Birthday Boy

Our cute little fatty turned two this month! We made him a yummy cake and put all his favorite characters on it. 

He loved that Tom wore a Ninja Turtle shirt for the occasion and he spent a really long time pointing at all the characters.

For his birthday party, we had his two friends, Grayson and Lydia (and their parents) over for a waffle dinner and some cake. We also got fresh pineapple because Caleb loves pineapple. He didn't even eat his waffle. All he ate was pineapple! And this is the way he often smiles now when we ask him to smile for a picture:

Caleb loves trains and buses. He spends a great deal of time in the car yelling "BUS!" or "Dee-dee- BUS!" (City Bus). He builds with trains at home quite a bit. And Buddha is one of his favorite toys. Tom's brilliant caption to this picture is: "Derailed on the track to enlightenment."

Caleb has an obsession with shoes. As soon as the girls put down their boots or tennis shoes, he puts them on. He's worn my shoes and Tom's shoes all over the house. It makes leaving the house quickly difficult because no one can find any shoes! Recently, Tom left his big boots in the hallway and Caleb was in heaven! It was hilarious.

We took 2-year-old portraits of Caleb one afternoon. This is our "Best of" series. 

Showing off his oversize tongue:

He was very interested in the light umbrellas, and even gave them kisses.

In this one he's woofing like a dog.

Before too long he started going behind the backdrop...

...so we got out his trains to keep him in frame. He would drive them very slowly over the hill, then suddenly throw them off the cliff.

Sometimes he really hams up his smiles, and he squints his eyes so tight he closes them.

Then he suddenly became interested in the camera itself, and very seriously came in closer to have a better look.

Caleb is a crazy man, but plays really well by himself. He loves to build with Legos and spends a lot of time playing with Legos or building train tracks. Oh, and tupperwares. He loves getting out all the tupperwares and stacking them and re-stacking them. And then setting the lids on them. One day we opened the tupperware cabinet to see two small tupperwares, each with one of Caleb's dirty socks inside, with the lids on the top. He loves to throw himself onto things. He has to do a front flip into his bed. But he's still a cuddler. He still carries his Olaf blankie around sucking his thumb. His current favorite show is Octonauts (he loves the song) and though we watch very little TV around here, he often gets on the couch, gets all settled, and then starts screaming "My NOTS!" and pointing at the TV. He's very demanding. When he doesn't get his way, he does one short, high-pitched scream in protest. It's hilarious. He doesn't have any fears when it comes to climbing and jumping, but the vacuum recently has started scaring him and he gets nervous during scary parts of TV shows or movies. He has to come cuddle during those. His vocabulary is expanding, though there are still only a few words an outsider would probably understand. Ee-AA=Celia, Mina=Sabrina, Nah-nee=Peanut Butter sandwich, Myo-myo=oatmeal, etc. He is just getting to the point where he realizes we should understand what he's saying, but we often don't and that's frustrating for him. Before, we could always change the subject and distract him from what he wanted. Now he keeps saying the same thing over and over getting frustrated that we're not guessing correctly. He loves to listen to singing and stories. He still frequently makes us sing the chorus of "Angels We Have Heard On High." If he says "oh-ee-ah" we have to sing the long "gloria" part, and when he says "dee-dee," he's asking for "in excelsis Deo." If he gets on a reading kick (at least once a day), he will bring book after book after book for you to read. This past week, he found a bowler hat I have for a Mary Poppins costume and he's insisted on wearing it when we go out. So, now he's our dapper little 2-year-old man. We love him, obviously.

Oh, and then Tom had a birthday, too a couple weeks later. He made himself (and us and some friends) delicious dessert crepes with ganache and homemade ice cream and the two of us finally went to see the new Star Wars movie for the occasion. Happy birthday to the boys of the family!