Calin

I have wanted to do a post about Calin for a long time.  He has been growing and changing so much since his 18 month appointment and he daily amazes and surprises us with the things he says and does.  He has learned so many things and shows us daily how smart of a little boy he is.

-In January at only 19 months old he showed us that he could count to 10!

-He had shown on and off that he knew his colors, but starting in December he was getting pretty sure of each color and labeling them correctly.  By January/February he had his colors down pretty good!

-He loves singing songs and has a fantastic memory.  It usually only takes singing the song with him a couple of times and he has it down.  One Sunday I asked him what songs he sang in nursery.  As usual he didn't answer but then as he was busy playing he started singing "I love grandma, yes sire..." I was impressed that he had remembered this song and part of how it went since in nursery would have been the first time he ever heard that song.   He has quite a repertoire of songs and can sing most of the lyrics on his own.  Very impressive

Calin singing "Latter Day Prophets".  He can sing it all on his own and much better than this, but this was what I was able to capture on video. 

This is part two.  I couldn't send the whole video from my phone so I had to break it up. 

Other favorite songs that Calin likes to sing:
       -America the Beautiful
       -Star Spangled Banner (he has been known to sing this over and over very loudly and sometimes all day long and occasionally at inappropriate times such as during Summer's Dad's speech at her wedding)
       -Amazing Grace (whenever I tell him to sing a song to Clara he usually picks this one)
       -Take Me Out to the Ball Game (he sang the whole song on his own tonight at bedtime)
       -Blue Suede Shoes (or as he says "blue white shoes")
       -Hound Dog
       -Teddy Bear (by Elvis)
       -In the Leafy Treetops
       -Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam
       -Give Said the Little Stream
       -I Hope They Call Me on a Mission
       -Latter Day Prophets (this was probably one of the first songs I heard him sing all the way through with all the words!)
       -Wise Man and the Foolish Man (loves to sing this in his high chair and do all the motions)
       -Down in Jungle Town
       -Down by the Banks
       -Zipedee Doo Da
       -Book of Mormon Stories
       -Nephi's Courage
I have probably forgotten a lot of them, but this list gives a pretty good idea of his lengthy number of songs he can sing.

-Just recently Calin started going down for his naps on his own (I know, it should have been a long time ago, but we take what we can get).  I am finally able to put him in his crib, close the door, and leave him in there to go to sleep.

-While face timing one night I told my parents I got Calin new c-r-a-y-o-n-s (spelling it out so he wouldn't know what I was talking about)  He then went to kitchen saying "mom got calin e-i-o's".  He knew that I had gotten him something and was smart enough to know I was spelling and then tried to do his own spelling with his own mix of letters.  He really amazes us sometimes!

-His understanding of the world and the way he views how things work is often very hilarious.  He had a little plastic water bottle from when we had gone hiking.  He played with the empty bottle for a few days until I hadn't seen him playing with it anymore and I threw it away.  He found the lid for it a few days later and asked for "that little cup".   I then had to tell him it was in the garbage.  He said "go get it" and went to go look in the garbage but I told him no it went in the big garbage and then into the garbage truck and then to the dump.  So then he said "mom and Calin go in car go at the dump get cup put lid on cup".  I then had to explain about the dump and why we couldn't do that.

-Calin often thinks things can be fixed very easily (particularly with tape or glue) when they get broken.

-He also thinks that when he needs/wants something we don't have then we need to go to the store to get it.  I was telling him one day about why Clara couldn't eat one of his crackers and told him she didn't have any teeth.  He then said "Mom and Calin go at store get Clara some teeth then Clara have cracker".  He kills me!

-He loves to know or have a plan about what is going to happen that day or for a certain event.  He will then go over it several times with you.  He is very thorough and will repeat each detail of what is happening.  Most days I will tell him each of the things that will happen before Dad gets home (he looks forward to Dad coming home every day).  Throughout the day he will go over the plan and is even able to modify it based on what has already happened and takes that out of the "plan".  He will also do this for little things like when someone is leaving he will find out where they are going or what they are doing and then repeats it to them several times.  Our neighbor Alisha came by to drop something off and was on her way home to "put Dylan to bed".  Calin proceeded to tell us and Alisha several time that "Alisha go home put Dylan to bed".

-He loves his little sister and showers her with hugs and kisses.  He is so good to sing to her whenever she is sad "Clara sad sing her a song.  Sing oh beautiful for spacious skies.  she likes that song".  (That's his song of choice whenever she is sad).  He repeats everything we say about him and Clara.  "That's your big brother Calin" (he says it like that to her)  "She loves you",  "She likes that big brother Calin" "She's looking at you".

-He still says "you" for himself.  I still think it's pretty cute even though we work on trying to straighten the you me confusion out.


I'm sure there's many more things I could say about Calin but it's taken me so long to get this post done he is now almost two.  I will try to get more into that post about our awesome little boy!