Authentic Calvin.

As promised, here are a few more photos from Calvin’s birthday photo shoot. Trying to get these pictures reminded me of how HARD one-year-old shoots are. But the beautiful thing is this: even though we only got a couple of wall-worthy pics, there are so many here that are just 100% Calvin. Expressions, posture, even the fact that he is FAST and that I was running around the yard trying to keep ahead of him. They all speak to me about who he is right now.

I had to save this one for last because it’s my favorite. Weird favorite, right? Well it’s kind of my favorite because it shows his “raptor” stance. Since Calvin’s been walking, we started calling him our little raptor. He pins his elbows to his sides and walks kind of bow-legged.

You can see the resemblance, right?

Anyway.

Calvin had a fun birthday. We had both sides of the family over for dinner/cake/ice cream last night, and we spent most of the day getting ready for that. I heard Londyn say to Jacey after breakfast, “I know! Today we should let Calvin do whatever he wants, and play with any toy he wants!” Which is an exception from Londyn’s personal rule that she must snatch any toy Calvin shows interest in and say “I was playing with it!” So that was a special birthday gift from her. The girls were good to play with Calvin and keep him happy while I cleaned the house, then he had a nap while we made his cake.

He woke up from his nap to find the house full of party guests. He wasn’t quite sure what to think at first. But once we got him settled with some hot dog and pasta salad he warmed up. After dinner Calvin opened his gifts and had cake.

The cake was fun. And maybe it was a little bit awesome. We saw it in a magazine last week and decided it would be worth a try. It was fun for Jacey and Londyn and I to work on it together. (Okay, maybe I didn’t actually let them touch the cake. But they unwrapped a lot of candy and gave me plenty of opinions.)

Calvin gave us a nice round of applause after we sang Happy Birthday to him.

He sure wasn’t shy about digging into the sugar. It’s probably not inaccurate to say that he shoveled it into his mouth. He had a nice little frosting & crumb beard when he was done.

I may or may not have been looking forward to this sight for most of the day. :)

All in all, it was a lovely day to cap off a lovely year. I know I’ve said this before, but this year has just gone so fast. Jacey’s first year really didn’t go all that fast for me. (People told me it would, but really it didn’t.) Londyn’s first year went much faster. And Calvin’s? I feel like it has been on warp speed.

A few things I want to remember about Calvin right now:

• His raptor walk (Oh, did I mention that already? It’s one of my favorite things about him right now.)
• The way he bounces in the shopping cart, making the whole cart shake
• How much he loves his daddy. (Yes, I’ve lost the top spot. But Will has earned it. He is a very hands-on, play-time sort of daddy.)
• His mouth FULL of teeth! I have no idea how many teeth most kids have at a year, but it seems like Calvin has a ton.
• The way he says hi to me in the mornings. He grins really big and says “Eyeeeee”
• How much he loves his swaddle blankies. He’s outgrown swaddling by about 7 months now, but he still loves his blankies and they still soothe him.
• The way he plays tag with the girls around the living room.
• The way he walks straight ahead while looking over his shoulder. And walks into walls. A lot.
• How he’s started warming up to all sorts of people. He doesn’t seem to have as much stranger anxiety as the girls did.
• How much he LOVES balls and trucks.
• How he throws. He’ll hold a ball in his hand and cock it back over his shoulder, then instead of throwing it, he brings it forward and hands it to me.
• He says hi, ball, da-da, and ni-night.
• He gives kisses (kind of) and hugs (kind of). He “kisses” by leaning forward and graciously allowing you to kiss his forehead when you ask for a kiss. And he hugs by holding onto you at the shoulders.
• The way he gets right in your face when he wants your attention. My favorite is when I’m sitting on the floor and he’s standing next to me, then he’ll bend down and put his face right in front of mine and, with a huge grin, say “Eyeeee!”

I love this little boy of mine and pretty much everything about him. I just hope this next year slows down a bit!