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.