Ok after all

Carter has refused to eat anything that is mashed, pureed texture since the first baby cereal when he was 5 1/2 months. My mom got him to eat applesauce over the weekend so I decided to try it today to see if he'd do it for me. What do you know? He ate it. There's some hope after all!

Pictures

Over this last weekend Carter learned how to clap. He now claps all the time and is pretty proud of himself when he does it. When we say "yeah" he'll start clapping or at other times that he thinks calls for a clap. It's so cute. Here's a picture I caught of him mid clap. When he pushes the button on the ball popper to start it, he is so excited he got it to go that he starts clapping. Looking cute in his new overalls. Giving Ace some loves, much to Ace's dismay. Ace has really grown a little leery of Carter lately and keeps a close eye on where he's at. Mostly due to the fact that Carter thinks it's hilarious to ram his car into Ace and chases him around the room with it. Sitting inside his toy box, surrounded by his toys. Cute smiles! Sporting one of the cute onesies Aunt Kandra made him. Trying out his new big boy car seat. He looks so small in it. He hasn't quite outgrown his infant carseat yet, so that stays in dad's truck and we put this one in the car. I like the fact that he will be able to stay rear facing in it up to 40 pounds and forward facing until he's 65 pounds. With how his weight has gone so far I think it will be a while before he hits 65 pounds. Climbing in boxes again. Great shot of his 5 teeth, 3 on top and 2 on bottom. He really loves playing with the ball popper and has even started putting the balls back down the track instead of just hording them like he use to. He must have discovered the game is funner if the balls keep popping out. Sitting inside the seat of his car. He had fun for a few days with this box on it's side. He'd push his toys down in it, then get on his belly and crawl into it to get his toys back out. It was pretty cute just seeing his legs trailing out the back. Chillin' on his car again. Have I mentioned how much fun he has on this? He loves it!

Carter Walking

Carter has taken a step or two in the past. Last week at the sitters he took 5 steps. On Wednesday when my mom was here he took 4 steps from her to me and then went back again. We tried to get him to do it when Lance got home but he wouldn't. At church today in the foyer he walked from Lance over to me. This afternoon while I was sleeping Lance said he had been walking a lot, still just 6 or so steps. We were able to get a little video of it. I have a feeling in the next week or to he is really going to take off. It's exciting but I'm not sure I'm ready to have such a mobile boy! He's getting so big. Sorry the video is side ways.

County Fair

On labor day we decided to go out to the fair. It's been a few years since Lance or I have been and it was Carter's first time, since last year he was only a few days old. After his morning nap and lunch we headed out. He had fun watching the people and looking at the flags and animals. With all the animals he kept saying "oohhh", which is one of his favorite new things to say. He also kept calling them all "Ace." To which we would correct him to what animal it was. It didn't matter if it was a draft horse or a pig, it was "Ace." Besides actually being our dog, it seems like he uses Ace kind of as his go to word when he doesn't know what else to say. We've been working on words more with him and he has started repeating words back to us sometimes. It was pretty funny though because he'd be all excited with the animal and say "Ace, Ace, Ace ooohhh." One time we were looking at one of the draft horse who decided to turn around to give us a great view while he did his business, which Carter watched intently and said a big long "oooohhhh." Lance and I both just started laughing. Lance and I enjoyed some yummy food while Carter was happy being out of his stroller, pushing it around. By the end of the afternoon Carter was getting pretty grumpy and after the pig races we went home. It was a fun little afternoon. Next year I think we will definitely have to go out because he'll be two years old (tear, tear) and will really enjoy it and hopefully by then know that all animals are not Ace. :) Lance wanted to make sure and get a picture of Carter with a goat for his dad. :) Carter didn't try grabbing the animals very much or would start to and then decide to back a way. He really liked watching the rabbits. There was even a rabbit named Lance but he was kind of an ugly bunny so I decided to find a cuter looking one for Carter's photo op.

One Year Old Birthday

For Carter's actual Birthday, it was a typical but fun day for us. Lance was working and had class that evening so it was mostly Carter and I all day. We did some of his favorite things for his big day. We went on a walk. We played at the park on the swings and playground equipment. Carter had fun climbing in boxes and playing with toys. He of course spent a lot of the day pushing his car. Watch out! Crazy driver coming through! He also had fun dropping things over the baby gate and then reaching down to pick them up and do it again. What fun! We also played with his ball. I forgot to get his one little present I had saved for his actual birthday out, so we got it out the next day. He had fun playing with his new stack and nestling blocks. For dinner that night I made cheese ravioli which is one of his favorite things to eat. He will eat about 8 of them in one sitting, more than I eat. He also was a good boy and ate a couple spoon fulls of corn. For our cake that night he had fun with the apple juice jello cake I made him. He actually ate a lot of it once we showed him it was food since at first he was just poking it and couldn't grab it and looking at it with a look of confusion. I discovered after I had picked him up that he had managed to get some of the jello behind him in his chair and made a big mess down his back. So we also got a bath for our birthday. Carter likes playing with his toys in the bath. He has trouble remembering he needs to stay sitting down but is good about sitting back down when I tell him he needs to sit in the bathtub. I usually just have to keep reminding him though. After our bath he played for a little while longer and then we finished out with our usual nightly ritual or nursing, singing songs, brushing our teeth, and reading some stories. It was a busy fun filled day for our one year old Carter. We love him so much!

Birthday Party

The Saturday before Carter's birthday we had a little party for him and invited the family. Both grandparents were able to come as well as Lance's younger sis with her family and they brought some more of the cousins with them. It was a fun day! We had a little BBQ in the backyard and the older kids had fun playing with the dogs and with some bubbles. Carter really liked watching them blow the bubbles.Here's Carter with his birthday cake. I made this cake and then cupcakes for everyone. Lance and I had to help blow his candle out. Carter mostly just enjoyed pulling his cupcake apart. He did seem to like the peach ice cream though. He made a cold brain freeze face but kept opening his mouth for more. That's the only soft thing we've been able to get him to eat because he usually refuses to eat anything mashed up or liquidy like. Here is Carter with his cousin that were able to come. Here he is with the other two closest in age to him (7 1/2 weeks apart, with Carter the youngest and Dawson the oldest). Look back here for the similar picture of the three of them about 11 months before this. They acted about the same. Dawson was pretty chill just sitting there. Carter was busy grabbing Bryn and encroaching on her space. Bryn after a short while was done with it and not to happy about these boys squeezing in on her. I love her face in this picture! Carter loves seeing balloons in the store but this was the first time he's really been up close with them. He seemed to like them at first but then was terrified of them and cried when they came to close and watched them with great concern. However the next morning he was back to liking them and had fun pulling on the strings to make them move. Carter got some fun presents. Once I started opening them he did pretty good helping pull off the wrapping paper. He had no problem with the gift sacks and knew just how to pull the paper out and was excited when there was something in the bottom of the sack for him to pull out (I think that was almost more fun then the present itself). Lance and I had decided to get him a riding/pushing toy because he's played with them at other houses and loves them. I was glad I had waited to open this one last because he was so excited when he saw it and wanted to start playing with it. You can kind of see in this picture, he started trying to climb on the seat while it was still in the box. The other kids were excited about it to, especially Dawson who kept trying to play with it to. Carter wasn't to happy about it until we put Dawson on the seat so he could still push it but they both could play with it. He pushes the little boy at our friend's house who watches Carter for us, so he knew just what to do. Here he is with all his fun loot. Lance and I also got him the puzzle, which he enjoys taking the pieces out of and the ball popper which he has fun with and has even figured out how to turn the on/off switch in back, although he hasn't quite figured out which way is which. I wanted to get a closer up picture of the stuff on the chair. Lance's parents got him those fun cars he's playing with. He loves putting those in and out of things and rolling them on the floor. One of my SILs made those adorable onesies for him! And Lance's other sister made those cute ties. How cute are they, right?! My parents gave him the great clothes, some to grow into, and shoes. We had such a fun day and were so glad that those who were able to make it came! It meant a lot to have family there to celebrate Carter's big day!

Difficult new word

Carter loves saying Ace. Recently when he's been saying Ace's name looking for him I started telling him that he is outside. Well one of the times after I said this he repeated the word back to me. It was so cute. He now says "outside" which comes out sounding more like "a-side" whenever he looks out the blinds or when we walk by the back door. He had his official one year doctor appointment today. He really hated his shots. It was his worst reaction since 2 mo ones when he cried the whole way home. He kept periodically crying clear out to the car. Addendum: about 10 days after his shots he ran a low grade temperature with no other symptoms. Only thing I can figure is it the late reaction they talk about with the MMR shot.

Happy Birthday Big Boy Carter!

I know everyone always says it but I really can't believe he is a year old already! Here are his stats:

• 29 inches - 25th percentile

• 19 pounds 14 oz - 10th percentile

• head 19 inches - 90th percentile

Everyone always says he's looking so big to which we say it's just his head that's huge and his belly, the rest of him is small. Things about Carter this month:

• Still loves pushing anything and everything around and walking with it
• Climbs in boxes and laundry baskets
• Says, mom, da-da, Ace, yes, oh, opps
• Can throw one tantrum when he's upset, foot stomping and crying
• Has learned how to squeal at the top of his lungs (much to the dismay of our ears)
• Drinks very well from his sippy cup
• So far doesn't seem to care if he's drinking milk, water, or juice
• Wears size 4 shoes (his feet are about size 3 1/2), 9 or 12 month onesies and shirts, 12 month pants (which are to big int he waist), and 9 month jammies still fit him best (the 12 mo ones he ends up walking on the legs because they slide down)
• Does very well eating and if it a favorite lots of times eats more than I do. Loves: most fruit except banannas, veggies have their days but corn, peas, and carrots he'll usually eat a few of, like grains: cereal, waffles, pancakes, bread, likes eggs and little pieces of meat, beans it depends on the day
• Puts things in and out of boxes
• Throws his ball and other toys, as well as food sometimes
• Loves Ace and still gets so excited when he sees him
• Really loves his mommy and daddy and gets so excited when we come home
• He has his 2 center teeth on bottom and his top center right one, and the one next to that in and the other top middle one if starting to poke through
• His eczema is still really bad and has it's flair ups no again on his abdomen, legs, knees, bum, and behind his ears
• It takes a lot to distract him during diaper changes to keep him in his back
• He loves watching people lead music at church and has started to "sing" along
• Takes a morning and afternoon nap and still seems to wake up a time or two during the night but most the time we can get him right back to sleep
• Insists on having at least a finger on something when walking even though he could walk by himself he wanted to

We sure love our big boy!!