What do you want to be when you grow up?

Early Friday afternoon (during some of our coveted mommy/daughter time when Caleb is sleeping) Kylie and I were sitting across the table having a snack together. I had heated up some of my coffee from earlier in the morning and she asked to have a sip. I replied that coffee was for grown-ups and she said, "When I get big I can have some toffee?" And I told her that I'd be happy to go out for coffee together and talk when she got big.

That got me to thinking, so I asked her, "Kylie, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
She thought for a minute before replying, "When I gow up I want to be a BIG Ty-ie!"
So I decided to try it from a different angle and asked her if she wanted to be a teacher or a doctor or something like that and she comes out with, "I want to det on a airpane and go to my Tinah to find my baby dust like you Mommy."
Be still my heart...

And while we still have a way to go before I can have a full conversation with Caleb, his receptive language continues to explode! I am amazed at how much he understands now. You can give him simple instructions and he follows them through. Examples include, "Please take your plate to the sink," "No more (treat food) until you take another bite of (protein or veggie)," "Caleb, please bring me (shoes, jacket, toy, etc...)," and then the one that really gets him moving, "Bath time!" He has a few words that he signs. Those include help, please, eat, drink, and thank you. And then there are the words that he speaks clearly. At this point they are cheese (smiling for the camera, he doesn't associate it with a food just yet), thank you (sounds like "tank to"), Myyy (Maya), app-puhle (apple), baahhl (ball), doose (juice), bann (banana) and one of the dreaded two year old words ~ MIHNE!

Just this weekend though, he added two words to his vocabulary. Friday morning Ian and I were chatting (before either of the babes were awake) over a cup of coffee before he headed to work. From down the hall we hear, "Mom-me!" and Ian says, "Hold on Kylie, Daddy will get you." (The voice sounded just like her, and she always calls for us to come when she wakes up while all you get from Caleb is the sound of his little feet padding down the hardwood floor in his non-skid footie pajamas). As Ian was getting up we hear again, "MOM-ME!" and Ian took the four steps to Kylie's door, but she's still sound asleep and we realize that it was Caleb. Until that moment it had just been MaMa, but since then I've had the sweet word "Mommy" ringing in my ears from both of my kiddos!

And then Friday night when Ian got home from work he pulled out, "Dad-dee!" and I think Ian's heart could have burst on the spot...

Friday night at the lights ~ sure Caleb isn't exactly smiling, but it works...