Is there any way to show the ""mini-calendar"" on a form for the current month - without having to click on the calendar icon?

Not sure if there is a way to show that min calendar without clicking on a date field as such, but I think you could create an embedded report of the calendar type based on a report link. What if you could place a formula date field on the form that has today() as the value. And then create a report link to a calendar report that limits itself to the 1st of the current month and the last day of the current month.