50 weeks old

Calvin really seemed to enjoy his first Christmas. In fact, he refused to take his morning nap five out of the past seven days.  I'm still trying most days, but if he sleeps in, then I don't even try.  The last two nights he's slept in quite a bit, so he's still getting his 14-15 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period.  Now, don't anyone read this as he is sleeping through the night, that of course is not the case.  I've told him one more week and we're going to work on not doing night time feedings.  Once we return from celebrating Christmas with my family, night weaning is the goal.

It's been a pretty busy week overall for Calvin. He's really working on walking.  He learned to stand up on his own unassisted from the ground.  He's done it a handful of times, but tries it a lot!  He took a series of 8-10 steps and keeps trying to take more.

Such a happy little guy. 

49 weeks old

This week could be titled..."anything can be a walker."  Calvin spent this week turning anything and everything in the house into something he could walk behind.  This included (but was not limited to): exercise ball, laundry basket, music table, tackling dummy, tubs of toys, kitchen chairs, and the list goes on and on.  He will often turn away from whatever he is using and attempt to walk to us, but he mostly takes one step and leans really far and falls over.  He's got a great attitude about it and gets up and tries again.

Calvin's got a top tooth coming through.  It looks so big!  It's barely broken through the gums and he's handling it pretty well.  Hopefully it doesn't cause him too much discomfort as we travel for Christmas.  We celebrated as a family yesterday and Calvin loved the boxes, wrapping paper, and the prime rib!

Loves his new car

Pretty excited about big brother's Legos.  Doesn't realize this means he's officially banned from his brother's room. 

48 weeks old

At 11 months old, here is what Calvin is up to:
- saying Mom and Dad!  Love hearing that sweet little sound.  Oh wait, not such a sweet little sound as he only yells it at us!  He's trying out some other words too and Caleb is a little upset that he hasn't said "Caleb" yet.
- cruising along furniture.  He's taken one step without holding on, but he's too scared to do more.
- climbing over everything.  He loves it when the couch cushions are on the floor so he can climb up and down over and over.  He also really likes to climb over the top of us, or up the stairs, or the ladder in his brother's room, or really anything.  I caught him in the dishwasher on Thursday.
-  trying some almond milk in his sippy cup with meals.  He's been a master at the straw cup for quite a while, but has taken to blowing bubbles and spitting it out, so we're trying out a sippy.  He's hysterical to watch as he tilts his head almost too far, but he's getting the hang of it.


Likes:
- his brother's toys
- pulling all the books off the shelf
- taking baths, or playing in water wherever he can find it



Dislikes:
- having his nose wiped
- holding still to get dressed
- getting wiped up after a meal

Working hard to get the sticker off

Investigating the sticker

Not a fan of Santa

Hanging out with Pops

Happy boy at supper

46 & 47 weeks old

Just as we suspected, Calvin thoroughly enjoyed his first Thanksgiving!  He loved all the food.  If I had to say a favorite, I would say turkey and dressing.  He slept pretty good while we were gone and loved playing with his cousin Sarah.  Calvin is a big fan of babies, especially ones he can get to so quickly!  We are trying to teach him how to touch gently and not pull hair.

Along the food lines, he is still a good eater, but we're having to be a bit sneakier with his plate.  For example, if he can see there is fruit to be had, he will whine for it and throw his other food around.  If he can't see the fruit, he will happily eat the food in front of him.  We've also started letting him drink some almond milk with dinner.

Sleep...we're getting there.  He's still up more than once a night most nights, but will go back to bed pretty quickly without nursing most of the time.  I do still nurse him once in the night.  And he's made good progress sleeping later!  This had led to a few days with only one nap, but thankfully on those days it's a pretty long nap.  A couple of days he even slept until almost 8 AM.  

He's discovered the Christmas tree, but is really doing a nice job of leaving it alone.  We even have presents under it that he hasn't touched!  Hope he will keep that up. 

He's getting steadier on his feet and can stand on his own for a few seconds at a time.  He has some interest in trying to walk, but he's pretty fast at crawling, so he's not in too big of a hurry to give up crawling.

Touch past couple of weeks for spills, tumbles, and bumps.  Calvin dove head first into an empty bath tub twice this past week.  Fortunately he wasn't hurt at all either time.  Maybe he's part cat as he landed on all fours both time.  He also fell and bit into his top lip twice this week, and if that wasn't enough blood, he got smacked in the face with a fire truck and got a bloody nose!  He's pretty tough and a few minutes of snuggling was all he needed to calm down and be able to play again.

Excited to be all bundled up!

Brothers! 

Playing with Sarah

Not too excited to be outside all bundled up!

Playing with Liz

Tried some outside pictures for the Christmas card.  Didn't work out too well since he was so distracted by the snow. 

45 weeks old

Brothers!

Calvin had his weight check this week and crossed the 20lb mark.  He's been hovering near that since August and was really, really close in September, but then lost weight in October.  He's back on track with his weight gain now, but man is he looking thin! Some things Calvin's up to:
- walking behind his puppy as he pushes it around the living room
- attempting to crawl into the fireplace and play with the candles.  Now that the Christmas tree is up, I'm sure that will be his next goal!
- investigating snow. We got a huge snow storm on Friday and Calvin was pretty curious.  We put some snow on his high chair tray so he could play with it, well he of course ate it instead.
- trying to cut some more teeth.  I think he might be working on his top two in the middle and the next two bottom ones.  He won't let me get a good feel to know for sure though.
- got his second flu shot.  He handled it like a champ and hardly cried.
- wearing shoes!  So happy we found a pair that fit his feet and that he can't get off.  It makes errands so much easier to not have to hunt for socks each place we stop.
- working on sign language.  He has signed "more" for food once or twice, but working on using it more consistently and learning more.
- eating sandwiches.  Calvin tried a grilled cheese this week and boy did he like it!
- still fighting a cold...going on two weeks now
- still getting up 2-3 times a night
- giggling like a maniac at his big brother
- starting to throw tantrums.  Man can this little man throw his head back and scream. He's also perfected the back arch when getting him into his carseat.
- screaming when getting his diaper changed.  How dare we make him sit still.
- longer baths.  He's finally learned not to stand up.  Now if we could just get him to stop drinking the bath water!

Bed time snack.

Loves humus

Helping to decorate

Hungry boy

Loves to eat

44 weeks old

Ten months old!  Such a big boy!

Refused to sit up, so lounging it is.

Poor little guy was sick this week.  He spent a lot of time sleeping the first part of his sickness, and then a lot of time fussing and not sleeping well the second half.  Beginning Wednesday night-Friday morning, he was up less than 7 hours in a 36 hours period!  What a tired boy.  The next couple of nights he was up anywhere from every 45-120 minutes.  He's doing better now, not 100% back to normal, but getting there.

Bath time fun!

Oops

We promise Mom, we will be good. 

43 weeks old

Well we are making some progress in the sleep department.  We decided to stop feeding him at every waking and instead initially offer him some water and then just keep laying him back down (I still nurse him once per night).  The first night went shockingly well (up a lot, but back to sleep in under ten minutes each time).  The next night was amazing...slept 7:45-5:30 and then back to bed until 7:00.  Since then, it's been ok.  Up 2-3 times a night and going back to sleep ok at most wakings, but we've had a couple take 30-40 minutes to get him back to sleep. He'll get there and we are all more rested than a week ago, so that's progress.

We've also successfully gotten him to wear and keep on shoes!  As it's getting colder, I wanted something to put on his feet when we are out and about that he can't take off.  I had some soft soled shoes that I thought would be perfect.  I got Calvin's foot into them, they fit, but Calvin disagreed about them being perfect.  I took them off, and thought, "oh well,"  The next morning, he crawled over to them and started to play with them and then attempt to put one on.  He's worn them whenever we've left the house since and can't get them off and doesn't seem to mind them.  Hopefully he doesn't learn to take them off for a few months so he doesn't have cold, bare feet all winter.

Calvin enjoyed another USD football game this weekend.  He even got to stay the entire game and stayed awake for all of it. He was really tired by the end, but did really well.

He's really starting to get more and more confident on his feet.  He will push his puppy around and "walk" behind it and will cruise along the couch.  We've seen him stand on his own without holding on, but anytime he realizes he's doing that, he instantly sits down.

I wish we had a good video of his laughter at story time tonight. We've been going to pajama story time on Monday nights and Calvin does ok for a while, but gets a little restless since it's close to bedtime.  Tonight they did a parachute game (like the parachutes from gym class), and Calvin just thought that was hysterical!  He laughed harder than I've ever heard him laugh.  At one point, he was out of breath from laughing so hard.

Still loves his baths

Favorite book right now

First time wearing shoes...hated them!  

Messy, messy, messy.

First time in the sand, and didn't even eat any!

42 weeks old

Not too much new in Calvin's world this week.  He had his first Halloween and really wasn't sure what to think at all the excitement and his costume.  He was a little monster, which we thought was fitting since I always call him "the monster."  He was content on the Halloween parade through the nursing home and did fine trick-or-treating as long as I was holding him.  He did great with the time change adjustment and slept until 7:00 new time.  No one get too jealous of our good luck with that, we're still up 3-5 times a night!  In other news, Calvin has learned how to walk a few steps in a row behind his puppy.

Trying to crawl away from the pictures. 

Trying to pull Liz's hair. 

41 weeks old

Well, night time sleep is still not going well.  On the upside, we made some progress.  He will go to sleep pretty well most of the time on his own, and is still napping well.  Talk to us in a few years and hopefully we've slept more than a handful of hours in a row.

Some things Calvin's up to:
- taking his socks off all the time.  We still haven't ever successfully put shoes on him and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
- only using his pacifier at bed time.  With both kids, I've aimed for less pacifier use around six months and taking it away at awake time at nine months.  Calvin's mostly there.  I do let him keep it when he goes to the gym daycare as he's still not a huge fan of that and on longer car rides, but for the most part, it stays in the crib.  I don't even take it with us when running errands or going to play dates anymore.  Can't believe in about three months we will be trying to take it away completely!
- his first Pumpkin Palooza!   Liz and Calvin hung out with the moms while the dads and older kids played outside.  Not a lot of pumpkin carving took place, but we sure had a great time.
- eating, eating, eating.  We went out to dinner and he helped us finish all three meals we ordered, plus a pouch of baby food.  And I don't even want to discuss the things he eats that aren't food...leaves, wood chips, play dough, play foam, cardboard, paper, etc.  Or what about the way he chases the broom around looking for scraps or the way he crawls around the kitchen looking for scraps, or probably his worst habit...taking the tray off the Swiffer and foraging for food.  If I had to pick right now, I'd say apples are his favorite foods and grapes are his least favorite.  He won't even touch a grape.
- using the toilet to pull himself up.  It was easier to keep the bathroom door shut when only grown-ups and a baby lived here.  Oh and Travis may or may not have found him splashing in the toilet today!
- short baths.  He still loves the bath, but I can only make him sit back down so many times before he gets upset and just has to get out.  He thinks the tub is the perfect place to stand up.
- figuring out a straw cup.  I don't know how to get a baby to use a sippy cup.  Caleb struggled to tip it far enough to get anything and we are having the same struggle with Calvin.  But man does this little guy love to drink water with a straw cup!

Cute boy in blue jeans

Playing outside.  We are loving the nice weather well into October!

Big week ahead...Halloween!  Calvin is going as a monster, which is fitting because I refer to him as "monster man."