My heart

Callum is just the best these days. Maybe it's partly pregnancy hormones making me feel just completely overwhelmed with love for my little family, but he is just amazing. It's like in the last month or two he's solidly turned into a real little PERSON. Not that he hasn't always had a strong personality but just, the way he expresses himself and the ideas he has and his interactions--they're very non-baby. And they're awesome.

He talks all the time, in increasingly complex sentences and phrases. He sings songs and makes up lyrics, and then laughs hysterically at his own joke. He asks logical questions. He thinks of remarkably clever solutions to make the world the way he wishes it would be. For example, he developed a double ear infection over the weekend and is on antibiotics. The other day when Torsten brought out the medication bottle, Callum took one look and said hopefully, "Montana medicine?" like he was hoping we would give his medicine to the dog instead. And, before we had a diagnosis and his ears were still hurting, he suggested that we put cream on them, because he knows that's what we do for itchy rashes. Or, another example, we taught him how to play Memory and he picked up on the concept quickly. He had a card with a picture of a school bus on it and turned over a second card, which had a race car. Instead of putting it back, he said "another school bus," put the two cards together face-to-face so you couldn't see the mismatched pictures, and added them to the pile like he was hoping we wouldn't notice. Then he kept trying to do it with other mismatched pairs, watching us out of the corner of his eye to see if we would notice. When Torsten asked to see what was on the second card, Callum put it back down on the table without even bothering to show it to us. Heh.

Just, the way his little mind works is so very amazing to watch, and it's so cool that now we can see it and he can tell us some of what's going on in there. And surprisingly, he's become more cuddly as he gets older, and regularly dispenses hugs and kisses and wants snuggles. We've been talking to him about how there's a baby in my belly, which he seems to have grasped somewhat, and now he's working through the idea of why I'm the only one who has a baby in my belly--he's been asking recently if Daddy, Callum, Montana, and our nanny have babies in their bellies too. He loves babies, and is so sweet with the little ones that he knows.

He says "what's up?" and "see ya later" and offers "bless yous" and "thank yous" unprompted. He gets very concerned when there is so much as a drop of water on the floor, alerts us all--"Uh oh! Mess! Mess on floor!"--and runs to find a napkin to clean it up. He's learned to pet the dog gently instead of torturing her. When I cough, he asks, "K, Mommy?" He has strong opinions about what he should wear. He gets himself out of bed in the mornings and quietly reads books while we sleep. He kisses his baby doll. He's just an incredibly delightful companion, and I cannot wait to see him as a big brother.

(Speaking of which, our big ultrasound is on Monday. I'll report back!)