Four Months Old Today

Dear Calvin,

We can't believe how quickly the time is going. I know I always say that, but it becomes more true every day. You continue to change and grow and we watch in wonder as you explore the world around you. Here are a few of the things that you've accomplished this month:

• A few days ago, you rolled over for the first time, and now you're doing it like a champ. You roll from your back to your stomach and your stomach to your back any time we lay you down. You seem VERY pleased with your accomplishments - and so are we!
• You are now sleeping in your crib. You still don't like it and you cry a lot, but you're gradually getting used to it. We know it's scary being in a room by yourself after sleeping with mom and dad for so long, but we know eventually you will appreciate it.
• You talk so often. You say mama (though you don't know that's me yet) and lots of goo's and gaa's and owww's and so forth. It is so much fun to listen.
• In the last month, you have become a very happy and talkative baby. In public places you will stare at people until they notice you, and then give them a huge smile. You are a shameless flirt!
• You are already wearing some of your 6 month clothes. You have grown so much.
• You refuse to fall to sleep if there is anything going on around you. You'll cry because you're so tired, but you want to watch and listen to everything. It's as if you don't want to miss a thing.
• You continue to captivate our hearts. We have always loved you, but every day we fall in love all over again. We are continually charmed and enamoured by your bubbly and fun little personality.

We are so happy that four months ago today you came to live in our home. We love you, Calvin!

What It Means to Be Australian...

SBS wants us to move to Melbourne so that Andy can do sales/engineering, and a nice side product is that I manage the resources already there. The total Nelson package. Anyway, I think we are going to go, but I've been doing some research on Melbourne and I feel like the following things need to be taken into consideration:

• There are an estimated 332,000,000,000 cigarette butts thrown on Australia's streets and parks every year.


• About 90 tons of dog feces is left on the streets of Melbourne every day (only 1 in 4 people picks up after their mutt).


• The polluted Yarra River which runs through the center of Melbourne (which in the 1800's was full of raw sewage and caused major typhoid epidemics) earned Melbourne the nickname "Smellbourne".
  

Seriously. And how do they count the butts and the dog poop? Do they send someone around with a clipboard making tick marks? And what if they lose their place, do they have to start all over again? They do say it's one of the top 10 most livable cities in the world, so I guess we'll have to give it a chance. And take up smoking and buy a dog.

Cross-eyed Calvin

Now that Calvin's a little older we don't have to worry quite so much about him scraping his face off with his fingernails. A couple of weeks ago however, I was cutting his nails while talking on the phone to Andy who was out of town. I wasn't paying attention and ended up cutting Calvin's finger. As blood pooled on his finger tip, he gave me a pouty "how could you?" look and then glared while I was adding band-aids to his wound. I felt horrible, so I have gone the last two weeks without trimming his nails.

Earlier this week as he was waking up and stretching, he caught his forehead with a nail and again drew blood. I can't win. I'm hurting the poor boy no matter what. The funny part of the experience was that he almost went cross-eyed trying to see the band-aid on his forehead. Obviously he could see it in his peripheral vision, and looked like he was giving himself a headache trying to see what it was. Then it became not funny again when daddy ripped out half of his eyebrow trying to get it off. This whole parenting thing is trickier than it sounds.

4 Month Check-up

It's hard to believe that it's already been two months since Calvin's last appointment and first round of immunization shots. He again had one oral immunization, and two shots in each leg. The entire time he was there he laughed and smiled with the nurses and doctor, until it was time for shots. He still smiled after the first one. After the second and third ones, he glared at the nurse but didn't make a sound. After the fourth, he squawked, but never cried. We were very proud of him. He's been happy all night and only has a slight fever and Snoopy band-aids to show for his ordeal.

His stats for this time were:

- Height 25 inches - 50th percentile
- Weight 17lbs 9oz - 90th percentile
- Head - 17 inches - 90th percentile

Since last time he has grown an inch and a half, gained five pounds, and his head is an inch bigger. In layman's terms, that means he's short and chubby for his age, with a big head. They say that the groceries must be very good at our house.

The Dr. gave us some sleep tips (although he's pretty hard-core Nazi about it, so I'm not sure I'll do EXACTLY what he says), but it was interesting to get a different perspective on things. He also told me not to eat any peanuts and seemed annoyed when I told him I wasn't sure I could give up peanut butter cups. All in all, it was a very good appointment and Calvin is as healthy as can be.

We Suspected That He Was Gifted...

Tonight Calvin rolled from his tummy to his back all by himself. He is undeniably a brilliant child!

Now if he would only sleep in his crib without waking up and screaming every hour and let his parents get some rest, we would really be onto something.