Two teeth in one week

Calvin has been working on his teeth for many months now and it hasn't been fun: drool that pours out of his mouth like a faucet that won't turn off, pain and fever that comes for days at a time, the need to put everything in his mouth and chomp down to find relief. It took Calvin eight and a half months to get teeth, and less than a day to figure out how to bite. Oww!His two bottom teeth are now in, and I'm sure there are more soon to follow.

Halloween

Astronaut Calvin T. Hoke

With everything going on, we've had a hard time finding time to keep up with our normal chores, let alone get ready for Halloween. Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa Hoke found the astronaut suit months ago, which was a perfect Halloween costume for Calvin, and Grandma Theilen was in town Halloween weekend and helped with the last minute details.

Daycare started the holiday weekend off with a halloween party after school on Friday. Lots of kids showed off their awesome costumes - our favorites were the astronaut (of course!), the tiger (Ronin), and a toddler Birdman (Denver Nuggets basketball player).
We carved pumpkins at about 5pm on Halloween day (right after I swept the porch for the first time in probably 6 months), and we got them outside and lit just before our first trick or treat-er showed up. The pumpkin on the left was mine - the stem formed the nose, which looked cool until it got dark and you couldn't see it. Mom carved the scary one in the middle. And the pumpkin on the right is Bryan's tribute to Hera, who had passed away a couple weeks before.

Among the kids roaming the streets after their bedtime in search of chocolate was Calvin. We went to two houses - our two immediate neighbors - and Calvin was pretty impressed with all the lights and kids and darkness (with summer and daylight savings and an early bedtime, Calvin was hardly ever outside at night).
Everyone was impressed with his astronaut costume, even if his giant baby belly bulged out over the belt.
After all the trick-or-treating fun, Calvin spent some time working on his teething with the TV remote, and then called it a night.

Calvin changed daycare and found a friend

Back in mid-September, Calvin changed daycare. There were lots of things that bothered us about Calvin's old daycare that I won't elaborate on here. If anyone wants to talk daycare pro's and con's, just let me know! But let me just say, there is a HUGE difference between daycares that on the surface seem very similar. Anyway, we love, love, love our new daycare.
Now, Calvin eats while sitting in a baby-sized chair at a baby-sized table, and it is so fun to watch. Here, Calvin's main "teacher", Sandy, is feeding him butternut squash. Yum!In Calvin's room there are two other babies who were born within a week of Calvin: Ronin and Didi. Over the past couple of months, Ronin has become Calvin's best-est closest friend. It's really amazing how much these two babies like each other. So, everyone, meet Ronin (on the left). These two babies keep each other company, laugh at each other, and tackle each other in the slow-motion crawling sort of way that 8-month old babies do. One day Sandy found Calvin and Ronin sitting together, Ronin's face and hair drenched in Calvin's slobber while Ronin held onto Calvin's face and gnawed and drooled all over Calvin. I guess everything goes into a baby's mouth, including your best friend's face. Of course, they were both teething at the time, so drool was extra abundant. Sandy even got a picture...... and it's up on the refrigerator in their room. So funny!For Halloween, Calvin was an astronaut and Ronin was a tiger. Bryan and I agreed that it was fitting for Calvin's best friend to be a tiger.More about Halloween in the next post.

Calvin goes to Missouri

Not long after discovering that planes exist, Calvin got to ride on one. Two, actually. Calvin flew with us to Missouri for a weekend reunion with friends and family in mid-August. He did pretty well on both flights - cried a little, slept a lot, ate, played, and spent the rest of the time wondering what the heck was going on. While in Missouri, Calvin flirted with the ladies......took a few naps......met Great-Grandma Betty......and learned some jokes from Grandpa Jim.

Calvin goes for a ride

After trying out the pilot's seat in his Grandpa Mike's plane, Calvin climbed into his own seat on his dad's shoulders. Even though Calvin's arms can hardly reach past his own tummy and his feet hardly make it past Bryan's face, the view from up on dad's shoulders is great.
Over the months since Calvin's first ride on Bryan's shoulders, Calvin has gotten pretty good at it (it helps that he's getting bigger).

Calvin sits in his grandpa's seat

Okay, it's time for a new theme: Calvin's adventures over the past many months.

A few months ago, Grandpa Mike stopped in for a quick visit on his way back from Oshkosh where he and nearly a million or so other pilots, planes, and plane-enthusiasts gathered for a week-long airshow.

While Grandpa Mike and the Cessna 180 were in town, Calvin got to try out the pilot's seat. Calvin has a little while before he's big enough for his feet to touch the pedals.One of these days, he won't need dad's help to reach the steering wheel. Thankfully I've got some time to get used to the idea. ;)

bath time video, as promised

Bath Time!

Calvin has had a rough time with teething lately, and one day last week was particularly bad - lots of crying and fussing and pain, not eating or sleeping well, and wanting to be held non-stop (still no teeth, by the way). But, somehow, all that torture was forgotten during the evening bath. After making a few tidal waves that soaked the floor and me, Calvin laughed and giggled and snorted and laughed some more at the bath toys and the squirts of water the produced.We have a great video of this, but for some reason I'm not able to upload video tonight. I'll try again tomorrow, so stay tuned!

Calvin's new do

Pedro totally approves.

Hera the Cat

Hera the Cat is a very special member of our family. Though she didn't come to live with us until after we moved to Colorado, Hera and I have known each other for over 20 years, longer than anyone else living in this house. She was my sister's cat when I was a kid; we go way back.

With her age comes some well-earned attitude toward anything and anyone who threatens her right to live out her remaining days/years in peace, especially obnoxious dogs who bark too loudly in her presence or mistakenly think they can intimidate her. She has an impressive resume of dog-training experience, including special kitty karate moves that she has perfected over the years and the ability to chase a dog around the house in true horror film fashion until they bow to her superiority. Hera may be old and feeble, but there's no question that she's in charge.

So when we brought Calvin home, we were more than a little nervous about her response to him. For the first many months we kept the two apart. Now, though, we have relaxed a little, allowing contact between Hera and Calvin only when Hera approaches him, and only when we are there to closely monitor every second. Calvin of course is thoroughly delighted by Hera's presence, and Hera will occasionally respond with a nice purr. She's been remarkably patient with him, not even flinching when her fur, skin, ears wind up in a tightly-clenched fist and fist-fulls of her fur get pulled out. Of course her patience has limits, and we don't wait around to see what those are. It's clear, though, that she has learned to appreciate Calvin's presence in our home in one immensely important (to her) way: with a baby comes many fantastic napping spots.

Calvin's first word? Probably not...

I think Calvin has been using his first word (signed, not spoken) for a couple of weeks now, but Bryan is skeptical. I admit, maybe my mom-eyes are seeing more than what Calvin really means to do. But I have photographic evidence!The word is the baby sign for 'dog' that Calvin's daycare uses (tongue out with a little pant like a dog). Calvin has totally been sticking his tongue out when the dogs are around. But then he is a baby, and sticks his tongue out at other times too.

Okay, so maybe it's just my imagination and Calvin isn't really 'saying' anything on purpose. It would be a fitting first word, though. ;)

Oh, and that's Pedro on the right, saying goodnight to Calvin before Grandma Donna took over.

On the job

When Calvin learned how to sit about a month ago, he decided it was time to learn how to play piano with his hands (as opposed to with his feet, which he had mastered months ago).
Pedro dutifully took his place behind Calvin where he could keep an eye on him and lend a helping hand when needed.


Good doggie!

The Dog Days of Summer

Pedro often kept Calvin company while playing in the backyard this summer.

Picture-of-the-Day begins!

Here starts my picture-a-day plan for catching up with what's been going on with the Hokes. I'll start with a picture of one of my favorite themes: Pedro and Calvin.

It was love-at-first-sight for Pedro. As I've mentioned before, Pedro immediately took on the nanny role with Calvin, and his devotion to his 'puppy' hasn't wavered for a single moment since. When Pedro isn't tending to Calvin's bathing needs (which are way more often than even I think is necessary), he's monitoring Calvin's diaper status, demonstrating to Calvin how to walk and talk and gnaw on toys, or is resting nearby, ready to spring into action at the first whimper or cry or threat of invasion from the neighborhood cats.

Here Pedro is demonstrating the correct way to sniff flowers.

Get ready, get set...

The last couple of months have been a very busy time for us, full of work and fun, growth and illness, and seemingly non-stop challenges that life has thrown at us. I could go on and on about the things that have stressed us out these last few months, but in the end they are not that uncommon or tragic (thank goodness!) and aren't anything that a little medicine, patience, and Dwight Schrute can't fix. And through all of this, Calvin has been growing and growing and growing. Seriously, this kid has big feet, and has developed so much so quickly we've hardly had time to turn on our camera before he's moved on to greater accomplishments, or larger clothes.

Tempting as it is to put all his progress and adventures in one gigantic post, I know that project will take way too long to put together and therefore will never get done. But this blog is a journal of sorts for us too and so a recap of the last few months really must be done, regardless of whatever else is going on in our lives, lest we never record these days.

So what I'll do is update our blog with a picture-a-day of what Calvin and the rest of us have been up to. I make no promise that I will do this every day, or that it will be chronological. But I do promise that I will get the important stuff up here, and I will start... sometime this weekend.

Calvin has a girlfriend

Since starting daycare several months ago, Calvin has met many other babies. But never has he had as much fun as he did a couple weekends ago when he met Emilia.

Emilia was born less than two weeks after Calvin, so while together they realized they have a lot in common. They compared tricks they know...

...had a few conversations (though she did most of the talking while he just grinned)...They smiled and laughed and flirted...And they shared some tender moments - Calvin kissed (i.e. slobbered) her cheek, they held hands, she snuggled up to him... It was very sweet.It'll be great fun embarrassing them over then next few years/decades by taking out these pictures at future friend-reunions. Whaa ha ha ha!

The start of the Food Era on planet Calvin

Ah, food. That oh, so important part of our lives that not only fills our bellies but structures our days and brings family and friends together over meals. Food has had an especially high status in my life over the past 12 months as I have been pretty much non-stop hungry since day one of my pregnancy. In fact, for the first month or so after giving birth, I was STARVING. Meals couldn't come often enough, and I still lost weight! Now, 5 months after giving birth I'm still on a hobbit's meal plan with breakfast, brunch, lunch, 2nd lunch, early dinner, late dinner, etc. Seriously. Breastfeeding makes me hungry! And now Calvin is starting his own food adventure as he broadens his food repertoire beyond just breastmilk.

Calvin's food adventure started a few weeks ago with the addition of formula to his daily intake. This change was neither easy nor welcome for me. As a breastfeeding mom, it was my responsibility to provide all the nutritional needs of my baby. I diligently ate the right foods and drank enough fluids, wore the right clothes, educated myself on the ins and outs of breastfeeding, and constantly worked to build up a reserve of extra milk to supplement as needed. And, for the most part, I was very successful - Calvin and I had an easy time with breastfeeding, and I felt very fortunate.If I had been able to breastfeed him all day, every day, that's what we'd be doing still. But I'm not. After returning to work full time, it was a sad realization for me that I wasn't able to keep up with his monster-baby caloric needs. The truth is the pump does not equal Calvin, and the time-consuming activity had to be done twice for every one meal - I was spending hours at work and at home on the pump, with frustrating results. The advice in every resource I turned to, every book and blog and website, centered around breastmilk being the best thing for your baby - very few even mentioned supplementing with formula. Not being able to provide my baby with the best thing, knowing that I would need to give him something less than perfect and it was all my fault for 'giving up', brought very real feelings of guilt and failure. Of course, the stress didn't help the situation either (stress actually reduces your milk supply), and boy was I stressed. Time, which was in short supply, had to be stretched between family and work and chores and endless pumping. Once I accepted that formula was perfectly fine for Calvin, which it is, I was very relieved and happy; it was a huge weight off my shoulders. This is exactly what we needed to do - it might not be the solution for all families (and let me just say that you working mothers out there who pumped and were able to provide breastmilk exclusively for the full first year, you are AMAZING; I am in awe), but it was the right one for ours, it just took me a while to accept. Now Calvin gets formula during the day while he's at daycare and breastmilk at home for breakfast and dinner. I'm still nursing just about as much as I was before we started supplementing with formula, but without the pumping at all-hours of the day and night. I'm a happy mom, and Calvin is happy to have enough to eat - I don't think he even noticed the change.

What he did instantly notice, however, was when a couple weeks ago we put a little dollop of mushy, soupy infant rice cereal in his mouth. Calvin wasn't so thrilled with his first introduction to solids. He made a what-are-you-doing-to-me??? face and instantly started to cry. The meal ended seconds after it began. But he tried a little bit of the soupy rice cereal most every day (except for a few days when he had a cold), always stopping when he started to get upset, and gradually he got the hang of it.
By the start of this week and with the introduction of infant oatmeal, Calvin was excited about the whole process. He would eagerly and with great exaggeration open his mouth for the spoon and then close it around the spoon as if he was an expert eater and knew exactly what to do. He would even allow whatever was on the spoon to be placed into his mouth. His tongue would then proceed to push it all back out of his mouth, down his chin, and onto his shirt. If his tongue wasn't able to clean out his mouth, his hands were there to help. As soon as his mouth was empty and he was ready for the next spoonful, he would enthusiastically open his mouth for the next round. Of course some of the oatmeal made it down his throat, and since the whole point of introducing solids at this age is to get him to not hate the idea, I think we're doing pretty okay.Tina and the ladies at daycare have continued the tiny bowls of oatmeal all week and they say that he does really well with the food and that he "eats" most of the tablespoon-sized portion in his bowl.

We'll stick with the hot cereals for the next few weeks, make sure he doesn't have any weird reactions and let him get the hang of swallowing the stuff, and then introduce veggies. Yum!