Progress for Calvin

Calvin will be 17 months on Saturday and no, he still isn't walking or talking, at least he isn't saying anything we recognize, yet.  But, Calvin is making progress.  He's finally getting into everything.  He's been fascinated with doors for a long time, but now he's able to open all the cabinet doors and take everything out.  Sometimes he even goes in.

I have now seen Calvin pull up to his feet once.  Only once.  He pulls up to his knees lots and is so proud that he can see over the top of his crib.  Can you see the pride?

 

He even gets his foot in there, but won't pull all the way up.  He's starting to babble more and more, which is good.    He just laughs at me when I say, "Mama".  Sometimes he says, "Da da da da da".  And sometimes even, "Bu bu bu bu".  I think he's toying with me.  He tries to wave now by sticking his arm straight out.  Hey, it's progress.  Calvin is operating on his own timetable.  I'm just going to enjoy each accomplishment.  He does.

Calvin's in training

So Calvin is 16 months and not walking.  My big girls didn't walk until they were 16 months, but they were really spoiled and carried everywhere.  Calvin has lots of floor time and he isn't even close to walking.  So, I've got him in training.  I make him push his walker every day back and forth across our living room rug and he doesn't like it one bit.  I told him, "No pain, no gain".

When he realized it was a photo shoot, he did his best to smile through the pain.  I love this kid!

Calvin doesn't talk either and this is unusual for our kids.  We usually have uncoordinated kids who talk our arms off from a very early age.  He doesn't even say Mama, which makes me sad.  Sometimes it looks like he's about to say something, like it's on the tip of his tongue, but he never does.  We think Calvin is perfectly wonderful and know that God has a plan for his life.  Hopefully we'll be able to look back soon and laugh about how we worried about Calvin's development.   I tell you there's going to be a big celebration at this house when Calvin takes his first steps and speaks his first words!

Calvin's new big boy haircut

The curls are gone, but Calvin looks like such a big boy!  Ignore the deer-in-headlights expression.  That's just me getting a little too close with the flash again.

If it were a crime to be cute... Calvin would be in big trouble!

All of our kids have been cute, but Calvin is the smiliest baby we've had.  His siblings went outside to play today and he looked so longingly after them that I had to push him in the swing for a little bit.  Then he looked so cute that I had to run get the camera.

Calvin's love-hate relationship with food. Or how I became a short-order cook.

Calvin loves to eat.

He's happiest with a full mouth.

  Calvin loves food.

But, food doesn't love Calvin.

He has terrible eczema.  He itches all the time.  His face breaks out so easily, especially around his eyes.  He scratches at his neck, turning his head back and forth in a desperate attempt to relieve his itching.  It's really pitiful.  I diligently tried the topical steroid twice a day followed by Cetaphil or Eucerin.  I always cover him up with Aquaphor when he first gets out of the tub.  I use natural, hypo-allergenic soap and clothes detergent.  It hasn't helped his eczema.

So this is the part of the story where we get to how I've become a short-order cook. 

Calvin gets cooked rice, sometimes more than once a day.  Calvin gets cut up cooked apples.  Calvin gets stewed chicken with chicken broth.  There are just a couple of jars of baby food I've found that he can have.  This makes lots of work for Mom.  I feel like I'm spending twice as much time in the kitchen, but on the upside we've had lots of chicken around.  I made chicken spaghetti this week and chicken pasta alfredo.  But lots of times the family gets something else- like homemade waffles, or homemade ham and broccoli mac-n-cheese (a favorite for lunch), or something with soy sauce (twice this week- sweet and sour meatballs and cashew chicken).  I think Calvin has problems with milk, pears, and bananas.  I'm more sure that he has problems with soy and oats.  Some foods I know he can't tolerate like crackers, but I don't know if it's the wheat, the soybean oil, the BHT, or a combination thereof.  Basically, the only packaged food I'm giving him is Baby MumMum organic rice crackers.  Last week he was sick and he seemed to react to his antibiotic.  I think it wasn't the antibiotic itself, but something else in the oral suspension.  We switched him to another penicillin with no flavor or dye and without the sodium benzoate and he did fine.

I've been giving him an antihistamine a couple of times a day.  He had to have a steroid shot last week. 

Please pray for Calvin:  that we'll get a handle on what he can and can't have and that he'll clear up for good.

Calvin and the Cupcake

Almost 1

Calvin is almost crawling (he's definitely army crawling).  Calvin is almost ready to be out of his helmet.  Calvin is almost 1.  He's such a sweet boy and we're so blessed to have him in our lives!  He's the easiest and smiliest baby we've ever had and all the kids are crazy about him.  God is good to have blessed us with this little boy we thought we didn't need.  We were sure we were through having children at four.  We had our two boys and two girls.  Not a day goes by that I don't thank the Lord for all of our children, but especially these last two that we didn't know we wanted.  When I look at Calvin, I know it doesn't get any better than this!

We're book people.

Calvin is beginning to get more mobile.  Catching him studying these picture books made me smile and run for the camera.  I think it's a good sign, don't you?  He's going to be a book person, too!

The bookshelf Calvin is studying holds all of Prince's Five in a Row books.  I'm so excited to have the opportunity to review Before Five in a Row, as part of the TOS Crew this year!  Can you tell Calvin is excited, too?  Oh, how it thrills my heart to see this kid reaching for books.  I remember when another little one was first discovering the joys of reading.

Ha!  If I had only known then what I know now!!  This morning in the 30 second head-start she got on me out of her bedroom, she managed to procure and open a bottle of nail polish.  She painted two toes before I could get to her.  (I was trying to put her shoes on her so she could go to lunch with Nana.)  Anyway, I'm just glad Big D and I are raising little bibliophiles :).  Are you a book lover, too?

Calvin can't do anything, and I love him anyway.

I've never been one to feel insecure when one of my children doesn't reach a milestone on time.  Calvin is my 6th baby and none of our kids have exactly been developmental prodigies.  I think our first five kids walked at 14, 16, 16, 12, and 12 months respectively.  I did take Twinkle Toes (my first one to walk at 16 months) to an orthopedic doctor to make sure she didn't have something wrong with her feet, but he said to just wait.  Then with Measle I figured she'd walk when she was ready and not before.  She did.  Prince was born with club foot and treated for it in Kazakhstan, but even so he walked "on time", right at a year, one month after coming home.  (One of the many benefits of escaping our gene pool.)  But honestly, I'm beginning to get a little concerned over Calvin.  When we saw the pediatric neurologist, his official diagnoses were "plagiocephaly", thus the helmet, and "developmental delays".  It's one thing to have little girls that walk late (although I have to add that they talked and potty trained early), but another to have your baby boy labeled "delayed" in black and white.  I hate that.

Calvin is the most wonderful baby in the world and I wouldn't change him for anything.  He's so good natured and always willing to give me a smile (except for when I'm holding the camera in front of my face.)  He goes with the flow and takes it all in stride.  He's not crawling.  He's not sitting up yet.  He's not even rolling over.  He hates being on his stomach (as in that's one of the only ways to make him cry), therefore he gets about 5 minutes per day of tummy time.  He makes noises occasionally (I think he saves his talking for church), but isn't exactly what I'd call verbal.  He is a pro at jumping.  Daddy had to rig our Johnny-jump-up since Calvin weighs so much, which brings me to his next talent, eating.  He's quite the nursing champion.  It really is his greatest talent. 

Calvin will be 8 months old in 9 days.  I guess he goes back to the doctor at 9 months.  I sure hope he's sitting up by then!  But you know what?  Even if he isn't, I'll be just as crazy about him.  (I may need to come up with a new bathing solution, though.  It isn't easy bathing a 21 + lb baby who can't sit up!)

Calvin in his helmet

Calvin got his orthotic helmet today.  The next 5-10 days will be spent acclimating him to his helmet.  He will need to wear his helmet 23 hrs a day for 3-6 months.  He doesn't like our putting it on him, but once it's on he does really well.  Hopefully we'll get better at taking it on and off with practice.

Poor Calvin.  He's making the best of it, but the helmet does make his head even heavier!



He's been teething and finally decided he'd take a pacifier today.

  

Mealse making him laugh with "ride the bicycle".



Calvin's last photo shoot before the helmet

Calvin's helmet is in and he'll be fitted in it Monday.



This is Calvin's cheesy grin. 
He reminds us of my father-in-law, whom he's named for, in this picture.



Here Calvin looks like Monk.



Here he reminds me of my mom and her dad.



Another shot where he looks like his big bubba.



I don't know what this is!



Here he looks like my grandpa again.



Bubba again.



My favorite.  He's just cute.

Calvin will have to wear his helmet 3-6 months for 23 hrs a day.  We're not looking forward to it, but we're so grateful Calvin doesn't need surgery!  Hopefully the helmet will allow his head to become more symmetrical as he grows.  You can't really tell when you see him from the front, but when you look down on his head from above you can see that it protrudes out on the front right and the back right is more in.  The right side of his head is pretty flat, whereas the left side is more curved.  This plagiocephaly has caused his face to slide around and one ear is a couple of inches anterior relative to the other.  Anyway, it's not really that big of a deal and is mainly cosmetic, but we've decided to try to fix it.  Surely he can't be any cuter, though!