A few Calvin updates

Every day it seems as though Calvin has learned a few new words. Most of the time I have no idea where he has heard the word and he's saying it! Luckily, no swear words! I'm not even allowed to say Beaver Dam, WI I have to say Beaver Darn, according to Dan. His favorite word right now is Mom. All day long it's: mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom. By the end of the day my ears are tired.

He really likes playing monster with me. We walk around waving our arms in the air like a monster saying "monster" (if you're me) and "monter" (if you're Calvin). He also really enjoys playing games. He'll grab a ball and say game which can mean one of two things. We are either going to kick the ball back and forth or he is going to hurl the ball at me while I cower in fear. He doesn't have much control over where he throws the ball and it can be a little scary. I try to only play ball with him with soft, squishy balls so I don't get hurt. He also enjoys the few board games that we have for him. He doesn't understand the rules and doesn't really care when you try to show him how to actually play the game. He has his own rules and they are constantly changing. Sounds kind of like your grocery store game, Mom! Oh well, he has fun and it usually doesn't involve throwing things at us so we try to encourage board games.

Books are still a huge hit. One of his other favorite words is lap and he likes to say it while patting our laps with one hand and holding a book in the other. I'm going to miss when he doesn't want to cuddle with us anymore!

Calvin had his two year physical earlier this week. He weighs 26 pounds 6 ounces and is 35.5 inches tall. No wonder we have a hard time finding clothes that fit him! Pants that are long enough usually fall down to his ankles as he runs down the hallway yelling "running."

Now you are up to date!

Timber

Before...
During...



After.

So this skinny little guy shows up at our door by himself saying that he is here to take down the two big pine trees in our front yard. By himself. All I could think of was, really? By yourself? No way. Can't you wait until your employee (our neighbor) is home from high school? Strangely I would have felt better if a high school kid was helping him. Silly me, he took those trees down in no time. It took longer cleaning up the fallen branches than the actual cutting. Calvin had fun throwing little branches that were scattered on the driveway back into the large pile of branches. I am sorry that I didn't get any pictures of the stump grinder destroying the tree stumps. That thing was a monster or as Calvin would say, monter. Now we just have to get the flag pole out of there, a new tree planted, grass seed down and growing, and more plants along the garage wall. Since Calvin has decided this week not to take naps I will be sure to put him to work digging holes. That should wear him out.

Home hair cut

Calvin won't let anyone near his head with scissors (can't say I blame him) so when we take him to get his hair cut they always have to use the clippers. Well, I got tired of paying someone $15 to cut his hair so we decided to give it a try at home. Since Dan cuts his own hair he was willing to cut Calvin's. As you can see from the pictures below Calvin did great! It helped that we had him stand on a chair so he could see what was happening in the mirror. For the most part, as long as he can see what is being done to him he's a little more tolerant and will let you do what you need to do.


I thought this photo and the next few were so cute. Calvin was holding this mirror very close to his face and making silly faces at himself. He was wiggling his eyebrows at himself then making very serious faces. Very cute.




Almost done and not a moment too soon from the look on his face. He actually did very well for not taking a nap yesterday. For some reason this has been a week of very short naps to no naps. Hopefully tomorrow will be better because I have things I need to get done! He doesn't know it but I'm trying to make his Halloween costume and nap time is sewing time!