Caleb turned three at the beginning of September. That is totally insane. He is no longer a little toddler, he is all boy. A boy who is a flurry of passion and activity. Can you keep up with him? I dare you to try. It is a sport, I tell you. A SPORT.
That being said, I wanted to jot down a bit about who he is and what he’s been up to these days.
HE LOVES BUGS. And frogs. And pretty much any other animal he can get his grubby little hands on. We are constantly tromping through the yard looking for something to catch. We have a series of clear little bottles displaying various bugs he has caught. We always release the frogs though because they are too awesome to let them decay in a little kid’s jar. Anyway, he is seriously passionate about these things right now. We read lots of books about them from the library and he is pretty knowledgeable about them. He can usually tell you what kind of insect or frog he has caught.

We read a lot of books. Maybe 10-20 a day. We try to do at least one activity related to the stories we have read each day. This particular day we made a “gingerbread boy” (out of sugar cookie dough because gingerbread… ugh!) after reading The Gingerbread Boy. We actually have been doing Sonlight’s Pre 3/4 Core along with other books I have selected. He gets “Super Awesome Custom-Tailored At Home Preschool.” Lucky kid, I know.

We built a ten foot square sandbox for the boys. It is colossal and awesome. Caleb loves building all kinds of stuff and playing with his trucks in it. Sometimes we dig a huge mountain in the middle and play king of the hill. Sometimes we rake it and make “dirt cheese” as Caleb calls it. (We watched a Reading Rainbow episode where they are raking the in-process cheese so he now thinks raking is for cheese.) Most people I know are horrified at the thought of letting their kids play in dirt. I just have a stiff-bristled brush by the door and brush everyone off before we go back in the house. It works. And we love being in dirt.

And of course there is plenty of mess-, I mean ART-making.

I love his personality. He is so thoughtful, helpful, and sensitive. He’s always buzzing (or should I say “stepping in time”?) with activity and songs and dance. I don’t think he knows how to walk. It’s always some kind of dance or skip or run. HE IS WEIRD. And totally hilarious. Like a good Lewis, he always has his audience in mind.

He got a bike. And currently isn’t really interested in bikes. It would probably help if he wasn’t so short and could actually reach the pedals.
Speaking of shortness, let me tell you about his annual doctor’s checkup. They tried the “big kids” eye test on Caleb and he got all of his letters right. The girl said she couldn’t believe he was only 3 and knew all of his letters. He did a really good job. He kept telling everyone he wanted to be a veterinarian or a doctor when he grows up (not prompted in any way by me). He loves Dr. Bratney and gets overly-conversational with him, which is totally hilarious. “Hey there, Dr. Bratney, it’s a blustery day, don’t you think? Oh yes. I will stand really still and close my eyes for you so you can listen to my ears. Did you know there is a drum in my ears? But it’s not a real drum, it’s an ear drum. Is that what that stethoscope is for? For my ears? Oh no, wait, I think it’s for the heart. Yeah….” When we got to the question about Caleb’s speaking ability, he said, “I don’t even need to ask you about his language development, I think we just had a collegiate conversation in the hallway.”
Caleb is 29.2 pounds (23rd percentile) and 35.8 inches tall (9th percentile). He’s a shortie!

For his birthday we had a party at Grandpa Whiting’s house. Caleb dressed as Buzz Lightyear (because what little boy doesn’t want to be Buzz Lightyear on his birthday?). And he still loves Grandpa’s apples!


And get a look at that pony we are training! Wish I was shorter because that pony will be a FUN ride!

Look at that face! This mama is totally in love with this child.

I could go on and on about the hilarious things he says and does, but just read my Twitter feed and you’ll get the gist of it. However, I will leave you with this story. I told him to go to bed and he said he needed to get something first. After a minute, he emerged wearing this. He called it his “O” hat. Um… yeah. There is no shortage of laughter in our house! We love you Caleb!

Caleb is 2 1/2 (31 months old) and he has a new haircut. I was inspired by the worship leader at our church, Dan Holst, for this little cut. I think it makes Caleb look like a really hip bully.

I thought I’d take a few moments to note what he’s doing these days.
Story 1
I’ve found that “stay in the yard” means very little to a toddler. So, I’ve had to make the rules: no going on the road, no going to the neighbor’s house, no going in the woods, no going in the water. These boundaries have effectively kept Caleb in our yard. Last week he was walking along the back edge of our property and, when I approached him, I saw that one of his legs was muddy up to the knee. I said, “Caleb, I said no going in the water.” He looked sweetly up at me and said, “Oh, I no go in the water Mama.” Then he pointed to his ‘offending’ leg and added, “Just this one.”
Story 2
Yesterday, Caleb prayed before we ate lunch. He said, “Dear Jesus, Thank you for this meal. Thank you for real. See? It rhymes. Amen.”
Story 3
Recently, we were at Key’s Cafe for lunch. Caleb’s food came and he said, “Hey, no french fries. Mama, you have any french fries?” I said that no, I didn’t have any. He turned to Grandma Whiting, “Grandma, do you have any french fries?” Grandma said that no, she didn’t have any. She suggested that he enjoy his hashed browns because they were kind of like french fries. Then, Caleb stands up in the booth and turns to address the entire restaurant, “Hey! Anybody have any french fries?” We explained to him that we couldn’t bother other people at the restaurant, which he seemed to think was pretty lame. Hilarious all the same.
Digging the Jazz
We recently took him to a jazz concert at Bethel University. I was pretty impressed that he was able to sit through the whole thing (2 hours!). He would clap along, try to snap, impersonate the strange foot-stamping of the director, and ask questions about the instruments. Aside from a shout of “Good job everybody!” and “Oh! Duke Elliston!” (Duke Ellington), he was actually very well behaved. He also struck up a conversation a few times with a blonde female vocalist. What can we say? Caleb digs his jazz.
Verbosity
Developmentally, I think Caleb is your average kid, except that he is exceptionally verbal. Sometimes I forget that I’m talking to a 2-year-old. Here’s an example of our morning conversation:
Caleb: Mama, what are we doing today?
Me: I don’t know, what do you think we should do?
Caleb: Hmmm… maybe go to the park. Or maybe we should just stay home and make some waffles and sausage meat. I would like to watch Mary Poppins too because the penguins are so funny, HA HA! Silly penguins.
Me: Waffles sound delicious! We should go outside too.
Caleb: Oh yes. I think… today is the day for the garbage truck.
Me: That’s right. The garbage truck is coming today. How did you know that?
Caleb: Oh, I see the cans outside. The truck goes up and down with the garbage cans and then we can bring ’em back.
Me: Oh, will you help me bring the cans back to the house?
Caleb: Yes. And let’s bring Ella too. And my drum.
It continued long after that, but this at least gives an idea about the kind of conversations we have. He loves to pick up new words. Lately he has been using “cacophony” to describe when multiple dogs are barking, “amazing” when something cool happens, “delicious” to describe foods he likes, “curious” to describe himself when he wants to know something, and many others. He also tells me that “Ebeneezer Scrooge is a naughty boy!” If I use a new word he will ask me about it then try to use it. Here’s an example:
Me: Ha ha, the side of the garbage truck says, “It’s rubbish!” That’s too funny.
Caleb: What’s ‘rubbish’?
Me: It’s another word for garbage. Garbage is rubbish. Rubbish is garbage.
Later when we go in the house, he picks up a piece of fuzz on the floor and throws it in the garbage can saying, “Go in there you rubbish!”
The Books
We read a ton. We’re one of those families that have huge piles of books within reach from pretty much anywhere you might choose to sit. Caleb will sit and “read” books to Ella and Jack. Recently he “read” Jack the entirety of Good Night, Gorilla. Makes a mama so proud. Currently, the most-read books are as follows:

• The Complete Adventures of Curious George
• Best Read-It-Yourself Book Ever!
• The Big Picture Story Bible
• Hairy Maclary’s Caterwaul Caper
• Big Thoughts for Little People: ABC’s to Help You Grow

The Movies
It’s a short list, but these are the ones that matter to Caleb:

• Toy Story
• The Muppet Christmas Carol
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Other Things
We’ve started to try to play board games, but they are still pretty complicated for him. He enjoys the lame paired-down version of the rules we play. He loves his marble run and enjoys “engineering” new runs. He loves to count and even does simple math on his own (like adding and subtracting birds as they land in or leave our yard). He really loves music and continues with Musikgarten and has recently been asking to play the violin. His pitch is improving. We paint a lot. He mostly enjoys gluing things, so I gave him a container of things he can glue to paper and he’ll do that for awhile. He likes to help feed Jack his baby food. Caleb also enjoys helping around the house as usual. He loves to talk to people. He is getting better at controlling his emotions (meaning that he flings himself on the floor less often). We love seeing his personality develop!

I was at Barnes and Noble with Caleb talking to the Nook sales associate. She looked at Caleb and said, “Oh my goodness! Look at your long, thick eyelashes! You are going to be so pretty when you grow up!”
Caleb furrowed his brow and said, “No! I AM A BOY!”
Hilarious.

Caleb approached a girl at the library and said, “Hi, my name is Caleb, who are you?” Her mom said that her name was Micayla. Caleb said, “Oh, hi Micayla. I like books. I like the big horned owl. He goes hoo! hoo! Hoo-hoo-hoo hoo!” She looked at him strangely. Then he said, “Bye! See you later!” and went back to his book hunt.
Caleb approached a lady at church and said, “Oh, hi, Mrs. Lady. I see you have a baby. My has a baby too, his name is baby Jack. Your baby has 2 eyes, 1 nose, and 1 mouth, just like my baby!” They engaged in a short conversation afterwards that was quite adorable.
Caleb went with us to the International Culture Fair held at the local High School. One of the booths had Chinese arts and crafts, including a gifted teacher who was teaching kids how to drum. Caleb was the youngest kid there (with probably the worst rhythm), but he was so happy to be able to drum. He went back anytime there was a drum open and no line of kids. And then the teacher let him dance inside of the Chinese dragon. Caleb laid down on the floor part way through. I looked into the dragon and he said, “RAWR! The dragon is sleeping!” He had a blast.
Caleb went with me to visit Jenna in the hospital. We talked beforehand about some things you can do with someone in the hospital. I told him you can tell them that you love them, that you hope they feel better, and you can pray for them. When we went in Caleb said to Jenna, “Oh, hi Jenna! You have a tube in your nose. Looks like an owie. I see you have lots of friends with you…” as he gestured to her many stuffed animals. “Oh, yes, you have an audience of friends. The dog is a good friend. He is pink. I loves you. I hope you feel better from your owies and your sick. Now I will pray for you.” He clasped his hands and clenched his eyes shut (as though closing your eyes more tightly makes God more apt to answer your prayer). “Dear Jesus. Thank you for Jenna. Thank you for her audience of friends. Help her feel better. Help her to love you. We loves you Jesus. In Jesus name, amen!”
Caleb came with me to a wedding shower recently. After spending some time in the playroom, he came to me and said, “There are five girls playing. That is too many of the girls.”
Caleb is probably going to be a math nerd. A few weeks ago he was looking out of our window adding and subtracting birds. “There is one bird. Here comes another one! Now there are two birds. Here comes another one! Now there are three birds. One is flying back to the woods! Now there are two birds. Here come two birds! Now there are four birds….” And he was right every time.