New Shoes

It may be mid August but you wouldn't know it by the weather.  Yesterday's high was in the upper 50s and it looked just like a Michigan fall had arrived a couple of weeks early so we did what all responsible parents do at this time of year - we took our kid shopping.  He may not be ready for "back to school" shopping just yet, but he has obviously outgrown all of his cool weather clothing from last year.  In fact, comparing Calvin this fall with Calvin last fall is a bit like comparing a German Shepherd to a Chihuahua.  So we fished out the one warm outfit in his drawer (thanks to his Aunt Patty and her kind family who saw fit to prepare him for the hockey season ahead of time) and hauled ourselves to the mall with all the other families of young children who needed a place to go on this wet, cold, dreary day.  We fought tooth and nail to get in the doors at JC Penneys, then waded through the mobs of families in the mall corridors, and finally found a wide opening right down the center which allowed us to make the final dash into the little tiny Stride Rite store, which was itself jam packed with parents and children of all ages.  Calvin had a great time playing in their little toy corner while we waited for some professional help (of the salesperson kind, that is), and he enjoyed the attention that was lavished on him as said professional measured his foot and then tried a couple of shoes on it.  And then, after one good look at the price tag on said shoes, we did the other thing that all responsible parents do at this time of year - we went and bought the shoes for half the cost at Marshall's.

A new way to ride, a new taste, a new sign...

Sometimes it seems as if life moves in fits and starts. The weeks following Calvin's first birthday were all routine.  But nearly 2 weeks of status quo was broken today by a spurt of growth and change. Calvin's toy car made its way back into the toy rotation today (from the back of Jon's closet), and it did so in a new form: today it made its transformation from useless walker to toy car and won its way back into Calvin's heart.  And while he was busy learning to drive his new car, the UPS man stopped by to deliver his new carseat, a birthday gift from his parents and grandparents.  Of course we had to try it out, so after dinner we headed out for ice cream where Calvin got his first taste of vanilla frozen yogurt. So how was the trip? Well, the new taste was a hit (though not as much of a hit as playing with the other kids who were there), and as for the new car seat, though we have been sold on the benefits of extended rear facing and won't be facing him forward for at least another year, Calvin is very happy with his new big boy seat in any direction, making car trips more enjoyable for all!   And, as though he knew that today was the day for exciting and new things, Calvin surprised us and made us smile when he started signing "rabbit" after spotting one on the path in front of us. His excited "rabbit" sign was quickly followed by "all done," in this case meaning "let me out of the stroller so I can chase the rabbit" which we did. The rabbit got away, of course, but it was a good day nonetheless, and he should sleep well tonight!

To Calvin, on his first birthday

You are the sun, the music, the bright spot in our lives, and today we celebrate the day of your arrival.  We remember it like yesterday - the anticipation, the excitement, the exact moment we first saw your beautiful face.  But today a sweet poignancy brings awareness of the slippage of time, a truth that is driven home as we watch you chase a pet while signing dog, practically running down the hallway past the picture of you at only 1 week old.  Oh the things that have happened since then!  In the past month alone you have started stacking blocks, and putting your toys away all on your own;  you started dancing to the music you have always loved;  your walking has improved enough that you actually spend part of our evening walks out of the stroller; and you are eating more and more foods, and beginning to learn to drink out of a glass. 

What has really amazed us, though, is your developing ability to communicate.   You have started to use baby sign language!  You sign "more" while you are eating, and have a tentative version of "eat" as well.  You also sign "dog" and can sign "cat," although it looks suspiciously like clapping or the sign for the "more," and you sign "duck" and "nurse" as well.  You watch us carefully now when we sign to you and we see the dawning of understanding on your face and know that it won't be long before you have more signs.   And even beyond the signs you are working very hard to communicate, using varying sounds (some more pleasant than others), expressions, and even hands motions, like pointing.  It is becoming clear that you understand a lot about the world in which you live, and we are simply amazed by you.  Happy birthday Calvin.  We thank you for coming into our lives, turning them upside down and inside out, and brining us the beautiful light of hope.  We cannot wait to find out what the next year has in store for the three of us!

 

Happy first birthday, Calvin!

Well, it happened.  Calvin turned one.  For so long this day seemed like it was far, far away.  Even yesterday it seemed like it couldn't possibly be here, and yet it arrived.  We tried to keep his party small so that he wouldn't become overwhelmed, but he did very well and our concerns were likely unfounded.  In fact, he spent most of the party wandering around ingratiating himself to his guests, asking for food, and being generally adventursome.  He enjoyed eating dinner outside, and took his time doing it... savoring either the food or the attention, or possibly both.  Of course, the dinner was nothing compared to the cake!  For his very first cake we made him a sugar free carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (both sweetened with applejuice) and when he was presented with his own personal cupcake he poked at it for only a brief second before diving right in, trying to fit the whole thing in his mouth!  We expected some frosting mess, but he was too in love to waste any of it on such nonsense.  And though we know that the first birthday is really more about the parents and their guests, Calvin seemed to know that he was the star of the day... or maybe he just always assumes he's the star of the day, but either way it was a very successful and fun evening, and we are sad that it is behind us.  When the sun dawned today we still had a baby, but now with the official age defining party in our past, tomorrow the sun will dawn on the parents of a toddler.

You can see all of the pictures from his party in his 6/9-15 album. 

Our big boy

Calvin is a good eater.  There isn't anything that we have given him that he has turned down: we tried asparagus, he loved it; beets, he enjoyed them; strong, fancy cheeses, he begged for more.  Yet tonight we thought maybe we would stump him by trying him out on artichoke.  Nope.  In fact, even though we gave it to him sans salt and butter, he loved it so much he laughed and reached for more, which is a lot for a kid who takes his eating so seriously.  And tonight marks the first night that he had a plate all his own that looked exactly like his parents' - curried pork, potato, and artichoke.  We did have some pureed zucchini and eggplant on hand just in case, and he ate those, too (we think he's growing, he's been a very big eater lately).

And we were so excited about his first time eating a big kid meal, and his love for his first taste of artichoke, that we decided it had to make it on the blog, and so it did.  But immediately after dinner he did something else that we would denote as blog-worthy.  Maybe it was the lack of pants tying down his legs, or the big kid dinner making him feel so old and capable, but whatever the reason, after dinner tonight he stopped crawling.  He's been alternating between walking and crawling for several weeks now, and he is by no means a good walker yet, but tonight he was determined to be a toddler instead of a cruiser, and the footage we got was just so darn funny, we thought we'd better share.  We hope it doesn't eclipse our artichoke story.