

Callen at 2 years



Dear Callen,
Today you are 2! And what an amazing 2 years it has been, getting to know you! You, my son, are the sweetest of sweet boys. You brighten our lives so much with your sweet smiles, your snuggly cuddles, and your amazingly silly personality. You love to poke fun, to tease and trick, to do whatever you can to make us laugh. Lately you've started pointing and saying "Hey!" when someone does something like tickle you. It makes my heart melt every time.

Over the past few weeks, it feels like you have exploded verbally. You are saying so many words now, and stringing 5-6 words together at a time, completing thoughts and sentences! It feels to me like this has just happened over night. You also will repeat what other people say, with a question inflection in your voice like you are verifying that what you heard was correct. You understand so much!

You are still (and will always be, I am sure,) OBSESSED with wheels. You LOVE vehicles of all shapes and sizes, but the bigger the better it seems these days. We switched your car seat to be forward facing a few months ago, due to your height, and you love being able to see forward! Any time you see a bus, you'll tell me, "Mama! A Bus!" and if you see a big semi or any sort of out-of-the-ordinary vehicle (a garbage truck, construction vehicles, etc) you let out a loud, "Wooowwww!" that 9 times out of 10 makes me jump.

Another thing you love to do is play with water! Whenever daddy gets home from work, you want to stand on a chair and play at the sink while he makes dinner. You also love baths, showers, the lake, and the water tables that we have here and the one at grandma and grandpa's house.

Other favorite things of yours are the mall (many mornings when we get up you ask, "Mall day?"), play kitchens (you could pretend cook for hours!), looking at photos of nails on my phone (you frequently want to sit in my lap and look through my instagram pics of nail art) and Fievel.

But your most favorite thing is your sister. You love and look up to your sister in a way that makes this mommy's heart melt into a puddle on the floor. Sure, you have moments where you get tired of her directing your play, or times where you don't want to share, but you always want to know where she is and what she's doing. You also always want to get one of anything you might get from me or daddy, be it a snack or a drink or a dessert...whatever...for Audia. I know you don't know it yet, but you are so, so, so lucky to have such an amazingly patient and loving big sister. Audia loves you so much, Callen. She is always looking out for you, and worrying about you, and frequentlygoes out of her way to make sure that you are happy and having fun.

Personality-wise you are, these days, much more shy than your sister has ever been. You like the people that you know, and you do warm up eventually to people that you sense are "safe," but it always takes a little while for you to warm up to even the people you see regularly. You are very considerate, it seems....either that or you really see the benefit of having a clean play space. I frequently see you picking up toys and putting them away (in the right places!) all on your own! Mommy loves this....please keep it up and try to teach your sister to do the same ;-) You also love to bring people things of theirs if you see they are without them. You are constantly bringing daddy and me our phones or our beverages.

You fill our lives with such love, such light, and so many smiles. It sounds corny but you really do complete our family and make it whole. I feel like there is a perfect balance among the four of us; it is not always apparent or in it's best form, but it is there more often than not. I love you so very much, and I am so proud of you, and so excited to see what you will do, my handsome TWO year old!

Love,
Mommy

Callen's 2nd Birthday Party

Callen's birthday is tomorrow. I can and can not believe it. Unfortunately his annual well check isn't until later this month so I don't know exact stats, but I can say that he is in 2T clothing only because it is just barely long enough but still *kind of* hugs his waist. I'm still constantly pulling up his pants and wishing that they were longer. Tall and skinny is an understatement. He is almost as tall as some of our 3 year old play date friends. No joke. No idea where he gets that height from....(*eye roll*)

Anyhoo! We had a smaller party for Callen this year due to his shyness around people he doesn't know very well. My parents were gracious enough to host it at their house; their beautiful and spacious back yard is one of the kids (and our!) favorite places to play and lounge, and luckily the weather held out long enough for us to have our party! It ended up being a really nice day weather-wise, cloudy and in the mid-70's.

We felt especially lucky to have Grandpa Mustache and Uncle Brent come in from Chicago, and Great Auntie Sharon come down from northern MN just for Callen's party. Nana had an art show in IL and couldn't get away, but we look forward to seeing her later this summer!

We did a vehicle theme due to Cal's complete obsession with wheels. I designed the invitations myself using images of various vehicles I found on the web; quick mask quickly became one of my favorite tools in photoshop! lol. I'll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Being bashful as the guests start to arrive

Audia and Grandpa Mustache

Audia and Uncle Brent

Cal and his truck from Audia

The kiddos

Definitely impressed by the Cars toys!

Opening gifts

Workbench from Nana and Grandpa Mustache

All the kiddos

Hugs for Auntie Sharon

Summer is "here"!

You know, if you can really call it summer when it's 55 degrees and raining most of the time. But, school is out and the craziness of May is over, so it's summer to me!

Munchkin's last week of school was the week of Memorial Day. She had "Spring Sing" on Wednesday, which is a concert the kids put on for all the parents/family who wants to watch. She really is such a performer; she loved being in front of a crowd and kept smiling and waving at us the whole concert. Friday was the official last day. She was pretty sad to leave, and has already talked a few times about wishing school could start again sooner. I'm trying to keep our weeks busy, and she'll be starting Gymnastics with a friend next week, so hopefully that will help her to feel like it's not such a total drag to be home with Mom and Brother all the time :-)

Audia and her teacher, Miss Lacey

Audia's birthday is one week past the cutoff for starting Kindergarten in 2013 so she will have one more year of Preschool before moving to the "Big Kid School." I go back and forth about being disappointed and glad that this is the case; on the one hand I feel like she is ready for "real" school but on the other I look forward to having an extra year with her only in school part time, and I can also see benefits later (ie High School) with her being one of the oldest in her class. Not to mention being older when she goes off to college, should she so chose.

Cal's turning 2 next week, and we have his birthday party this weekend. He as just exploded verbally in the past couple of weeks, and is also testing us much more by trying to assert his independence in anything and everything. Thankfully he is still a good sleeper, even though it is taking him longer to go to sleep at night. My good eater has all but disappeared, though, and most days I feel lucky to get him to eat anything at all. Then he'll have a day where he'll eat anything you put in front of him. I have to keep reminding myself that he will eat when he's hungry. It's certainly not like he's not growing....the kid is as tall as some three year olds!

This summer should be a fun one. We have two trips to the cottage planned, as well as many play dates on the books already. And I am second shooting weddings most weekends, which I am really enjoying!