Calvin at 16 months

Calvin's baby book only has lists of accomplishments up to about 1 year of age. So for the last few months, I haven't been able to describe what milestones he has reached and what fun new things he has done. So I'm going to use my blog to do it.
I think that Cal is the smartest little boy in the whole world, in my unbiased opinion. He had mastered his box of shapes by the time he was a year old (triangle, circle, square, x, and star). He figured out how to put his puzzle pieces in the right spot in two days. He can now point at things and say their names (doggie, fish, cat, baba) and can point to pictures of animals in books.
His vocabulary is picking up very quickly, but he is still not much of a talker. He mostly likes to watch us work and play. He also likes to help load the dishwasher, even when it's clean. He knows if we try to skip a page in a book. He is learning how to float at the pool.
We got lucky that he never sucked his thumb or needed a pacifier. I am somewhat concerned that he does not seem to have a comfort item, like a blankie or stuffed animal. He always just seems to be happy with what is around him at the time.
He is learning to use a fork and spoon, but for the most part, he stabs at his food and then just eats with his hands. He has gone on a non-fruit hunger strike for the past few weeks, but we are just letting him try everything before giving up.

Here are some pics of my cute little guy:

Smilin-est baby in the world

I get a lot of comments on how Calvin is always smiling these huge, come-hug me smiles in all of my pics that I post. Such as:


Well, he's not always so photogenic; I just take a lot of pictures. He really does smile well for the camera, but every once in a while, he lays a total durp face on.

Granted, it was 95 degrees
Durp with his cousin
Covered in carrots
Not sure what he's thinking


Not yet figured out that cake is delicious

Comparisons

Darren asked me the other day, after seeing Toy Story 3, what it would feel like if Pixar ever made a bad movie. I replied, "the same feeling you had after seeing the new Star Wars movies."
Your childhood has been crapped on.

Philly Triathlon 2010

About a week after my son was born, I had the bright idea of signing up for an olympic distance triathlon. "It'll be great motivation to get back in shape!" was my thinking at the time. Knowing that we would be moving soon afterwards and that the Philly Tri (officially known as the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon) was a fairly prestigious race, I decided to go for it. I started hitting the gym back in December. I remember the first time I tried to do a pushup: I couldn't. I also couldn't run for more than about 2 minutes or push myself out of the water at the pool. I had to use the ladder (the horror!). Having a baby had completely zapped all of my strength and fitness, and left me with several pounds I didn't want (and still have).
As the months went by, I got a little better every week. Finishing residency with a little baby was hard enough, but I tried to get to the gym once or twice a week. The last two or three weeks were a lot better, since I now spend most of my days studying for boards. In the last six months, I ran a total of 125 miles, biked 225, and swam 35000 yards. A good triathlete would do that in about 2 weeks.
As I mentioned, the Philly Tri is a pretty well-known and prestigious race. There were no mountain bikes or people in cut-offs and t-shirts. I was surrounded by hardbodies in spandex with $5000 bikes. I ride a commuter road bike I bought at a used bike shop. I have a belly roll.
As I pulled up to the transition area to get marked, an announcement was made that the race this year would be converted to a duathlon. A what you say? A duathlon: run, bike, run. So, I'm not in shape to begin with, and now my best part gets knocked out. Cripes! (Sad story actually. One of the racers from Saturday's sprint race went missing in the river. The swim portion on Sunday was canceled so the search mission could continue. A 40 year-old man with a wife and two teenagers drowned and was recovered just past the transition area. Sad.)
So, with the race being converted to a 5K run/40K bike/10K run on a 95 degree day, I allowed myself to not try and win. I always try to win, no matter how unprepared I am. This time, I just told myself to finish.
I got through the first run in a pretty good time, tried not to keel over on the incredibly hilly bike portion, and walked/jogged the last 10K. I added at least 5 minutes on the second bike loop from fatigue and lack of mental toughness. Oh well. I looked great at the end carrying my cute little baby around. I know he's proud of me.

Bloggy-blog

Hello there, blogosphere! It's been a while, I know, but you know what I learned? Kids are time-consuming! Remember two years ago when I was obsessing with triathlon training? Well, guess what, I don't do that anymore! My time is now spent making gurgling noises and playing super-baby.
Not that it is time wasted. I love playing with Cal, but there is not a lot of alone time. Our average time-to-watch for Netflix: One month. Seriously, it takes a whole month to string together two hours of movie time. Granted, there's also Glee and Lost and Biggest Loser to waste our time; thank goodness summer is coming and nothing but reruns!
So what is going on in our world? Well, Darren is finishing his PhD dissertation and defends in June. This means a lot of long days in the lab, then long nights typing. I am finishing up residency, which means long days at work and plenty of studying for boards in July. My main exercise at this point is riding back and forth to work (2 miles each way, ooooh) or maybe an exercise DVD after Cal goes to bed. My fitness level is still really low (as shown in my disastrous 10 mile Broad street run this year, granted, it was 90 degrees that morning). Still 15 pounds of baby flub to go! I have been training for the Philadelphia Olympic triathlon taking place at the end of June. Will I smash the other competitors? Uh, no. But I'm pretty sure I'll finish. Here's hoping June sees some more time to work out.
Cal keeps growing bigger, 19lb 10oz on friday. He had to go in for his pinkeye so we got to check his weight. As for baby pinkeye, have you ever tried getting eye drops in a near 7-month old? Fun! He finally started sleeping 10 hours at night, which is great for us. He can also sit up by himself, and will eat anything put in front of him.
Here are some recent pics of him laughing his awesome belly laugh:

Baby updates!

Calvin is now 3 1/2 months old, and still growing like a weed. He was 13lb 4oz at last checkup in early January, and is easily above 15 now. Sleeping through the night was going well, but the past few days he's been waking up at 3, wanting to play. He holds his head up well, but hasn't shown any interest in rolling over.
He loves the blanket his grandma made, loves looking in mirrors, and loves to laugh. He is reaching Gerber baby adorableness at an astounding rate. He's still a handful at times (evenings are still fussy time), but he is as pleasant as can be most of the time.
Here are some recent pics:





On a side note, we are fully vaccinating our child on the recommended schedule. The fact that the MMR/autism link study has been fully discredited will do nothing to stop the hyper-anti-vaccine crowd from blaming the downfall of society on one of the greatest scientific discoveries ever. The author of said paper was found to have taken a huge sum of money from a personal injury lawyer while collecting his data. The lawyer then used the same study as the evidence for his case against the manufacturers. Just plain slimy.

Snowmaggedon

I know that I've been harping on this snow thing for the last few entries, but this is my record of what's going on, and quite frankly, it's what's going on.
To summarize: last Saturday, February 6th, Philly got 28.5 inches of snow. On Wednesday, February 10th, we got another 15.8. We are not expected to have temps much above freezing for the foreseeable future, and another 2-4 inches is predicted for tomorrow. I love snow, but I would like it to go away once it reaches brown icky stage. The parking situation in South Philly is getting even worse with every few spots being a giant pile of snow.
Getting to work this week was kind of an adventure. Ford Focuses (Foci?) are not known for their all-terrain agility, so I walked in to work twice this week and took the subway halfway home both times. Why not take the subway in as well? Simple, it doesn't run that early. It was amazing to me that the sidewalk in posh Rittenhouse square was more clear than our street (and still is).

I'd post pictures, but really, it's just more of the same white stuff.