Calvin 9 Month Update

Dan refused to hold Calvin for this picture because he does not approve of his son wearing such an outfit: Brown, blue and pink Argyle tights with a rainbow striped fleece hoodie and a hippo patterned onesie! It could have been worse.

Eyes:
Cal had an appointment with his opthalmologist last week, and though we've been hopeful that his vision in his left eye is improving (he seems to be using it while patched, anyway), no significant improvement could be detected by the reflex test. We'll keep patching 5 hours a day. Calvin doesn't seem to mind much anymore, and Dr. Wallace says the test is not super accurate at this age.

Size:
Calvin had his nine month check-up last week, and he has pretty average height and head size measurements. His weight is another story. He keeps dropping further below the curve....under the 1st percentile compared to his peers is not good, so the pediatrician says he is pretty worried. He ordered some blood tests to see what might be causing his poor weight. So far all the tests have come back normal! We find ourselves in this situation again- we know that God made him perfect as he is, and we are praying that if there is something to be found that the doctors will find it. At the same time, we are hoping that he is just small because he is supposed to be instead of a disease or condition of some sort.

Mobility:
We keep waiting for Cal to crawl. It seems like it should be happening any day now. It is not very efficient to crawl as Calvin has experienced it so far, though. For example, He reaches with his arms and kicks his legs like a frog, but with his chest on the ground, it is a lot of wasted effort. Dan set him up on his knees today for a little bit, and he rocked back and forth a bit before falling on his face. Calvin has also tried using his head and legs as a tripod and pushing forward on his cheek. Calvin has concluded that these strategies require way too much effort for little gains, so instead, he efficiently rolls wherever he wants to go.

Calvin has also started "walking" while we hold his arms. Here is a video of Calvin doing this while buck-naked after his bath from the bathroom to his bedroom.




Interaction:
Calvin is such a little charmer. He is always looking for someone to look at, slightly tilt his head, and beckon with a sweet little "uuhh." It usually works, and when it doesn't, he is pretty persistent. He did this repeatedly on the plane to someone who was sleeping with her i-Pod. Thankfully, his spirit was not broken. =)

Calvin has also begun to converse with us. He will say "aaahh" with a little lilt and wait for an answer. When we speak back, he says "aaahhh" again. This can go on quite a while. We keep inserting real words like "Mama" and "Dada," hoping that he'll say his first word right on cue, but I realize this will not work as he likes things to be his idea.

Calvin has also started interacting more with other babies. Here is a picture of Calvin "playing" with his friend Ella. They enjoyed trying to grab each others faces and jockying for control of an empty oatmeal cylinder during their play time.