Calvin is TWO!

The sweet little boy who made me a mommy is turning two today. I cannot believe it. This past year especially has absolutely flown by.

He runs and climbs everywhere he desires. He was already such an independent boy and that continues in his playtime too. I can't wait for little brother to be big enough to play alongside him.

Speaking of little brother, it is amazing to see Calvin with him. He is always asking about "baby brother." He says "bless you, baby brother," when he sneezes. He gives him bedtime kisses and it's adorable.

He says "thank you, mommy," when I hand him something. He requests different foods. He opens up the fridge when he's hungry too (and sometimes leaves it open). He hugs me and says, "mmm, mommy." He walks around with his finger to his chin saying, "hmm." He will repeat pretty much anything you say.

He has started making little sentences like "tractor fall!" and "baby brother hungry?" It's really cool to see his vocabulary grow.

Lately he likes to chase the cat. He'll climb on the top of the couch to sit by her, follow her upstairs, corner her under the coffee table. Sometimes she swats at him when he's making her mad (she doesn't have her claws though).

He loves going outside. He LOVES tractors. He knows all his basic colors and can identify half the alphabet. He knows a lot of shapes. He even knows a pentagon from an octagon, but the hexagon has him stumped. He is such a smart little boy.

He's funny and clever and sneaky. He'll just stare at you as he does something he's not supposed to. Sometimes I have to hold back a smile or giggle when he is mischievous. He sucks at listening. He is very stubborn. It's totally true when they say "silence is suspicious."

He's not potty trained. We haven't made any progress with that, even though I try to let him run around naked every once in awhile and coax him to sit on the potty with promises of "candy beans" if he goes.

"Candy beans" are jelly beans and he totally got a kick out of Easter this year! He would come up to me and ask "find eggs?" for weeks after Easter was over.

He likes to brush his teeth. We just recently picked up some "elmo toothpaste" and it makes brushing so much more fun. He has three amber necklaces and likes to pick out which color he wants to wear for the day. Sometimes he lets me spike his hair with aloe vera gel, but it never stays put on this active little boy.

Speaking of hair, we went from our first big boy haircut around his first birthday, to a cute, long, grown-out hairdo, back to another short haircut right before baby brother was born. He looks so much older with his hair buzzed. I miss the long hair. And he hates haircuts. He is totally not a fan of the clippers.

His favorite breakfast is pancakes.
His favorite lunch is PBJ. He mostly just refers to this as "mlunch." I think he might mean "sandwich" or "lunch."
His favorite dinner? I couldn't tell you because he never eats it! That has been one of the biggest struggles recently. We got into a pattern of making him his own dinner usually, but this momma is fed up with making two meals. He needs to learn to eat regular food too and expand his taste buds, so we've been working on making him eat our food. It's hard. We waited too long and gave in too much and now we are paying for it. Haha. He's a picky little eater, that's for sure.

He likes to watch YouTube on the TV. We watch tractor videos and videos teaching colors and shapes.

He knows where Aunt Ry lives. The other day he walked all the way down to her house without anyone! He and Justin were outside and when Justin went looking for him, he was on her porch all the way down the street.

He already has a farmers tan going on. He had one last year too. Maybe I'll go order him some tank tops right now haha.

He will find the only patch of mud in the yard and stick his finger in it, walk over to show you his finger, and say "dirt." He stomps in puddles on the patio. He stomps in mud at the property. He loves his Papa's tractor and even has a little one just like it that he simply calls "green tractor." Justin even ordered him a battery powered tractor for his birthday! He's going to be so excited, I can't wait for the moment Justin shows it to him. Next year I think he'll get a trailer to tow little brother around in.

It's incredible how much he's grown this past year. I know I'll be saying this for years to come, but time really does fly. They grow up so fast. Before we know it, it will be little brother Eren's second birthday and Cal will be nearly four! It makes this momma's heart sad but excited to see what's to come.

Love,
Alaina