Trying to stand by himself

Over the last couple of weeks Calder has become more steady on his feet without needing much external support. Well, over the last few days to a week we have seen leaps and bounds in this area and he is letting go of what he is holding on to, and is beginning to stand on his own. Yes, he's still a bit wobbly at times, but even this is getting better! We know walking will (most likely) come any day now....! Here's a digital camera video of him standing - he's done a bit longer, but this is a good one! So sorry that the picture is horizontal - I thought if you turned the camera that way to take a video the picture would turn out the same way - I was wrong! Anyway, enjoy!

Another video

Ok, once I figure out something I usually want to keep doing it. I figure anyone who visits this site doesn't mind looking at a pointless 15-second clip of Calder, because why are you visiting here, anyway? To see Calder, right? So don't mind this clip of Daddy and Calder - they were looking out the window to see all the trucks going by as we finally got our dirt smoothed out in the backyard! Wow, we're excited, that means grass is on the way! Calder was very excited to see the big trucks, but once the camera and I got there, he's a total camera hog!

Calder in his High Chair!

My first attempt at uploading a video - it's from the digital camera, so there's no sound. I will try to figure out how to upload one from our video camera soon. There's no point to this video, but enjoy! (Oh, Calder's still teething a bit, so that's why he's into the head-banging a bit!) :)

Gifts from Daddy

When Gary went to San Francisco last week for work, he went to one of my favourite stores to go to when I go to the States for shopping - Target!! lol He came home with 4 great shirts/onesies for Calder that I just ADORE. I think he got them 4 for $16? Also, he got size 18 months, thankfully, because they fit just PERFECTLY! Any smaller and we would have been out of luck!


CHOMP!!

I love this onesie on him, it brings out the blue and the green in his eyes!



Monkey See, Monkey Do, Monkey Get in Trouble Too!

I don't know many people who can wear orange, and maybe it's because he has such wonderful unmarked baby skin, but I love him in orange!


My Mommy Loves Me

Calder was being Mr. Temper in this picture and had just thrown down the duck in a bit of a fit - this is his face when he's a little PO'd about something. Poor duck, he's in midair...what did he do?


So I took another picture of him when he was in a better mood. :)



ZOOM!

Love this onesie on him - we are always zooming Calder around the house and in the stroller, saying "Zoom!" so maybe this will be his next word, lol.

A visit from Grandma and Aunt Colleen

Last week Gary was in San Francisco for the week and my mother and sister came over and stayed 2 nights with me. Oh, I can stay on my own, but it's nice to have someone to hand Calder off to when I need to get something done. And I must say, it was nice, too - my mom made me breakfast on Tuesday morning! :)

While they were here, we took quite a few pictures (in part because my sister gets a little snap-happy at times) but there are some great pictures that I wanted to share.

Calder still continues to enjoy his bath, but I made the mistake of buying these cups for his bath, but giving him water to drink out of them first. Now, it is very difficult for me to use that cup to dump water over him, he is always trying to grab it and drink out of it. Sometimes, inhaling is more like it, as he lifts the full cup up (in the bath) and takes a big sniff/gulp. Scary! But he's so happy when he's successful at drinking out of a cup. He loves drinking water!


On Tuesday we happened to be out at all the times when he should have gone down for a nap, and as a result, he got very tired with only one nap under his belt. Poor little guy, he fell asleep at his high chair while eating. :( But he looked so adorable.


Calder doesn't like his playpen too much, but will sometimes play in it while I prep for dinner or vacuum. This is a picture of him watching TV, but if you look closely - he's started to stand on things, like his drum (or sometimes a ball, yes, a ball - we have a future acrobat among us!) to see out the playpen better. Silly monkey.


I just thought he looked so cute in this chair, that I had to post the pics. He wanted to bolt out of the chair (face first, though!) so they were snapped quickly with Auntie Colleen on the ready to catch him. In the second photo you can see his teeth better than any picture I've seen so far!



Calder loves to play peekaboo, with most anyone, anything, and anywhere - here he is playing peekaboo with Aunt Colleen through the stair posts.


A few weeks ago I was feeling restless at night so I packed Calder up and we went for a trip to Chapters. Out we came with some purchases, and at first, Calder didn't seem to like this book, but now he LOVES it with a capital L! He'll try to take this book with him everywhere. It's called "I Like Stars". Here he is intently looking at the pictures while my mom reads him the book.


Calder is starting to use his walker with a bit more confidence, although he is still shaky. Today we saw him actually take a couple of pretty confident steps with it, although most of the time he still uses this just to sit at and play with all the things on it. All in all, he is starting to be more confident with standing as well - today Gary (yay, Daddy's back!) saw him stand for a couple of seconds in his playpen while he held something. Uh oh, I think that walking may be coming soon!


Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone!

The Sustenance of Life - Moms and Food

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the Moms out there, and all the Moms-to-be (because I know several right now!) - you always hear everyone say 'Being a Mother is the hardest job in the World' and I never doubted it, but I certainly didn't get to experience it until I became a mother myself. This past 8 1/2 months has been the most challenging but most rewarding time of my life. I only expect to meet with more challenges as Calder (and I) continue to grow, but I also expect to meet with more rewards as Calder shows me these rewards every day.

Here's the only picture I managed to get from my First Mother's Day, but it's a time that I love with Calder - after his bath and bottle in the evening, he usually passes out cuddled on my shoulder, and I just love it.



A special Happy Mother's Day (again) goes out to my Mom, Melanie. Without you, I don't know where I would be. I love you so very much. Enough said because you know what I mean and we don't need tears! :)

Today also marks a special anniversary - this would have been my Grandfather's 90th birthday. He was like my father growing up (I lived with him basically until I was 19) and I know a lot of how I am today is shaped by him - by his guidance and immense love. I miss him every day and I know that he would have just adored Calder, and Calder would have adored him. Happy Birthday, Grandpa!

On another note, about a week ago I discovered that Calder has another tooth! That makes the total 5 - he's been constantly teething since he got his first 2 at 6 months, and I am wondering if this is going to be the norm for him until his whole mouth is full of them!

Calder has also tried many different tastes lately - Baby Mum-Mums, Farley's biscuits (original and banana flavours), Cheerios and turkey. Omigosh, the turkey I bought in a jar just to see how he liked it (we don't cook turkey in our home) and it was horrible. It smelled horrible, and I couldn't even bring myself to taste it, poor Calder. After that experience and hearing from a friend how easy it is to make homemade soup (nope, never made it but my husband has) I asked Gary if he could make Calder some homemade chicken soup. He made some on Saturday with a lot of new flavours for Calder (it had celery, carrots, onion and garlic in it with pasta and chicken) and Calder loves it! It actually smells and tastes good! :)

I am trying to be less anal about what I feed Calder - I was so worried before about feeding him one new food at a time, but I think he is old enough now to handle something more complex like this soup. So far, so good! Last night he even tried Naan bread. It's so much more fun now that he is starting to eat the foods we eat - when I went out for sushi with him recently, he ate some of my rice! :) Simple pleasures, I know!

A summary of past weeks

Well despite the lack of posts the past few weeks, we have been very busy. Calder and Mommy have been busy taking our Salsa Babies and StrollerFit classes once a week and Daddy successfully (and very easily, I might add) put Calder down to nap this past weekend! Yay! I felt very relieved to say the least, and I know Daddy was very proud (and rightfully so) of himself and Calder, too.

Here's a rundown of what's been going on the last few weeks and a few pictures to accompany some of them!

- Calder had his first ride in a swing - omigosh, how he loved it!! He laughed deep belly laughs at this (will post a picture later).

- Calder had his first trip to the Zoo...he was fascinated by the Tamarind Monkeys (they moved fast and there was a lot of them) and also loved watching the Gorilla at Window (he startled Mommy, in fact!) and also was intrigued and in awe by the stately grace of the swimming Polar Bear. We got a pass because we plan to go a lot over the summer. In fact, Mommy has already gone again with her friend this past Friday and we walked 2 1/2 hours! (Mommy is hoping all that walking will help some weight come off (ha ha), but the main goal is to give Calder exposure to a world of animals he most likely will never see in person!)






- Calder helped Mommy celebrate her 33rd birthday with family. Just think - last year I celebrated with Calder in my belly, and here he is now - all smiles and kisses...



- The three of us attended a baptismal dinner for Calder's friend (and my friend's baby) Scott - who is one week older. Calder got to hear lots of loud music and dance to a lot of Latin and some Romanian music. As ever, he was such a flirt with the ladies and I even heard a few comments like he was 'delicious'.

- The family also attended Calder's cousin's Peter's first Communion recently and he seemed to love being in a large Church with tall ceilings, lots of lights and people. He loved to talk out loud there! Afterwards we all went to his Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner where we had a feast commemorating the occasion.

- Calder and I have seen a couple of more 'Stars and Strollers' movies - the last one we were lucky enough to have Grandma come with us to watch a movie and stay overnight.

- This past Saturday (as I mentioned before) Daddy successfully put Calder down for a nap while I was at my High School's 50th Anniversary/Reunion. I would have loved to have been able to show him off, but as it was, there were only 3 (yes, 3!) people that I recognized from my year there! Also, it was great for Gary and Calder - they had a wonderful boy's day - also spending a portion of the day with one of Gary's friends, Steve.

- Sunday was my sister's 31st Birthday (Happy Birthday, Beana!!!!!! I love you!!!) and Gary, Calder and I were there along with my mother and Grandmother to celebrate it. Calder had his 3rd trip out for Dim Sum and had a wonderful time, eating his baby Mum-Mums and charming all those around him, especially his Auntie, Grandma and Great-Grandma. Afterwards we all went to my Grandmother's for cake and presents. :)




Some Calder developments/milestones:

- Calder now has consonants y,b,w,d,g,m in his repertoire along with what I think are most vowel sounds, give or take some long and short ones. Sometimes I swear he really is saying something, it does have an English language 'ring' to it....he is still saying 'Mama' (although sometimes it is out of context, but it does seem to apply to me often) and has recently started saying 'Dada' - we are waiting for the moment when he actually applies it to Gary. He has also started saying 'uh-oh' on occasion when he drops something that he is really interested in.

- Calder is starting to cruise more and more - going from toy piano to futon and back again - and just tonight started pushing his little walker. Just the other day he started kneeling - and I don't mean leaning back on his feet - I mean raised up on his knees!

- For a while now, Calder has been giving kisses (more like slobbery open-mouthed gnawings of the cheeks) but gives them when asked for 'kisses'!!

- Calder has recently (over the past weeks) started to wave to 'hi' and 'goodbye' often waving a bit late, but waving to people (familiar and not!) nonetheless!

Here are also some random pics that I just can't resist posting.


Trying a Farley's biscuit for the first time...

Trying peaches for the first time...

Trying pears for the first time...

Calder just loves his piano...

Yay!! (a new development over recent weeks)
So that's about it from here...busy busy! It's good to keep busy, I have found - but also sometimes, I just have to stop and smell the roses and let Calder do the same. But, with Calder, he doesn't stop so much as to do a drive-by smelling of the roses, he is always on the go. :)

Calder's 8 month picture