Happy Birthday, Grandma!!

Yesterday was my mother's 50th Birthday (Calder's Grandma!) and we (Mom, my sister, my Grandmother and family friend Wendy) celebrated at my Grandmother's with dinner and cake. It was a lovely evening and although it was my Mom's birthday, Calder had a lot of attention. He's definitely a typical boy, into anything and everything. He keeps me on my toes, that's for sure.

We enjoyed a dinner of Swiss Chalet (yum) and Calder loved eating what Mommy was eating - chicken, mashed potatoes and a bun. He didn't have any of the cake (for his first birthday he will!) but enjoyed sitting with Grandma while she blew out her candles.


Yesterday was just a precursor to the celebrations as my sister and I are throwing my mother a 50th Birthday celebration this Saturday evening - it should be a blast! I know Calder might be a little overwhelmed by all the people there, but he's definitely a people person and will charm his way around the room.

Mom, I hope you have one of your best birthday years yet. You deserve it! I love you!

Investigating his Great-Grandmother's piano


Calder and his Auntie Colleen

End of Salsa Babies!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Calder and I have been busy as usual this week - and the weeks are speeding by even more as I approach the time when I go back to work. It's funny, when I worked the summer would seemingly stretch in front of me, now - it's a blink of an eye. Yuck. I don't like thinking about Calder going to daycare, but I know it must be done.

I have found a very nice woman to take care of Calder - a home daycare - and I feel very comfortable leaving him there with her - although I know the first few weeks will be hard for me to be at work every day looking after and teaching other people's children. Calder has kind of been getting used to a daycare setting about 3x a week when I go to the gym - this week I did 3 classes of Aquafit - and Calder would spend the hour in the Rec centre daycare. Before he used to cry for ages, and today I come back and he is happily crawling around and exploring. Yay!

Anyway, enough of that talk! :) Calder and I finished our 12 week session of Salsa Babies this past Tuesday and I was kind of sad about it - Calder has such fun in that class and although I am sure I will forget all of the salsa steps I have learned, it was fun while it lasted. Here are a few pics of the last class - there were only 5 of us in attendance - I think summer has lured the 8 other moms away.






Here is also a little camera video of Calder using his walker. He uses it every day now and is becoming quite the fast walker with it. EXCEPT when he runs into a wall or table or something. Steering is something we'll tackle later. :) Sorry it's so dark - I have all the blinds open usually in the day, but it still doesn't seem to provide enough light for the video.



Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happy Daddy's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there! Or as I think Calder would say, if he could - Happy Da-Da Day!!! Fathers are very important people in our children's lives and I am glad that Calder has a good Dad in his life. The other day I was watching Gary look at Calder and he had a look like he was in love. I told Gary so, and his response was - "I am". :)

I also want to wish a very Happy Father's Day to our friend Esha who is celebrating his first Father's Day - like Gary - but it is all so very new to Esha! He and his wife Hang, my oldest and very dear friend, welcomed their baby boy, Ashur, into the world on June 13th. Congratulations, guys - I know you've waited so long for his arrival!

Before I get to a few pictures in honour of Father's Day, I wanted to share with you a few pictures that I snapped during one of Calder's first forays out into our newly-sodded backyard. Gary and I were so excited to finally get grass, a year to the day of getting possession of the house, and we couldn't wait to get Calder out onto it for one of his first experiences with grass.





Calder certainly didn't know what to make of it at first, and was like a little flamingo in the grass, only touching it with one foot. He wouldn't go off of the blanket we put out there, and anyone who has seen Calder in action knows that he is ALWAYS on the move. He also clung to us for reassurance that all was ok. The next time we took him out he figured all was okay, and now we chase after him outside as we do inside.



Yesterday Gary took Calder upstairs to put him down for a nap while I went to pick up my Mom and sister who were visiting for the day. When we got back, all was quiet in the house. I didn't go into Calder's room for fear that Gary was still trying to get him to sleep (and if Calder sees me, Gary's attempt at putting Calder down for a nap would be thwarted). Well, 15 minutes go by, 20 minutes - still I hear nothing so I go and check - what do I see...?


Today being Father's Day Calder woke him up with a few whacks to his arm and handed Daddy a card, along with some of Daddy's favourite gum, a tub of Dubble Bubble (380 pieces!), a shirt that Calder and Mommy made and a Panini Press, something Daddy has been hinting at for a long time. Has anyone ever tried putting a 9-month old's handprints on a T-shirt before? It's hard work, hee hee! I don't know if I will every try that again, but I think it turned out well - and iron-on transfers (for the letters) are so much fun!

So Happy Father's Day to all those Dads out there. Remember what an important role you play in your daughter or son's life - you make the world of difference when you're there to care.

Pictures from Today

Just wanted to post a few more cute pics that I managed to grab today.
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During lunch - I can almost see what he is going to look like when he is about 3 or 4...my little man!


Calder was looking out the window and Finn decided to join him - this is a rare moment, so I am happy to catch it on film!


So Calder was crawling around this morning exploring and playing and he came across his chair, which he normally only will take being in if I am in the shower or he is drinking from a bottle. Well, up he goes!! Yes, he climbed up chair, even though it was jiggling back and forth, being a rocker, and he was so proud when he got there!! Look at that toothy smile!


Now we have to work on getting him down again - that's the dangerous part, and don't worry, I am making sure I am there at all times.

Ok, I just love this picture. Enough said. :)


Love this one, too! :) He was crawling up to me to give me a kiss. :)


Here is another video that Gary loves (and me too, of course!) of Calder at the window again but this time it's a little too sunny for him!



Have a great weekend, everyone!

Odds 'n' ends

I didn't mention with the last post that Calder has his 9-month 'well baby' appointment on May 31st, his 9-month birthday. Everything checked out just great - he meets all the milestones/criteria that our Dr. asked - using a pincer grip to pick things up, sits up without support, grabs for things...I don't even remember all the other things.

He now weighs 22.6 pounds. I knew it was up there, he is so heavy to carry around. Not that he'll let me carry him if there is a place to crawl, a place to stand - a place to investigate!

He is 29.3 inches, meaning he has grown almost 2 inches in 3 months and his head circumference is 18.9 inches. Well his head and his weight are in the 90th percentile (his weight just a tad below) and his length in the 75th. So our little chunker has a big head and is an ok height, but he's not THAT tall!

Here's just a few pictures I too today - I have been lazy taking photos lately and then needed to recharge the battery, and then I went nutso today with pictures!!

Calder's figured out that Mommy has used a pillow to block him from getting in-between his crib and the window, so now he just yanks the pillow down. So much for that measure - it lasted a little bit, anyway! Here he is looking out the window (I didn't take a picture of him shoving his face to the vent to get the A/C blasting on his face, but he likes doing that, too)!



Calder also loves the TV. I often have it on to Treehouse or PBS (He loves Elmo) or one of his favourite shows, Bear in the Big Blue House. I have no problem with the TV being on in the background, he only tends to glance at it from time to time, he never just sits and watches for more than a few minutes. Here he is getting up close and personal with the show - in between trying to grab the video cables.


Calder has started 'dancing' over the last 2 weeks - it's so cute - it's really bouncing, but today he added an arm wave over his head. He loves really energetic music, maybe it's something to do with the Latin music he hears in our Salsa Babies class? First he starting bouncing whenever he pushed the button on his discovery tent (he'll push the button if you ask him to) and now he does it on a whim if there's good music on - stereo or TV. He particularly likes the music from the Mini-Wheats commercial. :)


Here's a video of Calder - he actually started out dancing and I grabbed the digital camera, but he ended up hugging this stuffed dog. I thought it was cute, so here it is! (No, I haven't figured out how to post video from our video camera yet - sorry!)

9 months old

Well as of a few days ago, Calder is now officially 9 months old! Omigosh, how time flies! I know it is cliche to say so, but it's so true - and more so for me now that I have a child.

Calder continues to stand a little more every day - and will now do it with seemingly reckless abandon! :) He will let go on his own accord and is also starting to try and multitask as he does this, like picking up something or waving, etc. He's stood for about 15 seconds at the most, and is even starting to walk with our hands now - tonight he walked with me with one hand only holding mine. Before if I held his hands to walk, even though I know his legs were strong enough as he had been standing up for months, he would just plop his body down. He continues to amaze me. I know every child amazes their parent, and every parent is in awe of their child, but I can't help it!

Anyway, I digress - without further ado, here is Calder's 9 month photo! I love it, but then, most photos of him I love. :)