Cal at 9.5 months

I waited to do Callen's nine month post until we had his well visit, which was today. Our BIG boy is still growing like a weed, and thankfully is still gaining weight normally even though he hasn't been huge into solids the way Audia was at this age. He's 22.5 lbs and 30.5", putting him in the 75th percentile for weight and off the charts yet again for height. His doctor told me that he is the size of the average 15 month old boy!

While he still isn't hugely interested in baby food or being fed from a spoon, he is hugely interested in anything and everything that we might be eating. The only caveat is that he be fed what we're eating from our fingers. The exception to this rule seems to be puffs and cheerios; he will eat them by himself no problem.

Our little man has been crawling 'normally' for a few weeks now, and just recently has started pulling himself up to stand and even transferring between objects while standing. Though he isn't technically cruising just yet, it is just around the corner!

Callen is OBSESSED with wheels. He loves spinning them with his hands and rolling anything on wheels around on the floor. He also has been huge into hammering things lately, and banging toys together to make as much noise as humanly possible. He also likes throwing balls and other small hand-sized toys.

It's a wheel!

Overall our happy, laid-back boy is still just that. He has gotten a lot better at letting us know when he wants something via whining, but he still amazes me daily with how easy going and happy he is. We certainly are lucky to have him in our lives!

Summer in March

Apparently we have basically completely skipped over spring in Minnesota this year. Although, with the mild winter that we had I suppose you could say that February was kind of our spring. Either way, with temperatures in the mid 70's for the past week, it's felt like summer around here and while I am a bit worried that this means that this summer is going to be a scorcher, I am certainly enjoying the warmer temperatures right now!
We've been getting outside as often as possible to take advantage of the beautiful days, and the kids, of course, have been loving it. I cannot wait to move into a house this summer so that I don't have to pack up a 30-lb diaper bag everytime we want to go play in the grass!

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Our Little Inquirer

We recently had Audia's end-of-year parent-teacher conference and it is so cool to see how far she's come this school year! Because of her age and the standard cut off for the 3-4 year preschool classes being one week before her birthday, she was in a special class at her school for kids that turned 3 between September 1st and December 31st. The class is a little lighter academically than the standard 3-4 class, and she will be the oldest in her 3-4 year class next year. But, I digress. As a first-time mom, as well as a person who really doesn't have much comparison when it comes to what is 'normal' for a 3 year old, I have felt like it has been difficult to gauge whether or not she is actually advanced in the areas that I feel like she is. Namely, her vocabulary and how incredibly inquizitive and insightful she can be. (Just this morning, out of the blue, she said to me, "Callen sure is quiet this morning, mom. I hope he's feeling ok!") So, it was really nice to hear from her teacher how advanced she really is in these areas; that her ability to look ahead into the future and also to look at the 'big picture' and ask very specific questions is, in fact, impressive for her age. It was also fun to hear that she makes it her job to make sure that everyone gets a turn with the toys in the gym and that she plays well with everyone in the class, boys and girls alike. Sometimes I find myself lost in a maze of worrying about this, that, and the other thing with her behavior and development and to hear from her teacher that she is doing really well makes it easier to step back from the worry and relax a bit. She is so compassionate, and helpful, and bright, and just downright funny. I feel like now that I know that she is doing ok, and even excelling in areas, I can enjoy all of those great qualities a little more freely.

My Gorgeous Girl

How could you not want to photograph this sweet face all day long?

The past few months Audia has been very anti-camera. Anytime I bring out my camera or phone, she hides her face or turns around so I see the back of her head. I haven't pushed the issue with her; if she says she doesn't want her photo taken, for the most part I've obliged. So it goes without saying that when she asked me out of the blue to take some pictures of her, I went a little crazy with it. We had a lot of fun doing a little photo shoot, with me calling out emotions for her to mimic and her doing her best to do them between giggles. Here's just a small sample of the shots that I got.