Toddlerhood is a special age.
Calvin Quickie: Weirdo
Leave a reply
Tag Archives: Calvin
Calvin Quickie: iPad
Over the past month Calvin has gotten addicted to screens. It was getting so bad that I couldn’t even take out my phone to snap a photo of him without him flipping out and grabbing for it. I have been putting my phone away/keeping it out of sight and reach for the most part during the day, but we did cave and delete the important stuff off the iPad and let Calvin have full reign on that. Don’t worry. I do make sure we have lots of no screen time during the day too.
We just got the new Bible App for Kids app, and he loves it! What else would you recommend for toddlers?
Brothers
I had no idea what to expect from Calvin when it came to having a baby around the house. I was preparing for the worst, but Calvin has mostly just been loving on his brother. He calls him “Baby” since there is no way “Victor” is coming out of his mouth. For the first couple weeks he was actually saying something like “Ditdo”, but hasn’t for some time. He also loves to hold him, so I wasted no time teaching him to use the cradling action to tell me he wants to hold him. Otherwise he would grab Victor by the zipper and drag him away. Calvin learned that sign in about 30 seconds. What a quick study. The hard part now is trying to teach him to say/sign “all done” when he is done, instead of just pushing Victor off his lap. It’s gonna be a few more months, but I am very much looking forward to the time when they can interact and play with each other.
I am also looking forward to when Calvin knows that it hurts to poke eyes and “burp” the baby with a closed fist.
In regards to Calvin’s attitude, he doesn’t seem too jealous or angry with me about having another child to give my attention to. His cranky times are a bit extra cranky, and he gets upset if I don’t let him nurse while Victor is nursing (I will do a post on how nursing the two of them is going), but for the most part he is still a happy, content boy. These guys make my job way too easy! Although he has been pulling the tantrum on the floor act sometimes. I just ignore him, and he forgets what he was angry about pretty quickly.
My boys:
As soon as we stepped in the door from the hospital.
Poke!
Want a bun?
Soother thief!
Cuties in the morning.
So many kisses!
Snow Time
Winter is most definitely here, and Calvin likes it a smidgen more than I do. The first snow came when Victor was just 4 days old, and we’ve been getting more and more every week. I haven’t taken Calvin out to play yet on my own, because that also means bundling Victor up, but he got in some good play time when his aunties were here.
Auntie Catherine loves the snow just as much as Calvin!
Entering a snow cave built by Tim’s cousin, Jeanette. It has now flattened a little and will probably make a good little sledding hill for the rest of the snow season.
I stayed in the warm house while Michelle and Calvin had fun.
Hardly any room for sliding!
And now a video for your viewing pleasure, brought to you by Auntie Michelle, who let Calvin humble himself for pure entertainment.
Calvin Quickie: Smiley Music Playing
This keyboard is one of Calvin’s go-to toys. He loves banging away on it. He also has started smiling for the camera, and sometimes those smiles are coupled with something strange.
Calvin at 17ish Months
It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything about Calvin. And I know that’s the main reason you all visit my little blog, right? That and wondering what the O-Word is (man, a lot of you were curious!).
Calvin is up to so much these days. He is picking things up pretty fast and quickly becoming such a little boy. Here are some highlights of what he’s all about latley:
Talking
His word count is still pretty small, but here is what he can say
– “no”
It’s his go to answer to any question (I’m guessing he knows the tone of one), and it’s either said with a little “mmm” in front, like he is thinking about what to say, or pretty decisively. Contrary to popular belief, it could be used as an affirmative answer. Lately though, it’s also become a thing to yell over and over when we tell him not to do something, which is also a time when he uses the next word a lot
– “ow!”
If we tell him not to do something and give his hand a little slap, he sometimes then goes around hitting things and saying this loudly, in conjunction with “no”
– “dada”
This sometimes means daddy, but he also says it when pointing to his nose a lot, and other random things as well
– “tickle tickle tickle”
This is my favourite, and he’s been saying it for a couple months now. It means exactly what it is. He says it when he tickles our feet and belly buttons, and also when we ask him where his belly button is, he lifts up his shirt and says it
– animal sounds
“woowoowoo” was a general sound for anything from rodents to birds to large animals but sounded most like a big dog. This weekend it turned into a growl. Birds growl, guys. It’s pretty neat.
“oo oo oo” of course is a monkey, coupled with putting his hands in his arm pits.
When we ask about a fish, he opens and closes his mouth. That’s my favourite. It’s really cute.
Signing
I wrote about baby sign language before. At that point he was 11 months old and I really wasn’t putting in much effort to get him to do it, so it kind of fell by the way side. But a couple months ago we decided to start again, and he picked it up so fast! He can sign “please”, “thank you”, “more”, “drink/water”, and “help”. I was the most excited about help because it cut down his wining by a lot. I don’t know what other kinds of words to teach him. Oh, we are working on “sleep/bed”. What else would you teach? I don’t feel like doing ones that aren’t useful, like different animals and stuff. Maybe more specific types of foods?
Growing
He of course hasn’t had a doctor’s check up since his 12 month one, and his next one is next month for 18 months. I feel like he hasn’t gained much weight, but he is getting taller. Taller and skinnier I guess. I did pop him on the scale at my last doctor’s appointment, and he was 24.4 lbs. He was around 20 lbs a year ago.
Teeth
He’s got a total of 12 teeth right now. I thought for sure a month ago he was getting more, but so far those eye teeth spots are still empty and we are waiting on more molars.
Nursing
I am still unsure of whether or not I want him completely weaned in the next month before the baby comes, but he is getting there, so we will see. Just until this weekend he was on two a day, morning and night. I realized he wasn’t really interested in the morning one anymore though. He would take it if I offered, but would still rather run around the house. So we are down to just one in the evening before bed time. We will see what pans out in the next few weeks.
Being a goof
You just have to see him in person to appreciate it.
Anything else you might be interested in? How about about a video of him saying my favourite words? It was from about a month ago, one of the times we were on the road.
Calvin Quickie: Doing Chores
This is about a week old, but I am finally able to get it up here. It’s also kind of repetitive, so I won’t hold it against you if you stop partway through.
Calvin decided it was time for him to start earning his keep, so he gave himself a chore.