To Calvin, who is three months old today

It is hard to believe that another month has passed us by.  In the past month you have grown so much and in so many ways!  Physically you have gotten much bigger and stronger.  You are now just shy of fifteen pounds and twenty-five inches!  You regulary push yourself up on your hands while on your tummy now, can sit up with minimal assistance, and will pull yourself into a standing position while holding onto our hands.  But it is your mental growth that continues to catch us off guard and awe and amaze us.  Over the past month you have become far more involved with the world around you.  You no longer just stare at your toys, now you talk to them, bat at and grab them, and put them in your mouth.  You also have favorites, like the yellow giraffe, the blue elephant, Baby Whoozit, and, definitely, The Bear!  You also have favorite games that you like to play, like "fly Baby Calvin, fly!"  Of course, having favorites means that you are beginning to remember, and it has been a wonderful gift to see your face light up with the smiles of recognition!  Another delightful gift that you have given us has been the gift of your conversation.  Your coos and gurgles have become more varied and expressive, and you love to converse, not just with us but also with the dogs and with your toys.  It has been an exhausting month of amazing growth for all of us, so it's a good thing that you made one final accomplishment in the last two weeks - sleeping through the night!  We'll say it again (and probably again), we love you more every day.

 

To Calvin, who is two months old today

Your second month was equally as amazing as your first, if not more so. You have experienced many new things. In July you went on your first vacation when we took you to Harbor Springs and Petoskey, Michigan. Then in August we took you to Holland, Michigan, where you got your first feel of lake waves washing over your toes. Of course you also went to the Art Fair in Ann Arbor and enjoyed meeting lots of relatives on many occasions. These are just some of the things that we have been impatient to share with you since the day we knew about you, and there is so much more to come.
Your daily life continues to change, too. You've taught us a routine now: You start your mornings very early, playing with dad at the break of dawn; you spend your days with mom, eating, sleeping, and playing; in the evenings the three of us play together before we give you a bath and read you to sleep for the night. You always wake up at least once before morning, but usually go right back to sleep after eating. You continue to grow with a speed that awes us and you now weigh 12lbs, 10oz and are over 23 inches long. You are still a strong boy, able to push yourself forward and actually cover ground. We have to watch you every minute! Your mind is growing strong, too, and you have discovered many new things about yourself: You have begun to kick and swing at your toys in deliberate fashion; you will grab things that come into your path; perhaps the most amazing discovery to you is your voice, and the wonderful and loud new sounds it can make!
There is another side to growing, too, and though you are strong, healthy, and happy, you struggle with some discomforts that we are trying hard to name and fix. medicine has helped with the reflux disease that plagues you, and now we are trying to find the food in mom's diet that is causing you to be uncomfortable. Seeing you hurting and unhappy brings on terrible feelings of frustration and misery when we are unable to fix it, but we are trying so hard and, through it all, you are strong and brave and want to be a happy baby boy. You smile all the time and your giggling, gurgling, and cooing has an incredible way of making both your parents melt at any time, day or night. You are beautiful in every way.

Our return to the zoo

After coming to understand Calvin's subliminal messaging system (hey, T-shirt messages are really the way to go for babies), we decided to take a family trip to the zoo last night. Since the Detroit Zoo is open extra late on Wednesdays during the summer we figured that we could beat the heat and crowds, and possibly see more animal activity by going in the evening. All of the above turned out to be true and we had a great time (and by "we" we mean Jon and Cortney, since Calvin just slept). It was great to be back and to see "our" animals again (we know they missed us, too). The highlights from this trip (besides Calvin, of course) were seeing the rhinos running and playing, and seeing the joey. Who knew that rhinos could be so graceful? And if you don't believe us we have it on video. And the neat thing about the joey was that at our last visit he was still in the pouch and so was Calvin, who was born only six days later so that at this visit both the joey and Calvin were outside their "pouches." It would be an interesting parallel if only Calvin could walk, but alas, Calvin was actually just in a different kind of pouch, riding only two layers (Bjorn and human) from where he was last time. All the crowd loves a baby, though, and several onlookers could not resist commenting. All in all Calvin's first zoo trip was a successful one.

To Calvin, who is one month old today

It is hard for us to believe that you have already been here for a whole month. We still stare in awe at your perfect little fingers and perfect little toes and wonder about the miracle of you. We still cannot believe that you are real, that you are here, that you are ours. There are so many things that we want to teach you, show you, and share with you, but you have already been here a whole month and the time is flying by. It may be a cliche, but it truly feels as though we held you in our arms for the very first time just yesterday. You may not remember that day, but we always will.

And sometimes it's hard to believe that you have been here for only a month. Hasn't it been more like a year? You have proven yourself to be a precocious baby, already in control of your own head and able to roll over and support your whole weight on your legs (you love to "stand"!). We were astounded to find out that you had gained nearly two pounds and over two and a half inches in your first two weeks of life! We have enjoyed watching you discover faces, sounds, and colors. We felt rewarded the day it was clear that you recognized us specifically. We were overjoyed the day you gave us your first real smile! Every day we go outside for a walk and we look for birds and bunnies. Every day we read at least three books together, sing many songs, and practice naming all the parts of your body. Every other evening we bathe you while you rediscover the comfort and fun of the warm water. Every night we lay in bed listening to you breathing and stretching in your bassinet, even when we know we should be sleeping. You will not remember these days, but we always will. We love you, Calvin.

Milk from another source

Friday marked the fourth anniversary of Calvin's arrival.  Mostly the day came and went without much notice, but somewhere in the back of our minds we registered it as a milestone of sorts.  The back of our minds is really the only place where we have time to register such milestones anymore.  Calvin has entered a new stage of being now that includes far more awake time during the day and, thus, far more "fussy" time (we say this in quotations because Calvin is still a good baby but has been "fussy" for him lately).  Another side to that has been the uprooting of our routine - for two nights in a row now he has awakened us twice and has been difficult to put back to sleep.  Thus has ended our four weeks of restful nights.  He's still worth it.  The weekend also brought Aunt Lonnie for a wonderful visit - a visit to Calvin, that is. We fully accept our own insignificance at this point, but at least we enjoyed ice cream, good meals and good company out of the deal.

But there were some noteworthy milestones this weekend. On Saturday, Calvin had his first trip downtown. But today (Sunday) was a much bigger milestone day. Today, Calvin turned one month old, had his one-month portraits taken, and, even more significantly, had his first milk from dad. No, this wasn't some bizarre bio-mutation, but thanks to the marvels of  the breast milk pump, Jon was able to enjoy the feeding experience. This went exceedingly well. We were prepared for difficulties; Cortney watched through the window from outside on the deck, as it was recommended that she not be within Calvin's 20-foot "smellability" radius, so that he would be willing to accept this alternate milk source. But as it turns out, Calvin is a champion eater - no surprise there when you consider his super-baby growth - and Cortney was able to reenter the house and take pictures.