Callie at 2 (and a half) Years

Note: I started writing this post in June, right after our Callie June turned 2.  I got the first two paragraphs typed up, and then . . . nothing.  It sat languishing in my blog post list for months.  Till now.  I'm determined to have it recorded, and only wish I had done so when she was freshly two years old because oh my, how things can change in 6 months.  She's growing so fast!  How can we make time stop (or at least slow down a bit?).  What my mom says is true - the days may seem long but the years fly by like grace notes of a song.

Also, a warning: This is a very, very wordy post.  It's probably not very exciting to anyone but her parents (and grandparents maybe).  I have thrown in a bunch of random and mostly non-relevant (except the part that they are of Callie) photos, but mostly I really wanted "the stuff" and Callie-isms recorded in a place that I will see it on occasion.  Someday I hope to print out our blog into a book (or many!) for a little more permanent record.  But for now, this will do.

I'm sure I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but it's true, so it's worth repeating.  Every age/stage that Callie has been through in her short (but sometimes long) two years of life has been better than the last.  (Obviously there are those stages of really, really bad sleeping, or tantrums for no reason, which are not my fave - but we're talking overall here.)  Callie at two is a joy!  We are constantly amazed at what she can say and do, and we're constantly smiling (or trying not to laugh out loud if it's not an appropriate time) at the big personality that is bursting out of her little body.  Here are just a few of the things we think are pretty dang cute these days:

"Hiiii, Daaaad!"  (I don't know how to describe what this sounds like very well - it sort of starts out high with the "hi" and ends a little lower and really drawn out with the "dad" and it usually involves some sort of nuzzling her head on Gregg's neck/arm/stomach/leg.  Melts my heart every time.

She can recite poetry, books, and songs of all kinds.  Some of her faves: The Wise Man and the Foolish Man, How Do You Like to Go Up in a Swing?, Muffin Man, Humpty Dumpty, Go Go Grapes, I am a Child of God, In the Leafy Treetops, This Little Piggie, Choo Choo the Big Train.  My favorite is when she'll randomly say some line from a book - usually completely out of context, but sometimes sparked by something we're doing or saying (like, "Rejoice!" from our Autumn Alphabet Acrostic book).

Loves: nursery, parks, swings, splashing rocks, walking by herself, playing pretend (in her kitchen or with a stroller or wagon with a baby doll/Minnie or as a doctor (she'll get these little hearts that are attached to a piece of twine that are supposed to be tied around some pumpkin decorations and use them as "heartbeats" - ie stethoscopes - to listen to our hearts) or shopping with her cart (she often goes to buy cilantro) or feeding, napping, burping her Minnie doll), playing with kids (especially cousins who play back), reading stories, doing puzzles, going to the library, watching "songs" (Mother Goose Club) or Daniel Tiger on TV, eating gummy worms, running, eating a picnic, being outside, going to Grandma's house(s), seeing pictures or videos of herself, stoplights, Music Makers, "wheel carts" (the kind of shopping carts that some stores have with steering wheels for her to drive), gondolas, making a fire (mostly just because she knows she'll get to eat a marshmallow then), visits or being visited by aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, grandparents, going to a restaurant, playing games ("no match", uno, pass the pigs and candy land are her faves).

Callie is such a great helper in the kitchen!  She can wash grapes and mushrooms, dump ingredients, recite the recipe for pizza dough or oatmeal, empty the dishwasher, sweep the floor, peel stickers off fruit, lick beaters, cut soft things (like olives, mushrooms, etc) with her plastic knife, set the table (she gets the silverware and napkins all by herself, without even being asked most nights).

She's learning / has learned: to climb the ladders (not just the stairs) at the park, to like stickers now (she used to be terrified of anything sticky), to count from 11-20 (and beyond - turns out 11-20 is a lot harder than 20-30), to count backwards from 10, to turn on the lights by herself (with the help of a chair or overturned basket as a stool), to buckle herself in her high chair, to be quite the proficient nose picker, and to use scissors.  She knows her ABC's forwards and backwards (mostly).  She's also learning the sounds of letters and will often ask things like "bed/temple/carseat/pumpkin starts wiff a?"  When I respond by exaggerating the sound of the first letter (like "buh buh buh bed") she can usually tell what letter it is (she does get stuck on C sounds like cuh and usually defaults to K having that sound, but she's an expert at S, B, T, M and P words).

She sleeps in her own bed and after the few months before and after Sam's birth, she's doing much better about sleeping most of the night (minus one or two bad dream wake-ups).  Also related to her bed - she'll stay there after she wakes up in the morning or from her nap until we come in to get her.  She's physically capable of getting on and off all by herself since it's just a mattress on the floor, but she won't get off until we are there.  Pretty dang amazing, if you ask me!  She's still taking one nap a day (hallelujah!) ranging from about an hour and a half to sometimes 2 1/2 plus (I really like those days!).

Not a huge fan of: slides, walking on the tile in bare feet (though this has improved in the last few months).

Some funny things she says/does:
- scolds herself ("no hitting!" - as she's hitting, of course)
- "What do you see?" (this was something we'd always say to her in the car to distract her from being fussy, then she started saying it to herself without us even having to ask
- "Be right back"
- "All by aself"
- "What the?"
- "Bam!"
- talks to herself ("hey Cowie")
- "I love you!" (it's the best when it's unprompted, and sometimes it sounds more like "Mom loves you" as she nuzzles her head on my shoulder)
- "I love P!" (her first joke - she'll say this and point to anything around her and then giggle and giggle)
- Play maydoh = playdoh
- Ganoert/Ganogert = yogurt
- Karens = crayons
- "Mom/Dad doing the chin!" = chewing
- Queenext = Kleenex
- "Turn off your jacket" = take off my jacket
- Nemember = remember
- Hostibital = hospital
- Flashing light = flashlight
- L sounds like Y or W depending on the word (ie Yeamanites = Lamanites, Cowie = Callie)
- Forwegot = we forgot
- ending everything with "doh" = though
- serious voice (sort of quieter than normal, chin tilts down, mouth barely opens, rambles on and on)

Callie sings to herself all the time (makes up songs, too - most recently was singing in the car "We are going to Grandma's house to make a gingerbread house!").

During the summer she was the best noticer of bugs and would typically have two rather opposite responses: 1) "Eeeeeeeew!" or 2) "Look!  There's a bug." (said in a very non-dramatic, matter-of-fact way with a fake deep voice).

Cal absolutely loves and thrives on routines.  She needs to know what is coming up for the day and she also loves to recap in bed before falling asleep at night.

She can say pretty much any word you ask her, including pomegranate, cornucopia, Feliz Navidad, etc.  But English is a hard language to get the hang of and still gets her yous/yours and mes/mines mixed up.  Callie: "Have a party at your house!" (she means her own house)  Person she's talking to: "A party at my house?"  Callie: "No! At your house!"

She has the most amazing memory.  Tell her something once and it is stuck there in her little brain forever, it seems.

She is a great eater - most non-picky kid I've ever seen.  Some of her favorite things to eat: french fries, tomatoes, oranges (she and I both love that she can peel and eat those little cuties all by herself), cheese, raisins, oatmeal, candies (she knows the cashiers at Valley Market give out dum dums and she doesn't wait for them to ask me if it's okay to have one before asking them for one herself), fruit snacks, rice, noodles, French toast, pizza, olives, cheese, quesadillas, eggies.

Holy moly!  Two and a half years with this little firecracker in our lives.  I'm sure grateful I get to be her mom and get to come along for the ride.



Watch Callie grow:  18 months | 12 months | 11 months | 10 months | 9 months | 
8 months | 7 months | 6 months | 5 months | 4 months | 3 months | 2 months | birth