Calvin lately...age 2 yrs 3 mo

...is changing so much lately. His vocabulary is increasing, he seems to learn a new word or two every day. Violet and Calvin can keep up a conversation pretty well now, even if his consists of one or two words, she can still make sense of what he's talking about. Their most common conversations are actually fights. An example would be: Calvin picks up a sippy cup which she knows is full of water. He will say "apple joo" and she will correct him saying "No, Calvin, that is not apple juice, it is water." And he'll say "Mo, Lala, apple joo." (No, Violet, apple juice) and insist it is something else just to pick a fight. She hasn't learned this leads to nothing but more yelling. He absolutely loves to look at the sky and point out airplanes. If he's outside he's continually monitoring the sky looking for them. If he sees one, moving slowly wayyyy high up in the sky, he will know its an airplane and point it out. Another thing he likes is the moon. We walked to meeting tonight and on the way home, a sliver of the moon was brightly shining. He says "Moom! White moom!" Dave, of course, jokes with him and says "Are you sure it isn't purple?" And to our surprise, Calvin responded by saying "Mo daddy, mo purple moom, white moom." He runs really fast, his hair is growing longer, blonder, and crazier every day. He hasn't had a hair cut yet...and for now we're not cutting it. Dave seems to love how crazy it is starting to look, I really don't mind it. He loves to climb and jump off things. He is extremely ticklish and most of the time I can turn a grumpy attitude around by tickling him. He has excellent balance and the ability to land on his feet most of the time he jumps off things. He still loves his little white meow and special blanket, and has completely forgotten about his pacifier. At least we think so, he never mentions it or asks for it, and doesn't seem to want other kids' pacifiers if he sees another kid or baby with one in their mouth. One thing he's started to do lately is play macho. Or at least act like it at times. If Dave plays around with him and wants to make him laugh, he some times tries as hard as he can NOT to smile. He gets this little tiny smirk on his face and walks away so nobody can see his effort not to show emotion. Silly little kid. He is gaining confidence in public with people who talk to him. Lots of people say hi to him if he's sitting up in the shopping cart near me, and he (well, most of the time) happily waves and says hi. Of course there is another side to Calvin I haven't mentioned yet. He can be the complete opposite of sweet and silly. He knows how to scream really loud, throw fits when things don't go his way, push Violet's buttons quietly and calmly and sits back and watches his work while she freaks out (his favorite seems to be running his fingers over her dry-erase board art creations to "ruin" them but he does so when she's not watching and waits for her to notice), and be disobedient. He seems so agreeable at times when we ask him not to do something. He'll quickly respond to a request like "Calvin, do not lock the door" or "stop throwing your food on the floor" with a quick "o-tay mommy" or "o-tay daddy" but 2 seconds later, he'll lock the door or throw something on the floor. Whenever I catch him in the act of disobedience he gets a slap or spank, and sitting in his time out chair until he calms down. That usually works...but like a typical 2 yr old...just keeps on doing it. Working with him on obedience will come with time and consistency.