Swimming lessons

Today we celebrate an important milestone in our lives:  as of today Calvin has been out longer than he has been in (think about it - you'll understand).  Actually, it's more of a realization than it is a celebration, really.  In fact, today would have been just like any other day if we hadn't already had something really cool scheduled:  swim lessons!  For Calvin, that is.  We've been wanting to do this for a long time and were excited from the minute we woke up this morning.  Unfortunately the class time really bites into Calvin's morning nap time, and that meant that we had to get him up after only 30 minutes of sleep (instead of his normal 2 hours) to put him in the car and head to the pool.  The shortened nap time probably contributed to the wariness he exhibited as he and his mom headed into the water.  We were just sure that he would love swimming because he loves his bath so much, but the first five minutes were actually pretty iffy.  As Cortney held him, swaying him with the water up to his chest the way the instructor showed, we were a little concerned to see him begin to pout with a very concerned look on his face.  The other six babies seemed to be loving it!  Only Calvin had some reservations.  But after we spent a few minutes of "close circle time" where the babies toes were all touching, he really seemed to get into it.  In true Calvin fashion he refused to crack a smile during most of the half hour class, but we have come to accept that our child takes discovery quite seriously, and the fact that he spent nearly his entire time in the pool with a stern look of steady concentration glued on his face doesn't mean that he didn't have fun.  On the contrary, it means that he was so excited about what he was doing and learning that he just couldn't take time out to smile!  That's our Calvin.  And in the last ten minutes, while playing with a floating octopus, he finally got comfortable enough to start kicking and splashing the way he does almost nightly in his bath water.  Strangely enough, it was about this time that all the other babies had lost their patience with the  event and started whining or crying.  Calvin, however, was just warming up, and he even cracked a smile for us during the "up and down" activity at the very end.  Survey says?  Success.  We can't wait for next week when daddy takes his turn in the water!  And, of course, there are lots more pictures in the Calvin's 38th week photo album.

Taking carrots from a baby

Calvin had carrots for the first time yesterday and they were a big hit, but there's more to the story.  Since Cortney makes Calvin's food there's quite a bit of prep work involved, so while she stood at the sink washing, peeling, and chopping whole, organic carrots, she gave Calvin one to play with.  It seemed like a good idea - it was too big to swallow, it was cold on his teeth, it was clean and organic, and it made Calvin pretty happy to explore the strange orange thing.  And while she stood at the sink peeling carrots she was not surprised to hear Moose trot into the room, because he is always checking on the baby.  And it was even less surprising that when she heard Moose trot out of the kitchen Calvin let out a little cry, because Calvin always gets frustrated when the animals get away from him.  But what was surprising was that Calvin didn't stop crying, and when she looked down his carrot was gone, and Moose was in the other room chewing happily on it under the piano.  The situation was quickly rectified - Calvin got a new carrot and Moose lost his, but it looks like both Calvin, the dogs, AND the parents have a new lesson to learn.

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!

There's no getting away from him now!

Wow it's amazing what a difference just a few days can make.  Last week you could set Calvin in his carefully baby-proofed room with some toys and head into the bedroom to get yourself dressed for the day, or head to the kitchen to wash a few dishes, or start the laundry.  Whatever the task, we never left him long, but we always knew where he'd be when we went back.  In fact, the farthest he might move was from sitting to laying, or maybe a couple of rolls away, but not so much now.  Now if you leave him in his room and go to get dressed you're likely to be snuck up on long before you are done.  Thankfully the house is mostly baby-proofed now, though there are a handful of things that are still out, like the dogs' dishes and Jon's music.  The new word of the week has been "no," and we've been pleasantly surprised by Calvin's reaction, which is this:  First he looks at you, pauses, then sits back away from the [fill in the blank], screws up his face, turns beet red, then starts screaming and crying with frustration.  Okay, we're not really pleased with the actual reaction so much as the fact that he does respond that way 95% of the time.

Awwww, Calvin's parents are growing up.

We often flaunt the wonderful milestones that Calvin achieves, but rarely do we pat ourselves on the back.  Well, we think it's time that we got excited about something we did for once (hey, this blog used to be about us and only us), and tonight we are busy congratulating ourselves on finally moving Calvin into his own room.  Before he was born we'd said he would sleep in our room for a few weeks.  Then a few weeks became a few months, and we just kept adding months after that.  Every time we thought we were ready we changed our minds.  Well, Saturday night we finally did it.  We can't really say that we got brave, in all actuality once he started crawling and sitting himself up he could no longer safely sleep in the bassinet so the move was a few days overdue.  And, as with most fears of this type, once the move was done we felt much better.  Calvin had no trouble with the move at all, and this morning we were awakened an hour early by the sound of the spinner on the Aquarium crib toy - he had woken up early and was amusing himself!  He then fell back asleep and we all got up at 7 as usual.