Visiting Grandma

In July we’re all going to the Oregon coast to meet up with Jaeger’s family. Since this is near where my family lives, relatively speaking, I was hoping to be able to see them at the same time. However, the timing didn’t work out so instead Calvin and I flew out to Washington for Memorial Weekend.

We left Wednesday right after breakfast and got to the airport 2 1/2 hrs early. However, since we weren’t in a dreadful hurry, I let Calvin walk a lot of the way and stop and gawk at every plane we passed. In addition, I decided to keep Calvin in training pants instead of diapers so we also had to make a couple of stops on our way at various bathrooms. By the time we got to our gate, I only had enough time to feed Calvin a small snack before it was time to board.

The flight was fairly uneventful. Thankfully, Calvin refrained crying, screaming, and joyful shrieking. He didn’t nap but neither did I expect him too. He was entertained a fair amount of the time by watching a couple of videos and playing with his new Duplo Motocycle that I had bought specifically for airplane entertainment.

Because Calvin didn’t nap, he was extremely hyper when we arrived. He literally ran in circles while Grandma watched in bemused fascination. Eventually we made it to the car and Calvin fell asleep on the way to my parent’s house.

That evening I was very tired so I decided to go to bed at the same time as Calvin. Now that Calvin is too big for the pack ‘n play (i.e. he climbs out) we weren’t sure what to do for his bed. Eventually, I decided to just have him sleep in the big bed with me. This turned out to be a very popular decision with Calvin. I laid down on the bed next to him. Calvin closed his eyes, then popped them open with a wide smile delighted that I was still next to him. He repeated this for about the next half hour. Eventually he did fall asleep. I had been worried about him falling off the other side of the bed. However, that turned out not to be an issue as he stuck to my side like a little magnet. In fact, several times during the night he felt the need to crawl over and sleep on top of me.

Thursday we left for the beach. On the way we visited the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria. Calvin was getting cranky due to either hunger or sleepiness, sometimes it’s hard to figure out which, so we didn’t see much of the inside of the museum. However, he did seem to enjoy touring the Lightship Columbia. I also managed to buy a souvenir for Calvin in the form of a picture book titled A is for Astoria, by Karen L. Leedom and illustrated by Sally Bailey.

After the museum we ate pizza and then continued to the beach. I hoped Calvin would take a nap but that turned out to be too optimistic. Calvin has trouble falling asleep in the car now that he can point out all the different kinds of trucks on the road.

Once we settled in to our rooms at the hotel we went and explored the hotel pool. We lucked out in that there was a reasonable sized shallow area in the pool before the steps descended the rest of the way. The shallow area came up to Calvin’s thighs so offered a good area for him to play with some bath toys I had brought along. Every so often he’d ask me to take him and we bounce around in the deeper parts of the pool. Calvin especially enjoyed it when I twirled around with him making large waves.

The day must have really worn Calvin out as he fell asleep within 5 min of me putting him to bed. I don’t recall the last time that happened.

We started off the next morning by picking up pastries and then returned to the hotel to supplement them with scrambled tofu and strawberries. After breakfast we decided to venture out to the ocean. In case you haven’t visited the Oregon coast before, it’s not a very warm experience, particularly this early in summer. The weather was very windy and overcast. However, this didn’t stop Calvin from enjoying the ocean. Dad took Calvin out to the ocean and held him up when waves came letting them wash over his boots. Calvin also enjoyed shoveling sand into his sand sorter.

When the adults decided they had enough, we went inside. Calvin was completely soaked on his lower half so we gave him a warm bath and then 1/2 a cup of hot chocolate. I think this is the first time Calvin has had hot chocolate but he really enjoyed the experience.

We then decided to head to Seaside to check out the aquarium. However, Calvin looked like he might fall asleep so we took a long detour and to my surprise, he fell asleep. I don’t remember the last time he fell asleep before lunch. Maybe this means I don’t usually give him enough exercise in the morning . . . In any case, by the time he woke up it was time for lunch. After lunch we went to Seaside and Calvin got to ride a carousal. We then planned to walk to the aquarium but Calvin seemed much more interested in the beach. We hadn’t brought beach clothes with us (in this case, fleeces, boots, and rain coats) so we returned to the hotel before heading out for beach part 2. Like before, Calvin greatly enjoyed the beach and ended the experience with a bath and Hot Chocolate.

Unfortunately, Calvin didn’t go to bed as easy last night. I sat in his room for a long time waiting him to go to sleep while listening to A Civil Campaign by Bujold. By the time Calvin fell asleep I felt droopy so followed quickly afterwards. Unlike prior nights, Calvin didn’t insist on clinging to my side the entire night but I noticed that he always had a hand, a foot, or a head touching me.

We woke up this morning and squeezed in a bit more beach time before packing up and heading to Astoria for church. Mom was a little over-optimistic in how long cleaning Calvin up and packing would take so we got there just in time for the sermon. I didn’t hear most of it being preoccupied with helping Calvin put a puzzle together. The puzzle set I brought was unfortunately configured so you could easily put pieces together that didn’t belong. I got one puzzle finished before realizing I needed to swap two pieces.

After church we went to the Astoria Column for lunch. We ate at a picnic table there but didn’t actually climb the column. It’s very toddler unsafe. However, the hill itself still provides a spectacular view of the surrounding area.

Magically, Calvin actually napped on the rest of the way back to Longview. I think the beach trip was a success and I learned some pointers for our next beach trip with the Tramblie-Logan side in July. Specifically, I should make sure to take along wool socks so they can still keep his feet warm even when completely soaked.

In the next couple of days we’re going to attempt to see my grandparents and show off Calvin some more before going back home.

Park Visit

Down

  • I started feeling sick Monday evening. Took Calvin to daycare Tuesday, told them he was going to be there the whole day, and went back to bed. Tried to work a couple hours but I was too tired so went back to bed. I woke up at 5pm to pick Calvin up but when I stood up, I threw up. Called Jaeger and asked him to pick up Calvin and deal with Calvin’s evening needs.

  • While I was only really sick on Tuesday, I’ve been really tired all week. As a result, I’ve been sleeping in and only exercised one day this week :-(

Ups

  • Started listening to Paladin of Souls by Bujold. I’ve listened to it before but it’s a very good book and I’m once again mesmerized.

  • I’m on the potluck team for this week. In my case, the sole thing I do is make food (normally I’d also help with setup and cleanup but I’m excused since I have Calvin to look after). Usually this means that I’m making something late into the evening the night before. However, this week I managed to split my cooking into two days and finished by supper time. This week I’m taking a Stacked Vegetable Enchilada casserole, South Indian style Peas and Carrots, and Persian Almond Cookies.

Calvin Moment

  • It’s been rainy for the last couple of days so, even if I had felt good enough, I haven’t taken Calvin outside much recently. However, today was a bright and sunny day so I took him to the park. It’s the park that inspired my fear in this post. However, today he didn’t try to climb up the biggest slide by himself so it wasn’t nearly as nerve wracking. Below is a picture of the playground.

  • Calvin enjoys “helping” me in the kitchen. Usually this means anything I do takes twice as long but I’m trying to make the best of it and explain kitchen science to him. Yesterday he helped me make cookies by adding some of the ingredients like baking soda and vanilla. In hindsight, I should have made the cookies after supper. Calvin was so excited by the cookies that he refused to eat the healthier part of his meal. Finally, I got him hooked on eating strawberries instead. I had bought a 2 lb container of strawberries and I believe he ate 3/4-1 lb by himself. I didn’t realize his stomach could fit that much food.

  • I took Calvin to story time at the library last night. This is the first time we’ve tried bedtime story time at our local library (versus the one I work at). Unfortunately, it was the last one until the end of summer. Technically, it’s aimed for kids 3-6 but I decided to take Calvin and just pop out early if it didn’t catch his attention. However, he was enraptured the entire time. At the end, the librarian asked me how old he was and I told her 2. She told me it was obvious I read to him a lot because he was so well behaved (yes, this is more of a “proud parent moment” than a Calvin moment :-) ).

Simplification

  • I took a box of clothing Calvin no longer needs to our local used children’s clothing store. I’ve bought a fair amount of clothing there but never tried to sell any. I got about $10 for the box so we probably would have come out ahead if I had donated it and taken a tax deduction instead. However, it still was enough to pay for a used board book, Duplo set, and firetruck. Calvin loves both the duplo box and the firetruck and insists they sleep with him in his bed.

Book Sale

Down

  • I’ve been eating too much recently. Not sure why. Just always seem hungry. I probably should increase my breakfast and lunch calories.

Ups

  • I got a couple more Indian cookbooks as well as a Persian cookbook that have been fun to peruse. I also finished reading Cryoburn by Bujold which was a great deal of fun. For audio books I’ve been in a bit of a slump. I started listening to a Nora Robert’s book but they never seem to grab me. So, I decided to relisten to Naked in Death by J.D. Robb (who happens to be Nora Roberts but I still like Robb’s books. I can’t explain it). I haven’t finished the In Death series yet but I thought it would be good to go back for a refresher on how it all started. The great thing about my memory is it’s bad enough I can just wait a couple of years and can enjoy the book all over again for the first time.

  • The 16th set of Midsomer Murders arrived at the library for me early in the week and I finished watching it on Friday. It’s a British mystery series so the set consists of 4 1 1/2 hr episodes. It’s not for everyone but I like the British sense of humor and it’s not as gratuitously gory as American mysteries often are.

  • The Friends of Longmont Library had their annual book sale this week. A couple of years ago, before Calvin was born, I was a member of the friends and got a chance to go to the “preview” book sale. Friends got first chance to buy the used books. It was insane, kind of like Black Friday. There were people everywhere and once the book sale was officially open, a wave of people descended on the books. This year I didn’t go until the sale was open to the general public. There were still a lot of people and it was very awkward flipping through books while carrying Calvin on my hip but it was much less scary than the last time I went. We also got quite a few truck, train, and Curious George books as well as a couple of piano books with children’s songs in them. Most of the books cost $0.50 so I could buy books and not feel bad if Calvin ruined them. I would have liked to spend longer sorting through the books but Calvin was restless. There’s always next year.

Calvin Moment

  • Calvin is once again refusing to nap. He skipped a nap two days at daycare last week and then didn’t want to nap over the weekend either. I walked for 1 1/2 hrs yesterday but he insisted on staying perky. Of course, it could have been because it was a little cold outside and he refused to let me wrap him in a blanket. Then, half way back to the car, he took off his socks and shoes and I didn’t notice for several minutes. He objected when I told him we had to put the shoes back on but I told him it was either the shoes or the blanket. He stayed wide awake on the 1/2 hr ride back home until we were turning into our subdivision at which point he slept. So, I had Jaeger bring a book out for me to read in the car while he napped for an hour.

  • I started making supper a little before 5 this evening which apparently wasn’t fast enough for Calvin. He climbed into his high chair before it was time. I popped him out and he climbed back in again. Finally, we gave up and just took a video of him doing it for posterity. He’s a very determined boy.

Simplification

  • I cleaned out Calvin’s closet again and organized the stuff he’ll no longer need into boxes. The closet looks much better. Of course, this just moves the “Calvin stuff” down to the basement instead of actually getting it out of the house. I have this idea that we should keep baby stuff around until we can give it to someone. However, I’m not sure we want to wait until our friends or relatives start having babies. Some stuff is easy to store but the changing table has got to go . . . somewhere.

Reading Update

Down

  • I walked 7 miles on Saturday while Calvin napped. Great exercise but my calves hurt enough that I reduced exercising this week. So, I probably lost exercise time instead of gaining.

  • I’ve been fighting with Qwest about our static IP. For some mysterious reason, they canceled it a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been trying to get them to fix it and repeatedly was shuffled between tech support and billing. Finally someone in tech support said they could reorder it for me but it’d be a $20 setup fee since they had no record I’d ever had a static IP. I was tempted to tell them that I would be happy to pay the $20 fee if they could refund the $5.95/month I’ve been paying for years for a static IP. However, Jaeger found what our old static IP was and using that they somehow confirmed that, yes, they did make some sort of mistake though no one seems to know what or how. Anyway, we have a static IP back but I’m still waiting for the next bill to see if they forget and try to charge us a $20 install fee. They claimed they put a note on my record that my fee should be “refunded” but we’ll see what really happens. I’m particularly annoyed that even though it was because of nothing on our end, they’ve wasted multiple hours of my time of this issue.

Ups

  • It was good weather so Calvin and I went to the park today. As usual, he loved it and had a lot of fun running all over the place.

  • Thanks to the RRA-L listserv I subscribe to, I got a huge number of books to read. I’m not sure they’re all exactly my style but it still is interesting to at least try them. The first one I read was Dark Mirror, by M.J. Putney. She’s written romances before under a different name but this is her first young adult book. I did enjoy it though it was very obviously young adult and I’m not much into time travel adventures. I finished Dark Mirror last night and immediately started reading Briar Rose by Jane Yolen. I also finished it last night. This is a young adult retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty set during the Holocaust. It’s funny. I’ve read a lot of holocaust non-fiction but for some reason, this fiction book made the horror more real to me. The non-fiction books seem to emphasize the triumphant survivors of the concentration camps and it’s easy to not pay as much attention to the millions that were murdered. I suppose it also could be different because I read a lot of the non-fiction books as a teen before I had a child. Anyway, very good book but also very disturbing. Glad I read it but probably won’t re-read it. I can’t decide what book I’ll read next. Possibly The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith. I’m really tired of vampire novels but I’ve heard pretty good things about it and the vampires being evil again would be a novel change.

Calvin Moment

Calvin is growing up. Today in the park he started climbing the rope pyramid (Kind of like this. I really need to take pictures of these playgrounds so you can actually see what he’s doing). He’s been enjoying hanging on to the bottom rope for a while. However, today is the first day I saw him actually trying to climb several levels up. I decided the rule was that if he requested help at the higher levels, I would help but then bring him back to the ground and he’d have to start the climb over. This seemed to work fairly well. He did fall a couple of times but pretty close to the ground. Anytime he got higher I hovered underneath him. It’s very encouraging to see him grow up and achieve new abilities.

Freedom, Common Sense, and Safety

Down

  • Calvin slept in today and, perhaps as a result, skipped his afternoon nap. This meant he was incredibly cranky and clingy by 5. We (tried to) eat around 6. Calvin picked at a bit of his food before announcing he needed to use the potty. He did use the potty but didn’t want to get back in his chair. However, one of our rules is that you don’t have to eat but you have to sit at the table when everyone else is eating supper. So, I sat him back in his high chair. He complained a little bit but then asked for his milk. I gave him his milk and he put it in his burrito bowl. I was starting to tell him that milk was for drinking, not playing, when he exclaimed, “no milk!” and threw his cup across the table. The bulk of the milk narrowly missed our computers. I picked Calvin up and put him in his room for a 2 min time-out. Calvin screamed the entire time and I thought he threw up but after the two minutes I went in and didn’t see any evidence of it. I hugged him and explained that we don’t throw things when we’re upset. However, we decided that he probably needed to go to bed early so Jaeger finished eating while I held Calvin. Then Jaeger put Calvin to bed while I finished eating.

Ups

  • We had several days of very good weather last week. On Thursday we were in at the park for almost 2 hrs and I just laid in the sun while Calvin burbled around the park.

  • We had a family outing to the plane museum yesterday. That excursion went really well. Calvin especially enjoyed riding around in little plane tricycles they had.

  • I have officially resigned from the PA committee at church. I tried to do it back in fall but couldn’t find anyone to take my place. However, it’s almost nominating time again and I’ve told the PA leader that I do not intend to continue next year. On one hand, I feel pretty guilty because there aren’t enough people as it is. However, I feel that me spending time on Sabbath morning dealing with the MediaShout script isn’t good for Calvin. It was only once a month but I also play the piano once a month which requires someone else to look after him. So, for now, I think I have a bigger responsibility to Calvin than I do to PA.

Calvin Moment

As Calvin gets older I’m increasingly conflicted over how much I should weigh safety risks when I let him do things. I’ve read books such as Free-range Kids, by Skenazy, and The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, by Mogel, and agree that we have a tendency to be over-obsessed with controlling every aspect of our children’s lives. However, it’s harder for me to restrain my compulsive tendencies. I keep thinking in the back of my head, “well sure, it’s unlikely that $x is going to hurt him but can I live with myself if it does?”

When the AAP changed their policy to officially state that children should ride rear-facing until two I started panicking and wondered if I should turn Calvin back to rear-facing. I specifically got a massive car seat so he could stay rear-facing for longer than standard, which was one-year at the time, but had turned him around at 21 months. After seeing the policy update, I wondered if I should turn him back to rear-facing until he reached the weight/height limit max for rear-facing. I talked to our pediatrician at our last well-baby visit and he basically told me that our society obsesses too much with safety. He pointed out that everyone would be safer in a rear-facing seat but we don’t expect adults to ride that way. Then he told me that since Calvin was two it was fine that I have him in a forward-facing seat. This is why our pediatrician is a good fit for me. He balances my more extreme tendencies with common sense.

Friday we went to a nearby playground. This playground has several different level. The first is around waist-high for me, the 2nd is just barely over my head, and then the final level is significantly higher than I can reach. We got to the playground and Calvin enthusiastically scrambled up the first level and gleefully slid down the little slide. I didn’t panic at all as he’d have to fall at a very odd angle to hurt himself at that height. Then he moved up to the middle tier. This had me a little more nervous as there was a opening on one side, opposite the slide, that he theoretically could fall from. I quickly walked over to that opening to be in place in case I had to catch him. Then Calvin started climbing up to the third level. This is the point when I started to feel panic bubble up. While the third level is high, it is enclosed with a fence taller than Calvin and also designed so he wouldn’t have any footholds to try to climb up the fence (at least at his age). In addition, the slide at the very top is a tunnel so the worst that is likely to happen if he slid down it was either get stuck or come down head first. The most dangerous area really is while he climbs the stairs to the very top level. They are fairly steep and if he fell backwards it could be pretty dangerous. Except . . . Calvin has been climbing stairs for quite a while now. I couldn’t figure out if I should be at the top of the slide to make sure he didn’t fall from the stairs or at the bottom of the slide to catch him if he came down too fast. I was listening to a babble of voices in my head. On one side I heard Skenazy and my mom. On the other, I heard child protective services. Amid all this babble in my head one of the older children at the playground asked, “is he allowed to go down that tall slide?” I replied, “I don’t know.” At which point the boy looked at me dubiously no doubt wondering why the child’s mother hadn’t given me more explicit instructions. It turned out not to be a big issue. Calvin did scramble up to the very top but decided he didn’t want to go down the slide after all so he carefully backed down the stairs again to a level I was more comfortable with.

Later on, Calvin started trying to climb the smaller arched ladder on the first level. I was a little dubious about this as I figured he could fall through the rungs and whack his head, or possibly wind pipe, on the way down. However, it only went to my waist level so was very easy for me to hold my hands in a position where I could grab him if he started slipping. Then, Calvin decided he wanted to climb the arched ladder on the 2nd level. This level goes just above my head so I would be in a significantly worst position to catch Calvin if he fell. The biggest challenge was the step from the last rung to the main playground equipment. In order to transition, Calvin had to carefully grab the surrounding fence bars and then do a mini-jump from the rung to the 2nd level. He did it 3 times. Each time I waited under him with bated breath hoping that I would be able to catch him if he fell. He never did. However, I’m still not sure if I should have been letting him do that or not.

Anyway, I’m still working on figuring out the difference between a reasonable safety rule and an excessive safety rule that will negatively impact his confidence and athletic skill. I suspect this isn’t something I’m going to solve anytime soon *sigh*.

Cranky

Down

  • Calvin no longer has a fever but still seems excessively cranky to me. He requires a lot of holding and personal attention right now. By the time Jaeger gets home from work I’m emotionally exhausted. However, the fun doesn’t end there. He’s very dissatisfied with supper these days. He either doesn’t like what we’re serving or doesn’t want to stop playing to eat. My rule to-date has been that Calvin is not required to eat anything but he isn’t given anything special either. So, if he doesn’t like lentils, he doesn’t have to eat them but neither will I specially prepare a dish for him. Theoretically, I think this is a good stance to take. However, I’m starting to doubt myself. He has a 2 year checkup tomorrow so I might ask his pediatrician what his recommendation is.

  • I really, really need to crack down on my weight.

Ups

  • I finally got back on to my exercise schedule the last two days. Monday morning I didn’t wake up early enough for my full routine so only did 20 min of pilates. However, I got a chance to make it up later in the day with 40 min of step aerobics. Today I did get out of bed and was able to do my full Tuesday pilates/abs/weight combo.

  • While Calvin has been pretty cranky during the day, if I remember to dose him with ibuprofen, he sleeps fairly well during the night. At least, he has for the last 2 days (notice it’s the last 2 days I’ve managed to exercise . . . ). Hmm . . . maybe I should be dosing him with ibuprofen during the day also . . . I’m just not sure whether he’s not feeling good physically or if it’s something else entirely.

  • Calvin loves having books read to him. While he sometimes asks for books to be read at the most inconvenient times, I am always so glad he seems to be developing a love of reading. Calvin has such a different personality from Jaeger and I but so far it seems like reading can be at least one past time the whole family can enjoy together.

Calvin Moment

  • I’m sure that I’ve mentioned this before but Calvin is absolutely obsessed with hats. For his birthday he received 4 hats and also a fleece with a hood. Somehow he manages to wear all of them fairly consistently. Sometimes he wears multiple hats at once. When I picked him up from daycare today he was walking around with a shoe-box sized plastic box on his head. I think it must have held toys at one point but he dumped them out so he could re-purpose the box as a hat.

Sick

Down

  • Calvin was sick most of this week. I blame it on all the sugar he had last weekend.

  • While Calvin was sick, I barely exercised and also tended to eat a lot of chocolate. Not a good combination. Not surprisingly I gained weight. I aim to keep my BMI just under the “overweight” designation and this week it went over. So, I really need to knuckle down, eat small portions of healthy food, and exercise a lot the next couple of weeks. It’s so much easier to have good intentions than to actually implement them . . .

  • I’m way behind at work and taking time off to stay with Calvin didn’t help.

Ups

  • I finally installed blackout shades in Calvin’s room on Tuesday. To my shock, this seems to allow him to nap in his room. For the last several months, I’ve been walking multiple hours every Sunday so Calvin would take a nap in the stroller. Pretty good exercise but there are other ways I’d prefer to spend my Sunday afternoon. I’m hoping he slept because his room is finally dark enough during the day. The real test will be this Sunday.

  • While Calvin had a fever and was much cuddlier than usual, he wasn’t exceptionally cranky which was a lifesaver. I’m not sure I could have handled a cranky toddler for four full days.

  • I did get my basic chores done this week. I would have preferred to check a few more things of my cleaning schedule but I suppose I should be thankful I was able to do even basic cleaning with Calvin home most of the week.

  • Calvin went to daycare today! It was wonderful to go back to my normal weekday routine.

  • The weather was perfect today. After I picked Calvin up from daycare we went to one of our local parks and Calvin ran around for about an hour before it was time to go home.

Calvin Moment

  • Calvin has started to become really insistent on helping me in the kitchen as I make supper. Sadly, by the time he actually is helpful, I suspect this phase will have passed. However, currently he’s consistently asking me to pick him up so he can help stir and wash the dishes. I let him stir a fair amount though he was a little too vigorous with our quinoa salad which ended up splattered over the counter and floor. He had more success loading the dishwasher. I gave him a fair amount of silverware and he carefully picked up each piece and put it in the silverware bin in the dishwasher.

2nd Birthday

Down

  • Last night I went to bed around 9:30 exhausted. A little after 10 I was awakened to the sound of Calvin screaming. I went to investigate and he was crying in the middle of his room. As soon as he saw me, he flung himself into my arms. I tried to calm him down but he was inconsolable. I sat in the rocking chair and held him. He’d put his head down for a couple of minutes and then cry out and change position. It seemed to me that he was hurting. I blame it on teething. I’m pretty sure he has another set of molars coming in. Anyway, I left him to go downstairs and retrieve some ibuprofen. I gave it to him but, sadly, it doesn’t work right away. So Calvin dozed fitfully for about 45 min until it started working and then slipped into a deeper sleep. I manage to transfer him back to his own bed around 11:30. Since I was already tired, losing more than an hour of sleep was not ideal.

Ups

  • Nana and Grandpa, Jaeger’s parents, visited arriving Thursday morning and just left this evening. Yesterday Nana, Calvin, and I went to the children’s museum in Denver. Calvin had a lot of fun. I think the highlight of the trip was a big fire truck that the kids could scramble up and down on. They also had little fireman hats and jackets for the kids to wear.

  • Calvin turned two today. We had some people over to church and had an Asian-themed meal featuring Jaeger’s Sushi. Then we had German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Sorbet for dessert.

Calvin Moment

  • In church today they sang happy birthday to Calvin. I had just finished playing offertory so Nana and Grandpa were watching him. He stood up on one of their knees and beamed graciously at the congregation the entire time they sang to him. I think he’ll make an excellent benevolent dictator.

Piano Playing

Down

  • It’s very hard for Jaeger and I to find a good equilibrium in caring for Calvin.

Ups

  • I’m starting to get adjusted to the time change.

  • Calvin did take a nap both yesterday and today though for a while I wasn’t sure he was going to.

  • Finished reading An Unlikely Countess, by Jo Beverly, yesterday and The Lifecycle of Software Objects, by Ted Chiang, today. Very different books but both were good. I’m also currently listening to The Blessing of a Skinned Knee, by Wendy Mogel. I listened to it before I had Calvin but am re-listening to it now.

  • I’ve been exercising consistently for several months now.

  • Calvin’s birthday is this Saturday and he will be two. Jaeger’s mother (and possibly father) will be coming out. Jaeger is going to make Sushi for lunch and we’re going to having German Chocolate Cake for dessert. It’s a really strange combo but both should be good :-)

Calvin Moment

  • I got called Friday night and asked if I could play piano for Cradle Roll as a sub yesterday. I said that I could try but I wasn’t sure how Calvin would deal with it. To my surprise, it mostly worked. Calvin did spend one song wrapped around my middle as I tried to play over him. Also, for a couple of songs he was a little too enthusiastic and banged on the top keys as I was playing a couple of songs. However, I think the other parents were amused more than anything else. Every time Calvin managed to sneak in a banging session on the piano another kid would come over and try their luck. It’s very interesting trying to play music while intermittently reaching out and preventing other hands from helping.

Grandma’s Visit

Down

  • I hate spring time change. I’ve been getting 8 hours of sleep every night and am still exhausted.

Ups

  • I had a really bad day Wednesday but after Jaeger took Calvin for his night time routine I went to our local Borders. They have a Seattle’s Best Coffee Shop in there and it makes some of the best hot chocolate I’ve had at a coffee shop (which sadly wouldn’t take much). They top the hot chocolate with whipped cream, white chocolate shavings, and provide a chocolate stick to stir it all together.

  • Mom came to visit Calvin on Thursday. On Saturday night Mom and I went to a “girls night out” at a church member’s house and watched The Young Victoria. Sunday night, mom babysat Calvin while Jaeger and I went out to dinner and ate ice cream. Monday night we celebrated Calvin’s birthday (part 1) and ate Pineapple Upside Down Cake (there will be more cake on his real birthday).

  • I broke down and replaced my lost iPod Nano with a black 16GB 5th gen iPod Nano. Unlike my failed Sony Walkman experience, the iPod connected flawlessly to my Windows 7 computer.

Calvin Moment

  • Calvin has started to randomly repeat my phrases as I talk. I’ll be talking to myself or someone else and out of the blue he’ll say exactly what I just said. I guess it’s time to be extra careful about what I say in front of him.

Simplification

  • Haven’t done anything recently.