Snow 2015

 I know...it was a warm and sunny spring day today, but just a few weeks ago we were the recipients of several inches of snow.  We weren't quite properly prepared with thick, water-proof coats, and snow boots, so we made do:  layers, thick boots, and a pair of socks for mittens.  It worked fine for our purposes.  We didn't stay out in it long, but we had fun.
Last year when it snowed, this is how Caleb looked when we first went out in it:

 This year:

 He loved catching the fat snowflakes on his tongue!  His little cheeks weren't as red as last year, but the snowflakes still got caught in those luscious lashes of his.  We couldn't get him to make a snow angel like last year, though...maybe next year.

Neat Freak or Soup Nazi?

So this happened tonight after dinner:

I was trying to pour the extra minestrone soup I had made for dinner into a freezer bag for future enjoyment.  Not realizing that the soup was still really hot, I accidentally touched some of it, causing me to jump...and the soup to spill onto the counter...and inside the drawer...and down the cabinet...and inside the cabinet...and into the floor...and all over my pants and shoes.  I'm sure I made some sort of ecstatic utterance to mark the occasion.  While I was of course angry over the mess, Caleb took it to a whole other level. 
He started shouting, "Oh, no! Oh, no!" over and over again for nearly a minute.  The kid was literally on the verge of tears and a melt down.  He was only consoled by Mommy holding him and reassuring him that it was going to be OK. 
He was either flipping out over the colossal mess on his clean(ish) floor.  Or he was devastated over the waste of perfectly good soup.  Seeing as he never seems to mind a mess on the floor and he didn't even eat any of said soup, I'm going with a different theory.  I think my little sweetheart could tell that Mommy was upset (for the aforementioned reasons), and he just wanted to mourn with those who mourn (over spilled soup).  I must admit, it made a frustrating and messy situation much more bearable - to see him so upset probably for no other reason than it made me upset.  It took me a while to clean up the soup, but I had a smile on my face the whole time thinking of how precious our sweet boy is.

Numbers Everywhere

Have you ever noticed that there are numbers literally everywhere you turn?  I never did until Caleb learned to say and identify them.  Now, we'll be walking through a parking lot, and he will shout "2!" or "9!" when he sees them on a license plate.  Or we'll be in the store and he'll shout "8!" or "3!" as we pass the check-out lanes or a sale sign.  Maybe we have a mathematician-in-the-making on our hands!

 Mathematicians wear overalls, right?

Do you know the Muffin Man?...

...I do.  And his name is Caleb.  This boy loves cooking (and eating, of course!) muffins!

For the Birds...

We have two bird feeders right in front of our kitchen table where we can watch the birdies eat while we do the same.  Caleb has decided that filling the bird feeders is just as much fun as watching the birds.  He usually says something like "Birds" or "Feed" when we walk past the bag of bird seed.  Mommy let him help earlier this week...
Here's how the process went:  Mommy begins to tip the bag of bird seed to pour it into the feeders; Caleb sticks his hand under the bird seed just before Mommy pours it out, causing the bird seed to go flying everywhere (except the place where it is supped to go - the bird feeder).

 Caleb acts surprised when Mommy informs him that the bird seed must actually go into the bird feeder.  "What, you're not supposed to pour all of the seeds on the ground?"

 Caleb decides he will put all of the fallen seeds into the bird feeder by hand...one at a time.

 Mommy gets tired of waiting and proceeds to fill the bird feeder (via the conventional method) and puts the feeders back.  Caleb proceeds to put the fallen seeds back in the bag...one at a time.

 Caleb decides that feeding the birds - err, squirrels - is fun.  The squirrels decide that they prefer Caleb over Mommy.

Communication Skills

It is truly amazing the speed at which toddlers acquire and use new words.  Just a month ago, Caleb wasn't really saying much, but, now, he seems to be picking up new words every day.  And actually using them correctly.  I don't know who was more surprised - him or me - when he said he wanted some more cheese and I actually understood him (and brought him more cheese, of course).  Now we're practically carrying on in-depth conversations on the origins of life on planet Earth...well, maybe we're not quite there yet, but we're working on it.
While I understand Caleb (most of the time), I recognize that it may be difficult for those of you not well-versed in toddler communication skills.  Here's a short list of Caleb's most commonly used words (and his special pronunciations):
No - "No" (spoken like a native French speaker while forming a large circle with the mouth)
Uh oh - "Uh oh" (spoken with a very grave and foreboding tone)
No No - "Nanu" (think Mork from "Mork and and Mindy")
Outside - "Zide" (almost spoken like the name "Sayid")
Door - "Doh" (a la Homer Simpson - makes for a funny trip down the freezer aisle at the grocery store)
More - "Moh" (see Door, above)
Cracker - "Ga Ga" (repeated over and over again in a never-ending sequence of "Ga", for added emphasis)
Kitty Kitty - "Ki Ki"
Amen - "Ah Man" (as in, "Ah, man! I can't believe the Sea Hawks lost the Super Bowl!")
Banana - "Nana"
Onion - "Nunyun"
Cheese - "Geez" (like "geese" but with a "Z" sound at the end)
Cantaloupe - "Lub Lub" (with great emphasis on the "L" sound - really sticking the tongue out each time)
Muffin - "Mmmm" (like you're just on the verge of adding something to the "M" sound but never actually doing so)
Oh No - "Ah No" (see No above but spoken with an even thicker French accent)
Life sure is a lot of fun when you never know if you're going to be eating dinner with Homer Simpson, Mork, or Jacques Cousteau (or all three)!

Frosty Obsession

Maybe it's the corn-cob pipe.  Maybe it's the button nose or the two eyes made out of coal.  Or maybe it's even that old magical silk hat.  Personally, I believe it's the kindred jolly, happy soul.  Whatever it is, my child is obsessed with Frosty the Snowman.  By "obsessed" I mean, it's the first and last thing to occupy his mind each day, and it's what occupies his mind for most of the time in between. 
He received a book for Christmas last year that has the song lyrics along with some illustrations of Frosty and his friends and all of their revelry around town.  This past Christmas we broke it out and started to sing the lyrics as we turned the pages, never realizing the Pandora's Box that we were opening.  Now we're lucky if we only have to sing it three times in one day.  A more typical day is six times or more (per parent!).  When he's still rubbing the sleep from his eyes in the mornings - even before turning the lights on - he reaches for the bookshelf where that sacred book is kept.  It's the lullaby that he prefers at bedtime.  When he sees the book high up on the shelf throughout the day, there's no pacifying him until we sing it and look at the pictures.  When Frosty leads his friends down the streets of town right to the traffic cop, Caleb will enthusiastically put up his hand and holler "Stop!"  I've sung it so many times it's permanently engraved in my memory, and my singing and dancing to it may be ready for Broadway.
Perhaps Caleb just knows that the sun will soon be hot and he must run and have some fun with Frosty before he melts away.