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.

The weather indoors

We really enjoyed last Tuesday's beautiful snow storm and the white blanket of snow that covered everything last Wednesday in its aftermath.  Heck, we even enjoyed shoveling it.  But snow is really only enjoyable when it's frozen, because when it isn't frozen it's water and water just isn't as pretty, especially when it's dripping through your ceiling.  Yup.  Through the ceiling.  What started as beautiful, fluffy, white snow that blew through our roof vent and into our crawl space during last week's high wind snow storm has, during the course of the recent sunny and warmer days, become water, and that water has seeped into our insulation, and then through our recessed lighting and now right through the seem in the dry wall.  Somehow it just looked prettier as snow on our lawn than it does as water in the three strategically placed bowls in our hallway.  And how do we work Calvin into this blog entry, since he's the only reason most of you read it anyway?  Let's just say he's not the only thing that leaks in our house anymore.

To Calvin, who is eight months old today!

Holy moly! the past month just flew by!  Every time we think that you have learned all you can for the time being and must be ready to take some time off, you surprise us.   You finally learned to truly crawl, in a forward manner while up on all fours, when you were about seven and a half months old.  That same day you started sitting yourself up from a laying down position.  The following weeks were just full of progress for you.  Your crawling has become very smooth and purposeful and your favorite things to crawl after are, of course, the pets.  You have also gotten much better at cruising and can walk the entire distance of the house while pushing your red toy wagon in front of you.  You never miss a chance to pull yourself up and cruise along and you have gotten very good at getting both up and down.  We are so very proud of you!  With your newfound mobility some other changes have taken place in our household.  We finally had to move you out of your bassinet in our room and into your crib in your own room.  You were a very good sport about that change and you now sleep completely through the night. 

There have been some other changes as well.  We decided to start putting you to bed awake, both at night and for naps, and letting you put yourself to sleep, at which you have really proven to be a champion at bed time, but are more stubborn about during naps now that you prefer to cruise around your crib and play with your toys instead. And you now eat three meals a day, eating when we eat. We have added barley cereal, butternut squash, apple, and banana to your menu, and you are working on being able to pick up pieces of those foods and put them in your mouth.  Unfortunately, most of them are slippery and are very hard to get a-hold of!  And the last big change that we have made is the introduction of discipline to your day.  Now that you are so busy and so mobile we have had to start telling you "no" when you become interested in something you shouldn't have.  You don't like being told that you can't do something, but so far you have been very compliant.  You no longer even try to touch the stereo or the dogs' dishes, and we are very proud of you for being so smart and so easy to get along with!  This new stage in your life is a very fun one, for us and for you!

Cruise control

Calvin has been getting exponentially more comfortable with his physical movement. You might say he's advancing by leaps and bounds (or is that by crawls and cruises?). See for yourself!

Calvin's new smile

At least, we think it's a smile.  It started out looking like a smile when he did it while playing on his safari roller, but then at dinner it kind of looked like he was freaked out about something.  Smile...freaky scary face...whatever it is, it's kind of cute.  Or freaky.  One of the two.  He mostly does it between bites at the table, and we think it's his way of saying "hurry up with my next bite, will ya?"  And it goes along with his whole new found love of speech.  You know, baaa, daaa, maaa, naaa... whatever he's saying it sounds wonderful to us!  Except for the occasional deafening shriek, and the excessive crying that is now accompanying naps.  Last week he dropped his third nap and went to two, and immediately he went back to sleeping through the night - woo hoo!  But the nap time crying we could do without.  We've said this before and we'll say it again - why is it that the people who need the naps the most are the ones who want them the least?