A Jumper by any other name...

We had this doorway jumper for Calvin which, after hearing how other kids his age were enjoying theirs, we finally put up.  We sort of figured that it would be an extensive installation, but in all actuality it was very simple.  In fact, the hardest part about the assembly and installation was having to use a screwdriver to open the battery case.  Battery case you might ask?  For what?  Well, they don't make jumpers like they used to.  The one we had came with an activity tray and removeable electronic toy console (better known as a whatchamawhoozit) that made Calvin cry every time the music played when he spun the shiny wheel in the middle.  This was an extremely unfortunate circumstance because Calvin's new love in life is spinning things (and someone in the commercial baby world knew that was coming because every toy we have has a spinny majiger on it).  And aside from the fact that the toy made him cry, the jumper was basically useless.  The tray set the whole seat off balance, the result of which was Calvin's obstinate refusal to do anything but lean back.  And spin the spinny do-da. And cry.  This was a major disappointment to both of us, Jon specifically, since he loved his own doorway jumper at that age (and remembers it so well, really). 

The moral of this story?  Sometimes less is more.  After three days with this failure of a jumpy seat, we decided to exchange it for Johnny, the good ol' boy.  You know, Johnny Jumpup?  He may be wearing a new suit, a sage green one with bugs all over it, but he's still the most reliable old pal on the block.  And it may look boring by comparison, but man is it fun!  And it sure gets Calvin moving.  We see a video in the future, possibly set to "I feel like dancing."

Photo Shoot - month 4

We can't decide if it's fun or annoying that it takes this long to get the proofs from Calvin's monthly photo shoots.  It mght be fun, since having to wait two weeks to get them back means that he has had two weeks of growing which, at this stage anyway, means having a chance to "look back" on that time when the pictures arrive.  It might also be annoying, since it means that we don't have the pictures when to share with all of you when we post all of his other monthly updates.  In any case, here are some of our favorites from the four month photo shoot, only a couple of weeks away from the five month shoot

 

Halloween identity crisis!

I'm a dinosaur? I'm a lion?

I'm a giraffe!

Play peekaboo with Calvin!

The title says it all.

Halloween down on the farm

Thankfully last week's snow turned out to be just a teaser, and today a bit of true fall visited the area:  bright blue sky, wispy clouds, temperatures nearing 60, and a light, crisp autumn breeze.  We were on our way to the grocery store to stock our pantry and deck our front porch with pumpkins when we decided to completely reschedule our day in order to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  What were we thinking, trying to buy pumpkins from the grocery store when there is a famous pumpkin patch literally two minutes down the street from us???  So instead of cleaning and lazing about after unloading groceries (sans pumpkins) we headed off to Wiard's Orchard for Calvin's first taste of this fun fall activity.  What an amazing way to spend a fall day!  There were animals (which Calvin is too young to pet), basic carnival games and activities (which Calvin is too young to take part in), and, of course, fresh cider and donuts (which Calvin is too young to ingest).  What Calvin could do was play with pumpkins, and this he found fascinating - until he found it exhausting, after which he merely conked out and slept through the rest of our visit.  But whether he enjoyed it or not, we did, and we even came home with a small family of pumpkins (not from the national chain store, but from our local centennial+ farm) that we chose directly from the patch (the Halloween equivalent of cutting down your own Christmas tree, just warmer).  And fall really lends itself to beautiful pictures the way that no other season does, so we also came home with a plethora of photographs, a favored handful of which we have posted in Calvin's nineteenth week album to share (yes, those are just a handful).  We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!