Easter

The Easter Bunny!
Calvin wanting out the front door. He didn't really understand what was about to happen but he sure was excited to go outside.
Pointing at one egg while looking at another.
He's not sure what to do with the egg other than point at it and call it a ball. Everything even close to being round is called a ball. Pictures of balloons...ball. Eggs...ball. Nose on a stuffed bear...ball. Bubbles...ba ball (not a type-o, that's what he calls bubbles!).
Putting an egg in the basket...
So close...
Tricked you! I'll just carry it, thank you.
Stop chasing me with that basket!
Calvin listening to the treats rattle around in the eggs. Dan ended up carrying the basket around the front yard while Calvin collected his eggs.
An egg!
Thinking about putting the eggs in the basket.
Putting eggs in the basket!
Shaking the eggs.
Goldfish!
Carrying the basket, finally. Who knew it would be so difficult to get him to carry the basket.
Dan carrying the basket, again.

We had a lot of fun collecting eggs and eating the treat inside of the eggs. Mostly goldfish but there were a few jelly beans in the mix. Although Calvin doesn't know it yet he was using my Easter basket from when I was a kid. You can't see it in the pictures but I wrote my name on the handle so everyone would know that it's mine and that they should leave it alone. Unless of course you wanted to leave presents in it for me then by all means mess with it! As I recall Mom wasn't too happy with me when I wrote my name on the handle.

Cars and Trucks

Today we said good bye to our old friend Dolores. She was a trusty steed for many years. She still looks good for a 16 year old car, don't you think?

And we welcome to the family, the little white truck...

Calvin did a full inspection when we got home.
Bonus no pants picture.

I also considered posting pictures of my moustache experiment, but based on Rachel's uncontrollable laughter at the sight of it, I decided that's not a good idea.

Keep on truckin', and keep it pants free.

Happy March!

Just after this picture was taken a sticky little finger left a sticky little fingerprint on my camera lens! I should have known better than to let him get so close.
I have no idea what he was laughing at but it must have been funny!
Time for another hair cut!

There are many times throughout the day that I wish I could get the camera or video camera out to record what Calvin is doing. Of course, he stops doing what ever it is that he is doing to check out the camera as soon as I get it out. I love it when he picks up a book, opens it, and reads to me. I hope that his love of books and reading stays with him as he grows up.

I wish I could get a video of him climbing into the chair with Cricket, putting his nose against her, and whispering "hi" over and over again. She actually tolerates this for a few seconds until he starts petting her. He's gentle for the most part but the petting does sometimes turn into patting. One day Calvin and I were petting a soft stuffed animal and I was praising him on being gentle and he turned to point at the chair where Cricket normally sleeps. Apparently, Calvin thinks Cricket's name is Gentle.

I wish I could record how Calvin's entire body seems to vibrate when he gets really excited. He starts giggling and shaking his little fists when he's super excited about something.

Calvin is also learning how to save money in his piggy bank. If we give him a coin he immediately runs over to his piggy bank and puts the coin in. He's been known to put crackers and cereal in there too but we're working on that. The other day he found a coin purse (how he knew that it was a coin purse I have no idea), took it into the living room, sat down on the floor, and waited for me to get his bank.

Calvin is becoming very helpful around the house. Recently, when I was putting the dishes away he helped by taking a dish or piece of silverware out of the dishwasher and then handed it to me to put away. He did this until it was empty! Now the trick is keeping him interested in helping around the house.

Silly faces

When Calvin heard me get the camera out he came a runnin'. The first couple of pictures were okay but then the silly faces started!

Table by the window

Calvin loves to sit on this little table and look out the window. There isn't much action outside since we now live on a cul-de-sac but he still loves to look out. He also likes to sit up there with his legs hanging over the edge while I read him a story. Of course when I try to take a picture he makes a beeline for the camera and tries to get it away from me.

Haircut

Well, we finally did it. We took Calvin to get his first haircut. I'd been putting this off for a long time because I knew that a major melt down would occur. Calvin did not disappoint! He was so loud that people waiting to get their haircut came to see what was going on.
We tried to put a cape on Calvin but he did not want anything to do with it. Oh well, at least Dan was protected from all the fuzzy baby hair.
Getting his hair combed. He was okay with this until Sarah wouldn't give him a third comb to hold along with his other two and a bottle of fingernail polish.

We tried the scissors first but Calvin wouldn't sit still so out came the clippers.
Poor Calvin! I don't know if it was the noise from the clippers, being held, or a combination of the two but he was not happy.
It's hard to tell from this angle but his face was beet red! He was one very angry kiddo.
Help me mama! Strangely, Calvin wanted me to rescue him and not Dan. I've noticed in the past couple of weeks that Calvin is becoming less clingy and doesn't need Dan to be holding him all the time and has been willing to be held by others. He's still very opinionated about who can touch him but he's been allowing a select few to be near him. He's also become very jealous of Cricket. If Cricket happens to be sitting on one of our laps Calvin will come over and try to sit on our lap as well. It's an added bonus if Cricket leaves to find a new place to sleep. He's also jealous of other babies. I was holding another baby the other day while at a friend's house and Calvin let me know in no uncertain terms that he was not pleased.

Moving adventures

He will bite anything and everything!
Luckily, he's super cute so I can't stay upset even though I now have teeth marks on my shoes.
Not looking so much like a baby anymore!
Calvin helping me get items ready to post on Craigslist.

For a while I thought that November and December were never going to end! What a long couple of months we had leading up to the big move. Thank goodness we decided to hire movers because what was just a long weekend would have been a long, horribly stressful weekend. We're slowly unpacking all our boxes and trying to find new homes for all of our things. How have we managed to collect so much stuff? We've already donated a lot to local thrift stores, I've sold some things on Craigslist, and have given other belongings to friends. Now Dan is thinking a garage sale this spring is a good idea.

Next adventure: haircut for Calvin!