Cailin

So during my blogging absence, Cailin turned two!

I know, I can't believe it's been two years, either.  Thankfully, her second year of life was nowhere near as traumatic as her first--no rsv, no chickenpox, etc.  Just a solid year of Crazy Girl.  Seriously, she answers when I call her that.  :)  Cailin has so much personality.

Yup, crossed legs.  Goofball.  :)

 I know I've felt that way about each of my children, but Cailin just has this way of making herself and her needs/desires known.  She knows exactly what she wants, and most of the time, has how to get it all figured out.

(For example, she insists on holding onto this railing EVERY TIME we get Breanne from school, never mind the fact that it's hard for her to reach it and walk at the same time so it takes her twice as long to walk up the ramp... ) 

She is my best tantrum thrower, but also my funniest girl; she can be so sweet and loving, but can also hit and kick with the best of them.  She is a handful, at her best, and "trouble-trouble" at her worst.  She is my best helper around the house, always emptying the silverware and helping with the kid cups, bowls and measuring spoons and cups, also always trying to sneak in and take over my mopping and sweeping, devastated if I don't give her a turn too.

I sure do love this crazy, crazy girl.

A few things about Cailin--

Age--2
Height--33" (50th percentile)
Weight--28.5 lbs (65-75th percentile, and only about a pound less than Janey.  I get asked at least weekly if they're twins... ha).
Favorite Food--Cocoa, cookies, treats, oatmeal, anything I happen to have served up for myself.

Favorite Show--She's gone through a few phases, but currently it is definitely "Boots Lella!"  which means Boots and Dora (Dora the Explorer, of course).
Favorite Song--Toss up between Popcorn Popping, Pattycake, Snowman, and Who Came to Church Today?  Also, favorite radio type song--Great DJ by the Ting Tings.  All my girls love it still, but she'll immediately pick her head up off her headrest and dance along in the car.  She even sings the words.  Love it.
Favorite Toys--Baby dolls, sunglasses, and the new kitchen she got for her birthday.  But let's be honest, she'd rather be watching Dora than playing with any old toy.

Favorite Book--Ni-ni, Moon!  (Goodnight Moon)
Favorite Color--Pink, or green.  She knows her other colors, but if you ask her what color something is, she'll most likely tell you one of those two colors first, just to test you.
Other things of note about Cailin--she is by far my mobile-est child--she can keep up with Breanne better than Janey, probably, on the trampoline--she's an excellent jumper.  And loves to jump off of anything. The child has no fear.  Thankfully she has yet to hurt herself too badly (knock on wood).  She also has recently taken to running out into the street when we're outside, a fight I never really had with my other girls.  Learning to discipline Cailin has been a challenge, because she just keeps finding new ways to push the rules that I don't know how to deal with.  But I feel like we're finally coming to an understanding... maybe her terrible twos just came early?

Cailin is also my best talker at this age.  She puts together 5 word sentences all the time, and for me, they're very understandable.  Everyone else, including Cory, struggles to understand them a bit, but I definitely know what she's saying most of the time.  She came into the kitchen tonight humming to herself, and then stopped, and said "haha, my hum, mom.  My hum, song!"  So, so cute.  We have been watching Downton Abbey lately, and today she walked in during a part about WWI, where there were several explosions, causing the men in the bunkers to fall down.  She looked at the tv, said "Uh-oh! Him! Fall Down!  Oh No!"  and then laughed and laughed and pretended to fall down herself...  Crazy girl.  Every time I sneeze, she'll look at me (and if I'm not looking at her, she'll take my face in her hands and turn it to her and say "Mom!  Look-a-Me!") and say "Mom!  You fine Mom?"  She's a thoughtful girl.

Cailin is so funny, and she knows it.  She is constantly making faces at us, and teasing her sisters and me. She'll hide her face behind something and ask "You see me, mom?" over and over until I respond.  She has her knock-knock joke that she's gotten really good at these days, she says all the lines now, you don't have to provide any of them.  She has a skip-run that I love to watch--she'll just randomly gallop when she's running across a room.  She also loves loves loves to pick out her own outfits, and will put on things just to make me laugh.  She has taken to wearing 3-5 skirts at a time, regularly over her footie pjs (if she can't get them off herself, that is... one night I found her wearing nothing but her diaper and 3 skirts in her bed when I went in to check on her.  hahaha).

(I think this is a moment of 2 skirts only (plus the leggings, of course), but there are frequently at least 5)

She loves hats, and sunglasses.  Yesterday the girls were riding bikes in the garage, and Breanne and Janey had both put on their helmets.  Cailin doesn't have a helmet yet (she rides on a sit and scoot toy, instead of a bike, but she still probably needs one...) so she came running inside, crying for a hat.  She went upstairs and got a sunhat, and was perfectly content with that.

This is getting crazy long, but I just want you all to understand--Cailin has been, by far, my most challenging child.  She gets up out of her bed several times before falling asleep, and then wakes up in the middle of the night several times during the week.  She also challenges me daily with her physical assertiveness and strength.  Despite all that, though, I deeply love this girl.  She has a spirit that is meant to be here.  We weren't planning on having her so soon after Janey was born, but she was meant to be with us, and we knew it.  She kicked her way out of the womb, putting me into labor, she came out in 1/2 a push.  She was supposed to be named Natalie Paige, but that was just not her name.  She is just meant to be here, and to be herself, right now.  I feel privileged to be the mom of such a strong little person.  I'm excited to watch her grow up, and to see who she becomes.  I sure do love my baby girl.