Catch up!

OK. The list of excuses is long. Too long. My usual blog time is in the evening after I put Callan to bed. But trouble is, I’ve been putting myself to bed at the same time as Callan! I have been VERY tired as of late---first trimester tired. But we’ll be on to greener pastures soon, I know it!
ANYWHO. I know you didn’t come---if anyone is still checking on us---to read about me and my tiredness. How about instead, a few fun Callan stories? That I can deliver!
So as you can imagine, our little genius is talking and learning at warp speed. He is very much into showing off his smarts by ID’ing everything in sight! GUY! GIRL! KID! HAT! DOGGIE! CAR! TRUCK! APPLE! This happens at home, in the car, in the store—he’s trying out those newfound communication skills and loving people’s responses. So he and I were at our bi annual Whole Foods luncheon a few weeks ago and he was yelling out all his words as we waited for our lunch. Pizza! Guy! Well….it was a pizza girl. But in Callan’s defense an honest mistake if you know what I mean. So that evening Eric and I thought we would work on our Guy/Girl differences by conducting a short quiz.
E/J: What’s Daddy?
C: GUY!
E/J: What is Calissa?
C: GIRL!
E/J: What is NiNI?
C: GIRL
E/J: What is Mommy?
C: GIRL!
E/J: What is Callan?
C: MONKEY!
Ooooo we laughed! Mr. Vocabulary has also taken very quickly to people’s names---he’s moved from MaMa Dada to Mommy and Daddy, and knows that Grandma and Nini are the same person. He is also particularly fond of calling my dad “Mike” which is also pretty hilarious. He is big on commands---ie. COME! Gaga—COME! Which means, please call my Uncle Grant and tell him to come over. That or please tell me a story about the last time Uncle Grant came to visit. He is really quite entertaining these days.
In fact, he has even learned the power of communication for negotiation. We are really trying hard to work towards potty training. I know in some ways the effort might be futile as we will expect some “regression” when the new baby arrives---but it can’t hurt to try. However, it can be messy. So the other night I told Callan about his potty reward---M&Ms! He said “Candy?!” to which I replied, “Yes! If you go PP on the potty, you can have TWO M&Ms!” Callan looked at me, tilted his head and said, “Three.” I don’t even know if he is sure what that means---but it worked. I caved in---even though the closest we got to the potty was the carpet in front of the bathroom. Baby steps, right?
He is also using communication as imitation. After hearing Eric tell me to drive carefully when I leave in the morning---which is really Eric’s way of saying “FTLOG Joslynn, could you please not run over the ice bank/curb/mailbox today. Please.” But when Callan repeats “Careful!” as he waves to me---it sounds so much sweeter than Eric’s admonishment I can’t help but smile. In fact it makes me so happy I even save my glare/eye roll/finger for Eric until I am safely in the garage. Ah love!