Caleb Chase, Age 2

2 year old photo by Ashley Phillps Photo

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 Before it got too far down the line, I wanted to stop and remember a few things about Caleb at age 2.  He is our cuddly, sweet, sensitive, thumb-sucking, blanket loving boy.  He loves to be held, and to flash his adorable little dimple to flirt with anyone in sight.  He knows he's cute, and enjoys charming the ladies around.  Caleb loves Clayton with a devotion that is so neat to watch.  He is the first to pat Clayton on the back, share food that his brother likes, and to bring him toys or his blanket when he's upset.  The twins love to be in each other's company, and get along very well.  He also is the first to pick on big brother and knows just how to get under Benton's skin by poking him or running in Benton's room uninvited.  He's a smart one, and his personality reminds me very much of his big brother.

Caleb is still our more picky eater.  He would really love to live on meat and bread alone.  It's to the point where I quit serving bread with our meals because it's all he wanted to eat.  Caleb knows how all the bread is packaged from all the places we get take-out, so I have to hide those too.  He has his daddy's sweet tooth, and his favorite meal of the day is breakfast.  Its not unusual for him to eat two or three bowls of cereal.  Caleb is still tiny, weighing in at 23.5 pounds, bottom of the growth chart.  He's not very tall either.

Anything with wheels are Caleb's favorite thing to play with.  He loves the parking garage we got him for his birthday, and has never met John Deere tractor or construction vehicle he wasn't excited about.  Like Benton, Caleb could read books all day long.  His favorites are Thomas the Train books, any books about animals, and tractor/construction books.  Outside, Caleb loves to slide and will count "three" and giggle all the way down.  He is a climber.  When we went to Great Wolf Lodge, he went down the water slide over and over.  He is the braver of the twins.  Just like most boys, he is happiest outside.  Put a golf club in his hands or his big dump truck, and he is one happy camper.  Caleb also like to work puzzles, play with shape sorters, and build/know over towers with blocks.

We recently converted the boys' cribs to toddler beds.  Caleb was super excited.  In fact, I've never seen him so happy.  He alternated between saying "big boy bed" and "I love it" literally hundreds of times in the hour it took to convert both beds.  For at least a week afterward, Caleb took every visitor at our house to see his big boy bed.  He is very obedient, and stays in bed when told.  Caleb has always been our early bird, and he usually wakes close to 7 and talks happily in his bed until it's time for breakfast.  He still naps every day, most days for 2-3 hours.  Both boys are very attached to their blankets.  Caleb very carefully finds the corner of his blanket in his left hand, puts his right thumb in his mouth, and is happy as can be in his bed.  

Caleb is talking mostly in complete sentences.  He is very verbal, and we've been hearing "I do it myself" a whole lot.  We definitely have a pair of two year old boys.  Some of my favorite Caleb quotes at this age are:

• "OH MY DOODNESS" said in context, usually with lots of pauses in between words.  I can never keep from smiling when he uses this phrase.
• "I wuv you."  Caleb is such a sweetheart.  He hears and says this often.
• When asked what his name is, he smiles and says "Chase Anner."  I've been trying to teach the boys their full names, and he likes to go just by Chase if you ask him his full name just to be ornery.  He will occasionally answer correctly.
• If anyone toots or poops and I ask who did it, he passes the blame along.  Usually he is the guilty party and he tells me "Tayton tooted" or "Tayton pooped."  I guess that's funny at an early age.
• Caleb is still getting used to Hunter's haircut.  When he sees him on FaceTime he will say "Daddy look funny" or "Daddy's hair funny" or even "Daddy hat on"
• One of his favorite games is pretending to be asleep.  He could tell us "night night" close his eyes, then pop up and say "good morning" all.day.long.
• It breaks my heart when he tells me "My chest hurt.  Need breathing treatment and watch movie" but it sure is nice that he can let me know when his asthma is bugging him.

I love this boy and his cheesy smile!

We've only been apart for two weeks, but it feels like so much longer.  We are really missing our guys.  You are very loved Caleb Chase Hanner!