If you peruse Calvin's 16th week photo album at all you might notice a recurring theme. We don't want to spoil the surprise, so we'll just give you this hint - "no, Calvin, that will not fit in your mouth, but nice try."
Or, in other words, welcome to the first day of fall. We rang in the new season with style, 
or geeky fanaticism in lieu thereof (like mommy like baby, evidently). We started the day with our usual pre-game tailgate, the only difference today being that Calvin was awake for the majority of it. It would appear that as the days get shorter and shorter, Calvin's daily alert time gets longer and longer (or, more likely, it is due to the fact hat he is sleeping more at night). Following the pregame party we headed home, again as usual, to watch the game on TV. And, again, Calvin was awake for the majority it, allowing us to introduce him to the finer points of football, including singing cheering, how to tackle dad, and how to denote a key play (see photo). 
The only question we have to ask is this: what quarterback was wearing jersey number seven last week, and why did he give it back to Henne this week? At least we won.
But aside from the ending of summer, today marks another ending/beginning; as of today Calvin has officially outgrown his bassinet. And, try as we might to get used to the idea of him sleeping in the next room, we find ourselves incapable. Mind you that this is purely a selfish situation - Calvin has no trouble sleeping alone in his crib in his nursery and does so for every nap, but we are very used to him being only an arm's reach away and are not ready to give up that feeling of safety and security. Nonetheless, he has most definitely outgrown the bassinet, which comes with a weight limit of only 15lbs (in fact, he's been sleeping in there "illegally" for nearly two weeks now). Today we racked our brains to come up with a solution to this self proclaimed crisis, and the answer presented itself in the form of a larger bassinet. Not imaginative, we know, and, most definitely, not brave. But we must choose our battles, and this is not a "man versus self" style battle that we choose to take on. It's not worth it. And besides, where's the fun in that? So, at least for a few months longer, our family will continue to enjoy nightly sleepovers.
Although our plan was that Calvin would be exclusively breastfed until he was at least 6 months old, there are just some eventualities that we did not plan for, and Calvin has become a peruser of much more exotic fare.
Calvin's newest dietary interests include blue elephant, multi-colored giraffe, purple rhino, and blue monkey. We have heard, after all, that one key to a healthy diet is seeking lots of color in your food.
...is what he grabs. Today he grabbed the washcloth that was the "protective covering" during his diaper change, and, as soon as he had removed it and tossed it over his head, proceeded to pee all over his mom (not himself, his mom).
The good news first. Calvin has always been a good sleeper, staying down for six to eight hours most nights, which the pediatric medical profession calls "sleeping through the night." But let's face it - if he goes down at nine, six hours later it's still only thee AM! Even eight hours later it's only five. We consider three AND five AM to be part of "the night" and we don't call that sleeping through. For the past almost two weeks, though, Calvin has consistantly gone down at nine and gotten up at seven. Now we're talking!
Now the bad news. Calvin has his first cold. We can't say we were surprised - Cortney had a sore throat and sniffles last week and, even though she washed her hands in hot hot water so often that they started to peel, we figure that if the antibodies she has didn't protect her they won't protect the little guy. We could tell on Sunday that something wasn't right, but yesterday and today have really been the toughest. We figure he has a sore throat, which, of course, he wouldn't understand, poor little guy, so he is uncomfortable while eating and doesn't want to talk as much. And, of course, he is fussy all the time and does not want to be put down! On the bright side, he is really tired all of the time so he is taking his naps really well! And, just for a bit of mommy humor, Cortney dressed the ornery little bugger in a onesie with crabs on it; if he's going to be crabby he might as well dress that way.
milestones, parenting