cousins

dancing

Cael is so inspired by the music that he strips down and starts to dance. Isabel wanders in and he grabs her arms. They wiggle around to the music together until she sees his discarded diaper. She breaks away from him long enough to take it into the bathroom to dispose of it “properly’ in the diaper pail. Then back she goes to dance with her brother.

lunch

“Please don’t open up your sandwich, Cael.”
“Why?”
“Because it makes a big mess.”
“Why?”
“Because the jelly gets everywhere.”
“Why?”
“Because you opened it up.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re defiant.”
“Why?”
“Because I raised you that way.”
“Why?”
"Because I love you.”
“Oh, okay.”

the sweetest thing

Today Cael bends down to give his sister a big hug, followed by another, and then another. She wraps her arms around his waist and they pat each other’s backs. Later he shares his special treat (a chocolate kiss for pooping in the potty). “Take out your didi, baby, take a little bite of my chocolate.” When we go outside he pulls her around in the red wagon. He points out a slug, picks her flowers, and explains their names, “this is a daisy, baby, and this is a dandelion.” She waives at me as they go by. “Like a princess,” says Cael.

daddy's girl

butterflies

b in a bucket

bragging rights

Isabel’s latest jacket is hot off the press.

empathy

“Cael, can I talk to you?”
“Yup!!!”
“I want to tell you about tomorrow.”
“Yup!!!”
“In the morning, Momma and Isabel and Cael are going to get in the car and go to the doctor for Isabel.”
“No, no, no doctor, Mama.”
“Do you remember the big fish tank?”
“HahahhHA! You funny Mama!”
“And do you remember the nice lady doctor that lets you play with her tools?”
“Yup.
“My sad. My cry.”
“I know, honey. But the doctor will be checking on Isabel this time.”
“Baby sad.”
“Yes, Cael, Isabel might be sad and scared. Cael and Momma need to help Isabel!”
“No, no. Baby sad, MY sad!”

why it would be hard to be a pessimist

Isabel proudly appears in her party dress and Cael exclaims, “Ooooh bleu-a-ful!” Later as we drive home Cael points at the setting sun, “look Daddy, look Mommy, bleu-a-ful!”

kisses and monsters

Both Cael and Isabel are in a kissing phase. Isabel leans in and pecks at all creatures like the kitties, dogs, horses, humans of all shapes and sizes, pictures of bunnies in books, teddy bears, and any animal in a movie. Then she looks over with a big grin. Cael will kiss anything and everything. He picks up the egg, holding it carefully in his hands, brings it up to his cheek with an, “oh egg, kiss egg, hug egg” rocks back and forth a little, and oh-so-gently bestows it with a sweet kiss. Substitute the egg with almost any inanimate object. Also my toe, my elbow, Isabel’s head, and Daddy’s leg.

the birthday girl

Words: mama, dada, hello, cheers, banana, thank you, welcome, kitty, doggie,

Signs: more, eat, dog, bye

Teeth: 8

humpty dumpty

Long before Easter, Cael has been fascinated with eggs. He loves to collect eggs from the chicken coop with Grandma, proudly possessive of each individual egg. He will carry an egg around with him for hours (we switch it for a hard boiled version), sticking it in his dump truck, feeding it to his baby, hiding it in various places, never letting it out of his sight. He sees eggs in every book we read, he requests endless piles of eggs made out of play dough, he throws a fit when we (eventually) have to put the eggs away. We went to three different egg hunts last week and Cael was in egg heaven. While all the other kids and moms gathered as many eggs as they could stuff into a basket, Cael found one or two eggs and cherished them for the rest of the day.

eyes wide shut, mouth wide open

Isabel has learned how to kiss. She lurches at my face, puckered lips and smacking noises, leaning back and clapping with delight. If she is feeling sassy she will come in for a wide open mouth kiss, encompassing nose, cheek, eyebrow, chin… whatever she can connect with. This cracks her up.

the language of Cael

Cael’s most complete sentence to date:

(Under his breath, walking toward Isabel with bat in hand)
“Hit the baby with the bat. Hit the baby with the bat. Hit the baby with the bat. Hit the baby with the bat.”

Cael and Isabel’s first conversation:

Isabel: “Da da da da dadada.”
Isabel: “Da da da.”
Cael: “No da da da.”
Isabel: “Da da da!”
Cael: “No Da da da!”
Isabel: “Da da da da da!”
Cael: “No Da da da da da!”
Isabel: “Daaaaaaaa!”
Cael: NO Daaaaaaa!”
Isabel: DADADADADA!
Cael: NO DADADADADA!
Isabel: EEEEEK!
Cael: NO EEEEEEK!!!

scary movie

Cael covers his eyes with his hands when the Big Bad Kitty chases Stuart Little, peaking out through his fingers. He runs out of the room and stands by the door when Stuart Little gets accidentally thrown into the washing machine. And he covers his ears with his hands when he doesn’t want to hear what his mom has to say, shaking his head and yelling over and over again, “More red car! More red car!” (Which I interpret as, “Please play the Stuart Little movie again, mother dearest I love you very much!”)

on guard

With Isabel on the move Cael is constantly defending his toys from her reach. She is completely enthralled by him, follows him everywhere, and he is quickly becoming disenchanted. But every now and then he glimpses the possibility that she could fill a new roll in his life.

She stands with a precarious, wobbly hold on the piano bench. He starts to attack her with the orange screwdriver, but stops, looks around, runs to get the blue screwdriver (the flat-head), and stuffs it in her hand. Isabel is wide-mouth thrilled as they fence with their plastic screwdriver swords.

what's in a name

After months of referring to a full diaper as a 'poo' Cael has finally met a bear of the same name (thankyou Sierra) in 'Pooh's Heffalump Movie'. Now he picks up every teddybear in the house and shouts "Poop, poop!" and asks to see the movie again by shouting "More Poop, more Poop!" Yes, his language skills are becoming more refined.

water baby

Cael hangs on the edge of the pool and practices getting in and out of the water over and over again. Then he sees the girls. “See gerrs seee gerrs, more gers,” he chants as lurches and kicks and splashes in their direction. They jump and bob in the water, completely oblivious as Cael follows them around the pool in awe. What better motivation to learn to swim than to be able to chase older girls?

carry on my wayward son

Cael brandishes his screwdriver like a sword and gets into a crouched stance with arms at the ready. We think he might be channeling a ninja. Where is this from? We are working on turning his strikes into tickles. It is the reaction he is looking for anyway. He just needs a way to get us. Or “getcheeew” (get you).

Isabel salutes everyone with a huge open-mouth smile. Arm up, palm out. She looks like she might be expecting a high five and bursts into giggles if she gets one. If she happens to have her binkie it looks like she is offering it up. And for added emphasis she brings out the other arm for a two-armed salute.

there's no accounting for taste

Cael insists on watching ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Legally Blonde 2’, pointing out the “Pink dog, pink dog!” on the cover. He then takes a nap clutching a Harpers Magazine, falling asleep with his face in a political opinion essay.

mmmm crayons taste gooood...

Isabel discovers something new every day. She is just getting to a sort of frog-legged-hop-crawl that when combined with the sit-and-spin-roll seems to get her wherever she sets her mind to go. (Cael is running around the living room picking up his toys, “no, mine,” and hiding them from his sister). Today she learned that when she drops her Cheerios onto the floor, that fluffy white thing eats them right up, but if she drops her sippy-cup Mom will return it to her. And she has just developed a new noise. It is a ‘yip’ crossed with an ‘eek’, employed primarily to attract the attention of the person with the nearest supply of food.