6 month pediatrician appointment

Calvin had his 6 month visit with the doctor today and came home with a clean bill of health!  He is still struggling a bit to make up the weight he lost when he had the reflux trouble several weeks ago.  In fact, he weighed no more today than he did two months ago at the four mnth checkup - 17.25 lbs.  He is longer, though, now measuring just over 27 inches.  The doctor was not worried about his lack of weight gain - between his recent trouble with the reflux and his more active state it is not surprising.  The doctor was very impressed with Calvin's motor skill development, though, and told us that Calvin is doing the things that a normal 9 month old should be doing!  He was particularly impressed with Calvin's peek-a-boo skills, which is our favorite advancement, too.  There was really only one surprise about today, and that is the fact that Calvin seemed to have no reaction to the vaccines at all!  Even though he actually got one more vaccine than in previous appointments (the flu shot being teh new addition), he was just like himself all afternoon! 

And there is one more update to share:  On Saturday we tried again to introduce Calvin to cereal.  It went much better this time around.  He opened his mouth every time he saw the spoon come out of the dish, and he finished the whole thing.  Later this week we will try introducing him to veggies and see how that goes! 

 

To Calvin, who is six months old today!

Well, Calvin, you are now a half a year old!  The time is just going too fast.  The past month brought wonderful advancements, but it also brought some challenges for you and for your parents.  For the first few weeks of the month you struggled with your acid reflux, eventually leading to you losing an entire pound!  After juggling your medications you are now doing much better, but this will be the first month that you have not gained any weight.  What you have not gained in size, though, you continue to make up for in your other advancements!  Last month you realized how much you enjoyed standing to play, and this month you have learned how to push and pull yourself into that favorite play position!  You have also started to travel!  Thankfully you don't get very far, but you can crawl, in your own creeping sort of way, for very short distances.  You will be able to go much farther as soon as you figure out how to hold your head up off the ground while you are moving!  But our favorite new trick of yours is your new ability to play peek-a-boo!  For months we have played this game with you, covering our faces and then surprising you to make you laugh, but just two days ago you started covering your own face and waiting for us to ask "where's Calvin?" before uncovering and laughing up a storm!  It is so wonderful to have you engage with us this way, and we see this as a very fun milestone!

This past month has been very special to us for another reason, too:  it held the start to this year's holiday season with Thanksgiving and the start of Advent.  This is our favorite time of year, and now we get to share it with you, introducing you to the traditions, spirit, and love of the season.  We had a beautiful Thanksgiving, and decorated the house for the Christmas season.  You were awed by the lights on the tree, and seem to love singing carols with your parents every night (mostly you love sitting on your father's lap and banging along on the keys while he plays the piano).  You don't even seem to mind the cold air!  This season is not just new to you, it also feels new to us because it holds such a special new meaning to us now that you are here.  We have so much to be thankful for!

To Calvin, who is five months old today

Wow!  Five months old!  To us it seems as though you only arrived just yesterday, and yet it is amazing how very different you are now than you were back in June.  Thankfully your physical growth has slowed way down.  You were growing so fast before it was amazing you had any energy left to do other things!  In the past month you have gained slightly more than a pound and slightly more than a half inch, which makes you 17.25 lbs and 26.75 inches.  What a big boy!  And while your growth curve has slowed, your learning curve has picked up the pace.  A month ago you had started to sit froggy style (leaning forward on your arms for balance) for short periods of time, but as of today you sit up straight like a big boy and can stay that way indefinitely (or at least until your next nap).  And next to sitting your new favorite way to play is standing!  Yes, you love to stand, using a table for support, to play with your toys.  That is why your new favorite toys are your doorway jumper and your exersaucer.  You have started turning the pages when we read to you, although never at the appropriate time!  You are vocalizing more and more, through cooing, laughing, gurgling, and lots and lots of raspberries, spit included.  And, most wonderfully, you have become a "settled" baby, showing confidence and comfort in your world.  This month marked your first real season change, and the cold weather brought your first colored leaves and your first snow, a little early this year!  Halloween was fun, mostly for you parents.  We took you to the pumpkin patch, where you loved the pumpkins, and to the old fashioned cider mill, where you loved the gourds, and for Halloween you were the cutest giraffe there ever was!  Calvin, you are our greatest joy!

4 month old stats

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog to bring you an update on Calvin's progress.  He had his 4 month old pediatrician this morning and we are pleased to be able to announce that he is happy and "handsome" (their words, not ours, although we are inclined to agree).  He has actually lost a little weight (less than a pound) over the last couple of weeks, probably owing to the fact that he is so much more active now, what with the rolling and the scooting and the sitting up and launching himself at toys.  Today he weight 15.75lbs and measured 26 inches with a head circumference of 42cm.  These numbers place him in the 50th, 75th,and 30th precentiles.  While at the doctor we did discuss increasing his Zantac dosage so we start trying that tonight, hoping it will make a difference in how comfortable he is after eating.  And even though he is gnawing and drooling on everything in site, the peidatrician said that teeth do not appear to be eminent.  We don't  mind.  What Calvin really seems to mind, however, are the four injections he had to get today!  Man, love sure is tough...

By the way - we realize that we got way behind on our journaling here, so this is the most recent of four new backlogged entries we have added.  Just scroll down to see the rest, and we will try to do better this next week.

To Calvin, who is four months old today

Oh, Calvin, you just never cease to amaze us.  You are growing and changing at lightning speed, and it is hard to keep up with you!  The days roll into weeks, weeks into months, and here you are, already a quarter of a year old!  We have spent the past month introducing you to Michigan football on the weekends, and you can tailgate with the best of them!  You also enjoy fall walks, and meeting the neighbors.  On September 17th you were baptized in our church.  It was a beautiful day, and a meaningful one that we hope to teach you to understand and appreciate as you grow up in that community.  Right now you go to church every Sunday and your favorite part, of course, is the organ.  There are many people there who love you very much, as do so many others aside from your parents.  You are a very beautiful and very loveable baby.
In our quieter moments at home you continue to baffle us with your strength; last week you (re)started rolling over, something you did a lot your first month but this was the first time since, then two weeks ago you sat up from a reclining position all by yourself, and since then you refuse to lay back to play.  Even when you are riding in your swing you insist on leaning forward to sit up, which ultimately balances out the weight of the swing so that it is no longer swinging.  You think its funny when we then rush over to restart the motion and make you sit back.  This is just one example of how much more involved you have become with the world around you, as you begin to understand cause and effect, and sequences of events.  As you work to gain control over your arms and hands you are beginning to purposefully bash your hands down on buttons, or pull on hanging toys, in order to make them play sounds or flash lights, then you squeal in response.  And you can tell that nap time has come around again as soon as your mother shuts the nursery door and turns off the light, and that is when you begin to cry.  You have begun to develop individual tastes:  you love African rhythm music, massages, and being sung to, and will now sit through three books at a time, as opposed to just one a month ago.  And now that you are learning to control you hands you have begun to put everything in your mouth, even things that don't fit, which makes your parents laugh.  We could not ask for more.  You continue to spoil us with restful nights and days full of smiles, gurgles, and coos, and this month you added the beauty of your own individual laugh.  It's a funny and joyous sound, more like a grunt than a chuckle, and it makes us laugh aloud with happiness.