Just a quick update...

So much has been going on over the past month, it's been difficult to keep up with it all. We are now all in Virginia, staying with some incredibly generous and wonderful friends until we are able to move into our own place in August. Calvin started his new daycare last week - that went very well (thank goodness!). I've been working hard to finish my degree - the plan is for me to work primarily at home or in coffee shops and libraries and visit Boulder once a month until I defend this fall. Bryan is enjoying his new assignment and his (depending on traffic) shorter commute. The dogs are doing well and enjoying the many walks they get every day, though Pedro has been recovering from an itchy-skin-on-the-face-and-head-to-the-point-of-infection episode and Deuce is suffering from arthritis a lot more these days. Skylar stayed in Missouri - we stopped at my folks place to celebrate the 4th of July and left Skylar with my sister and niece for the next few years. We miss her a lot, but no place would let us rent with a cat. (And with two mortgages already, we aren't ready to dive into another, so renting is a must at this point).

Our Missouri vacation included time with my grandpa Joe.

Calvin has done amazingly well considering all the inexplicable changes that suddenly happened in his life. He came home from school in Colorado one day and everything was packed up in giant boxes. The next day, the house was empty. Suddenly we were spending days in the car or in other people's homes, and hardly ever did Calvin complain. Calvin accepted every departure from his usual routine as if he packed up and moved across the country all the time. The drive to Virginia with two 90-lb geriatric black labs, a toddler, and almost everything we would need for the first month was, dare I say, relaxing. Bryan and I were pretty shocked.

This is a view looking back from the front passenger seat. Calvin is doodling, Pedro is peeking over the top of the back seat, and Skylar (just out of view on the left) is hiding in her carrier. Most of our stuff is up on top of the car in a car-top carrier.

Since then, Calvin has been testing his limits and defying his parents just about every opportunity he gets. He pulls the dogs' tails, tackles the resident cat (Jack, who is a sweetheart and grumbles at the grinning Calvin, moves a couple of feet away and lays back down), etc. We have scrambled to keep up with our discipline strategies (serious attention to positive reinforcement and new, consistent efforts at timeout) as our son gets payback for the days of under-stimulation on our roadtrip here.

But Calvin has also grown in wonderful, heartwarming ways as well. He is a high-five master and will share his high-fives with everyone in the room for at least two or three rounds. Calvin loves to climb on and under everything, balancing precariously on his chair, scrambling onto our bed, maneuvering under and through the maze of chairs and table in the kitchen or dining room, etc. He has also added quite a bit of variety to his dance move repertoire (videos coming soon, hopefully), and can hold his own at a party.

Calvin, who wasn't so sure about his new daycare when I took this picture on his first day, now really enjoys being there. Since it is an easy 5-minute walk from where we're staying, we usually walk to school and back.

Well, this quick update has become a lengthy entry and it is now way past my bedtime. There is so much more I want to say, but it will have to wait for another time...