21 Months and Sprouting!

Top 10 Incredible Things in the world of Cal-Cal at 21 Months:

1. As you can see SINGING!!. (Sorry about the sideways video.) He loves chiming in his bits and pieces of ABCD (sometimes mistaking LMNOP with e-e-em-i-lee, because of a baby at his daycare). But, he also sings 2/3rds of Baa Baa Black Sheep, which is no surprise given how many times he requested that Mama and Papa sing it.

2. Constant narration. He has a constant conversation going describing what he is doing, what we are doing, and what is going on in the world around him. "Man walking. Lady running. Car! Truck noisy! Cal-Cal looking. Mama see? Mama drinking mug." and on and on. One of my favorites was when we were all driving in the car and I'm talking to Kieran he says, "Mama talking. Papa talking." I said, "That's right Cal." and he responds, "Cal-Cal talking." He was talking about the fact that he was talking! Good stuff.

3. He loves playing with his cars and trucks and his favorite game is putting them into his plastic parking ramp. He can identify all manner of modes of transportation from ambulances (amee truck), buses, police cars (p-car), to taxis and racing cars (pee-d racer). But, he is getting more and more interested in playing farm and identifying the animals and their noises.

4. CLIMBING! Climbing, like crawling, has never been our little guy's most easily acquired skill but he has figured out climbing onto the couches and onto the platform at the library, as is shown below. He is extremely proud of himself and practices every chance he can get. He also loves climbing up the stairs and calls himself a "pee-d racer" and then moves as fast as he can.

5. He is great about checking in with everybody. If I ask, "Callum are you comfy?" He says, "yeah." and then "Mama comfy?" "Papa comfy?" "Cow comfy? (if his plastic cow is in the vicinity.)" or whatever else is with us. Same goes for checking in on whether anyone is cold, hot, or anything else that comes up and might be on the minds of others in the room.

6. FEELINGS! He's beginning to be able to discuss his feelings, a little bit. He knows how to say scared, in particular and if you ask him about seeing the fire trucks he will say, "Cal-Cal cared" (cared=scared). Because they were really loud and it frightened him. Otherwise, he can respond if you ask him about being upset or frustrated. Overall, he is more likely to get upset than he is to get angry.

7. He hates having toys taken away from him. It's alright if he gives it to you but he gets unbelievably upset if a toy is taken away without his permission or even if a toy that was set down but he considers it part of his game is picked up by someone else. We are trying to talk to him about 'taking turns' and that calms him down...knowing he will get it back soon. On the other hand, as soon as it returns to his possession, he holds it close to his chest. So much so that he can hardly play he's so busy 'guarding'.

8. He can't yet use pronouns but finds them hilarious! He will just yell out "He!" "Me!" "You!" "Him!" and then laugh. And, it's even funnier when we do it.

9. He's decided that "mama's baby" is behind her belly button and asks to see it. Then he checks his own belly button and says, "Cal-Cal's baby?". At daycare he will even lift up other kid's shirt!

10. He loves his books but only in the morning and right before bedtimes will he actually sit through reading a book. Otherwise, he names the title of his next book and then "Cal-Cal read it" and then plops down to look at a page or two before standing up to get the next book. Mostly, he wants to be on the move. As a result, all books have a nickname..."digger book" is the book with two pages of just trucks; "baby book" is the book called Baby Says Peekaboo; "apple book" is the alphabet book with an apple on the cover, etc. Except Hop on Pop, which is actually Hop on Pop.

We certainly see our share of emotional breakdowns and willfull resistance to all the rules, there is that part of approaching 2 as well. But, it more than balances out when you get a "Mama comfy?" followed by fits of giggles just for saying "Him!"