Calvin at 7 months

Calvin turned 7 months old today, and he gave us an exciting present.  He can now crawl.  To be honest it is more of a protocrawl/low crawl given that he keeps his belly on the ground.  Earlier in the month Amelia and I were taking bets as to whether or not Calvin would crawl or walk first because he didn't seem to be very interested in moving himself around, so imagine our delight when he started sliding himself around on the hard wood floors.  The original motion was all arms, but he is now using his legs to move around a little faster and we wouldn't be shocked if he is crawling with his belly off the ground by the end of the week.

Aside from crawling, Cal is still not sleeping through the night, but generally he only wakes up once a night.  He often wakes up in the morning and plays with his toys for a while.  He coos a happy song and plays with the "Hungry Friends" book or his first preferred wubi, a longhorn with a pacifier attached. 

Cal is an eating machine.  Amelia has taken to making his meals, so he gets amazing concoctions like peas with corn, pears and spinach.  Amelia commented today that he is our all natural child.  He arrived with no epidural (unintentionally), he doesn't get/like formula and he prefers his mom's creations to store bought food.  He is our little organic granola/hippie child.

For his birthday we had our usual Sunday breakfast of Rudy's breakfast tacos.  We went to home depot and bought some mint to replace the potted plants that did not make it through the hundred degree days in August.  Later in the day we went swimming and he spent most of his time in the pool flirting with the life guard.  He would grin, slap the water and hit her with his blue lasers.  She would smile back and the cycle would start all over. 

All good things must come to an end

Today was a jam packed day for the Tylers.  We started the day off with breakfast tacos from Rudy's.  Amelia and Maria went to Locomotion, a local jumpy gym. Cal and I stayed home and watched the USA Men's basketball team win gold.  Both kids took a long nap simultaneously, which is unheard of in our home.  For dinner we went to Hyde Park Bar and Grill, where for the first time we put Cal in a high chair, which he took to immediately.  For dessert we had some ice cream at Amy's.  I like Amelia's homemade ice cream the best, but Amy's will do in a pinch.  When we got home, the closing ceremony for the London Olympics was on TV.   Maria loved the music and spent much of the telecast showing off her elite dance moves.

Slip Sliding Away

Today, Maria and I went out on our usual Tuesday Daddy daughter night.  We went to Costco to get a couple of things and then had dinner at Firehouse subs.  Kids eat free on Tuesdays and kids get a little fireman's hat.  Maria had a blast wearing her fireman's hat and best of all she got to eat some Oreo cookies that came with her kid's meal.  After dinner, we went to Maria's favorite playground and she did something that is very unusual.  Maria is best described as an incredibly cautious child, she doesn't like slides.  She refuses to go down them.  At the playground she ran into another little girl who not only would ride the slide, but would ride backwards screaming with glee the entire time.  I can't say for sure that it was peer pressure, but Maria decided that she likes riding down slides and climbing back up the slide.