From Newborn to Two-Year Old

In some ways it seems like just yesterday that we saw Cale's face for the very first time. I can remember the anxious feeling I had those first few nights we had Cale home. But in other ways, it seems like a vague, distant memory to think he was ever a tiny newborn. It seems like it has taken forever to get from newborn to two-year old, but then it also seems like it has totally blinked by. Does that make sense?

We spent the day spoiling our little two-year old. We took him to McDonald's for breakfast (which may not seem like spoiling to you and I but it's his favorite place and we don't really go there that often), played with him tons, let him open one of his birthday presents, and then took him to Playworld and Chili's in Conway. Cale loves Playworld and is getting pretty good at going through the maze. Carl still goes with him, of course, but besides one or two areas Cale is able to complete the maze without daddy's help. After playing for about an hour, we headed to Chili's for dinner. We asked our waitor if they would sing happy birthday to Cale, but he didn't seem too thrilled about the idea. So instead, he brought out a bowl of ice-cream and explained that Cale would 'probably cry' so he didn't want to sing to him and scare him. He obviously doesn't know Cale! I think he would've loved it! But, Cale was perfectly happy with the ice-cream. When he finished, he began looking around for our waitor and then yelled, "I'm done, little boy. I'm done". Well, that'll teach our waitor to not sing to him! I don't think the scrawny, college-aged guy would've appreciated being called 'little boy', but we thought it was pretty funny.

We are having Cale's birthday party on Thursday evening. We decided to wait a few days for his party since everyone has just finished attending multiple Christmas gatherings. We assumed everyone needed a little break! We did decide to let Cale open one of his presents, though. We weren't going to, because he got so many presents at Christmas, so it's not like he's hurting for new gifts. But, then a package was delivered to our door. It was actually Cale's party supplies that I ordered online for Thursday. Well, of course he sees any kind of package now and thinks it belongs to him. For several minutes, he argued with Carl that it was his present. Then, finally he got mad, opened the closet door in the play room, threw the package on the floor, shut the door, and said, "Mama, your mail is gone". So, for some reason that incident made us decide to let him open one of his small gifts. Go figure.

We are so proud of our little guy and how much he has changed over the past two years. He makes us laugh every single day and never ceases to surprise us with something he says or does. For example, on Christmas morning as we were getting ready to go out to my parents' house, Carl gave Cale some candy. Cale turned around and instead of saying 'thank you' he said, "I'm so proud of you, Daddy." Where does he come up with this stuff? We can't really remember what life was like before Cale, but we know it must have been pretty boring. He keeps us on our toes constantly and we wouldn't have it any other way. We are so blessed to have a happy, healthy little boy. Happy Birthday, Cale! We love you!