Brothers

Caleb has morphed into a way laid back baby. I joked to Terry that Caleb really tried to be high-maintenance but once he met all of us he knew that just wouldn't be possible. He's very go-with-the-flow now.

He's sleeping up to 9 hours a time at night (hooray!) making him an even better sleeper than Micah was. He's taking two longer naps every day and just a few catnaps. He loves to watch his brother play and sing to him.

I was in the middle of tucking Micah into bed last week when the phone rang and so I put Caleb in bed beside Micah and ran to answer it (Terry was working late and not at home). When I came back into the room Micah was reading a book to Caleb. He was holding it up for him to see and was reciting the lines of the book as best as he could remember. I noticed that he saw me watching him out of the corner of his eye. He got that "show-off sparkle" in his eye and continued reading while he ignored me. Then he said, "Caleb, pray," and he closed his eyes and prayed. He ended by saying, "And pray for whole family."

It melted my heart and I joined them and covered them with kisses.

I needed to see some kind brotherly interaction because Micah has been going through one of those stages where he starts to test us and he acts out a lot. And in addition to pushing the limits with the regular house rules he's also been doing things like screaming in Caleb's face, pulling on his arms, and throwing the occasional toy at him. It's been an exhausting 10 days but from our past experiences with Micah's temper-tantrum-testing-weeks we should be nearing the end of his cranky days and get back to normal soon.

Micah was sick this past Monday and I rented him Bolt to watch. He picked up a cute saying from the film. "Whoooo Doggie!" He says it so hysterically and I think I've bugged him to much about repeating it.

Aunt Kelly gave him an interactive calendar for his birthday and we try to update it every day. I've been teaching them what things happen in what months. For example he knows June means daddy's birthday. When we changed it to say "July" he excalimed, "Fireworks! Boom!"

Watching his language explode is even more fun than fireworks though. He's been using phrases like, "I think..." and "Maybe you can..." and "First we do this, then we do this..." It's great fun listening to him talk. If you're one of those people who he's shy around and still don't believe us when we say he can talk, just stay tuned. He'll blow you over with his oratory skills soon enough!