Yes, Caelan deserves her own word. She is the most unique little person. Some have called her tiny and quiet, which I have to laugh. She might seem that way, but she is personality plus, full of life and ALWAYS curious to do whatever pops into her head. While Evelynn is calm and calculating, Caelan is the complete opposite, rarely doing anything at a slow speed and thinking anything through. She's a trip. She's fearless. She would make the tazmanian devil look bad. I've never seen a child capable of doing so many things in short periods of time. I can look at her face and see the wheels turning feverishly as she decides what to do next. Can't you tell by the look on that little face?
Within ten minutes she can completely strip a bed down to the mattress, take all the books off the shelves, take the shelves off the shelving system, take the drawers out of a dresser and then take the clothes out of the drawers. She has also dumped 5 quarts of orange juice in my kitchen floor, tossed out some mushrooms and made random bites up and down the cucumbers. I am simply in awe of her abilities and they have earned her the name "Destructo." There is a reason we have door knob covers on all the doors, locks and a chain on other doors and a lock on the refrigerator. Her name is Caelan.
She's a non-conformist. If things should be done one way, she thinks she has a better idea. If there are steps up to something, she'd rather climb up with the tips of her fingers and toes. If she can get the tips of her fingers on the edge of anything, she will be able to climb it. She would just rather climb... period. Her rambunctiousness has gotten her into more trouble than anything, and at two, she's getting that little attitude that goes with it. It can be so hard not to laugh when she does things. In her world, the worst punishment she can get is a sitting down time-out. Making her stay still ruins her day. She is a work in progress. I'm thankful to have such a spunky little girl and given the right correction, she will take on the world full force, as a woman of character and of God.
I'm always struck with how profound Evelynn can be at times. She will be four in April, but I'm continually amazed at her exactness and vocabulary. She is a very well thought out little person. She thinks in steps and can form a plan to go from A to B successfully with the end she intentioned, and her plans generally work. She is very descriptive, although I don't always grasp what she means right away. Hearing her speak is precious. Here are a few examples from the last week or so:
1) The sun is in my eyes, Mama. I need my sunglasses because it is too brilliant.
2) The light's turned on outside. It's morning!
3) Good morning. How are you this morning? Did you have a good nap? She asks everyone this every morning.
4) I want to eat chicken, and cereal with milk, and macaroni & cheese, and peanut butter and jelly and warm chocolate milk because I'm cold... and I want to eat it all myself and that would be excellent.
5) Do you want a "spinning light" in your room, Mama? A spinning light is a ceiling fan.
6)But I HAVE to have my wand AND my crown... I'm a princess.
7) Thank you, oh, thank you so much. I just love it! I could give her just a Kleenex to get this response. She is a verbally thankful child, which we love.
8) Mama, I built a rocket for you and it's PERFECT!
9) Do you want to play a game? I want to watch you play the one with the fire or the one with the alligators. Now you have to love any child that wants to watch you play the Wii, specifically Mario and Lego Indiana Jones.
10) Mama, let's go get my bicycle on the porch. That would be awesome.
11) Oh, it's getting dark outside soon.
12) Oh, the snow is BOOTIFUL. I love it. I need my snow boots and snow coat and my gloves because it's cold outside. Does that sound like fun?
During the course of a day, Evelynn and Caelan both pretend to be princesses, pirates or Hobbits. When being princesses, the jewelry, crowns and magic wands become, well, exactly what they are. Conversations between them range from "sharing" a specific crown or poking each other with their wands that end in fits of giggles. After a while, the princesses turn into pirates, usually beginning this phase of pretend with deciding who is "Captain Scallawag." Once this has been decided, previous princess jewelry becomes treasure and shouts of "Aaaarrrrgh!" can be heard as they run to hid their precious treasures. They hide them in a cave that looks vaguely like our elevator. They get inside the elevator and pull the screen closed. At this point, their whispering begins... their pirate secrets are of treasure and where they will be setting sail to next. Evelynn will then emerge from their secret cave with gold bracelets on her arms, pushed slightly past the elbow and vanquishing intruders with her wand, er, sword. Caelan follows with necklaces draped around her neck and rings on her fingers. They circle the living room a couple of times and then head to the kitchen, usually in hopes of pirating away some food. By the time they get to the dining room, the story begins to change a little. As they roam around the dining room table, they decide to go back to the elevator to hide their treasure. Everything they are wearing that's fancy is removed. Sometimes this even involves taking off their cloths. This new journey takes them back to the dining room where they begin traversing through the Mines of Moria (under the dining room table). Gollum lives under our table. They begin whispering again, only to start yelling "AHHHHHHHH!" and rushing to get out of Moria. They run as fast as they can to Minas Tirith, the living room. As they run, Caelan begans asking "Where is he?" and Evelynn answers by saying "There he is!" and pointing randomly towards where she thinks Gollum is. Caelan's face becomes full of trepidation. "Hurry," she whispers. They climb up the path of Cirith Ungol (the couch) where they fight off Shelob, or "the big spider." Once again, they find themselves at the elevator, now the entrance to Mt. Doom. Okay, pretend time is over. Evelynn tells me "Gollum burned, can we watch PBS Kids.org now?"
The sweet, sorrowful voice of my eldest child sounded apologetic enough. "I'm so sorry, Mama. I really am. I didn't mean to spill the popcorn. It was a asktident." It certainly sounded sincere enough. She has been so apologetic about many things lately that I didn't think much of it. She takes me to the scene of the accident, and it looks like much more than an "asktident" to me. The entire bag of popcorn (or what hadn't been consumed at that point) was spread over just about every inch of my kingsize bed... a little spread out too well. I told her an accident wouldn't be a bazillion pieces, but maybe a few pieces and they wouldn't have been spread all over my bed either. Suddenly realizing that I might not be as forgiving as I was before I saw the mess, she quickly said "Caelan did it."
I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship... Well, Humphrey Bogart said it better, of course, but that's a start anyway in this new world of blogging. So, welcome to the world of the Brannons. With three little girls, Evelynn (3.5), Caelan (2) and McKenna (7.5 months), there is hardly ever a dull moment. I had to look up the word dull to refresh my memory of its meaning. According to http://www.dictionary.com/ its various meanings are:
1. not sharp; blunt: a dull knife. While not the best descriptor of our family actions, Caelan has on occasion played with knives. This only because the sky really is no limit for her and apparently neither is my countertop.
2. causing boredom; tedious; uninteresting: a dull sermon. The only times that feel like I'm causing boredom or giving a dull sermon is when both Evelynn and Caelan are looking at me with blank stares when I ask them to do something.
3. not lively or spirited; listless. Uh... if you've met my children this is very rarely the case.
4. not bright, intense, or clear; dim: a dull day; a dull sound. My children have their moments, as do we all. Like Evelynn asking me what color is Clifford the Big Red Dog... or Caelan telling me something that I have no clue what she's saying. In these moments, I refer to the wise words of Marlin (yes, from Finding Nemo) "It's like he's trying to speak to me, I know it," and "Look, you're really cute, but I can't understand what you're saying. Say the first thing again."
5. having very little depth of color; lacking in richness or intensity of color. Nope, don't remember instances like this at all.
6. slow in motion or action; not brisk; sluggish: a dull day in the stock market. Hahaha. I did mention three children under the age of four, correct? Evelynn is mobile. She walks, runs, dances, and bounces. Caelan is mobile. She walks, runs, bounces, climbs, flies, falls, and runs into doors. McKenna is trying to be, but in the back of my mind I sometimes get a small twinge of wanting to "accidently" (of course) bump her so she will be immobile just a little while longer. Not that I would... it's just a thought...
7. mentally slow; lacking brightness of mind; somewhat stupid; obtuse. None of them, of course... Caelan thinks with amazing speed. Hmmm. But then she usually doesn't think the whole thing through which is why I have had to "save" her from many of her ideas.
And there were a couple more, but I think you get the gist that dull is really not part of our daily vocabulary.
