To Calvin, who is ten months old (today)

Ten months old and moving fast!  This time last year we were washing newborn clothing, organizing the nursery, and going for daily walks.  Of course we are still doing those things, but the clothing is much bigger, the nursery much messier, and the walks a lot more fun!  When we had a sneak preview of spring at the beginning of March you really enjoyed spending time outside playing in the driveway, or going for walks and watching the ducks in the nearby pond.  It has been such a joy to watch you discover all these new things!  Everything that is worth talking about you refer to as dadada, except for food, which is more often not called banana.  But for all of this verbal expression you have resisted our attempts to teach you sign language and have only signed dog on rare occasions.  The books all say that you will be more likely to learn the signs for things you like, so it's not surprising that you've tried signing dog first, as you just love all of our pets, but the cat is really your favorite - when you see her you squeal with delight and take off after her as fast as your crawling legs will carry you, and luckily she is a willing participant because you are a quick mover!  It's likely that you won't be crawling that much longer, either.  Over the past month you have shown an eagerness to learn to walk, and we have encouraged you to take some steps while close to us, but in the past week you have started taking a few steps at a time without our presence and encouragement.  Your balance is still a little off, but it won't be long now.

The past month you have been very fun in so many different ways.  You are starting to play with your toys differently:  you know how to put the shapes in the shape sorter, the rings on the pole, and the blocks in a stack;  you will play "catch" by throwing the ball back and forth with mom or dad;  and you really like dropping things.  You have also started mimicking more often and will now do your own version of "sooo big" along wiht us.  You now enjoy being read to, and seem very excited to watch the words and pictures in the book while sitting in our laps.  You laugh and smile more than ever now, though the outside world might never know it—you are always so serious when taking in a new situation!  You are absolutely amazing to us, and we are thankful for you every day.

We remember.

It has been very hard for us to want to update the blog, as though moving Diamond's goodbye entry from the prime spot might take her even farther from us.  It has been a hard week for us, though each day does get better than the last.  We have shared a lot of memories with each other, like the time she broke through the screen door (without her wheels) at the apartment and "ran away" while chasing another dog, and when Cortney finally got to her the man standing nearby was on the phone with the police who were offering to send a patrol car to get us to the vet in a hurry (try explaining over the phone that the dog that just ran away is not injured but paralyzed...).  And we remember all of her antics in the car on our way to California and back (let alone her antics outside of the car on our way to California and back), and the similar antics on our trip to Washington D.C.  We rmemeber her love for tennis balls, rawhides, and neck scratches, and of course the walks around the block, which entailed so much sniffing that we affectionately referred to them as "sniffs" instead of walks.  And as we remember these things, and so very many others, we realize that it is okay to update the blog because clearly she will always be with us in our hearts, and we don't need a blog entry for that.  But we still weren't quite there today, so this is another entry just for Diamond, and tomorrow, maybe, we will move on and write a letter to Calvin, who turned 10 months old today because the world does keep going on, even in the face of grief.

So this is another entry for you, Diamond.  We miss you dearly, we love you still, and we hope you are busy playing soccer just beyond the rainbow bridge. 

 

Eating the outdoors

Calvin had his nine month pediatrician appointment this morning and the consensus is that all is well.  Better than well, actually.  The pediatrician said that he is well ahead of the game on physical development, and his verbal development is right on track (no more worrying for his parents, then).  He measured over 28 inches, putting him in the 50th percentile for height (a good place to be) and weighed in at a healthy 19 pounds, which puts him in the 35th percentile for weight (the doctor thought this was probably due to how extremely active he is all day every day!), and his head circumference fell in the 75th percentile.  We got the go-ahead for lots of new foods, the first of which will be cheese - yay!

Then this afternoon we were blessed with such a beautiful spring day that Cortney and Calvin just couldn't stand to spend it indoors, so instead they took a long walk, followed by some driveway playtime.  Calvin was really too young to truly enjoy outdoor playtime the last time that it was warm, so this was really like an introduction to him, and, as usual, he took it very seriously.  It wasn't long before he made it very clear that he intended to eat as much of the outdoors as possible, but his mother made that goal very difficult (no, Calvin, we don't eat rocks).  Eating or not, however, he was more than a little disappointed about having to go inside for a real lunch (until he saw the banana, that is).

To Calvin, who is nine months old today!

Nine months old, what a milestone for you!  You are three quarters of the way through your first year, and your parents are feeling like the time is just slipping away.  You successfully tried a couple of new things this past month, including swimming lessons (our favorite day of the week!) and eating more finger foods.  But the past month seems to have been more about mental advancements than physical ones.  You started mimicking our motions about two weeks ago, something that you had not previously tried.  This new interest has led to a whole host of separate advancements, the wave being our favorite:  you have two different kinds of waves, the first being where you look carefully at our waving hand and then turn your palm towards yourself and open and close the fingers very slowly, and the second being where you flap your whole arm up and down quite rapidly and watch us get excited and giggle.  A few times this past month you have also tried mimicking the sign language motion for dog that we have been using, but you still refuse to use sign language to communicate "more" while eating (we figure that you just take your eating too seriously).  Our favorite new skill, however, is your babbling.  You now love to string non--coherent speech sounds together, making delightful soliloquies for us to enjoy, and you have your own brand of singing, as well. 

This really has been our favorite age so far.  You have become so much more interactive, both with us and with your environment.  You no longer need help to get the things you want, but you have been very good about listening to us when we tell you there are things you can't have.  Soon after you turned eight months old we got you your first car in the form of a walking/riding car toy and you love to walk around the house pushing it in front of you.  You pull yourself up and cruise around the house with very little assistance now, even walking while just touching the wall to steady yourself, and you are now able to stand for nearly a minute at a time without any assistance at all.  You laugh a lot more frequently, enjoying most of all when your dad drops things while you watch (as in when he pretends to juggle).  And our favorite new physical development by far has been your new love of cuddling.  Although this age has brought with it some true signs of separation and stranger anxieties, it has also brought signs of attachment to your parents and we love it when you pull on our pant legs or reach out towards us, looking to be picked up and cuddled, and we love it when, after we lift you up for a hug, you reciprocate by placing a big, wet kiss on our cheeks, and laying your head on our shoulders while wrapping your arms around us.  Yes, this is by far our favorite age yet.

The lion has arrived

We were awakened in the wee hours of the morning by the sound of ice pellets hitting our windows and roof.  Wow that can be a loud sound!  Then for the second time this year Jon decided to start the day by working at home due to rather iffy road conditions, and the ice continued to come down until about 10:00 a.m. when it turned into a really hard, pouring rain.  What was really striking about this morning's weather, though, was the return of thunder.  In this part of the country the first thunder of the year has the same kind of significance as the first robin, or the first tulip, and we figure that spring is on its way.  Of course, just as with the first robin or tulip, it doesn't mean we won't see any more winter, it just means that we can feel ourselves getting a toe hold on the incoming warmer weather, a hold we will be reluctant to let go of.  And the timing of today's first thunderstorm of the season can't be missed either, because it just drives home the old saying "in like a lion."  With that kind of literal translation opening the month we expect the end of March to be all fluffy and white this year.