Fifteen months old

Well Calvin definitely kept us on our toes this month!   He's not letting his youngest child status get him overlooked. Here is what he's been up to this month
- stealth mode strep throat.  No fever, no weird behavior, just a disgusting rash that overtook his body very quickly.  He tried really hard to share this one with his brother, but somehow Caleb escaped.  They both got two new toothbrushes out of the deal since Calvin kept sneaking Caleb's into his mouth
- lots of new words.  He babbles all the time and most of it is not English, but he does say quite a few actual words (ok, maybe context is still needed to understand him, but these are the ones he's consistent with how they sound): ball, night-night, mom, dad, all done, bye, hi, book, more or milk (I can't really tell which he's saying, but he means he wants more milk)
- use of sing language!!!  He's signing more, please, and help.  Please is his favorite because he thinks he can use that to get whatever he wants.
- throwing random things into the hamper.  Last month, he would throw anything away that I told him wasn't food, well now that we lock the trash can, he's taken to throwing anything and everything in the hamper.  This month the list included: clean clothes as I was folding them, pistachio shells, Caleb's slippers, Caleb's snow boots, pistachio shells, bathtub toys, and I'm sure other things I can't remember
- climbing....he can now get only the kitchen chairs without any help.  I've found him up there finishing up Caleb's left over breakfast on more than one occasion.



Calvin's biggest interests each day revolve around his big brother.  He's always trying to do whatever big brother is doing...ride his scooter, play with his legos, climb into his loft bed, etc, etc.  He also really likes anything involving throwing a ball, reading, and is starting to show some interest in puzzles.  He likes to have a book in his bed and occasionally sits and looks at it before going to bed, but mostly he just lays down and goes right to sleep when put in his bed.

Such a goofy boy

Always has to do what his brother does. 

Eating the bread instead of feeding the ducks

Rash on his face

Rash on his arm

Getting pretty good on his bike

Fourteen months old

Not a lot of huge developments in Calvin's life, but here is what this past month brought:
- two more teeth - up to 8 total now
- attempting to run.  He's getting faster, but not as fast as he thinks he should be!
- jumping -- well he thinks he's jumping, but it's really more of a squat
- babbling, but not really any new words. He can say mama, dada, all done, and uh hu.  He refuses to do sign language and usually just kind of whines/points.
- he's completely weaned and somehow was super easy about this.  We were gone for four nights and he refused a bottle that entire time.  When I got back, I just didn't offer and he didn't ask.
- going to bed like he's the easiest baby in the world.  For naps and bed time, we read a couple of board books, turn out the light, and lay him in his bed with his pacifier.  He lays there and goes to sleep.  I'm scared to ever take away his pacifier since he's so easy with bedtime/nap time.  Maybe I'll work up the courage to try sometime in the near future, but probably not.  He leaves his pacifiers in bed, so what's the rush?
- started his first swim lessons.  He likes the water for the most part and we are not delusional enough to think he will actually learn to swim, but we felt bad for him sitting on the side watching big brother swim, so we signed him up for the parent and tot class.

Smiley boy

For about two days, he walked around with this on his head...no idea why. 

Loves the craft table.  He loves to craft and climb on the chairs!

Sometimes he can't get the food to his mouth last enough and he needs a fork and spoon!

Looks like such a big boy in his stroller now. 

He's pretty proud every time he gets into this chair. 

Loves his new bike!

Thirteen months old

So glad to be done doing the weekly posts!  Hoping I can keep the monthly ones up until he's two.  Boy oh boy do we have our hands full with this little daredevil now.  He's realized he can use the art table chairs to help him get into things.  We're working on not standing on them, and he's doing better, but not perfect.  He still stands on them some and I've caught him standing on the art table and using them to climb onto the kitchen table.  Other things Calvin's been up to this month include:
- preferring to walk over crawl.  He usually still walks with his hands by his face for balance, but crawling is done.  He even will walk with things in his hands now too.
- allergy testing.  He's allergic to peanut and egg, but not dairy like we thought.
- waving - it's a small little wave, but he's getting the hang of it
- sleeping through the night!!!!  Only took us 12.5 months with this kiddo, which is one month less than our previous record.
- cutting teething like crazy
- climbing, climbing, climbing.  His music table...sure.  Caleb's stool in the bathroom...absolutely.  The ladder to Caleb's bed...not even a challenge.
- Climbing up and down stairs. He's a pro going up the stairs but may give me a heart attack going down. He waits until the last possible second to turn around when going down them.  He does pretty well going down them on his belly, but refuses to back into them and instead gets himself sitting right at the top of them. He hasn't tumbled yet, but I also don't let him get near them alone!

His typical daily schedule goes like this:
7:00-7:30 - wake up, immediately eat breakfast
8:30 - nurse
9:30 - some type of outing/errands
10:00 - snack
11:30 - lunch
12:30 - nurse/nap
2:30 - wake up
3:00 - snack
4:30-5:00 - cup of milk/snack while I cook dinner
5:30 - dinner
7:30 - snack, nurse, bedtime

Do you see a trend....this kid eats all the time!  He easily eats as much as Caleb at every meal and snack, and often more.  I took the kiddos to the children's museum and ordered three meals (two kids portions and one adult).  We ate it all and no one was stuffed.  When the whole family goes out to eat, we can still get by with three meals because Caleb often picks from the adult part of the menu and between the three of our meals, Calvin has some of all and is happy.  I made stuffed chicken last week and made four chicken breasts thinking the boys and I would eat the leftovers for lunch.  There wasn't even half a chicken breast left over.   We're nursing about three times a day, unless I'm gone for one of them and then he usually skips it and refuses the bottle.  I'm feeling about ready to be done, or at least ready to just do before bed.  I hit a wall when Caleb was almost 15 months old and just couldn't do it another second and just quit that day.  I think that's going to be the case for Calvin soon too.  We made it over a year and I'm happy with that, so no guilt for me if I suddenly decide one day soon that it's been long enough.  I don't think he will starve!

All ready for the Super Bowl

Climbing...

Just a little drawing

So happy to grabbed the pencils

Teeth brushing time

First trip to the children's museum

Painting

All smiles!

One year old!

And just like that, our little baby boy is one years old!  Here is what he's up to:

Teeth - 4
Weight and Height -- official stats from dr. will be in on Friday
Clothing size - 12-18 month
Nightly sleep - 1-2 wake-ups usually.  He did sleep through the night once this past week, so hopefully that is in our future!
Consecutive steps taken -- 10, but usually only 3-4
Favorite toys -- ring stacker, farm, remote
Favorite activities -- bath time, wrestling with big bro, eating
Words: mom, dad, all done
Favorite food:  Eats about anything, but loves fruit!

We are just so in love with this little boy and love learning more about his personality each day.  He is a pretty content little guy and happily plays alone when he's in familiar situations.  He's always been pretty overwhelmed in large groups of people and his first defense was to sleep.  The holidays and his birthday showed us his new defense is to cling to Mom like crazy.  He's such a happy, goofy little guy and has lots of smiles to share.  He cheeses pretty good for the camera (and the ladies behind us at church).

If I remember correctly, year 1-2 was one of my favorite stages with Caleb, so I'm really looking forward to this year with Calvin.  I remember it being such a year of discovery and curiosity.  I am a little fearful as climbing began this week and this little guy appears to be a bit of a daredevil!!!

51 weeks old

Someone has actually been cuddly this week. 

Well try as we might, Calvin has no interest in getting any better at walking.  He hasn't really taken any more stars and seems to get annoyed when I try to get him to, so I'm just going to leave him alone for a bit.

Calvin enjoyed Christmas with my side of the family this week and had a blast playing with his cousin Sarah.  He's a big fan of babies and was really gentle to her.

Working on some more teeth this week.  We had to give him Motrin last night to help him sleep.  He is NOT a fan of Motrin, so it was quite the feet to get it in him, but he did finally take it. Oh and by some teeth, I'm counting 4-6 trying to come through!  The top two front teeth for sure, but I'm pretty sure all four up top and two more on the bottom...

At the zoo checking out the dragons

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.