Miracle of the Moment

Not much to report for this week. Same ol' stuff is happening here!! Oh, Kalin has been climbing his crib this week. Not to get out though, he wants to get in. Or maybe he just wants something that's sitting in his crib, such as a pacifier or his sheep. It's fun to watch though. He reaches up and grabs the top of the crib, then puts his feet on the bottom rung, then steps up onto his mattress and tries to do chin-ups. He's a strong little boy!! Had I mentioned in the previous post that he's learned how to bounce on his pony? I no longer have to do all the work for him!! He happily bounces on his own. Oh, we also bought him some Crayons this week!! He has yet to color his own work of art though. We sat down with him yesterday and showed him how cool they are and how they work but the paper was full of all of our colorings and not just his. Maybe tomorrow I'll sit him down with a blank piece of paper that is all his to work with. Then I shall hang it on the fridge and proudly label it as his first drawing!! As you can see in the picture, he's a two-fisted colorer. So I guess there were some fun happenings around here this week :-)

The main reason I was going to post though, was to share a song. You know how you can hear a song a hundred times and then all of a sudden one day, you actually sit and listen to the lyrics? And you have that "Wow" moment. This song speaks to what I've been realizing through this last year or so (and reflecting on more so this last week due to my friend Sarah's ponderings on her blog) after having Kalin. I don't think I had ever fully grasped the meaning of living in the here and now, of not holding on to the past or worrying and fretting over the future until Kalin came along. Watching and helping a little one grow-up and learn seemingly simple things about our world has given me a whole new perspective. There's nothing quite as fun as fully living in toddler-land for a few hours - putting aside e-mail, housework, and other responsibilities until he's down for a nap. It's freeing to just be in those moments with Kalin. Just the two of us, learning, playing, laughing and loving. I wish I could remember to have these moments more often. Anyway, here are the lyrics to one of Steven Curtis Chapman's (my favorite muscial artist of all time!!) songs.

Miracle of the Moment

It's time for letting go

All of our if only's

'Cause we don't have a time machine

And even if we did

Would we really want to use it?

Would we really want to go change everything?

'Cause we are who and where

and what we are for now

And this is the only moment

we can do anything about.

So breathe it in and breathe it out

Listen to your heartbeat

There's a wonder in the here and now

It's right there in front of you

And I don't want you to miss

The miracle of the moment

There's only One who knows

What's really out there waiting

In all the moments yet to be

And all we need to know

Is He's out there waiting

To Him the future's history

And He has given us

a treasure called right now

And this is the only moment that we can do anything about

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

And if it brings you tears

Then taste them as they fall

Let them soften your heart

And if it brings you laughter
Then throw your head back

And let it go, let it go

You gotta let it go

Listen to you heartbeat

So breathe it in and breathe it out
Listen to your heartbeat
There's a wonder in the here and now
It's right there in front of you
And I don't want you to miss
The miracle of the moment

Random bits

Just some things that Kalin has been up to:

On Wednesday when I gave him his bath, the first thing he did when he got into the tub was to line up his squirty toys on the ledge of the tub. Kasey said that he normally will put a couple up there but never this many. I thought it was so funny that I took a picture.

After he was all dried and dressed from his Wednesday bath, he did something else that made me laugh. I was standing at the kitchen sink and I turn around to find him holding his dirty diaper (I had left it on the bathroom floor, all rolled up of course) over the trashcan trying to throw it away. Our trashcan is motion sensored and he was having a hard time getting it to open so I walked over and opened it for him and he threw his own diaper away!! I laughed and told him what a good boy he was!!
He has started trying to climb everything that he shouldn't be climbing: the oven (makes me really nervous), the chairs that keep him away from the computer, his bookshelf, the table. I'm trying to steer him towards the couch and chair and get him to climb on those instead but he just looks at me like I'm crazy. The reason he climbs those particular objects though is to see what I'm doing, which is also why he's constantly asking to be picked up. He just can't stand the fact that he's not tall enough to see everything that's going on.

Bibs aren't working out for us anymore. I think I would need a poncho to keep him clean. Thankfully, it's getting warmer which means I can just take his shirt off while he's eating (and sometimes his pants, too). It will be easier on me, on him, and on his clothes!! Plus, I have a feeling that once summer rolls around he'll be walking around in nothing but his diaper anyway.

He loves playing with magnets on the fridge. Once he's a little bit older (and won't distribute them all over the house) I think I'll get him those colorful letter and number magnets to play with.

Kasey swears he said "peaches" tonight while he was eating them. We couldn't get him to duplicate it though.

He loves it when we play "keep away" with the ball. He gets to run back and forth between Kasey and I, laughing and trying to get the ball, before we throw it to the other person. Of course, we always give it to him eventually so he doesn't get frustrated. He enjoys throwing it back to one of us.

He loves it when you tickle his ribs and neck. He laughs really hard.

We're still waiting for that 6th tooth to erupt. It's hanging out just below the gums but hasn't made it's official appearance yet.

I think that's all I've got for now!! We really haven't had a very exciting week. We did go over to a family's house that we know from Bethany for dinner on Monday night and on Friday we went to Costco and finally got ourselves a membership, but other than that, not much has happened. Kalin's getting over his cold and I'm fighting something (that I hope is just allergies).

Goodnight!!

Hi, Da

This morning Kasey said, "Hi, Kalin!" and Kalin responded with "Hi, Da!". It was really cute and fun to hear.

Before having Kalin, I never realized how exciting it would be to be a part of a child's life while they were learning some of the most basic skills that we as humans are capable of. When other parents would talk about their infant's or toddler's new skills, I didn't really understand the excitement. I mean, of course they can roll over, or sit up, or babble. But I get it now. Seeing your helpless babe change and grow and learn right before your eyes is amazing and exciting. And the joy of realizing that they've learned a new skill and are closer to becoming an individual who you are able to carry on a conversation with and really communicate and share with is a wonderful feeling. I had one of those moments today.

Kalin's been able to follow simple commands for a little while but today I got a very clear picture of how able he really is. We had been playing on his Bounce 'N Spin Pony today but he had lost interest so I had turned it off. A few minutes later, he started signing "please" and pointing at the receiver for the game which plugs into the tv and receives the signals from the pony as it moves. I thought at first that he wanted to play with the receiver but then decided to test him a little. Without pointing or motioning I said, "If you want to play again go sit on the pony". He walked right over to the pony, climbed on, and looked up at me. I was shocked and amazed. He really does understand what we say. Which brought about a couple of realizations for me.

First, now that he has demonstrated his capabilities in understanding me, I can let go of my notions that he might be too young for certain things: such as being disciplined when he has repeatedly been told "no" to certain activities and decides to do them anyway. If he can understand the instructions I had just given him, then he can definitely understand and be expected to obey, "No hitting", "No throwing food on the floor", "Don't grab the remote" and other various instructions and requests. This realization brought with it a sense of freedom for me. I can raise my expectations of him up a notch. He's not a baby anymore, he's a toddler, and with that comes more responsibility on both of our sides: him to obey and me to discipline.

Second, we have to be really careful what we say and how we say it. Who knows what attitudes or language he's picking up on (not that we walk around cursing or speak with angry tones but there is the occasional "crap" and "sucks" which I don't really want my toddler picking up).

So even though he still doesn't communicate with us verbally (with words instead of babble and grunts) it's good to know that communication is working in the other direction.

A few other observations:

When Kasey gives Kalin a bath, he says that Kalin will make a "duck" noise when he's holding his rubber ducky. Kasey's been working on this with him for a couple weeks.

Also during bathtime, Kasey and Kalin have come up with a new game. Kasey slides him back and forth in the tub making waves and splashes. Kasey used to call it the "wave game" but then one time he said that and Kalin started waving at him. Kasey decided to come up with a different name so Kalin doesn't get confused.

Kalin is really good now at not only taking objects out of the box, pot, or basket but is also really good about putting them back in. Of course, after working for several minutes to gather all the objects together in the receptacle he ends up picking it up and turning it upside down so they all fall out again. But then he'll just start all over putting everything back in. I admire his persistence and focus. In this picture, he is putting little round pieces of paper into the pot and then dumping them all out again. He did this for about 20 minutes last week. One would think that this would be helpful when it's time to clean-up the toys. It would be except for his need to dump everything back out.

Instead of constantly knocking my tower or pyramid of blocks over, he has started participating in the building process. I'm very proud of him. This is a big step from when he couldn't stand to have any of his blocks remotely resembling order and organization. Of course, he eventually will knock it over but only after he has added on a few blocks of his own.

Sometimes he likes to walk around the house with his hands clasped behind his back. It's really cute and I hope to get a picture or video of it soon.

He's been sick for about a week now. I hope he gets better soon. He still coughs (it can get bad at night and I feel so bad for him) and now has a runny nose which is starting to get raw from all the wiping. Poor boy. It hasn't disrupted his nighttime sleeping but his naps have been really short and inconsistent. I hope once he's all better his naps go back to the way they were. I miss those 2-hour afternoon naps.

I did get to enjoy lots of extra hugs and cuddles from him for a couple days when he really wasn't feeling well. He was perfectly content to sit with me and watch tv or read...for about 20 minutes. Then it was back to playing. He has so much energy. It makes me tired. I need those 2 hours back in the afternoon.

At last...

...it's time for another post. It's probably been time for another for quite awhile. What's it been now, over 2 weeks since my last one? Yikes. Well, what matters is that I'm here now to type an update, right? Ok, so here we go.

Kalin had his 12-month check-up on February 26th which made it, technically, a 14-month check-up. All reports were good. He's thriving and growing. He was 24lbs. 11.5oz. and 31.5 inches. This makes him 75th percentile in length, 66th percentile weight-for-age and 75th percentile weight-for-length. Oh, and he's in the 80th percentile for his head circumference. The doc actually mentioned that he has a nice big head :-) Lots of good brains growing in there (we hope).

All in all, it was a great check-up. Oh wait, except the parts about the shots and Kasey and I leaving the office feeling like we deserved the Suckiest-Parents-of-the-Year Award. Kalin was scheduled for two shots at this visit, the MMR and the Chicken Pox vaccines. I figured it would be no big deal. He's had shots many times before and he would cry a little and be over it. I don't know if these needles were bigger or what but they REALLY upset him. It nearly tore my heart out. Maybe it was because it had been awhile since his last shots and since I'd seen him that upset. I don't know but it was not fun for either of us.

Ok, so the hard part was over, right? WRONG!! Next comes the finger prick. That doesn't sound too bad. A little prick instead of a giant needle? Sounds easy enough. Maybe if all they needed was a drop of blood. But no, they need to fill a vial from one little finger. My job was to hold Kalin on my lap and try to keep his shoulder and arm from moving while the lady squeezed as much blood from his finger as she could. I don't know if it was the actually prick, the lady squeezing his finger, or the fact that he was being restrained, but for a full 3 minutes he was screaming and writhing around in my lap while throwing his head back and letting HUGE tears stream down his face. One of the worst feelings I have yet to encounter as a mother. Kasey was having a rough time with it too because he was just standing in front of Kalin while Kalin would periodically look at him like, "Hey dad, why aren't you helping me?". So sad. Glad it's over and hope we won't have to experience it again anytime soon.

Kalin's been saying "dada" a lot more so we're making some progress on the verbal development.

He also waves a lot more now. He'll wave to Kasey as he leaves to work, he'll wave to people in the store and people we pass on our walks. He even randomly started waving to a fence we passed on our walk.

There's another tooth hanging out just below the surface of his upper gums. I can feel it but it has yet to make it's appearance. The other tooth took about 2 weeks to break through so I'm hoping in the next week we'll have another tooth to report. That would make #6. Oh, at our appointment I asked the doc if Kalin was about average in tooth development. He said that he might be a little below average but in his opinion, the later the better. I didn't ask why he thought that though.

One of the most fun things I have to report is his use of his cell phone. Kasey got a new phone so we gave his old one to Kalin to play with. He'll put the phone up to his ear and say "Hi" in a singsong voice. It's so cute and sometimes he'll babble with it up to his ear. He also loves to dance to the different ring tones.

We took a trip down to Hemet for Shannon Farmer's bridal shower. I've known her since we were like, five years old, or something so this is really special. I will also be in her wedding in April so I'm really looking forward to that. We had a good trip down and back up. Kalin got really grumpy about an hour outside of Hemet so I had to try and entertain him and keep him happy, which wasn't really fun since my throat was on fire and my ears were all plugged. But we managed and had a good time!! Kasey couldn't come because of work so it ended up being my mom, my aunt, Kalin and I. It made for a fun trip.

Grandma Jody (Kasey's mom) watched Kalin for me while I attended the shower. It was so nice to have a little break and be able to focus fully on the shower and on the bride-to-be. Later that evening we celebrated my brother-in-law's birthday at Kasey's parent's house. It was nice to see the rest of Kasey's family and to celebrate another year of Jerry. Unfortunately, I never once got my camera out while I was down there so I have no pictures. I do have some pictures though that my mom took while we were traveling. It was a quick whirlwind trip; we left on Saturday and came back Monday. The next time I go down there, for the wedding, Kalin, my mom and I will be flying down!! I'm excited for Kalin's first plane ride.

I think that's all the news I have for now. If I think of more I'll write another post...maybe in a week or two :-)