Happy Birthday Chubby Bubby

On Saturday, Carter turned one. What a year it's been. And as anxious as I am for him to start acting like a big boy (so I can take care of another baby), it's a little sad, too. He's taking me a little bit too seriously and really growing up.

We celebrated on Saturday at Chuck E Cheese with my nephew, Tyson, who shares his birthday. Apparently there were a lot of birthdays that day. Or a lot of bored kids who talked their parents into an outing at Chuck E Cheese, because it was more crowded than I have ever seen it, and I have seen it a few times. Still, it was fun and a good birthday activity for the older kids who actually understand what birthdays are supposed to be like.

Monday night, we celebrated with my aunt's family. Carter also shares a birthday with my Uncle Tyler, while my cousin, Monique, and brother, Eric celebrate on Feb. 2. Lots of birthdays in a short time. Unfortunately, Tyler was out of town, but the rest of the family came to celebrate with us and so I made a little cake for Eric/Monique, too. Allie got the tiny cupcake pan for Christmas and has been begging to make tiny cupcakes for quite some time, so this was the perfect occasion.

The cupcakes are about the diameter of a quarter, so great for little hands.

Carter was a little unsure of the whole event. It was past his bedtime and there were a lot of people, so that would explain his shyness. He wasn't shy, however, about eating. Surprised?


We let him demolish two pieces of cake, which he thought was pretty great.

Here are some things I want to remember about Carter at this age:



1. The best thing about him not loving formula and bottles is that it was NOT hard to wean him. When I ran out of formula (a couple days before his birthday), I just started him on whole milk. At first I would put the milk in bottles, because I wasn't sure he had figured out sippy cups yet, but we don't even do that anymore. He quickly figured out how to drink from a cup by tipping his head (why he never figured it out with bottles is beyond me) and seems to like whole milk just as much as formula, if not more. I'm not surprised. Who doesn't like whole milk? We were driving in the car one day and Carter had a cup of milk and Kyla looked over with envy and said, "I love creamy milk."

2. As you saw in the last post, he has started walking. He literally went from taking 2-3 halting steps to walking across the room in one day. It was always a matter of confidence with him. Once he realized he could do it, he was off.

He still crawls more than walks, but he's walking more and more. It's still so thrilling to catch a glimpse of him letting go and just toddling around. (He has also been making this face a lot. I'm not sure what it means, but it's cute!)

He can also clap while walking and bend down to pick something up and stand back up. Impressive for someone who has only been walking for a week or so.

3. He goes to bed at 7:00 and wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00. He finally, consistently sleeps through the night. We have really struggled with this, as he is such a light sleeper and was waking up a couple times a week at various times of the night. I almost always made him cry it out (unless it went on and on and on, then I would go retrieve his frog and binky, which he had thrown on the floor, and give them back to him. This would make him fuming mad, but he'd usually calm down and go to sleep fairly quickly) and I'm crossing my fingers that it's worked.

He is trying to transition from two naps to one right now. It's frustrating trying to figure out what works best. Some days he still wants to take a long nap in the morning, some times he wants to take none. The last two days I have kept him up until after lunch and put him down for one nap. One day he slept almost 3 hours and one day he slept less than 2. Confusing. Then today he was ready for a nap at 9:30 so I put him down. I was going to wake up at 10:30, but he woke up on his own, then took a two hour nap after lunch. Weird. But we will try to get some routine down before this baby comes. I'd like to know what to expect!

4. He loves balls. This is a new found love, but he loves dropping them, watching them roll, and chasing them around the room.


He always picks the two balls out of the tub toys to play with, too. This pic is a little blurry, but it's an action shot! And he's so happy to have all kinds of balls to play with.

5. He learned the sign for "eat" this week and uses it constantly. He always thinks he wants to eat. I try to reinforce it as much as I can (we're still working on Please, more, drink, milk and thank you), but there comes a point when it just has to stop. He can't be eating ALL THE TIME! He's really not too picky, but he'll let you know if he's tired of something by shaking his head no or throwing it on the floor. He REALLY needs to learn the sign for drink, because several times I have learned after the fact that the reason he is crying is because he's thirsty.

6. Speaking of crying, he still cries a lot. He will be playing just fine and then all of a sudden, stop and cry. It's getting a little better now that he can pretty much get where ever he wants to go, but he still spends a fair amount of time sitting at my feet, crying and waiting for me to hold him. I know, without doubt, I am the person he loves most. It's very flattering.

Even without makeup and carrying all this extra weight around, he still loves me unconditionally. And that is therapeutic for anyone. But seriously, he is a tank and I get so tired holding him. So sometimes he just has to cry. Or put up with the other kids hauling him around, trying to make him happy.

7. He has finally learned to come down stairs. For the longest time, he would crawl all the way upstairs and play for a while, then start crying when he wanted me to come get him. He was just scared of the stairs. And I can't blame him. He has had his share of falls. His other favorite place to be is next to the shower in my bathroom. He has to crawl up the step, past the tub and up another step to get to his favorite perch, but always seemed to get stuck there (besides the several times he actually fell INTO the tub). Now he can back down by himself. That is a relief.

8. I read in my parenting book that by this age he should be mimicking what others do, and starting to use things the way they should be used. I had never seen him do this before, but just this week he has done it twice. First, he found a Magna Doodle and tried to color on it. That was fun. Then yesterday, he found a brush on the floor and brushed his hair with it. Cute.

9. He doesn't say any recognizable words. He can sort of repeat "Allie," which sounds like "Ahh-dee," but he makes that sound most of the time (it also sounds like Owie), so I don't think he's really saying it for/about her. He can say Dada and DayDay, but mostly refuses to say mama unless he's crying. So, no, he's not a very verbal kid.

10. He has 6 teeth--three on top and three on bottom. He got his top two first, then a central and lateral on bottom before the other central popped through. Now he has a lateral on top. We're waiting for the other two to complete the set. He drools a lot, but doesn't seem to be especially bothered by teething.

11. He still is constantly harassed by his sisters, especially Kyla. Most mornings, Damon or Kyla gets him out of bed and brings him to me (usually poopie). Kyla likes to carry him around still, which he does not like. He is getting a little more playful with his siblings, though, which is fun to watch. Usually he has no idea why anyone is laughing, but always likes to be in on the joke. His favorite people are, in order: Me, Jeff, my brother Eric, his siblings. And not really anyone else right now. He tolerates others (if they have food), but doesn't seem happy to see anyone else. It makes Eric's day that Carter loves him. I think it's cute, too.

12. He's still in 12-18 month clothes, although they are getting a little small. 18-24 is a tad big, so we are just waiting for spring before we bust out any new clothes. I think he'll be in 18-24 all year. We'll see.

I still love him more than I ever thought possible. He has had a rough first year of life, but he's been an amazing addition to our family. It's still SO FUN for me to have a little boy again. I can't wait to see what kind of person he turns into. Happy birthday Carter! You're one loved little boy!