11 months

I thought I better post this picture before this handsome love turns one, which happens in two weeks. During the last month, he has been teething like crazy. He now has three teeth on the bottom to go with the two on top, and his latest trick is grinding them together. Seriously? A teeth grinder with 5 teeth?

He has also become a little more adventurous around the house. Meaning: he likes to create messes. If there is a drawer or cupboard he can reach, he will open it and pull things out. If there are things on the coffee table, he will throw them on the floor. If the fridge is left open, he will empty out the doors he can reach in mere minutes.

Carter also cautiously explores every room (and toilet) in the house. If a door is open, he will crawl as fast as he can to the very edge to look out. But he will go no further. He isn't daring like Kyla was. Instead, he is content to get to the edge and stop. His favorite activity is still climbing the stairs and looking out over the family room. I did catch him on video tumbling down four or five stairs, and his reaction is always the same: I can't believe I fell! I knew it was going to happen! It's like he's mad at someone else for his own clumsiness.

He still isn't close to walking. He can stand. And stand and stand and stand, but when it comes to taking steps, he just isn't ready. Probably because he knows he will fall. He has started leaning and letting his feet follow, but I don't think he'll be walking by his first birthday. Hopefully soon, though. We'll keep working on it.


We are working on some signs (eat, please and more) and he may actually be getting it. He has signed eat a couple of times, but not with any consistency. He gets what he wants by crying until someone (usually Kyla) give in and give him whatever it is he wants to eat.

I still think of him as a baby, even though he is about to turn one. He just doesn't seem like he's ready to enter the toddler stage yet. But please let it be soon. We're down to less than 10 weeks before Baby Jimmer is born (haha, that was a Facebook joke from earlier in this week. NOT what we're going to name him/her).

More on that later...