To Calvin, who is five months old today

Wow!  Five months old!  To us it seems as though you only arrived just yesterday, and yet it is amazing how very different you are now than you were back in June.  Thankfully your physical growth has slowed way down.  You were growing so fast before it was amazing you had any energy left to do other things!  In the past month you have gained slightly more than a pound and slightly more than a half inch, which makes you 17.25 lbs and 26.75 inches.  What a big boy!  And while your growth curve has slowed, your learning curve has picked up the pace.  A month ago you had started to sit froggy style (leaning forward on your arms for balance) for short periods of time, but as of today you sit up straight like a big boy and can stay that way indefinitely (or at least until your next nap).  And next to sitting your new favorite way to play is standing!  Yes, you love to stand, using a table for support, to play with your toys.  That is why your new favorite toys are your doorway jumper and your exersaucer.  You have started turning the pages when we read to you, although never at the appropriate time!  You are vocalizing more and more, through cooing, laughing, gurgling, and lots and lots of raspberries, spit included.  And, most wonderfully, you have become a "settled" baby, showing confidence and comfort in your world.  This month marked your first real season change, and the cold weather brought your first colored leaves and your first snow, a little early this year!  Halloween was fun, mostly for you parents.  We took you to the pumpkin patch, where you loved the pumpkins, and to the old fashioned cider mill, where you loved the gourds, and for Halloween you were the cutest giraffe there ever was!  Calvin, you are our greatest joy!