Halloween

A rainy Halloween limited the trick or treating, but we made the best of it.  Batman and Batgirl were quite the pair, and Harry Potter, as ever, was magic.

World's Worst Blogger

This poor neglected site. I have immense guilt realizing that my quantity of posts in a year now resemble the quantity from a month when Cooper was a baby. As said before, not an indication of love, but of time. I am tempted, at times, to mothball this thing, but then I will find myself making reference to a time, and then wanting to look back at that time and those pictures, and then WHAM, down the rabbit hole I fall, sometimes for a long time, sometimes alone and other times dragging Steve with me (LOOK At THIS PICTURE!!!), revisiting things I remembered, and things I had tucked away and almost forgotten until I scrolled through here, and I realize how special this place is for me, and I recommit to continuing to post. So, in that vein, while Cal is finishing his nap and before the bigs return from a movie with Steve, here I offer a sampling of pictures from our last few months...

Can you believe how handsome this kid is? He looks so much like a baby I used to have...


Peek-a-boo! This tent is one of the cheapest things we bought many years ago that I am surprised we kept through the various toy purges, and am SO thankful we did. Cal loves a good hideout.


Sweet baby!


The reappearance of Trigger!


Cal loves to read. If by read you mean have him grab the book out of your hand and then turn the pages emphatically.


Doc McCalvin


I know this is a still from a video that won't play, but I want proof that we DID finally break down and allow the bigs to have a turn in those crazily overpriced jumping things at the mall.


See! We don't ALWAYS say no!


Ah, the chicken that walks and plays the chicken dance song... another one I am surprised survived the culling of toys we have had to do over the years (lest we would have long ago run out of space!). Unlike the tent, my fondness for this toy has not increased with each repetition of the chicken dance song. And lo it is replayed often.


I keep thinking that damn chicken might break as Cal doesn't leave it be when it is playing, but walks around with it and drops it intermittently. He apparently needs to drop it HARDER.


More sweet baby!


I am not even sure where this is from... but it has all 3 kids! And Cal looks SO serious about his food. Accurate!


The Sass!


Viewer tip: You can always tell the photos that are from our nanny (she sends me at least one a day), because Cal's hair looks so much more suave. She fancies him up.


This move NEVER gets old.


Love this boy.


The bond between Daphne and Cal has grown even stronger now. She really loves playing with him, and he is so lucky to have her.


Literally my three favorite people.


Happy mornings!


OMG were these sunglasses a HIT... until they broke. Cal - not known for her delicate touch.


Our nanny needed me to spring her early one day, so I came home and took a call from the kitchen table. Next to this guy.


Sweeter baby!


Cal loves nothing more than to pull clean folded laundry off of the couch and drape it all over himself.


Another photo from our nanny - note the hair!


Seriously - this kid IS happiness. Unless you won't give him your cell phone (or anything else he desperately NEEDS!)


And so began Cal's love affair with Pink. We have rewatched the SNL performance MANY times. He goes in and out of a transfixed stare and dancing. You can ask "Cal, do you want to dance?" or "Do you want to watch Pink" and he will run to the TV and turn it on and stare expectantly at you until you fire up the performance. I am not sure if or when we will ever be able to delete it from our DVR.


As I said, Cal loves a hideout...


And he SO loves his big brother (and who can blame him?)

Nanny Sick Day

Although it's a bummer that our nanny has strep, I enjoyed some extra one on one time at the park with my littlest buddy.

15 MONTHS OF CAL!!!!

Here we are, rolling right into October, and I realize that I am very delinquent in documenting your babyhood. Sorry dude, but mama is TIRED. Our days are go-go-go! And then once all you kids are finally in bed, the house is a disaster, with floors covered in whatever we served for dinner that wasn’t up to your standard, and toys literally strewn about all across the expanded baby jail that is 80% of our first floor. And, if we actually manage to tackle that cleaning Mt. Everest, there is such good TV on these days that has to be watched. You, my friend, are growing up in an era of GREAT TV.

So, anyway, my silence is not a result of a lack of things to report, but instead sheer exhaustion. But here I sit, 15 months from the date you were born, having accidentally fallen asleep on the couch for about ½ an hour after getting you to bed while the Bigs were watching a show before heading to bed for a weekend slumber party, and what can I say, after that disco nap, I have a second wind.

So… with that second wind, I will try to type.

You are….

Getting so big – your 18-month-old jammies are absolutely straining with the task of containing you.

So Physical – you “run” and tackle and climb all over anyone who enters your area.

Ready for Halloween – with hair growing out and into a curly little mullet.

Everyone’s little buddy – running to the gate to cheer for anyone who walks in, immediately demanding to be picked up, and then instantly wanting to get down and start a game.

Mr. Mischievous – from ripping off your diaper to sneakily turning off or on the TV to grabbing my phone or the remote – you know when and how to be naughty, absolutely have no regrets, and immediately book it in the other direction with a naughty smile and a squeal when you think you might get caught.

A dance machine – dropping it like it’s hot to music, game show theme songs, or just when the spirit moves you, which is quite often.

Mr. Independent – Now that you can almost consistently stay upright for semi-extended stretches when you are mobile (you still overestimate your abilities and let your body get ahead of your legs at times), we can take you places, like on walks or to the park, and when we do, MAN you cannot wait to wrestle your hand free from mine and walk on your own, like we are just some people you don’t really know, and you are way too cool for. Foreshadowing, perhaps, of things to come (SOB!).

An AMAZING sleeper – down to one nap, and good for a solid 12-13 hours a night. This cannot be over-emphasized.

So much like your sister - embracing her love of chicken nuggets and anything sweet, and boycotting anything we put on your plate to expand your palate’s horizon (or embracing the LOUD as our sweet girl does, and telling us, at high volume, nothankyou).

Any yet, so much like your brother – you will sit on the floor and read books for long stretches, babbling to yourself, because while highly verbal when it comes to comprehension, your vocabulary is still quite limited, consisting of nonsense and “baba!”

Still my baby – and I am enjoying every single second of it.