Happy/Merry Hanukkah/Saturnalia/Christmas/Kwanzaa/Boxing Day/New Years from Half Calf (and the parents)!!!
Also Happy Half Birthday to Half Calf!
For those who were anxiously waiting for this post, sorry that life got in the way and it is almost a week later than expected. As with the post from last month, we are starting to see regular changes with Little Dude (yeah, he has SSSSOOOOO many names he will never keep track). And this month we had a few highlights. But as with all teasers, you will have to wait as we will get to that stuff in a bit since the normal writing style is “stuff he did” followed by “stuff he learned”.
Since it is Holiday Season, Half Calf attended his first company holiday party. And as usual, if you include the words “party” and “Half Calf” you get a happy boy who stays up way too late since he likes all the people who want to play with him. This party was not much different. Someone took him and he got passed around for the better part of an hour until he was returned to us. He probably could have stayed longer but we outvoted him with regards to bedtime. The party was at Alyeska Resort and since we were staying overnight, he also went swimming in a real pool for the first time. When at home in the bath, he likes to kick and splash but it seemed like the size of the huge pool overwhelmed him since he mostly just floated around, wide eyed. I have to admit, I was kinda the same with the huge size and odd morning lighting…
Half Calf also flew to Atlanta to celebrate Christmas with both Momma’s and Daddy’s families. Momma’s family live in Georgia while Daddy’s drove down from Ohio to see us. Similar to his first flight to Austin a couple months ago, in general he did very well with this one. He mostly slept (the point of taking those overnight Red-Eye flights from Alaska) though on the flight back home he had a problem equalizing his ears on one landing so it was a hard 20 minutes for him and everyone sitting remotely close to us on the plane. He waited too long to either nurse or take the pacifier so by the time he was crying, he would NOT take either, in spite of the paci literally being in his mouth for about 10 minutes straight. Once on the ground, he was quickly calmed down.
Overall Georgia and the Christmas were great for him. Half Calf got to spend time with his cousins; he got to spend time with his aunts and uncles; he got to spend time with his grandparents; he got to be held a LOT; he got way too many toys (but considering we have gotten him almost none, it probably averages out); his skin loved the higher humidity; we slept in late every morning and stayed up late every night (ie, we stayed on Alaska time as much as possible). It was a much needed and welcomed break for us all it seems.
Just like every other month, all is not perfect. Half Calf also went to the Allergist and had testing done to see if we can figure out why he has so many skin problems. Well it turns out he reacted to dog, cat, mouse, alder and cottonwood. So essentially pets that he will constantly be exposed to and trees that grow everywhere here. Basically he is allergic to all our friends, their houses, and being outside in Alaska!!! So while informational, that is pretty useless. Sorry kid, you will have to learn to deal with that stuff I fear…
As for new and exciting things, Half Calf has discovered his toes. It is funny how such a seemingly simple thing is so noticeable to us as parents. Maybe it is because when he grabs them so easily and straightens his leg, it makes us jealous at his flexibility. He also has been known to accidentally roll over. We claim it is not on purpose because he twists and leans often, but almost never actually ends up on the stomach. And of course he still seems a bit surprised when it happens. So not “real” mobility yet, but still learning new tricks.
Speaking of rolling over, he seems to have figured that out as well. Every now and then he would do it at daycare and a few times at home as well. But now it is intentional. Daddy was taking care of him one evening and when he looked down, Half Calf had rolled over. He was flipped back onto his back and about 30 seconds later, was on his belly again. After one more rotation, Daddy filmed it. And now that he has started, he tends to do that often when laying on his back. So now we have to pay attention when placing him onto beds and things. He is not as good at completing the roll and finishing on his back but he does that as well, though not as often.
Lastly for anyone who ever wanted to know, the Fisher-Price Roarin’ Rainforest Jumperoo is the SINGLE GREATEST TOY EVER INVENTED (per Half Calf). While in Georgia he was placed into cousin Parker’s and he proceeded to bounce for over an hour. We kept putting him back into it and marveled at how long he would bounce, never seeming to get tired and smiling the entire time. When we got home, Momma could barely put him down the first day because he was so used to all the people and he wanted to jump in her lap (you know, like any addict who can’t stop once they start). So the next day we went to the used baby stuff store and got a different bouncy (since that was all they had). But of course, he was uninterested. So we ponied up and spent the full price to get the one he loved in Georgia and he IMMEDIATELY started bouncing and smiling again. Finally, we have a way to put him down and use both hands to do other things. He loves bouncing so much that he has even done it when crying; “I am so unhappy (bouncebouncebounce) why is no one (bouncebouncebounce) feeding or paying attention (bouncebouncebounce) to me?!? It is quite amusing to watch when that happens.
And here is a cute random extra video from Georgia. There is a video of Momma riding the same horse but I decided she might hurt me if I posted that one too. So just use your imagination.
Alright, since you had to wait longer than normal, you can have extra photos this month to make up for it.
