Calvin Atticus

MOVING!!

After some consideration, I'm moving Calvin's blog to a different site:

 

http://calvinatticus.tumblr.com

 

In a day or so, calvinatticus.com will point there instead of here. Typepad is a great tool, but Tumblr is a better fit for the type of media and posts that I put here. So, as of today, this blog will be inactive. Updates will only be posted to the new site. Eventually, I may find a way to import all the old posts into Tumblr, but they will stay here for the foreseeable future.

To make things handy, here is the updated RSS feed link for blog readers.

All boy

In one 24-hour period, Calvin managed to:

• Stage dive off his changing table, causing rug burns on his nose.
• Scratch his forehead while playing
• Smacked into a door at daycare, resulting in some tears and a nice bruise on the side of his forehead.

His face is healing impressively fast. Even this picture is a marked improvement over the day before.

When someone voiced sympathy for Calvin's scratched and dented face, Katherine said, "Well, you should have seen the other baby."

Calvin loves having fun, roughing it up, taking risks, and being all boy.

High five!

This story came this morning via Ben's father, Dave. Ben is Calvin's classmate at day care who is a day older than Calvin--and Dave and Katherine work together. 

This morning, Calvin was at day care first. When Ben arrived, Calvin ran to the door to greet him...and they high-five'd each other.

Two 15-month-olds, buddies since they were 2-month-olds, high-fiving each other to start the day.

Now that's cool.

It's hard out there for a pup

Weekends are supposed to be for relaxing and taking it easy. Right? 

Not for Lolly.

For her, weekends mean being on constant alert. No naps. No rest.

Why? Because at any moment a 25-pound baby might decide to collapse on you to give you a "hug." Or he may grind an Elmo doll in your face because he wants to "share" it. This goes on all day long. All. Weekend. Long.

Want to take a break in your crate? No luck. The baby will follow you into the crate, then proceed to try to "hug," "pet" and "play" with you in your own crate.

You create a little nest on the couch to stay away from the action--and the baby follows you up there too. 

It's ridiculous.

The kid means well and adores you, but you are accustomed to catching up on your beauty rest during the day (all day). When is a dog supposed to get any sleep?

We estimate that on a weekday, Lolly usually sleeps about 18 hours a day. On the weekends, she may get as little as 12 hours sleep.

Lolly will be the first to tell you--having a kid is exhausting.

Lord of the Dance

Okay...

This just started this morning.

Calvin is adding some fancy footwork to his dancing.

 

Lord of the Dance from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

All done

IMG_4224, a photo by ericandkatherine on Flickr.

Calvin's new favorite thing to say is "all done" accompanied by raising his hands in the air (I think this is a Calvin-version of sign language). He says "all done" when he finishes his bottles and meals. This phrase is also popular with Calvin's day care buddy Ben, who also says "all done"--and has started saying it when he wakes up from naps as well.

However, when Calvin says "all done"--it sounds more like "ahh daahh." No one other than Katherine or I would have any idea what it means.

It is so great to be around Calvin now (well, it always has been, but especially now). He changes week to week, learning and doing new things so rapidly it is hard to keep up with them.

"All done" is part of his new interest in speaking. Of course, he is trying to say Elmo, but still hasn't figured it out yet. (His most recent attempt sounds like "Ah oh ee oh"--he's got awhile to go.) He has also, several times, attempted to say words or sounds that we make to him (several "moo"s were said this past weekend, for example).

Oddly, he still only rarely says "mama" or "dada"--and we've never heard him try to say "Lolly"--though he knows what all these words mean.

It's just a matter of time until he is chattering away.

Sleep tight

Tie tie, a photo by ericandkatherine on Flickr.

I hope I don't ruin it by saying this out loud...

Calvin has been sleeping through the entire night for two weeks now. Despite all the talk about sleep training and routines and books and etc, one thing really made the difference: not changing anything.

We had skipped around between so many different methods and variations (EVERYONE has advice on how to do this) that it wasn't until we forced ourselves to stick with one method for more than a few days that we had any success.

Well, let's be frank, it wasn't until KATHERINE stuck with one method.

All this was happening about the same time as NPR's most recent round of crises. After dealing with all I had to deal with every day, I just couldn't listen to Calvin cry. I, literally, couldn't fight my need to comfort him.

So Katherine made me sleep in the basement with music playing. It helped, but I'd still often wake up when i'd hear him cry.

So Katherine really deserves all the credit. She, quite literally, got him on track on her own. All I did was sleep on the basement floor and then help out in the morning while Katherine slept.

Let's hope it sticks!

Last of the Calvin-A-Day pics

Untitled, a photo by ericandkatherine on Flickr.

I didn't realize until this morning that the final few weeks of Calvin-A-Day photos never were uploaded, so I did so today. We took photos (er, tried to take photos) every day of Calvin's first year.

The whole set is here.

We got 274 of his first 365 days. Not too bad. The image above is our last one, taken last Christmas Day.

I throw my hands up in the air sometimes

So Calvin's favorite song, oddly, isn't by Elmo. It's actually Taio Cruz's "Dynamite." Every time it comes on the radio (which is often), he really gets into it. We've caught it twice in the past two weeks jamming in the car. We just turned around and saw him doing this--no prompting.

(Though the reason the camera is shaky in the second is because I'm trying so hard to keep from laughing.)

Taio Cruz from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Taio Cruz 2 from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Calvin has Elmo fever...bad

, a photo by ericandkatherine on Flickr.

This is not a staged photo.

This morning, Calvin walked over to his diaper caddy, pulling them out, and sorting them (after careful examination) into two piles: those with Elmo on them--and those featuring any other character.

He then reexamined all the Elmo diapers, sat them in a pile (coincidentally next to his Elmo doll) and walked away.

Mission (whatever that mission was) accomplished.

More!!

Calvin has recently started signing "more" to us--though it took us awhile to figure out what it meant. His day care teachers have been teaching the kids some signs and Calvin just picked it up.

Here, Katherine asks if he wants more blueberries (currently rivaling bananas at the top of Calvin's fav list). Here you see his response.

More!! from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Where's the ball?

Calvin's word comprehension is expanding daily, it seems. He understands words like "ball," "banana," "book," "bottle," all our names, and the list keeps growing. He is still saying only a few words (that we can figure out), but he obviously understands much more than he is saying.

This weekend I thought I'd demonstrate it by asking Calvin to get a ball. He did--on the third try. Hey, he found some other interesting things on the way to getting the ball. (If you listen carefully, you'll hear him say "ball" repeatedly during his ball hunt.

 

Where is the ball? from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

That's Lolly too

Feeding Lolly leftovers a photo by ericandkatherine on Flickr.

This morning Calvin was walking around the upstairs and I was trying to get him to come out of the guest room so I could finish getting dressed.

So I said to him, "Calvin, where is Lolly?"

I did so figuring he'd exit the guest room, go down the hall, and into our bedroom where Lolly was still asleep (hey, being a dog in our house is tough work, you sleep when you can).

But instead of leaving, Calvin walked over to the dresser in the guest room and pointed up to a framed photo...of Lolly.

Yes, Calvin, that is correct. That is Lolly, too.

Oh, how we love Elmo--let me count the ways

Proof, yet again, that Calvin has Elmo fever...

Sometimes during breakfast on the weekends, Calvin and I will watch videos while he has his yogurt (he doesn't have a lot of patience for being spoon fed anymore--so we often need a distraction).

The video below is his reaction to watching a video with Elmo, Big Bird, and Mr Snuffleupagus. When Big Bird and Mr Snuffleapugus are singing, Calvin just sits there and watches. Watch below what happens when it is Elmo's turn to sing.

Wathcing Elmo sing from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Playing with the ball

In celebration of Calvin saying the word "ball"--we went out and bought him the exact same ball he has at day care. And he knows how to play with it too--he knows how to make it bounce and throw it. Don't expect any rhyme or reason to these activities, but he gets it.

Then, of course, he loses interest in the ball entirely.

Playing with the ball from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Gimme Five

We were supposed to be eating dinner, but we decided to goof off and "give five" instead. Even Lolly got into the action (after checking out my hand to see if it had any food on it).

 

Gimme Five from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Playing phone

Playing phone
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine

Something we noticed today. Calvin is pretending to talk into a phone (that's what he's doing in this picture). He picks up a toy phone or other object (his current favorite phone is the old Itzbeen Timer) and holds it next to or behind his ear.

We spend so little time on the phone, we aren't quite sure where he picked this up from. He may have learned this from day care (watching his teachers talk on their phones).

Regardless, it is pretty cute.

BREAKING NEWS: Calvin utters words

We've suspected for some time that Calvin is saying some words--we just had no idea what they meant.

Until yesterday.

Taken, he has said, for some time, an "M" sounding grunt for Mommy and a "D" sounding grunt for "Daddy"--but we are now entering an entirely new level.

Katherine was visiting Calvin's daycare room and saw one of the older kids walking around carrying a ball and saying "ball." Then Calvin picked up the same ball and said, "Bow-oo." Katherine wondered later to me, "Was he saying 'ball' too?"

So we tested it at home, we handed Calvin a ball and said "Would you like a ball?"

He took it, and said, "Bow-oo" several times.

Then, this morning, he looked at his milk bottle and said, "Baba," while reaching for it. He has done this several times since (including with Katherine's bottle of Sprite."

Here is a short video of him saying "ball."

 

Saying "ball" from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.

Wait...That's MY Mommy

with great-grandpa
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine

Part of Katherine's afternoon routine often involves taking a short break to go downstairs and check in on Calvin. Unless he is eating or napping, she'll go in and hang out for a few minutes.

Calvin's classmates all know that Katherine is a member of that elite group of big people: she is a Mommy.

Given her Mommy status, the other kids often present her with toys, engage in "conversation." give hugs, and other things kids do to a member of the Mommy class.

Yesterday Katherine stopped by the Wombat Room. Calvin was busy playing with something, so Katherine plopped down on the floor. One of the other kids saw her, grabbed a book, and sat down in her lap (as if to say, "you can read this book to me"). Calvin saw this, became upset, and proceeded to go to Katherine and sit on her other leg.

It was as if he was saying, "Hey, wait a minute, that's MY Mommy."

Molars!

We love Japanese curry and rice!
Originally uploaded by ericandkatherine

Some kids talk early. Some kids walk early. Some kids get their first haircuts at four months.

Calvin excels at teeth. He has eight full teeth already. When people ask how teething has gone, we say that, despite what people say, our experience has been pretty muted. He has had some discomfort, but nothing that a little Orajel and ibuprofen can't fix.

Then, this weekend, I noticed that Calvin was being a little cranky. Actually, I think the entire block heard that Calvin was being a little drama queen, but regardless. During one fit of tears and crying, I noticed something white in the back of his mouth.

Once I investigated, I discovered not one molar busting through his gum, but two. As the weekend went along, it became increasingly obvious that Calvin was feeling these two chompers. He grabbed at his mouth a lot and was very fussy. He has been sleeping okay, not great. Frankly, when we realized how he was feeling, we expected much worse.

Given this, he was still crazy cute and loving--often wanting to cuddle against us for some comfort. Despite feeling achy, he is a real trooper.

Bath time III

A year ago this week, we took our first video of Calvin getting a bath. It has been, by far, his most popular video. Then we produced a sequel, which was also a hit.

My, how things change. Calvin still LOVES being in the bathtub, but a year after that first video, bath time is quite a bit different.

Bath Time III from Eric Nuzum on Vimeo.