Can a little boy have too many books?

Umm...yes. This is only about half of his collection! But I love that he loves them so much. We spend a LOT of time reading every day. Baby/Toddler books are surprisingly expensive, so fortunately he received many of these as gifts, and we've gotten lots of hand-me-down books! We've also started taking bi-weekly trips to the library, which he absolutely loves.

Friday Night Playdate

Calder and Sandhya had a great time last Friday night during a sort of impromptu playdate. Lots of time spent in the ball pit!
Uncle Sean being silly...

This one was too cute not to post.

Spaghetti, Spaghetti all over the place...

...up to my elbows, up to my face! (Yes, I loved Shel Silverstein as a child and still have many of his poems memorized.)

If I've ever talked to you about Calder's eating habits, you know that nothing is a sure thing with him, except for fruit and dairy products. So, I was extremely excited the other night when he gobbled up his bowl of spaghetti and then asked for seconds! Not only had he finally eaten the same meal as Mommy and Daddy, but I had secretly snuck pureed veggies into the sauce and he was none the wiser! [insert evil mommy laugh here] :)

More Before & Afters: Basement Bathroom

The basement bath was pretty much nonexistent when we moved in (it was roughed-in), so here's the one and only before picture. We expanded its size by knocking out a closet on the other side, so we could put in a shower, and...

Voila! This room was not without its challenges. We had a major problem with the contractor that we hired to do the bulk of the work -- and he ended up walking off the job without finishing. Luckily, he had completed most of the work, so we were able to eventually finish it up. We still need to seal the tile, but at least it looks finished!
The other big challenge was my ability to pick an appropriate paint color. The first color I chose can only be described as 'poop brown'. I was trying to go for a nice mocha, but it pretty much matched the exact shade of brown that I was trying to get rid of (see trim in first picture). Good one, Court. I immediately painted over it with this lovely yellow called 'filtered sunlight' and saved the brown for the accents!

Cold, Creamy Deliciousness

In celebration of my birthday (and Calder's 17 month milestone) we treated ourselves to a trip to Cold Stone Creamery! Here we are checking out the yummy toppings!

"Do you mean to tell me that I have to choose just one flavor?"

Calder loved it! Not surprising, given how much Dave and I both love ice cream. If you look closely you can see a tiny teardrop in his left eye. This is the remnant of a major crying fit after his first bowl of ice cream landed face down on the floor when he tried to take the spoon out. Luckily, the staff at Cold Stone responded quickly to his (very loud) cries and replaced his bowl in seconds!

We had planned to get him vanilla, but when we saw that they had banana flavored ice cream, we went with that. He took one taste and said 'nana!'
We were worried that we might see more tears once his bowl was empty, but he did great. We all said 'bye-bye' to the ice cream as we headed back home. (This is a great trick, and works wonders when we need to take something away from him. He is so much more willing to give something up if we ask him to say bye-bye to it!)

Looney Tunes Craziness

Calder and I spent a chilly winter morning at a local mall that has a great play area for kids with a Looney Tunes theme. Calder enjoyed running from character to character and climbing all over them. Sylvester was definitely a favorite. He kept running over and petting him on the head.


Another favorite activity was sitting on this train and saying 'Choo Choo!'



This was our first visit to this play area, but I quickly realized that it's a very popular winter activity! There were easily 30 kids running around!

Sandhya's Unexpected Dunk

Sandhya's unexpected dunk from courtney on Vimeo.

Luckily Daddy was right there to rescue her. The look of surprise on her face is just precious!

Splish Splash!

Calder Swimming from courtney on Vimeo.

This isn't the best video... It's not an easy task to chase around a toddler in water while fully dressed and trying not to get too wet. But you can definitely tell how much fun he is having!

Water Babies

Calder and Sandhya are taking a swimming class together. They absolutely love it! They have so much fun splashing around and exploring the pool.

We try to make sure to get to class early so Calder has a little extra playtime, and we also stay a little late for more playing...but Calder still cries when it's time to go. Perhaps we'll be signing him up for a swim team in a few years!
Calder was blowing Mommy kisses as he swam by. I was the evening's official photographer -- since I had plans later that night, I didn't want to get in the pool.
Cute family photo
Sandhya after an underwater dunk!

Calder after a dunk! He kept touching his mouth and giggling -- we think he liked the feel of the water on his mouth.

Remember his first swimming lesson, 1 year ago?

First Sentence and more...

So, Calder said what I consider to be his first sentence yesterday! We had just finished watching his favorite show, Curious George. As the show ended, I turned off the tv and Calder said 'Bye-Bye George!' Ok, so it's a short sentence, but it was the first time he has strung two words together, so a sentence it is!
Calder has recently taken up coloring. Here he is showing Daddy his latest masterpiece.

Calder pretty much hated sitting in his Bumbo seat back when it was age appropriate...but for whatever reason it is incredibly fun for him now. He's way too big for it, so once he squeezes himself in, he usually gets stuck, resulting in lots of 'uh-ohs' and plenty of giggles before mommy or daddy helps him out. Then he carries the seat over to another part of the room, and repeats the process, over and over. Silly boy!

Check out this photo from December 2006 for comparison.

And isn't he just too cute in his little Nike tracksuit? I love it!

A visit to the 'burgh

Despite the Steeler's playoff loss, we had a great time in Pittsburgh this weekend! Calder enjoyed meeting cousin Bakura,

sharing toys with Abigail,
watching Madison model her new party dress,
dancing with Aunt Bonne to the fire truck song,
and watching Zaidy record his height on the wall!

C-A-L-D-E-R

Calder and I had so much fun playing with his foam letters the other day. He enjoyed watching Mommy spell out his name...

...and then running around in circles in the playroom carrying it (followed closely by Lucky)!

Bowling -- Calder style

Bowling skills from courtney on Vimeo.

Thanks to a conversation with my friend Elizabeth today, I finally know how to at least post videos taken on my regular camera. Although I'm still working on being able to transfer current videos from our video camera...

Anyway, check out Calder's bowling skills in this video! It may be awhile before he becomes the newest member of Daddy's bowling team...but hey, at least he picked up the ball first! (He even set up the pins himself, but I didn't get the camera out in time to catch that on film.)