I was supposed to publish this Friday, but you know how Fridays go …
Five notable Cal happenings of the week:
1. My hickey. I was holding Cal as usual (with his head resting on my right shoulder) and he started gently knawing on me. I didn’t realize the force of his sucking, but when he stopped, there it was: the funniest horizontal red mark. I secretly cherished the tiny spot for days, until it faded.
2. This is a regular occurrence now, but I can’t get over how cute it is. Cal purposefully looks for us now. Like yesterday when I was putting away clothes and he was lying on his back on the bed, he moved his little head around, angling it so that he could find me in the vast space known as our room. When we met eyes, he smiled. I always knew he knew me, but now I really can see it in his bright eyes and wide smiles.
3. Yesterday Cal and I were bouncing on the exercise ball and Shaun daddy was sitting in front of us. Shaun started to bob his head to the rhythm of the bounce and Cal began cracking up (the second time I’ve heard him laugh). Then, get this, he contracted a case of the hiccups as he was laughing! So here’s Shaun making funny noises, laughing, and bopping his head around; me cracking up, water pouring out of eyes; and Calboy laughing and hiccupping and drooling at the same time. I’ll never forget it, I hope.
4. Cal had a blowout when we went to the farm-fresh-to-you farm on Saturday to pick strawberries. We were on the farm tour at the time (a fairly long walk), with Cal in his front pack, and I began feeling a wet sensation on my pants, but readily dismissed it. When Shaun advised me to look down, I found myself streaked with Cal’s buttered-popcorn-mustard poo. So I wasn't thrilled, but it wasn’t that bad – mom’s looked at me like “Don’t worry, hun, I’ve been there” and Cal had the dandiest time resting and smiling (and leaf gazing) on our picnic blanket in his diap – of which I got cutest photos, above. And all learned the valuable lesson of packing back ups.
5. Cal’s smiles. They, seriously, never cease to amaze and delight me. But I love it when others also get to bask in their glow. Saturday evening we had family friends over including 8-year-old sweetie Samantha. Despite a little bit of grumpiness and sleepiness, Cal kept flashing his mile-wide gummy grin at Sam, and Sam was so pleased to attract the smiles! It was this delicious, delightful cycle of joy feeding joy.
