Rainy, lazy Monday

Topeka 501 blessed its employees with Monday off in honor of President's Day.  Cal and I hunkered down inside the warm house while it rained.  He's fighting off the cold that I unfortunately gave to him.  :(  Aside from the chest rattling coughing fits and congested nose, he's in pretty good spirits!  The Dr. said he has Bronchialitis and a mild form of RSV, but at this point it's nothing she's too concerned about.  His chest is shiny in these pictures because of the baby Vicks.

He decided to try his hand at art today.  Not too shabby!

 "Ta da!!!"

After his art project, it was bathtime! 

 

He likes drinking water from his sippy cup, and apparently he doesn't limit himself when it comes to consuming liquids.  Cal's not picky...."Give me the bath cup, I'm thirsty!"

YUMMY!!

"Oh, am I not supposed to drink from this?"



8 months old

Cal learned how to clap this weekend and clap, clap, clap he does!  He claps when he wakes up in the middle of the night and doesn't want to go back to sleep, he claps at 5:30am and talks (LOUDLY!!!), he claps when he plays, he claps when he eats....you get the picture! 

The last week of January offered ample opportunities to spend time outdoors.  The temperatures were in the upper 60's, so we were able to walk the dogs and play outside daily.  Cal loved pruning and pulling the grass while watching the dogs run around the yard.  He also brought to my attention that we apparently have numerous rabbits that inhabit our property when the dogs are inside.  The tiny pellets of "dirt" that he was grabbing along with the grass forced his germaphobe Mama to eventually retreat to the safe, poo-free patio slab. 

Cal met Lilah Beth Sawyer at the KSU game.  Lilah's mom, Johnna, and I grew up together and are so excited that your little ones are close in age.  It wasn't the warmest first impression, but I'm sure they'll become good friends.  They're going to be spending many-a-Saturdays in the K-State football parking lot, so I hope that friendship forms quickly!

 

  Cal to Lilah: "Hey chick.  I'm supposed to be the cutest baby in here....you're treadin' on my turf."

Lilah to Cal:  "Hey buddy, get used to it.  Just wait until I wear my purple tutu.....it gets the crowd everytime." 






Last Sunday, I set Cal on the carpet in the living room and left him to play with his toys while I washed a few dishes.  Imagine my surprise when I returned to check on him and found him 5 feet away....under the coffee table!!!  He doesn't really crawl yet, but he rolls, scoots, pivots, etc.  He was so proud of himself!!

Our silly little boy keeps grabbing for anything that we're eating, so I've started introducing him to more solids.  Here he is convincing me that he should eat the sugar cookie that was in my hand.

I opted to not share my confectionary delight, but instead give him some spagetti!  He was NOT a fan and the meal ended in tears.  We'll try again in a few weeks, perhaps with some buttery rotini noodles instead!

Cheerios, puffs, and baby crackers are all acceptable menu items.  He really likes banana bits and small chunks of pears and peaches, too.

   

  This is just the sweetest picture.  Cal won't rock to sleep with Mommy, but he sleeps soundly when Daddy does it!

First snow!  We only got 2" of the white stuff, but it still counts. 

 Our 8 month old boy is changing daily.  Aside from learning new skills, he's becoming more opinionated and showing his personality more every day.  Happy 8 month birthday, sweet boy!

Don't sit too close to the screen. It's bad for your eyes.

I hope you've been craving some videos lately.  Whet your appetite, as a gourmet video meal is comin' your way!

We're trying to catch the many faces and sounds of Cal.  Here's the move that we've dubbed "The Tomahawk".  He exhibits this motion daily while he plays and eats.

Next up is the sound that we like to call "The Bird of Prey".  He started making this sound in imitation.  Oh and in case you were wondering....yes, I now realize that when I play with him and am excited about something that my pitch goes up to octaves that only dogs should hear.  He's started making this sound independently, lucky for us and our eardrums, and it is usually accompanied by a piercing scream or shriek.  The shrieks and screams are some things that I did NOT teach him.

Cal is quite the giggle box and loves engaging in the back and forth exchange of laughter.  All you have to do is look at him and he'll chuckle.  As made evident by this video, he apparently enjoys being tickled by feet.  I've done the research and NO, this is not a precursor for a foot fetish.

To wrap things up,  here's a video that features our little man showing how much he yearns to be mobile.  He's made progress and can now go from sitting to a crawling position, which was too difficult for him just last week.  With this newfound, emerging mobility I've realized that my window of 'leaving Cal on the carpet in the living room while I run to another room' is quickly closing.  In fact, I feel like it's slamming shut after last Saturday morning.  I put him on the carpet and went to the kitchen to wash some dishes.  When I poked my head around the corner to check on him, our little Caligator was proudly crouched 3 feet away....underneath the coffee table!!  Let the baby proofing commence!!

I'll upload some pictures after Wednesday and his 8 month photo shoot.  That sock monkey is starting to get a chip on i's stitched shoulder when hefty Cal sits next to him.  Keep your eyes peeled, for the next blog post will debut more of Cal's signature moves in still photos.  Have a Happy Valentines Day!

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New friends

Cal wants to introduce you to his best friend...."the baby in the mirror".  If we're holding him and we happen to walk into the bathroom or down the hallway towards the mirror, he immediately starts hamming it up and kicking his legs.  That's the signal......"TAKE ME TO SEE THE BABY IN THE MIRROR!"  He even tries to bite the baby, bap him with his flailing arms, and suck on the baby's face.  (Does this mean that I should give the parents of Cal's future friends a disclaimer?  Warning: Cal is very lovable and enjoys playing with your child, but he was raised to believe that bapping a baby's face and slobbering/biting on a child's extremities is a "friendly" behavior.) 

Here's another friend....Sock Monkey!  He's rapidly being dwarfed by the baby who once was his size!  Cal's wearing all 2T clothing now, which is a little long in the sleeves and legs, but fits MUCH better around his burgeoning belly. 

Donnie's taken a shine to Cal lately, especially during meals!  Our little food connoisseur enjoys playing with his food now and gets extremely filthy.  You might be asking yourself why I allow him to put his hands in the bowl in the first place.  Well, I usually let him stick his hands in the bowl for two reasons:

1) It's funny to watch him and it's for my enjoyment.

2)  It's important for him to explore new textures.....but mostly reason #1.

Since Donnie is such a clean freak himself (insert sarcastic laugh), he saunters into the kitchen mid-meal and begins cleaning Cal's hands for him. 

ALL CLEAN.....aside from the dog germs!!!

Ollie's always been a fan of Cal and vice versa, but now she's taken it too far.  You know how some owners and their pets sometimes start to resemble each other?  Well....take a look for yourself.  Look at these pudgy pals!

Here are a few videos of Cal during his new favorite activity....BATHTIME!!   

More "firsts"!

FIRST KANSAS STATE BASKETBALL GAME!

Cal was such a good luck charm for the KSU football team that he decided to try his hand at basketball.  We took him to the Missouri game and watched our Cats battle the undefeated Tigers, ultimately leading to a Wildcat victory!  It would appear that Cal's status as a good luck charm isn't limited to games of the pigskin variety.

He wasn't too sure about the rowdy crowd and loud announcer inside the Octagon of Doom!

  ..........no smiles, and in fact he cried at first!

I left the game and walked around with him.  He eventually fell asleep and I fortuitously ran into a friend that allowed us to sit in an empty suite!  Did I mention that it was a fully stocked suite?! :)

Caligator was much happier after his nap!

  The noise didn't bother him as much.  He probably couldn't hear the crowd as well over his Mama's crunchin' and munchin' on all the free food!  (That's one theory.)

Eventually Grandpa came over to enjoy the view from the suite.  He always has the best toys!  That's not a Coke Zero can, ladies and gentlemen.  I just envisioned an 18 year old Cal caught in a similar act, but he'll follow all our rules and never cause us headaches so thankfully that hallucination will never materialize.

FIRST BIG BOY BATH!

Cal outgrew his infant bathtub about a month ago, but I thought the regular tub would be too big for him.  Nope!  He seemed right at home and even christened it with his typical bathtime ritual of a quick urination fountain.  He's a baby who likes routines, what can I say?

He now has both upper incisors and his left front tooth, with the right middle close behind.  Our little 7 month old baby is working on a mouthful of chompers! 

Round and round the garden....

I remember my babysitter used to recite all sorts of nursery rhymes to us when we were little.  My favorite was "Round and Round the Garden"  (goes the teddy bear, one step, two step, tickle him under there!).  It would appear that Cal enjoys it, too!

 

I finally caught a small clip of Cal's babbling.  He usually goes on and on, in a thorough conversation, but today he became mute when he saw the video camera!