Ups

• I got the top floor of the house cleaned today. Because of my long vacation and hectic schedule right before leaving, the house hasn’t had a really good cleaning for quite a while. It was good to clean and get things organized. I also finally carried some boxes of Calvin’s old clothes down into the basement for storage. (We’re not planning to have another child but I figure since we have the room we might as well keep stuff in case someone around us could use it.)
• I finally got around to weighing myself yesterday and discovered I didn’t gain a significant amount of weight the entire time I was gone. Given the amount of Christmas candy I ate at my mother’s house, this is somewhat miraculous. My next challenge is to find time to consistently exercise again. Assuming I get to bed at a reasonable time, I’ll probably try getting up early tomorrow.

Calvin Moment

• We have started eating our dinner meal together as a family. Up till now, I’ve been feeding Calvin earlier in the kitchen. This was due to him wanting to eat earlier and the mess he caused. We have now put a sheet under his high chair at the dining room table so he can start being part of the meal with us as we eat. Unfortunately, this means he eats later which makes him grouchy. However, other than that, the experience has been going well. Tonight he serenaded us with his version of the ABC song. He can’t really sing it but he approximates the tune and random sings various letters like d e a d d d d.
• Calvin dislikes eating food that isn’t at room temperature. Knowing that, I pulled out his serving of broccoli soup a good 45 min prior to when we ate. However, the first time he tried it he complained that it was hot. I tested it to make sure it was a reasonable temp and told him, “no, it’s lukewarm” at which point Calvin gravely responded with “uk arm.”

Downs

• My arm is still bothering me. I have an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor on Thursday to see what he thinks.

Ups

• Christmas vacation went pretty well. The Megafest was fun and I was relieved by how well behaved Calvin was. He and Yanthor seemed to hit it off which was really cute to watch. We played several games while we were there and I had a chance to watch the new Robin Hood. The movie was particularly fun. The last time I had a chance to watch a full-length movie was back in summer.
• We’re home! Vacation was fun but I love sleeping in my own bed and getting back into our normal routine.
• I finally managed to pay all our bills and balance the credit cards and our checking accounts. I don’t understand how people can go a full month between balancing transactions. I balanced right before we left for vacation but it still took me almost every spare minute for the last two days to catch up. Granted, due to Christmas we did have a lot more transactions than usual. Also, I temporarily lost my credit card right before we left and had to cancel it which did add to the mess.

Calvin Moment

• For Christmas Calvin got quite a few vehicle toys. One of these was a Duplo tractor that had a trailer that hooked to it. Calvin has spent a lot of time driving it around and saying “choo! choo!” He’s not quite clear on the distinction between trains and other motorized contraptions.

Simplification

• We just got home Sunday and I’ve been spending most of my time since trying to catch up. However, I’m hoping to start up my simplification campaign again in the next couple of days.

Downs

A couple of Thursday nights ago (on the 9th) I was home alone with Calvin. He told me he needed to go to the potty so I picked him up with the intention of racing to the potty. Unfortunately, I tripped over Calvin’s little wagon and fell. As I fell, I rotated so I wouldn’t fall on top of Calvin which means I hit my arm/shoulder instead at a weird angle. Nothing broke but it felt pretty bad. I sat Calvin in front of Elmo and called Jaeger and told him I needed him to come home. In the mean time, I called our insurance’s nurse hotline and she said I should probably go to urgent care. However, all the urgent care centers were closed in our area by the time Jaeger arrived home. I didn’t feel it merited an emergency room visit and had already taken 800 mg of ibuprofen so I figured that was the best we could do that night. In the morning, Jaeger got Calvin ready for daycare while I told him what to do. Then Jaeger dropped Calvin off at daycare and took me to an urgent care center. My arm was poked and looked at and I was told it was probably a sprained shoulder and if it still bothered me in a couple of days, to come back for further examination.

The timing of my fall was pretty bad. The following Sunday, on the 12th, I flew with just myself and Calvin to Walla Walla via an alleged 2 hr layover in Seattle (though due to various factors I still had the joy of running through the airport with my toddler in order to board my next plane). Handling Calvin in an airplane by myself is hard enough when I’m fully functional but it was miserable with my shoulder. Fortunately, Calvin was in a pretty good mood. We stayed at Jaeger’s parent’s house for a week and then flew back to Seattle to spend Christmas proper with my family. I was hoping my shoulder would have recovered by that point but it hadn’t. Yesterday my dad took a look at it and decided it was probably some sort of rotator cuff injury and I should get it looked at if it’s still a problem when we finally make it back to Colorado.

Ups

• Other than my arm, this trip has gone fairly well. Calvin was as well-behaved as you could expect a toddler to be for all legs of our flights. Every time I fly with him I am so happy we bought a seat for him even though he technically is still young enough to be a lap infant.
• Jaeger and Willy, his brother, both arrived on Thursday and it was nice to be reunited again. Calvin also apparently thought so as he spent much of the remaining week stalking Jaeger to Jaeger’s consternation.
• Got a chance to wander around Walla Walla a bit and see friends from college.
• Had the chance to eat a pastry at Roger’s Bakery. I love good pastry.
• We opened up Christmas stockings and presents on Friday the 17th. Calvin seemed to like it much better this year than last. He enthusiastically helped open everyone’s presents until the very end when his lack of a nap started to become apparent.
• Sunday Jaeger left to go back to Colorado and I flew to Seattle and was picked up by my mother.
• Got most of Christmas part 3 shopping done yesterday.

Upcoming Events

• Jaeger arrives in Portland tomorrow morning.
• Christmas with the Stone side on boxing day.
• We meet up with Bethany and Josh on Monday.
• Christmas with the McLean side on Monday evening or Tuesday.
• Fly out for Megafest on Wednesday.

Down

• There’s never enough time to get everything I want to done.

Ups

• Had SF Book Club Monday which was amusing. Calvin didn’t stay in one play so it was hard to “discuss” anything but we did manage to pick the next book, Blackout by Connie Willis.
• Went on a travel related shopping spree and most things have arrived. Got a suitcase for our stroller (I hear airlines can really mangle them) and a fold-up potty seat. Also ordered some toys and a leash for Calvin (now that he’s mobile it’s harder to keep track of him so I got an animal backpack for him that has a tail I can hang on to).
• Potty training has been going well. Calvin still doesn’t do particularly well away from home but at least it’s reduced the number of home diapers to deal with. I think on our travel days I’m just going to put him back in diapers but let him use the potty whenever he wants to, just not stress about it.
• Calvin is enjoying Christmas so far. We have a little tree in the china cabinet that lights up which he loves. We also had Christmas part 1 last night which consisted of Calvin open up a couple boxes of waffle blocks. We found one that lets you build your own car. Not only do Mommy and Daddy enjoy playing with it but Calvin does also. Occasionally our artistic visions differ. Calvin tends to win as he destroys our creations.
• Calvin is now wearing shoes other than the same type of tennis shoes he has been insisting on for the last 6 months. I went shopping and bought some snow boots for him. He loves them and is constantly putting them on and taking them off.
• We’ve had some decent weather recently so Calvin has been able to spend more time outside. Today he greatly enjoyed sitting in the tree in our front yard.
• Jaeger has managed to reduce Elmo segments down to 5 minutes. Once Calvin caught on that a deposit in the potty meant he got to watch 15 min of Elmo, he got very good and portioning them out. As a result, he could easily spend several hours a day watching Elmo which I felt was way too much on a regular basis. Calvin isn’t particularly excited by the short episodes but has decided they are better than nothing.

Calvin Moment

• I don’t have any one moment but Calvin keeps getting brighter and smarter every day. It’s so nice to see him develop into a little person. As I write this, Calvin is wandering around the main level of our house pushing chairs up to light switches so he can turn them on and off. Probably not good for the lights but he’s having a great deal of fun. Oh. He’s just figured out how to unlock and open the sliding glass door. This can’t be good . . .

Simplification

• Haven’t done anything. I’m now aiming to restart after Christmas and travel is over.

Down

• Wednesday night Calvin was very clingy and didn’t want to go to bed without me. I’d leave him but he kept frantically screaming so eventually I caved and we both snuggled down in my bed. Once he finally drifted off to sleep, I transferred him back to his crib. Fortunately, both yesterday and tonight he went to bed without as much fussing.

Ups

• Got my hair cut today. Also decided to color it again. This is the first time I’ve had it colored since before I was pregnant.

Calvin Moment

• Yesterday, I picked Calvin up from daycare and got him settled in his car seat when he suddenly proclaimed he had to go to the bathroom. I asked him if he was sure and he nodded a solemn yes. I wasn’t sure what to do as the last time this had happened, I had raced him back inside daycare only to discover we were too late. This time I took his potty chair, which I take to daycare every day, and decided to plop it in the back of the Rav4. To my relief, Calvin hadn’t gone yet so he and I sat in the back with the door mostly closed to protect us from the wind. At this point, I learned that we don’t have a handle on the inside of our back door. Obviously, none of the vehicle’s engineers had to huddle in the back while their child was contemplating using the potty. It turns out Calvin didn’t have to go. However, I had some fabulous time to contemplate how my life has changed since having a child.
• This afternoon I was in the kitchen getting a snack for Calvin when I remembered I had left a plate on the sofa in the living room. I asked Calvin to go get the plate on the sofa and bring it back to me. To my surprise, he did. Up to this point, I’ve normally pointed at something when I asked him to bring it to me. However, the plate was completely out of sight.

Simplification

• Haven’t done anything. Hopefully I’ll work on this more next week.

Down

• Jaeger is in San Diego. So far, Calvin and I are surviving but we will be glad when he’s back.

Ups

• Potty training is going very well. For the most part, Calvin properly uses the potty while at home (though anywhere but home is still a trick).
• I actually got Christmas decorations up this year.
• My project for this week is to make Christmas Candy. Last year I was too overwhelmed by Calvin to consider making any but this year I have more energy.

Calvin Moment

• Calvin was playing upstairs where he stumbled across a pair of my socks in the hallway. He picked them up and then trotted into our bedroom and tried to reach the top drawer in our dresser which is where the socks are stored. I wasn’t quite tall enough so I opened it up and then picked him up and he put them away and shut the drawer. I’m not sure how he knew that’s where those socks went. I’d be much more excited by this neat trick if he wasn’t also so good at making huge messes.

Simplification

• I’ve been making candy at night so haven’t had time to do any weeding of our stuff.

Down

• Wednesday afternoon/evening was bad. Calvin was so cranky and crying the entire time, even when I gave him constant attention. When Jaeger got home, I practically threw Calvin at him in relief. Calvin wore us both out and by the time it was his bedtime, Jaeger and I were getting snippy with each other. Neither of us wanted to face having 4 days with Calvin all to ourselves.
• My oven is dying. At the moment, it takes 45 min-1 hr to preheat to 350 degrees. I did manage to use it for Thanksgiving dinner but I had to leave the oven on practically the entire day to get it hot enough.

Ups

• Jaeger bought Agricola and taught me how to play it Wednesday night. So far, we’ve fit in three games either after Calvin goes to bed or during his nap. I’ve lost every time but I’m starting to get a better grasp of the strategies involved. It’s all about balance which is hard for me to deal with. Last game I pretty much definitely proved one could not win based on fences/livestock alone
• Fortunately, Calvin recovered from whatever was wrong Wednesday night and Thursday and Friday were surprisingly pleasant. I woke up Thursday morning and made crepes stuffed with apples and topped with almond whipped cream. Jaeger played with Calvin while I did food prep for Thanksgiving meal. Calvin resisted his afternoon nap but did eventually sleep and I took a brief nap and then Jaeger and I played another game of Agricola. Once Calvin woke up, I did my final dinner prep and we ate Thanksgiving meal around 4.
• Yesterday, we went to the zoo. We got there at 10, around opening time, and parked exceptionally close to the entrance. Calvin seemed a little dazed the first hour but revived after having lunch at 11. This time, the giraffes were inside so it was easier to get close to them. Calvin seemed very impressed by their height. There was a baby giraffe that was born in October that weighed about as much as Jaeger at its birth. Calvin also enjoyed many of the other animals but seemed to have a special fascination for the ducks. I need to see if we have any duck ponds in our area. After the zoo, we went to Watercourse, a very good vegetarian restaurant in Denver, for lunch. Jaeger was dubious about trying to fit in lunch before Calvin’s nap but it seemed to work out okay. Calvin fell asleep almost as soon as he got back in the car.
• This last week I decided to up our potty training intensity. The only time I’ve put Calvin in diapers since a week ago Friday evening is for naps or bedtime. For other trips, such as at the zoo, I put him in disposable pull-ups but I’m not very impressed with them. He’s been making pretty good progress. Yesterday, he didn’t have any accidents at home though we started out with a big one this morning.

Calvin Moment

• Calvin is really into hats at the moment. He’ll take all sorts of random objects, place them on his head, and then announce, “haat! haat!” In addition to real hats, current other favorites include waffle blocks and empty egg cartons.

Simplification

• Packed three boxes from the basement for the thrift store. Now I just need to schedule another pickup.

Down

• Sick again. This time I had some sort of short-lived stomach flu on Sunday, my least favorite illness. I woke up around 4am Sunday morning with some cramping but couldn’t figure out what was going on. By the time it was morning, I knew I wasn’t feeling good. However, I dragged myself downstairs for a late breakfast of applesauce to be told that our Sunday babysitter had canceled. I tried to work for a bit but couldn’t concentrate so I went back to bed. I got up around lunch time again only to throw up and decide I should go back to bed again. I got up around 4pm feeling marginally better. Fortunately, today I feel almost normal.

Ups

• Jaeger was around to look after Calvin while I slept on Sunday. I don’t know how I would have survived if this had hit the previous Sunday while he was gone.
• I’m back to part-time this week. While I think I could enjoy working full-time, I don’t have the mechanisms in place to do so. For instance, if I worked full-time, I think I would, at a minimum, want to hire a house cleaning service.
• I decreed that last weekend was a “Calvin potty-training weekend.” My sickness on Sunday interrupted some of that, but he still made enough progress that I decided it was time to try out potty training at daycare. While not an unqualified success, Calvin has made definite improvements over the last couple of days.

Calvin Moment

• Calvin has become re-enthralled with The Cat in the Hat. When Calvin was in newborn, we would read The Cat in the Hat to him and he really enjoyed it then. However, once he became more mobile, we had to put it away because he didn’t have the dexterity to deal with the pages (why don’t they have a board book version of this?). Recently, we’ve started trying out non-board books so I pulled out The Cat in the Hat again. He loves it. It has a kitty and a hat! Two of his favorite words. What could be better? In fact, it also has discusses balls, books, and fish, also favorite words.

Simplification

• Found more stuff to throw away in the basement.

Down

Ups

• Calvin has been sleeping better the last couple of nights. Hopefully this trend keeps up.

Calvin Moment

• Calvin helped me make supper tonight. We had Tomato and Bean Soup which I really love because you throw 5 ingredients in a food processor and than you are done. Calvin helped me by turning on and off the food processor as I held him up to the counter. He got a big kick out of it.

Simplification

• Last night I went through more kitchen stuff in the basement and designated a fair number of things to the thrift store bin.

Down

• Calvin has been very restless for the last couple of nights. This has meant very restless nights for the rest of the family.
• I haven’t exercised in over a week. I was planning to start this week but with having to get up so much for Calvin, I think I need my sleep more than getting up early to exercise.

Ups

• Jaeger’s back! Not only is it nice to have my husband back in my bed for the normal reasons but it’s also much warmer. I had to add a second blanket while he was gone.

Calvin Moment

• I bought a bunch of sweat pants for Calvin in preparation for potty training. He has fallen in love with them. He’s currently on our couch trying to put one on by himself. He doesn’t want any help from mommy! He can consistently put one leg through correctly but getting a second leg in has stumped him so far.

Simplification

• I haven’t had time recently to do anything. I’m hoping to get a bit of time tonight to do something useful.