Dino Buddy

I went to go get Calvin up from a nap the other day and found him sleeping on top of his dino stuffed animal that Tutu made me when I was little. He had pulled it down from his dresser and was sleeping peacefully with it as his body pillow. It was so precious. When he woke up, the dino was giving him kisses as thanks and Calvin thought it was hilarious. That dinosaur is his new friend. He loves him! He also loves giving kisses lately!

Oh My Gosh, So Good

Tyler and I were able to go see Pioneer Theatre Company's opening night production of Our Town last night. It has really been a dry spell for us as far as seeing good theatre goes, and last night was so refreshing. It made me remember why I chose to study theatre. The show was so moving and so good. We loved it. Amazing.

Anyway, we got to go see it because we are a part of Utah Theater Bloggers Association and were in charge of writing UTBA's review on the show. You can read it here.

The One With Videos

We've been having so much fun each day. Problem is, I am too busy living it instead of taking pictures or filming it. I sometimes forget that there are others who don't get to see this cutie every day. Man, I feel sorry for you. It sure is fun. Here are some recent pictures/videos for your viewing pleasure!

You have to know that we have been unable to get any of Calvin's really great "tricks" on video. Whenever we get out the camera, he stops what he is doing and bolts toward it. It's actually a little frustrating because every clip ends up being the same. The only time I can get anything fun is if I hide and don't say a word and then just video tape him for 5 minutes, hoping he'll do something funny in it. So, here are a lot of videos, but most of them are us filming him until he finds the camera. I thought you might want to take a look, though.



For about two weeks, the only way he would vocalize was by making these Tony-from-the Shining-esque growls. "Danny's not here, Mrs. Torrance..." Funny. And a little freaky.





He can wave "bye-bye." Here's a short glimpse...




He is really good at "Pat the Bunny." He does all the actions on each page! This is another short glimpse until he sees us...



Another try at "Pat the Bunny."



He is a good dancer. In these ones, I am trying to capture it. You get a little at the end of this one and a little more at the end of the one below.



Well, there you go! I will try to be better about taking pictures and telling stories. Any suggestions about how to get good stuff on video without him knowing?

We are doing well. Calvin is almost walking. We almost have the whole script written for the play I'm working on, and Tyler has a second interview with Microsoft next week in Washington. Wish him luck!

Mother Necessity

Calvin's been chewing his crib to bits. We have bought a number of crib rail protectors, but none of them have worked. He either chews or peels them off or they don't fit. I wanted to just get a cloth one because I figured that would work, but the ones you can buy are expensive and ugly. Today, I decided to make my own out of some leftover fabric that I had from when Tyler's mom made a quilt for him. So I made one. I got a couple ideas online, but basically made it up as I went. I am pretty excited about it.

9 Months!

Calvin's now been alive outside me for as long as he was inside me! A little weird and gross to think about, but I thought about it nonetheless. He had his doctor's appointment yesterday and this is how he's doing:

Height: 27" (10-25%)
Weight: 17lbs 4oz (5-10%)
Head: 45.4cm (50%)

So, he's a little scrawny, but he's got a big head (it's because everyone's always telling him how cute he is). He didn't get any shots, but they poked his toe and drew some blood. The doctor felt his iron was a little low, so they had us go to the lab and get his blood drawn to see if he should have some iron supplement for a while. We went to the lab and they full-on tourniqueted his arm and drew 2-test tubes worth of blood from his little elbow pit vein (which has got to be the equivalent of like 2 quarts of blood for a normal size person). He was an angel during the whole process! He never cried at all, and just stayed completely still, watching the 2 nurses as they coaxed his blood out of him. It was very cute and sad to me.

So, he needs iron supplement for the next 6 weeks. Which is strange to me because he really loves food and eats a ton of cereal and fruits and veggies of all kinds, but we'll see what happens.

He sneezed just as the spoonful of carrots got to his mouth.

Other than that, everything's is going really well. He can now climb our stairs (which is scary), continues to growl at us, and says "bababababa," "mamamamama," and now "dadadadada!" He is becoming so much more interactive. We crawl and chase each other around the house, play peek-a-boo, stack and destroy (only one of us does the stacking...), and other fun things. It just seems like in the past week or so, he really understands you when you interact with him! Oh, and he understands "no" now, but he'll pretend he didn't hear it. His initial reaction always gives himself away, though. It is too crazy how quickly kids develop their sense of reason!

Boy-with-a-secret

Stacking Cups

Our Christmas

The holidays were a time of magical insanity as usual, and I am just now getting the chance to sit down and blog. Unfortunately, I left our video camera in Tucson, so I don't have ANY pictures from Christmas except the 2 I have included. Can you believe it? I am a slacker mom.

Christmas was amazing, though. It is so much fun with a kid of your own! He loved the Christmas lights, Christmas trees, ornaments, presents, wrapping paper, aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins. Every day, he'd wake up to party and play with everyone who wanted to play with him and then pass out exhausted every hour and a half or so. He loved every minute of it, but by the end of the trip he was pretty partied out. He got sick the night before we left and was sniffly, achy, and feverish for a few days after we got back to Provo. He is back to normal now, though it looks like his two top front teeth are coming in quickly, so he is a little unhappy about that today. When those finish coming in, that will bring the count to 6 teeth! In one month! What a trooper he is.

Calvin learned so many new skills on the trip! My sisters and mom taught him to play catch! If you roll a ball to him, he will pick it up and throw it back. His throwing arm seems to be getting much stronger. At first he would just lift the ball up and flatten his palm, letting it roll onto the ground a few inches. Then he'd flap his arms crazily in excitement. Now, he actually has some power behind his throw. It is looking like he may be right handed...which is kind of a bummer. I was hoping to pass on my left-handed-coolness.

He also learned to get back into a sitting position after crawling. I actually got to witness him learning this, which was pretty neat. At Dave and Hilary's party, he was off on his own, and he would crawl one or two steps, and then push back trying to get his feet back under him. He just kept doing it over and over, trying to smooth out the sequence. It was really exciting. Now, he crawls all the way up on all fours, leans back to sit when he wants, pulls up to standing on absolutely everything, etc. It is really crazy how fast they learn.

We are doing well, settling back in with our Christmas goodies, and having a ton of fun together! More posts to come! Welcome to 2010!

Calvin with his Where the Wild Things Are doll he got! He really is Max now.