June Highlights
- Baby Evan is born (Calan becomes a big brother!)
- Calan finishes his first year of pre-school
- Calan completes his first “group” swimming lessons
- Gran continues her stay with us, giving us invaluable love and support
It goes without saying that June 2014 will be one of our most memorable months ever with the birth of our second son Evan. Calan’s baby brother was born June 6th at 10:00am at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks. Parents always say it, but this little guy melted our hearts from the moment we saw him. Sweetness hardly describes the feeling we had seeing Evan come into the world and the hours that followed while we cared for and stared at this precious new gem. Of course, bathing in all the wonder of a newborn is only part of the story. Heidi was incredible, laboring and delivering Evan naturally without any hiccups. She is truly Dada’s superhero!
Calan
Calan definitely anticipated finally becoming a big brother. He waited patiently for his baby “bruvfer” (a long, enduring pregnancy for Mama, and an extra week after the due-date), and was ready to meet Evan as soon as he could. He instantly took to the baby, smiling and cooing over him when he arrived with Gran at the hospital. Seeing the two boys together for the first time is a one-of-kind moment, with feelings washing over that you just can’t describe. Calan continues to be the most loving and helpful big brother any parent could ask for.
Just before Evan arrived, we helped celebrate the conclusion of Calan’s first year of preschool. He had a fun day, getting to wear pajamas and eating a special pancake morning snack. For a while now, when Calan puts on his pajama bottoms he makes sure they are inside-out. That way the tag can stick out in the rear. He calls this his “tag tail”, and it’s very important it be there. We explained this quickly to his teacher, Mrs. Means, when she noticed this funny style.
Calan got to meet up with his friend Jacob regularly this month as the two boys both enrolled in group swimming lessons at the Pleasant Valley Aquatic Center. Calan was not always thrilled with getting in the chilly water though. In fact he often told us that “swimming is not my favorite”. He was a good sport though, getting in the water each day and going through the motions. The exception though was when he was asked to swim on his back with the instructor (or, “swimming upside-down” as he calls it). He especially didn’t mind going to swimming because many days he got to play in the park with Jake and/or be treated to chicken nuggets on the way home. While he’s still not very comfortable with the water and didn’t officially pass his class (lol), it was still good to see him get a little more accepting of it after the two-weeks.
Practicing physical skills may not be Calan’s primary interest, but it’s worth noting this month that Calan recently learned how to swing on his own. He still likes to be pushed, but it’s been fun giving him a couple starter pushes and watching him pump his arms and extend his legs to keep up the pace. A big lover of swinging, he’s our little pendulum in the park for sure. Oh, and he still prefers getting to the park on his old stand-by balance bike. A couple trips on the pedal bike with training wheels, and he decided it was too hard negotiating the ridges in the gutter when crossing the street. That’s ok, whatever keeps the guy calm and happy.
Speaking of calm and happy, we continue to work on helping Calan cope with his “upset” emotions. Like many kids his age, he can be a high spirited guy when it comes to having things go the way he intends or expects them to. At three and four years old, you have this ability to know exactly what you want but sometimes a very limited ability to handle yourself when you don’t get what you want. 😉 Most of the time he’s fine embracing his independence, but the world does have its boundaries. As parents we’re learning to help Calan deal with the heavy emotions that sometimes come when things don’t quite go his way. We’re working to do this through loving support and guidance, instead of countering with like emotions or with actions that push him away to go figure out these intense feelings on his own — something his little brain isn’t quite ready to do! We hope that over time, he’ll learn that love and respect truly go both ways and that cooperation and compromise should come from those instead of fear of punishment and a cycle of angry feelings. Yes, we have our work cut out for both ourselves AND Calan but we can’t think of anything more important.
Evan
What can you say…the first weeks of Evan’s life have gone by quickly. I’m sure this has a lot to with being second-time parents. Although difficult on many levels, there is an edge of easiness this time around. It’s true what they say, that no two children (babies) are the same, even if they’re siblings.
We can safely say Evan is more settled overall when it comes to sleeping habits and “sooth-ability”. Now, that doesn’t mean there haven’t been countless hours of lost sleep for Mama and bags of dirty diapers, but overall it’s been a little less challenging in the first few weeks as compared to Calan. Keeping busy with child number one and having the much appreciated help from Gran have no doubt also played their parts.
So far, it’s been fun watching baby Evan during his awake times. He seems to be very alert at this early stage, which his pediatrician promptly noticed. Big eyes looking all around, always capture our gaze.
It’s especially entertaining to watch him with Calan. His older brother seems to really love babies, and his baby brother is no exception. Calan lights up when Evan comes into the room or when he greets him at his bassinet after a nap. The two will look at each other as Calan leans in close speaking softly and reaching for tiny body parts gently. In fact. they’ve already created their first game: Calan will position his head close to Evan, and within a matter of seconds a little arm or hand will graze Calan’s head or face, which causes Calan to smile with glee proclaiming “He got me!”.
We look forward to watching Evan in these early weeks as he continues to change rapidly. Already, the slight newborn is starting to give way to the inevitable chunky baby body he’ll have before too long. We can tell he’ll have one heck of a cute smile based on his accidental smiles, and we can’t wait when he does them for real in the near future.
