7 Months Old

Dear Miles, 
Well, the ENT said you didn't need tubes. You must have just had a really bad ear infection that wouldn't go away. He said you were good to go, and your ears have been all good this past month. Hurray!!! Then, you got a cough - it woke you up almost every morning and made you spit up much more than usual, but that's clearing up too. Maybe your next month will be all healthy. Enough about that. We've had a fun month, and you have become such a little clown! You LOVE to laugh :) You are super ticklish too! You are becoming more involved because you can really sit up well now and you're really reaching and grabbing for things. Carter is having to learn how to share with you. You are also eating lots more now! You want to eat when we eat - you've definitely figured that system out! 

Here are your 7 month pictures:

You're such a little ham!

Here's you and your dog under the Christmas tree!

Here's a picture of you and your brother - he's 28 months old. You guys did so well with Santa.

He's having a hard time learning to share with you, but he likes to help you out. He likes to try to give you YOUR toys (not his), and he likes to feed you. You guys are starting to play together some...I love it!

Here are some of the things we did this month: 

• We took you on your first bike ride. I wouldn't say you really liked it quite yet, but it was a good first experience!

• We went to Lake Wedowee to celebrate Thanksgiving with family.

• We also went to the Farm in Wedowee to celebrate Thanksgiving some more. 

• We went went to the tree farm and picked out our Christmas tree. 

• We decorated our Christmas tree. 

• Grandmama and Nana came to visit to help me get the rest of the house decorated and all my shopping done. They took great care of you boys for me! 
• We went to a Christmas Parade - you sad in my lap on the back of Daddy's truck. 

• We went to go see Santa! You sat on his lap and held TIGHT to his beard. I think you were checking to see if it was real :)

Here are some things you are doing now: 

• You weigh 18lbs. 8oz. (50th) and 28 inches long (90th)!
• You nurse about 5 times a day.
• You have 2 teeth! 

• You are eating milk, baby food, oatmeal, teething cookies, puffs, etc... 

• You sleep about 10 hours every night. You still love to go to sleep at night.
• You take two naps a day. Morning nap is usually about an hour and afternoon nap is usually 2-3 hours. 
• You still like to chew your thumb like a fish hook. Grandmama found this picture of Granddaddy when he was little - I guess it's hereditary. 

• You can sit up on your own! 
• You roll from your stomach to your back.
• You can transition from sitting to your hands and knees. You're going to be crawling soon.

• You love to reach for things. You make a huge effort to get to things that are out of reach. You will fall on your face to get to something! 
• You love to laugh. You're really ticklish.
• You still like your bouncer, but you're getting more independent and want to be down on the floor with your brother playing.
• You try to hold your bottle. 
• You like to pound on things with your fists - your high chair, the floor, people who are holding you :)

Here is your typical schedule...this is getting to be more and more routine - yay for routine :)

6:30am - Wake up and Nurse
7:00am - Breakfast Babyfood (fruit or oatmeal) then Play
8:45 - 9am - Naptime

10:00am - Nurse then Play
11:30 - Lunch Babyfood (veggie) when brother eats then play
1:00 pm - Nurse & Naptime 
4:00-5pm - Mealtime (Nurse & Fruit or Veggie) then Waketime 
7:30pm - Bathtime (on bath nights) / Nurse / Bed
REPEAT...

I'm so excited about watching you on your first Christmas morning...you're going to love all that wrapping paper!!!

Love,
Mommy

PS. This is what your brother did when he was 7 months old. 

Merry Christmas!

I really have no idea if I'll have any time to post many stories or pictures during this Christmas season - it's pretty full. I need to post Miles's 7th month post - yes, he's 7 months already, but I'm not sure when I'll be getting to that. All of that to say, I wanted to blog and tell all of you who read this blog that I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!! May God's gift of salvation through the life, death and resurrection of his precious baby boy, Jesus bring you true joy throughout this season and into the new year! 

Also, a little spoiler picture from Santa's village, and the FIRST picture we've ever been able to get of Carter and Santa together! I'm not sure Carter knows exactly who Santa is...I think he thinks he's the clown from Jesus's birthday party, and he asked him for...cookies :) I love 2 year olds! I'll post more when I have time (it might be January)! 

Carter-isms this Christmas

Carter is now 28 months old (2 years and 4 months). He is a talker - all day long. We love to hear what's going on in that little head :) Here are some of the things he's been doing and saying:

*My mom was visiting and we started putting up the Christmas decorations. We have some small lit trees that go by our front door. We put these up at night after Carter was in bed. When he woke up this is what I heard, "Oh, wook mommy, wittle Christmas treats." Yes, they are little Christmas treats :)

*He picks an alternate personality for me and Kevin to take on each day. We are assigned our character, and we have to talk to him and interact with him through this thing - Cow, Botdee (his giant sock monkey), Grinch, and Santa Taus are the favorites! We must do voices, we must animate the stuffed thing as we are talking, and if we EVER put the thing down, he will stop what he is doing, pick it up, hand it to us, and say "Doe, Mommy/Daddy." As if to say, "Here you go mommy, you must have forgotten that you are cow today." Ahhhhhh life with a very imaginative toddler! I love seeing his creative brain at work! 

*I am trying to teach Carter the true meaning of Christmas - slowly but surely, year by year. Last year, he could identify "Jee Jee" (Baby Jesus). This year, I'm reading him the story in his Bible and other books about Christmas, and he and Miles got the Little People Nativity to play with. He can identify all the characters this year. So sweet to hear him say "Mary, Joe-sis or Joe-fis, and Baby Jesush." He knows that Mary is Jesus's mommy and Joseph is Jesus's daddy. We are also really focusing on the fact that Christmas is Jesus's birthday - Carter LOVES birthdays!!!! We sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus (cake)" several times a day! And, yes, Carter inserts the word cake there :) We light and blow out the candle on our dinner table over and over and over again - it really never gets old :)

*He has a stuffed "Santa Taus" - well he has several. He identifies them as "big santa taus" and "wittle santa taus." Kevin sat Big Santa Taus on Carter's lap the other night, and he asked Carter what he wanted for Christmas. A little backwards, but ok :) We haven't really been asking him this question, so I was interested to see what he would say... well, he asked him for pizza and tookies (cookies). That's my boy - hungry all the time! He's been consistent though. Every time since then that he has been asked what he wants for Christmas it is ALWAYS a food item - pizza, tookies, turkey, chicken, cake, etc... The other day when I asked him if he wanted any toys, he said "Not toys, Mommy (and started picking up his toys and naming them), monster truck, tars, tractor, etc..." as if to tell me that he has all the toys he needs, the thing that he doesn't have (at all times) is cookies and pizza :) Haha! So cute!!!

*He has started using pronouns when referring to himself (me, my, I, etc...) The days that he refers to himself as "Tarter" are fading. This is sad to me even though I didn't really want him going to kindergarten telling his teachers "Tarter needs to use the bathroom." I'd probably get summoned for more conferences than I cared to attend should that be the case. So pronouns are essential - and he has started using them. He does not really quite have the hang of it fully yet. For example, he says "my" instead of "me" a lot. He will say "Scoot my up" (to the table). He also confuses I and it's contractions like I / I'm / I've.  He says things like "I hungry" or "I've done."

*He's more attentive to Miles now. He will say things like "Mommy, Miles frying (crying)! " This really, really bothers him.... or "Here doe, Miles" as he hands him things. He will go up to Miles and say "I right here, Miles" to comfort his brother.  He will "show" Miles how to play with things. They also "fight." Carter will lean close to Miles until Miles randomly smacks him and then Carter will fall over saying "Miles hit me." Here it goes - sibling interaction/rivalry :)

*Carter likes to pick different stuffed animals to go to bed with him for naps and at night. His favorites are the Grinch, Tigger, and Santa Taus - they take turns....the ones that stay in his bed are his dog, his train, and his football. He is very good about going to bed. We ask him to get in bed, and (usually) he will crawl up in there and lay down on his pillow. He likes to be tucked in now. If you forget, he will remind you. The other night he looked at Kevin and said, "Zip my up, Daddy" :) Adorable.

*As you can see by his Christmas list, he likes to eat. I think his Mother's Day Out teachers know this as well :) I picked him up the other day, and he had made something out of salt dough. He was holding it in his hand, and he looked up at me and pointed at the thing in his had and said, "Not a tookie, mommy, not a tookie." Haha! You think he had heard that more than once?

*Carter calls all groups of people "boys." I guess that's what he hears people saying about him and Miles. He walked into the room and look and Kevin and me and said, "Hey, boys!" I let him know that I am not a boy. He said the same thing to my mom and me when she was here visiting. When he is ready to go somewhere he will say, "Tum on boys!" (Come on boys). I guess being the only girl in this home, I'll just get thrown in there with the boys :) I'm ok with that...

*Carter says "yere" ("there" with a y at the front) instead of "there." This is one of the cutest words - it makes me smile everytime I ask him where something is and he says "right yere" or "over yere" or "out yere." It's one of the ones I'm going to miss :)

I am going to add stories to this as I think of them. I know there's more that I want to remember from this stage, but those are some of my favorites :)

Merry Christmas!