Love of Books

Fro quite a while now, our nighttime routine has consisted of reading three books.  Tonight that was such a hard choice that resulted in a few sets of tears.  Every time we would start to read the "last book" she would look frantically at her bookshelf and ask for another one.  After lots of explaining, she was able to calm down and read the last book.  Typically we then talk about her day and what we will do tomorrow. Then she picks out two books that are not "fragile," i.e. not an expensive hardback book, to take to bed with her.  Tonight she was so distraught over not being able to read all of her hardback books that she looked at me and said "I just want to go night night" with the saddest look in her eyes.

It melts my heart over and over to see her so invested in her books.  She loves them, and knows them all by title.  She is starting to "read" some of them out loud by retelling the story.  There are also a few lines that she knows and will state when we get to her favorite parts.  I hope this love of reading will continue for years and years.

And another random note-potty training is going GREAT!  After getting another bad rash, we decided to just go with it and try potty training because I didn't want her to have to end of on oral antibiotics again.  She has been doing really well, but was still having about 1 accident a day.  Today was our first totally dry day that included a large amount of time in the car which is typically her downfall! And for the first time ever, she told me in the car that she had to go (which is ironically stated as a question: "Do you have to go potty.") and was able to wait until the light changed and we went through the intersection, pulled over, got her potty set up, and got her out of the car seat.  Not the biggest deal to the rest of the world, but this is fantastic news in our world!

Play Times

This weekend we took Callie to the Tacoma Children's Museum.  And she insisted on wearing her sunglasses and never took them off.  It was not a sunny day.  She also wore her raincoat.  And her silver sequined shoes.  It was quite the outfit that got lots of "compliments."

 All serious tasks involve some form of sticking her tongue out to concentrate.

Drenda has been taking Callie to a gymnastics center for an open playtime.  I keep hearing all about it, and since I don't work this week, we decided to go.  She has a blast climbing, jumping, running, and playing.

 She can jump! And she loves to.  She probably got her feet at least a foot off the ground with the support of the handrail.

 She loves to swing on the bars. 

 Climbing is serious work.

 Running down the long tumble trampoline.  This is probably her favorite activity.  At least 15 passes today.

 I told you she loved jumping!

And right up there with jumping is throwing yourself onto your stomach on a soft surface.

At the end, all the kids get stamps.  As soon as the music stopped, Callie started pulling up her pant legs to get her stamps on the tops of her feet.  Her pants were loose and would not stay up.  So she pulled them up again.  And again. And again.  Until her smart mother figured out what she was trying to do and rolled them up for her.  She was not going to walk over to the stamp area without being prepared. 

Some Callie Quotes

Callie has really started saying some things that make us smile and melt our hearts.  Here are a few from the last couple of weeks.

While walking home from the park we walk past a man in his garage.  There is also a motorcycle in the garage.
Callie: He wants to go for a ride on his motorcycle.
Mike: Maybe he does.
Callie:  He needs to wear his helmet.
Mike: Yes he does.
Callie: He needs to wear his coat.
Mike: Yes he does.

While riding her trike (or at this point pushing it) in the street.
Mike: Callie you need to turn around.
Callie: Callie will not turn around.
Mike: You can turn around or we will have to go put the trike away.
Callie quickly turns around and continues playing.

On the way to go shopping for more "big girl underwear" and pants that fit with big girl underwear which is MUCH smaller than a cloth diaper and therefore all her pants fall down.
Callie: We can look at dresses.

Friday night at bedtime.
Me: Callie, what do you want to do tomorrow?
Callie: (leaning forward and grinning at Mike) Do you want to play (which is really a statement in her words).
Mike: Okay.  We can go play.  Do you want to go play at the Tacoma Children's Musesum or the Seattle Children's Museum?
Callie: (leaning even farther forward, grinning, a batting her eyes) Go play with firemen (with a dreamy look in her eyes and emphasis on the firemen part).

Seriously, I don't know where some of this comes from.  But she cracks us up!

Callie's 2nd Birthday!

This weekend we celebrated Callie's 2nd birthday.  We started the day by visiting the Museum of Flight to "go see airplane engines."  While there, they had a family activity to make a rocket ship.  Once the rocket ship was made, she walked all around the museum counting and yelling "blast off!"  We then came home to try and take a nap and get ready for the big party.  When Callie came out of her room from her playtime in her crib, she was delighted to see streamers and balloons up in the living room.  Her jaw dropped, eyes opened wide and then a big smile came across her face.  I think Callie's favorite part of the night was when everyone sang happy birthday.  That was all she talked about when we were putting her to bed that night.  She has asked us to sing happy birthday many times since then and is having a hard time understanding that we can only sing happy birthday on someone's birthday.

 

 Fascinated with her rocket ship.

Doing her "Marilyn Monroe" walk over the heat vents.

 Callie's Clifford cake.

Enjoying every one singing happy birthday.

Opening presents.

Reading a card.

 Checking out her baking set.

A Growing Imigation

Callie is starting to get an imagination.  The other week she was playing with her Play Doh and said "See Callie's dog."  You might not be able to see the dog, but Callie was certain she had made a dog.

 Callie's dog.

 Making Elmo cupcakes.

 Showing off her creation.

Smiling with Lindsay.

See Mama's Engine

Last week Callie helped Mike wash the cars.  In the process, he popped his hood to check on something.  And we discovered that Callie is fascinated with "engines."  She then proceeded to look at everyone's engines.  In the process, I hit the panic button on Grandma's keys.  Mike said Grandma's car was angry.  Callie quickly added "Grandma's car is frustrated." and "Grandma's car is loud."
Here are a few pictures of her checking out my engine.  And the whole time she is pointing at each part and repeating everything Mike told her about it.  "Four cylinder engine.  2 liters."

Watching Herself

One of Callie's favorite things to do is to look at pictures and videos of herself on the computer.  She will see one of us on the computer and either ask for "Happy," "Watch videos of Callie," or "Look at pictures of Callie."  This was taken one day in early December of her watching herself "scare" Daddy from when she was about 15 months old.  Although she is repeatedly stating that she wants to watch herself go down the slide, she still squeals with delight when she "scares" Daddy.  You can watch her here.