Highlights this month:
- Calan turns 4 and has a party
- Calan gets into writing letters and spelling
- Evan comes along for the ride;)
Of course the biggest event this month was Calan’s fourth birthday. Calan anticipated his party and his actual birthday with both excitement and patience as he literally counted and acknowledged each day that led up to August 10. First though would be his birthday party the day before and the return of Gran and Grandpa to see Calan turn four years old.
This month, we would also adjust to new, but familiar routines as Heidi gradually returned back to teaching. Not unlike the end of her maternity leave with Calan almost four years ago, this time around came with the same flavor of highs and lows. It’s nice to get back to the students she loves, but it’s challenging to add work into the mix of caring for a family with a new addition.
Calan
Turning four and birthday party: Calan fell in love with the movie (and book) “Planes – Wings Around the Globe” earlier in the summer. He’d spent hours playing with some of the Planes characters he received during Gran’s visit ;), flying them through the virtual skies within our house almost every day . So it seemed fitting that he would want a birthday party theme all about…well, Planes. This of course meant finding all the appropriate decorations to make this Planes party come to life. As popular as it is and being Disney, this wasn’t too hard. Heidi did a great job of securing the basics: cupcakes, table cloths, plates, plastic ware, napkins, party favors and balloons with matching color ribbon. The most important piece though? Cake. Not as easy… Buying a Planes cake wouldn’t be so bad, but finding one without the possibility of peanut contamination is where the catch is. This meant making one from scratch. Calan also requested a cake with strawberries inside, and so, Heidi was up for the baking task. Through much research, careful planning and dedication, Heidi managed to bake and decorate the perfect Planes cake. Complete with the main character Dusty perched on top, Calan absolutely loved it. Great job, Mama! “Piece of cake”, right? 😉
As for the party, it was just right. Warm weather, a backyard pool and a relativity small group of close friends made for a perfect afternoon. The kids all had fun playing in the water and around the yard, and enjoyed the Little Ceasar’s pizzas we put out. The pizzas are what make the food portion of the actual party incredibly easy. Another way we made this pool party easier on ourselves was to hire a lifeguard to watch over the kids as they played in the pool. This allowed all of the adults to relax and enjoy visiting with each other. And of course, Calan enjoyed opening up some really great presents from everyone at the end of the party.
Spelling and Letters: One developmental highlight this month is Calan really starting to show an interest in letters. In particular, he began having fun learning how to write multiple letters on the chalkboard in his room. Once he got the hang of a few, he was eager to write some basic words out. In addition, he started to venture into more serious spelling than ever before with his little colored, magnetic letters. He’s had the letters for a while now, and in the past, he was content to just spell “cat” or his favorite creation “EHBBe”. But suddenly, he took an interest in learning how to spell other words. For instance, one morning he grabbed some flash cards and proceeded to find the letters to spell the words “gestures” and “furious”. He does most of his writing and spelling in the mornings, where he seems to have the greatest patience and reserve for when difficulty arises… such as wanting to spell bigger words off the top of his head for the first time.
Spending time with friends: Socially, Calan continues to get more comfortable with his peers. We have consistently hung out with neighbors and have hosted small pool parties with friends at least once a week. Summer is so great for this. Along with other play dates here and there, it’s been fun to watch Calan interact and just be a “kid” with friends. Since most of the neighbors are older, these friends are anywhere from 3 to 9 years old. While he gets a long with them all, he usually does the best with kids a couple years older than he is. He always looks forward to going outside and joining them for bike rides, swimming, games and general kid craziness whenever possible. This is something that wasn’t always easy for him when he was younger, so we’re glad he’s having fun.
Going to New York? As his second year of preschool approached, and new fall routines began to be planned out such as returning to violin lessons, Calan began to talk about his likeness for the violin again. In fact, for a couple weeks, he consistently mentioned to us that he was going to New York with his violin. Here is a transcription of one such monologue:
“I’m going to New York on Tuesday to learn lessons on my violin. But before it’s Tuesday we have to do a lot of stuff to get ready. You need to go put on your New York clothes and while you do that I’ll put on my New York clothes and then I will get my violin and put it around my back. But first, I need to pack it up.” We’re not sure where he got this idea from, but we fully support him in this ambition;) Who knows, could this just be a premonition?
Calan also continues to be a great big brother. He’s usually very helpful when it comes to “Baby E”, always aware of his baby brother and how he’s doing. He often has conversations with Evan or with us about Evan. One time, he caught us off guard when he suddenly asked: “What time was it that baby brother first wasn’t here?” We loved the trick question and all shared a smile as he knew he was being cute.
Air Show: One final event Calan had fun with this summer was attending the big Camarillo Air Show that’s put on here a few miles from our house each year. He really loved seeing all the different planes up close and the tricks they did in the sky. He especially loved the “smoke” that they would make as they zoomed around the sky, going every which way. Throw in a helicopter that flies upside down and a plane that consists of only a single wing, and you’ve got some fun entertainment – but ask Calan what his favorite part of the show was, and he’ll tell you it was the 10-minute wagon ride we took from the parking lot to the entrance. 😉
Evan
There’s not a whole lot to say about Evan other than that we’re reminded every day that we couldn’t ask for a more special little guy. He continues to be healthy and doing all the baby stuff he’s supposed to (sleeping, eating, looking cute and getting us to change his diapers). It definitely keeps us busy and somewhere in a state between tired and exhausted.
As for having a second newborn/infant, this time around we are much busier when you factor in all the usual activities you do with the older sibling. And as every parent of multiple children will tell you, the baby simply has to come along for the ride. Evan is always there for the little things we do with Calan each day, like sitting right next to his older brother at meal times (which Calan loves), or being positioned nearby while Calan plays with his toys (and Mama and/or Dada prepare a meal), or hanging with us as we do Calan’s bedtime routine, including reading a book sometimes. He also joins Calan for other activities such as swimming, sitting poolside in his bouncy seat while Calan and Dada splash around, or when we join up with the neighbors in their front or back yards for a late afternoon “hangout”. And even during play dates, Evan tags along while his big brother plays and socializes with a buddy. He’s a trooper and is usually pretty happy hanging out or sleeping during these outings. And of course, when Calan is napping or has gone to bad, that’s when we get a chance to be with just Evan. Aside from feedings, we love playing with Evan. One favorite is lying down next to him on his mat and initiating tickling games. This brings us and Evan lots of smiles. You just can’t beat that.
Sleeping:
Evan’s sleeping remains a bit erratic in the day but mostly good at night this month. He’d done a few streaks of good nights where he’d slept for 7-9 hours. Heidi especially loved that. He’s still pretty young though, so it’s normal to have those nights where he’s up a couple of times. The daytime has been a bit more unpredictable. There is no real consistent nap time or length, and we kind of go with his needs at the moment making sure to manage any fussiness associated with getting tired. The biggest struggles are getting him to fall asleep when he seems to be fighting it – it’s as if he’s so tired it hurts! One method we have down that works much of the time during the day is holding/rocking him with his “binky” until he gets past the stuggle and begins to calm down and drift. At that point, we transfer him and his heavy eyelids to his swing. The other part of daytime sleeping we wish we could help him out with more is staying asleep for longer than 20-30 mins. We know he needs more in a given nap, but many times he’s wide awake before he should be. We have faith he’ll continue to improve as the weeks go by. We also started putting him down for his first night-time sleep “shift” in his crib in his room, instead of downstairs in the swing. This has worked about half the time so far – he either stays asleep there until his late-night bottle with Dada, or if he can’t calm down, we bring him back to the swing while we watch our 30-45 mins. of night-time TV.