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.