First day and Seven Months

Damon started school last week, his first day of third grade. He has a thing for the color yellow, so of course he chose this shirt to wear. Truth be told, he wore it again on Monday and tried to wear it again today, but I convinced him it needed to be washed.

He is loving third grade and has already started learning times tables. I remember third grade very well, so it's crazy to me that I have a third grader. Weird. Damon has several girls who like him, and he pretends that he doesn't care, but I know the truth. He loves the attention.

Allie didn't start Kindergarten until Wednesday, a full week after Damon started. She was so excited. And she has loved it. I knew she would. Allie has really amazed me this year, and is going to be great in school. She reads better than Damon did when he started Kindergarten, which really surprised me. She has picked it up so easily.

Kyla is the one who is left out this year. Poor girl, as soon as Allie leaves in the afternoon, she has to entertain herself. I made some play dough for her on Wednesday and the mess that followed the next two days have convinced me that we won't be doing that again for a while. Kyla needs a lot of work on her own academic skills, so I am planning on using a day or two a week to focus on "preschool" needs of her own. I just couldn't justify sending her to preschool this year. We'll worry about that next year.

Carter celebrated his seven month birthday by getting his six month shots. Boo. I hate shots, and Carter did too. He didn't smile for over 24 hours and slept a lot. Slowly, he's coming back to himself. I missed him. At his appointment, he weighed 21 lbs 4 oz, so slightly less than Damon at the same age. Still, 90th percentile. 27 1/2 in long (65th) and 44.2 cm for head (50th).

Carter has really enjoyed eating solid food. In fact, that is all he wants. The doctor told me he should be drinking 28-30 oz of formula a day, and it has been hard to get him to take 24. So, he is taking a break from solid foods, and only gets them as a reward for drinking all his bottle. Sheesh! Who would have thought that green beans or oatmeal would be a reward for drinking your milk?

Some of his favorites are things I put in his "net," like mangos, plums and bananas. But I think the very best thing I have ever offered him was a graham cracker. That kept him quiet for 5 minutes, and he devoured it. Yum!


I trimmed his hair after this picture, as it was getting a little long on top. He cried when he heard the clippers coming near his head. Yep, he's still a sissy.



He sits up great now, never falls over, and is getting closer to crawling. I set him up by Jeff's lizards this morning, and he really enjoyed his "Baby TV" time. He sleeps through the night pretty consistently, from around 8:00-7:30 or so. It didn't take long of him crying it out to figure it out. Occasionally he will wake up, but he'll cry for a bit and then fall back asleep. He takes 3 naps a day, one around 1 1/2 hours, one a long one, at least 2-3 hours, and then another short one in the evening. Boy likes to sleep. Just not at church (he'll fall asleep, but never sleep longer than 20-30 minutes. After he wakes up, he'll be happy for 20-30 minutes and then be ready for another nap. It's tiring for us all).

For comparison, I took a picture of Carter in the same position as Damon at seven months. One of these babies was breast fed, the other bottle fed. See any differences?