Calvin has learned and grown so much in the last month, I can hardly believe it! He is the cutest thing. We love playing with him and watching him grow every day. He is learning to walk and can take about 7 steps before falling down. He is finally getting some teeth in, although for now I can only feel bumps where the teeth are pushing through. I read that some babies have more collagen in their gums and it just takes more time for the teeth to push through. He is transitioning to one nap each day, although right now we do switch from two naps to one nap every other day. He is waking up early now that daylight savings has left us, so that's fun... or not. But I know that he will slowly adjust to it as time goes on. :)
He is starting to show signs of being a picky eater, something I am not excited about. He won't touch vegetables unless I mask them with something else. TJ and I usually just leave him in his high chair until all the veggies are gone, and this helps him get the picture. :) I want to take steps now to avoid pickiness later. If you hide the veggies in yogurt (ew!), mashed potatoes, or bread, he will eat them fine. He is more hesitant when they are presented in their raw form. Still, we make sure he eats most of them before mealtime is over. He and I are also practicing sitting still. Each day, we spend about 10 minutes just sitting - he sits on my lap. He can play with a quiet toy or book and we just sit! He will always fuss, but I hold him in my lap until the time is over. I am trying to get him used to sitting in my lap for long periods of time because I am getting really tired of what happens at church. He will fuss and want to move around or play, and one of us has to take him out. If we do take him out, though, I'm trying to not make it a reward and let him crawl everywhere. TJ or I will just hold him in our laps until he calms down. This is a new thing for us right now, and we are all still getting used to it. It's not easy, but hopefully in the end it will result in a child who can sit still! Calvin is my guinea pig. :) Who knows if this will work? We shall see. I just need him to be able to obey me and sit for periods of time because we don't have a lot of people nearby to babysit on a regular basis if I need to go to the doctor or something. I really don't want to have to always chase him around everywhere we go, so I am trying to take steps now to prevent that. I probably sound super crazy... I know! But I am a psychologist at heart and am going to see if behavioral conditioning really works. :)
He is a happy, sweet baby though. He can clap and point and wave now, and if you say "hi" he will smile and wave at you. If you say "yay!" he will clap. He knows how to unlock our iPhones and iPad, little smartie pants. He can put the shaped blocks in the right holes in the container if I help him. Every day, after his independent playtime is over, we sing the cleanup song and he helps me put all his toys back. He's getting pretty good at it! He is good at picking up the toy and putting it back in the bag. I try to make it fun and give him lots and lots of praise when he does it. I have found that he responds very well to positive praise. It's so sweet to see his face light up when we celebrate his achievements. I think I read somewhere that you should give 10 positives for every correction, and I try to do that with him. I fail sometimes, but I have it in my mind to praise often. He knows the word "no" but is constantly testing his limits. I think pretty soon I need to establish a "time out" chair or box or something... but that's a little farther down the road.
He loves anything to do with appliances, wheels, tubes, doors, cords, etc. He is bored with his toys and wants to touch anything else. He loves to just crawl around and explore; it's his favorite thing to do. He will crawl around the living room and kitchen and just make his rounds. :) He is happiest when he is free to roam. He isn't showing signs of being attached to any particular toy, but he seems to be fond of his "standing station" play area and walker. He loves to bonk his head against your face - what it means is he wants kisses. :) He'll keep bonking his forehead against your mouth until he's gotten enough kisses to satisfy him. It's really adorable. He will giggle every time we do this. He loves to be spun around in circles and laughs every time. He is very ticklish and will always laugh when you pinch his thighs or tummy or ribs. I love hearing his little laugh! He likes to read with you and turn the pages as you go. He loves Blue's Clues and we watch it together sometimes while he sits in my lap. But what he loves even MORE than Blue's Clues is America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country! He will sit with me quietly the whole time it's on and watch it very intently. A future chef in the making!! :) I know the guidelines for babies are to not have any screen time before 2 years old, so it is rare that we watch shows. If we do, it's one 22 minute show for the whole day and that's it. Still, now that I'm pregnant, I have really bad days of sickness and need a distraction for Calvin while I lie down and try to recover. The TV can be a nice distraction sometimes! Don't judge me :)
See? He loves appliances. He could watch the clothes go all day.
Storytime at the library!
We did storytime at the library a couple weeks back and he did well! He ditched all the toys, as you can see, and went straight for the metal grate in the floor. Haha! He couldn't care less about toys. He'll pick an appliance, keyhole, gear, or knob every single time.
He's always so happy to see me after independent playtime. :)
We made our annual trip to Cornbelly's in October. I just love that place! It's so fun and is a great tradition for our family. Calvin really seemed to enjoy himself. :)
16 weeks in! Blah. It's been rough. This baby doesn't seem to want me to eat. And I've been getting migraines again and can't take anything for them... which means pure misery until it's over. I am going to ask my doctor for something to help with the migraines. I can't afford to be out of commission when I have a baby to take care of! When I get a bad one, it makes me very nauseated and I throw up most of the day. One particular day last week, I woke up at 3 am with a bad migraine and threw up twice before 6 am. I sobbed when TJ left for work because I felt so awful, and I didn't eat anything the entire day because I was even throwing up the water I was drinking. It was horrible!! It didn't go away until late that night. I was able to cram some food in me before the end of the day, luckily, because I was really light-headed and dizzy after that awful headache. Anyway, not to moan and groan about it all - I hate to be a big fat complainer. It was just a really rough day. I hope the doctor has something that will help!
Hooray for Halloween! Here are our pumpkins. Pretty impressive, huh?? TJ and I get competitive with each other. I think his Justin Bieber pumpkin wins. :)
I did a haunted house. Hopefully, that is apparent. :)
Cute little monkey! Calvin kept crying in his dragon costume, so we switched last minute to this one. I got it at Kid to Kid for $5... not bad!
Sleepy little man on our walk the other day. When we try to do one nap during the day, he gets drowsy on our morning walk. I woke him up shortly after this... mean mommy! I just knew it'd ruin his nap if I didn't. :)
Calvin playing with his church buddy Gavin. We teach the 5-year-olds in primary and it's so fun. Calvin can just crawl around and make friends with everyone. The kids really love him.
Who's that chunky cutie after bath time?? :)
Now that Calvin is a little older, it's so much more fun to interact and play with him. He's so cute! We can play chase, we can practice things, we can go exploring and run errands - he seems to enjoy it all. He just wants to see the world and figure it all out! We love this little man of ours!
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