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.