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.

The "tale" end of a smile...

Parenting can be a tough job.  This week alone Calvin has peed on Jon at least 3 times, usually during a middle of the night change, spit partially digested breast milk down the front of Cortney's newly donned shirts at least twice, and shot poop across the room once while just moments away from being covered with a new diaper.  It's a good thing that parenting also has its irreplaceable rewards.  In this, Calvin's fourth week of life, he rewarded us in many ways.  Early in the week he started cooing, a welcome addition to his previous language which consisted mainly of pipping, grunting, and snorting.  And the amount of time that he spends being happily alert in each day has increased incredibly.  But perhaps the most rewarding of all is his new smile.  Last Sunday he smiled an actual smile for the first time and has repeated the feat several more times throughout the week, sometimes even accompanying it with a good hearty chortle.  His favorite person to smile at is his dad, which may have something to do with Jon's use of funny faces and funny voices, or with the fact that he currently sees his mother as purely a milk machine and it's hard to smile while you're mouth is gaping open like a baby bird's.  Of course one never has their camera at the ready when such a wonderful thing happens, but we were able to catch the tail end of one smile during a particularly lively Richard Scarry tale.  In any case, we mark smiling as one of our favorite milestones ever. 

Happy birthday to the US

And to Cortney's dad, but don't tell anyone.  We started our celebration last night by going to the fireworks display in Manchester.  It was, of course, Calvin's first evening of fireworks and he dutifully slept through the entire thing, but that's okay because we enjoyed his first fireworks outing for him.  Tonight we celebrated birthdays with Cortney's dad's fantastic and famous smoked ribs.  Yum.  Calvin also slept through this experience, but that's okay, too, because he will get to enjoy them via the indirect route.  In other news... we got our first real smile on Sunday!  It has only happened one other time since then, but we are sure the frequency will increase with time.  Of course no one ever has a camera ready fast enough when these things happen...  But we did get a chance this evening to put Calvin's super baby growth into perspective... he has a long way to go yet.

 

Fingerpainting is not for sissies

We had some great pictures taken of Calvin yesterday (thanks, Lamaze, for the certificate for a free sitting and newborn package!), and we had this great idea that we would get prints from his feet and hands to put into a collage with the photos.  Right.  We naively shopped for non-toxic paints and mixed them to get the color we wanted.  Then we carefully set up the kitchen table with damp paper towels, a bowl of warm water, and the special paper we planned to print on.  Again we say...right.  Though the foot printing went okay, it never occurred to us that the reason no one has hand prints from their newborn is that newborns don't open their hands.  Needless to say, if we go solely by the hand prints we got everyone would think we had an alien baby.  In the end we were rewarded with some great looking footprints and one ornery baby.  Luckily he enjoys taking a nice warm bath.