On Christmas Day at Sandy & Brian’s, Caelum was helping Logan open some of his presents. He pulled out the one from Grandma & Grandpa, which is always a gift card. Caelum pulls it out of the little gift bag, holds it up excitedly, then takes a look at Logan and informs him, “Just a card.” Caelum shrugs his shoulders like, “Sorry buddy, that’s a disappointment,” and hands it over. We were rolling on the floor with laughter.
Christmas Tuna December 20, 2012
Just me and the boys last night, as Chris was teaching RE. Made some pasta shells and broccoli. I added tuna to mine, but Caelum begged off.
“Caelum, would you like some tuna?”
“No, me no like tuna,” he informed me. “I only like tuna at Christmas.”
“You’ll eat tuna on Christmas?”
“Yes, I only like tuna at Christmas. I no like tuna on Thursdays or Tuesdays.”
I didn’t bother to let him know that it was a Wednesday, as I don’t think it would have made a difference to his logic anyway. What a goofy kid.
Memory Crazy December 6, 2012
Caelum and Daddy sat down to play Memory. I was in the sun room nursing Everett and getting him ready for bed. All of a sudden I heard Caelum start melting down in the bedroom:
“You’re not doing it right! Daddy, stop! You’re not doing it right!”
Chris attempted to calm him down and asked how exactly he was supposed to be doing it (because really, how wrong can you “do” the Memory game?), but Caelum was having none of it. It was just beyond hope, in his tiny person’s opinion.
Caelum came out to me and asked me to play instead. He waited patiently as I finished with Everett and got him to bed, then we sat down on the bedroom floor to play Memory. I started laying out the cards in a little grid, and he was immediately satisfied.
“You’re doing it right! That’s not how Daddy did it.”
Confused, because I wasn’t doing anything spectacular or out of the ordinary here, I told him he better get Daddy and show him how he preferred it be done. So Chris came in and sat down to play with us.
After one successful round, Caelum wanted to play again, so Chris started laying out the cards.
“Look!” Caelum’s head whipped over to me with amazement on his face. “He no acting crazy no more!!”
Upon further discussion, Chris admitted that perhaps yes, he had been acting a little crazy in his layout of Memory cards earlier. He had put them in a circle of sorts on the floor, kind of a mishmash, and it was clearly the work of a certifiably crazy person (at least in a 3-year-old’s view). I’m still laughing about Caelum’s gleeful reaction to his Daddy’s restored sanity.
No Time Out December 5, 2012
Chris said last night as we were wrapping up dinner, “Caelum, I’m so proud of you. You’re being such a good listener!”
“I being a good listener. I no need go in time out.”
While we have been trying to cut down on the time outs and use more gentle discipline, at least we know there’s some motivation to avoid the time outs!
Thank You For My God December 3, 2012
As we were driving home from the grocery store, Caelum started singing in the back seat. This is nothing too new, as he has become much more musical as of late. Favorites include the French classic “Frere Jacques” (Frere Jacques, Frere Jacques, What do you see? What do you see?); “Itsy Bitsy Spider” (The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, out came the sun and dried up all the rain…); and “Rockababy” (Rock-a-baby, rock-a-baby, in the tree top).
Yesterday however, we were treated to a Caelum original, and it couldn’t have been more inspired. Chris and I were talking away when we heard a little voice singing, “Thank you for my God. Thank you for my God. Thank you for my God. Thank you for my God.” And not just great lyrics, but a catchy tune too! What a great reason to smile and say “thank you.”
The Grateful Life 