I have a TWO year old!

So I've been meaning to write this post for the past couple of weeks, but I'll be honest, I've been busy and overwhelmed by a few things these last several weeks and just haven't gotten around to it. That and I've been wanting to do a little photo shoot with him beforehand and didn't get that done (albeit not as successful as I had hoped) until today.

Caleb turned 2 on June 25th. We had a birthday party for him on the 23rd at our house. He had lots of friends come over and Namnah and Papa Calton came and Evan and Crystal came as well. Also, my sister Tori and her mom, Linda came and they brought Alyssa with them, which was a nice surprise. :) It was a great little party. Caleb gets a little overwhelmed when there are lots of people, so he did kind of play by himself some, but you know, he's also two. It was fun to have our friends over. I took a bunch of photos... but I can't find most of them. So weird. Hopefully I'll be able to find them and then update this post- for now, what I have will have to do.

He also got a purple escalade power wheels car that we're leaving at Namnah's house for his birthday... I can't find those pictures either (hopefully I didn't delete them).

Giant spider web

I love that yummy baby.

Love Caleb's face here when asked to blow out the candle.

Eating chocolate cupcakes is serious business.

This is right before she asked me if she could have another. 

Look at this handsome kid!

Too cool for school. 

Eating any cupcakes is serious business.

On the next day we had a family party for my side of the family, since none of them could make his party on Saturday. It worked out nicely though because the house was pretty full on Saturday and I can't imagine having all of my family there, too at the same time. Sunday was nice, Momma Jean and Papa, Susan, Barry, Debbie, Torrence, Ashley and her girls, Kayla, Hannah, Sarah, Carolyn all came. It was really nice. We had yummy food, sang happy birthday and ate cake and ice cream. Again, I have no idea what happened to the photos that I took. I don't have any at all from that night. So strange.

On his actual birthday, we went to Inflation Nation with my sister, Ashley and met some friends there (Lindsey and Debbie with their kids). That was a lot of fun. Then we ran errands. Later that evening, his friend Tabetha came over and they played with his new bubble machine outside and waited for the ice cream truck, which never actually came (so unfortunate too, I even asked her to come around 7:15 for his birthday- she usually comes around 8, but ended up not coming at all. Luckily, I had two popsicles in the freezer for them to enjoy.

So, I'd say he had a great birthday with lots of fun celebrations! :)

At his 2 year check-up, Caleb was pretty much in the 50-60% range for weight, height and head circumference. I can't remember how tall he is right now, but he weighed 28lbs even.

- He has great gross motor skills, which are steadily improving daily. He can now climb into the van and into his car seat (which is still rear-facing, by the way) all by himself. He can climb in and out of his high chair booster seat. He loves to stand on the arm of the sofa and jump onto the sofa seats. He climbs onto the table (but you know, he's been doing that for awhile). His new thing is climbing on the back of the sofa.

- His fine motor skills are being worked on. The doc asked if he could draw with a crayon/marker... and well, I don't think he mimics lines, most of the art we do is finger painting. He suggested we work on that a little, but I'm not worried. He also doesn't really use a fork or spoon. He eats most things with his hands, though we offer him a fork/spoon with each meal. He can use both, just not super efficiently yet, so he prefers his hands... but he doesn't like when his hands get messy so sometimes, he eats like a cat (face into the plate). Funny boy. :)

- He continues to love music. I really think he's gonna have some talent there. I can't wait until he's old enough to start music lessons (okay, I can wait, but you know what I mean). He loves to sing and it only takes him a few times hearing something before he has the general idea of how it goes. He still includes gibberish in some songs, but he's getting really good. Les Miserable is still one of his favorites, but he knows a wide range of music already.

- He speaks in 1-2, sometimes 3 word phrases. His favorite thing to say right now is, "I want this". It's pretty cute... most of the time (sometimes he says it over and over again when he can't have something).
When I'm on the phone and he can tell it's nearing the end, he'll say, "Alright, bye" or "I you (I love you), bye" or something along those lines. He says, "Daddy wort (work)" several times a day. He also likes to talk about other people, his favorite these days, are his friend, Layla and he'll talk about Becca and his Namnah and Papa and sometimes Momma Jean and Papa. I don't know what he's saying sometimes, but it's pretty cute. He's also picked up quite a stutter... which is normal, and nothing I'm worried about. He mimics a lot these days and really has quite a vocabulary, though you have to fill in a lot of the blanks and use context clues to figure out what he's saying. So at the lake, "Daddy wawa" He was telling me that he got in the water with daddy. Or at night, he says, "Mama yaydown (lay down)" to let me know he wants me to lay down with him. He knows things like steam, bright ("It's bright" when the sun is in his eyes). There are other things he says, but I can't remember what they are right now.
Edit: I remembered more things this morning- he knows a lot of words, nouns, adjectives, verbs- just has a hard time putting them together into complete sentences. If he wants you to read him a book, he'll bring you a book and say, "Thank you". Another favorite thing he does now, is says, "ayeah" while he's talking to himself. It's super adorable. He'll be talking about whatever- this morning it was stacking blocks and talking about them as he stacks and then he'll say, "ayeah". I also love how he changes tones while talking. When he reads to himself, he always ends with "the end".

- He still signs "yes" but that's the only sign he uses. He also doesn't wave anymore. He just says "hi" and "bye".

- He is in that stage that everyone has always talked about, usually referred to as the Terrible Twos... though I've also heard it called the Terrific Twos. He's definitely expressing himself in a lot of not fabulous ways lately. I know he's just trying to test his boundaries and become more independent and expressive, but I'll be honest, it can be really frustrating for me sometimes. There is a lot of screaming when he doesn't get what he wants right away. Though, if you ask him not to whine or fuss, he'll change his voice most of the time and it's adorable! He will also take deep breaths when you ask him to and that's a good help. I'm convinced that it's less his age and more the lack of quality sleep he gets- because let's be honest, aren't we all a little more grouchy when we're tired. I know I am.

- He doesn't like it when Adelaide looks at him, or touches him, or touches something that I am touching, or that is his. He really has a hard time with it. I think part of it is because he's not used to sharing anything and Adelaide is older now and more interested in toys and people and loves attention- you know, I hold her and read to her and sing to her and play with her just like I do with Caleb.

- He's pretty smart and oh so clever. I was trying to get him to take a photo one day (which is becoming a nearly impossible task these days.) and he pointed in front of him (behind me) and said "Adelaide". When I turned around to look, he ran off. And he already blames Adelaide for things that she doesn't even have the capabilities to do- like make messes.

- He's sneaky! If there's food out (bananas, peaches, cupcakes, cookies) he will get to it... and has no shame either. But, he also will help me clean up.

- This should really be further up where I talk about his language development, but he says, "Big Mess" or "Itsa big, big mess" so cute! He also likes to point out "big trucks".

- He knows his colors really well now and loves to name them (main colors- red, blue, yellow, purple, orange, green). I haven't taught him other colors like white, pink (though he named pink the other day) black or brown.

- Not really interested in going potty in the potty, but will sit on the potty.

- He can count to three (if you start with one) and sometimes five... though he often times skips four.

- When you ask how old he is, he says, "two".
- When you ask who is best friend is, he says, "Layla".
- When you ask what his name is, he did say "you", but now he understands it's Caleb- it's just not understandable to most people.
-When you ask who is favorite superhero is, he says, "Daddy".
- He can name all of his family members (including aunts and uncles and grandparents).

- He has some pretty good dancing skills and will dance whenever music is on. (Sunday, I noticed he was dancing in the pew at church during one of the songs in sacrament).

- He's becoming a little pickier lately with his foods. He has finally tried meet and seems to like chicken, but it's hit or miss. Lately, he's not been wanting to eat much of what's been prepared. But he does usually eat his veggies... usually (not tonight).

- He's starting to get shy around new people or strangers, then when he feels comfortable he really shows off.

- He's starting to do more actual play with friends, versus parallel play, though there is still a lot of that going on.

- He loves dogs and sometimes we'll go to the park and he'll ask to go to the dog park so we can watch them.

- When we're reading to him, he'll often mouth the words.

- He loves to mimic prayers and sometimes even says the sacrament prayer during the sacrament prayer at church.

- He loves to make mommy and daddy proud and loves the praise. It's super cute how he'll get so excited when he does something you ask him to do and will come running to tell you he did it.

- He's an awesome, smart, handsome little guy and we are just so in love with him and glad and grateful that he is a part of our family.

I guess this ends the regular monthly updates for this sweet boy. I guess I'll update every six months for a couple of years and then each year after that. I don't know. I still can't believe he's two. I love my sweet boy.

Here are some photos from his Two- Year photo shoot. :) Hopefully, I'll get to edit the rest soon and they will have their own blog post. :)

I really love his smile here.. sweet and innocent. Just pure joy while riding his "Yeehaw" as he calls it (so funny because he knows what a horse is and he knows it is a horse).