Dear Caelan,
It's hard to believe you have turned 2 and are officially not a baby anymore. It makes me a little sad, but I think about all you have accomplished and how much you have changed in the past year, and it makes me so proud. I can't wait to see what this next year brings. You are different in many ways than your brother at your age. The biggest difference is how vocal you are. You are able to talk in sentences and say tons of words (and we can actually understand you) while Ayden was barely talking at 2. He did lots of signing though, which is why I decided to only teach you a few signs in hopes that you would talk sooner. You did! Not sure if it had anything to do with not learning much baby sign language, but you never fail to let us know what you want or need. You seem older than 2 to me. Not just in how you talk and communicate, but you are always doing what Ayden does and trying to keep up with him. You look up to him so much, and sometimes when we go to drop him off at preschool you will cry for him after he gets out of the car and we drive away. It's so sweet. Then when it's time to pick him up you get so excited to see him when he gets in the car. This isn't every time, but when it does happen it's so sweet. You are such a busy little boy though. I think you are even busier than Ayden was when he was little. You don't let anything hold you back. You were climbing the ladders at the playground and going down the big slides right along with Ayden right after you started walking shortly after you turned 1 year old.
A little about some of your favorite things: You love to watch Caillou (only you you pronounce it Haillou), you love Elmo (you call him MoMo), and you love mac n cheese, hot dogs, yogurt, and donuts! You love and have to sleep with your taggie blankie that I made for you before you were even born, and your doggie that we got for you after seeing how much you loved Ayden's stuffed puppy, Bailey. We couldn't find one that looked like Bailey, but you love it anyway. You are still a great sleeper and never wake up at night, and you don't cry when we put you in your crib to go to sleep for naps or at night. You LOVE your milk though. It is like a drug for you. You have to have it, and if you don't you turn into a monster, not even kidding. You call it "O" for whatever reason though, and we still can't get you to call it milk even though you can say milk. You love books, which makes me very happy! I love when you grab some books off bookshelf and sit down and read them to yourself. You also will bring me books and ask me to read. When we get to the end you always say "The End." You will point at all the pictures while I am reading and say, "Look, Mommy, look!" and then name whatever you are pointing at. You love books about trucks, trains, Thomas the Train, tractors, Elmo, and Caillou. Right now, your favorite book that we read a lot is Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Dusker Rinker. You love to point out all the different trucks in the book and the teddy bear or blankie the trucks sleep with.
You know some letters and numbers, and attempt to count and sing the ABC's, but not in the right order :) Lately you love to sing the Happy Birthday song. I have taken you to Kindermusik since you were about 6 months old and you love it. You always participate in whatever we are doing in class and pay attention. You love to play the echo game and even play it at home with a pretend microphone. You bring it up to one of us and sing "Ba ba ba!" You love getting rides on the tractors and gators at your grandparent's houses. You and Ayden even received a battery operated gator for Christmas that you both love to ride around on outside. You aren't allowed to drive yet because you can't steer, but that doesn't keep you from trying! You love to play in the sandbox and dirt with shovels and buckets. You also love taking baths and, unfortunately, splashing in the tub. You like going on walks and bike rides, but not for long ones because you don't like sitting in the stroller/bike carrier for long periods of time.
You can be very stubborn at times, and have hit the terrible twos stage. Many times you want to do things all by yourself without any help. You also like to hit Ayden, lately, and end up in time-out when you do it. You can be very loving and love to snuggle when you are in the mood. You will give kisses and hugs when you are asked to, but rarely on your own. You are really outgoing and not shy. You say hi and give a big smile to people we walk by on walks and all the checkout people at the stores we go to. Ayden was, and still is the opposite. At your age he would look down or hide his head when people talked to him, but he's getting better now :) You always want to be where the action is, and that usually means hanging out with your brother or "bruber" as you call him. You just started calling him Ayden recently instead of "bruber" all the time.
Your adventurous side got you into trouble shortly before you turned 2. You were at the park with grandma and climbing a ladder to go up to a slide when you fell. When we came home you were pretty quiet and wanted to be held. You took a long nap and seemed okay when you woke up. Throughout the week you were kind of cranky, but you were also getting over a cold so I thought that was the problem. Nine days after you fell I took you to the doctor to have him check you out because you were still a little sick and cranky, and had him look at your arm too because sometimes you would let out a small cry when I would change your shirt. He checked out your arm, and you didn't make a peep, but he had us get x-rays anyway. When the x-rays came back it showed that you had broken two bones in your wrist! We went over to orthopedics to have them put a cast on your arm, and the doctor there saw you running around using your bad arm like normal and couldn't believe it was broken that badly. He could see how we didn't know anything was wrong with it. It was lucky we just happened to be at the doctor for something else and I had him take a look at it. Your cast was on for four weeks, but luckily, it didn't need to be set or pinned. Young children are so resilient that the bone just ends up growing back together. The doctor said you have a really high pain tolerance which could be good (or bad) in the future. Can we say football player? :) He also said you were one of the bravest little boys he had ever seen to go that long with a broken wrist and to seem to not be in any pain.
I love how you ask questions all the time, and that you ask "why?" constantly. It makes me laugh when you pretend you are a dinosaur and stomp around with your arms out and roar at everyone. You are so goofy sometimes and can always make me smile. There is never a dull moment when you are around, and you are always entertaining and keep me on my toes. You are such a special little boy, and I can't wait to see all the ways you change and everything you do in the year to come. You never cease to amaze me, and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to stay home and watch you grow. Just remember how proud I am of you and how much I love you. (Daddy, too!) Every day is a new adventure with you, and it never gets old :)
I love you so much Cael! My whole life changed again on the day you were born and I held you in my arms for the first time. I would do anything for you! I hope you are happy and continue to have a happy, healthy, and safe childhood. I know you will continue to make me laugh, amaze me, and make me so proud in the many years to come!
Love always and forever,
Mommy
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| 1 year old |
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| 2 years old |
