Carter - 15 Month Update

We were supposed to have a 15 month appointment and I was going to be able to blog about his stats, but since his pediatrician’s office is not wonderful at scheduling, we don’t get to have the 15 month appointment until April 12, when he’s 15 1/2 months old.  Frustrating.  I digress.

I remember the days when I referred to Carter as my “bundle of joy”.  Well, he’s 15 months old now.  He’s not so much a “bundle” anymore as he is a “running, screaming bottomless pit of energy”.  Boys.  What can ya do. 

Here’s the things that happened this month:

• Probably the biggest thing that happened this month was the attempted transition from two naps to one.  An attempt which failed miserably.  Carter doesn’t take two long naps anymore.  Both naps range from 1-2 hours, but usually around an hour and a half.  In the past week, he’s gotten to where he won’t really sleep for the 2nd nap.  He just lays in his crib playing with his animals.  We tried to drop the 1st nap cold turkey and just give one nap at around 12.  This worked great the first day, but not so much the days following.  So then we tried to keep him sleeping his first nap around 11 and then just let him have “quiet time” for the 2nd nap since he didn’t sleep.  But then he started falling asleep for the 2nd nap after an hour of quiet time, which meant we usually had to wake him up after about 10-15 minutes of actual sleep (if we didn’t wake him up, he wouldn’t be tired for bed time).  So now, we’re playing with the idea of putting him down for his first nap, but only letting him sleep an hour or so, in hopes that he’ll be tired enough to take the 2nd nap and actually sleep.  We’re still in this transition so we’ll see how it goes.  It’s such a weird time for him.  He is NOT ready for one nap.  That much I know.  But he doesn’t exactly need two long naps anymore either. 
• On March 12, I noticed two extremely swollen bumps in the bottom of his mouth and it turns out they are teeth coming through.  His first MOLARS to be exact.  I’ve heard horror stories of molars cutting.  Apparently they are the worst.  They still haven’t broken through the skin yet, though.  And so far, there’s really only been one day where he was a terror because of it and even that was only for a couple of hours.  For the most part, he has taken it pretty well.  I imagine that once the molars come through, it will be time to make that first dentist appointment.  Momma’s in the Hoover area….know of any good pediatric dentists? 
• His hair DESPERATELY needs to be cut.  I know that seems like a weird statement if you’ve seen my child.  From a distance he still looks bald because his hair is BRIGHT blonde and very thin.  Regardless, it’s uneven at his forehead and it drives me nuts.  Plus his hairs are starting to go over his ears and I’m having to brush it behind his ear.  I plan to take him to my hairstylist (she does free first cuts for kids) once busy season is over.  I go to the same lady that my MIL and SIL go to and both of Jen’s twins had their first haircuts there.

• I’ll know more about stats when we go to the doctor, but as of now, Carter appears to be roughly 31.5ish inches and 23lbs.   This puts him around the 30th percentile (ish) for weight and 70th percentile (ish) for height.  I’m looking at charts online which are a big estimate so until his 15 month appointment on April 12, I won’t know the exact percentile numbers.  He’s tall and skinny though.  That’s been his motto most of his life.
• At this point, numerous people (including complete strangers) have commented on how much Carter looks like Justin.  I guess I just don’t see it.  I see Carter as himself.  I could see Justin and even Justin’s dad Gordon, in some of Carter’s features when he was younger, but I guess I just see Carter as Carter now.

• As far as milk goes, we’ve slowly been getting rid of the sippy cup right at bedtime.  He’s been at 4 milk feedings a day for a while (breakfast, lunch, dinner and right before bed) and we’re trying to get him to just 3 meals like we do.  Now, the only time he gets a 4th milk serving is when he doesn’t drink enough milk in the first three so we have to use that 4th feeding to fill him up on some calcium.  But lately he’s been drinking everything we give him, so on days where he has had plenty of milk in the other three milk feedings, we drop the one before bed.
• Carter has never been a fan of sandwiches, which is unfortunate because it’s hard to give him something to eat at Mother’s Day Out.  I usually end up giving him a stage 3 food and a fruit pouch.  He’s slowly learning to eat turkey and cheese sandwiches though.  He’s hesitant with big people bread for some reason.
• Words he’s saying - in addition to all the ones he was saying at 14 months, he now says “purple” and he tries so hard to say “light” it’s just not coming to him naturally.  He also knows the difference between blue and purple!!!!  I’m so proud of that.  I held up the purple “5” in the bathtub and said “Carter what’s this?” and he said “pur-pa” (that’s how he says it").  Then I got the blue “X” and asked him what that was and he said “boooo” (also how he says “blue”).  I can’t believe he already knows two colors!!!!  But honestly, as far as words go, he says everything y’all!  Anything he hears us say, he tries to say.  He’s attempted numerous words but he only understands what so many of them mean.
• Justin took Carter on his first ever road trip.  I was sad I wasn’t with them, but glad that Carter got to see his great grandparents.  Justin and Carter, along with his sister Jennifer and her husband Aeron and their twin girls, drove (separately of course) to Pensacola to spend a few days with their grandmother (the kids great grandmother).  She bought a whole bunch of toys just for those few days.  They LOVED being at her house.  She has a gigantic backyard that the kids literally wore themselves out running around.  Carter did well on the trip.  Justin stopped at a rest stop for lunch on the way there.  Carter slept over an hour on the way back so he didn’t stop.  He utilized the DVD player at times, but at other times, Carter just looked out the window and laughed at things outside.  It was a successful trip and a great starter for our family trip to Gatlinburg that we’re taking the weekend after the April 15th deadline (momma NEEDS a vacation!).

On the left, Cynthia and Carter were pointing to people in picture and saying “Nana” and “Papa”.  Cutest thing ever.  On the right, this was just a random picture Justin snapped and sent to me.  It looks like he is very intent on reading this manual!

On the left, Justin and Jen took all the kids to a park in Pensacola to meet some family members they never get to see and their 10 month old daughter.  All the kids played together and had fun.  Carter looks like such a big boy in this pic!!!  On the right, he was OUT after a day of non-stop playing!

• Outside.  Lord help us.  Our child LOVES being outside.  If I take him outside to play for 10 minutes or so and then pick him up to bring him inside, he will arch his back and scream bloody murder.  He frequently will walk up to the back door and just cry while reaching for the door knob to try to open it.  I’m hoping to find a way SOON to keep him from constantly wanting to be outside, but honestly, I think it’s just because it’s been winter and he’s been cooped up for too long inside.  We’ve had some pretty amazing days with weather lately and we’ve taken advantage and taken him outside to play and he loves it.  I’m sure once summer rolls around and we do it more often, it won’t bother him if he’s not outside every waking minute.
• Speaking of door knobs.  While Justin was in Pensacola with Carter, he learned how to open doors.  The kind with a straight handle as a door knob.  The doors in our house all have actual knobs so it will take him a while before he’s tall enough and coordinated enough to learn he has to turn the knob.  But that little discovery in Pensacola has taught him to at least TRY to open the doors.  So he can reach the knobs if he’s on his tippy toes, and just last weekend, while trying to turn the knob, he was able to turn the lock on the knob.  Yes, he locked the door.  Luckily I was in there with him.  I know I am going to have to have Justin show me how to unlock our doors in case Carter locks himself in a room!  Luckily, there are two ways into all the rooms on our first floor.
• He knows where his head and tummy are as well as what a nose is.  He says “nose” and points to our noses, but I don’t think he’s realized yet that HE has a nose.  We’re still working with that and also on mouth and ears and hair (and that he can’t pull mommy’s hair).
• The kid will very rarely sit down to watch TV unless he is strapped into the carseat and is in the car.  There’s just way too much other stuff to explore!
• He crawled up the entire set of steps in our house (with me behind him of course).  We have gates at the top and bottom of the stairs so his “exploring” of his abilities are limited.  The steps outside are much fewer, only two or three.  He likes trying to go up those steps in an adult way (foot on the step instead of the baby way-knee on the step).  He always bends over and feels the step with his hands first though.  As if he wants to make sure that it’s sturdy enough for him to step on.  It’s hilarious.  But he feels so accomplished when he steps up on a step.  Once he discovered this, he became obsessed with walking on different “levels” of the ground.  If that makes any sense…probably not so let me explain further.  For example, the slight step up from the front porch to the foyer inside.  There’s also slight changes in levels between the sidewalk and the grass.  He likes to test his abilities and step up and/or down.  When he is able to change levels on things without falling, he starts clapping and saying “yaaaay” and then he’ll do it again.  He does it over and over.  He’s so proud of himself!
• We got some shoes for summer.  Three in fact.  Some white sandals to go with the (dare I say it?) smock outfits I got him at Cotton Tails in Birmingham.  Yes, I said he would never wear smock, and yet I have caved.  Anyway, I got him some white sandals, some brown open toe sandals and a pair of “baby running shoes” (Saucony’s to be exact).  He looks like such a big boy in them!!!  They measured his foot and he is now a size 5!  FIVE!!!  How is this happening??  I remember his first visit to Stride Rite to get his first pair of shoes and he was a 3 1/2 and that was only like 6 or 7 months ago!   His foot is still wide, too.  So all of his shoes are 5W.
• Drinking.  Carter has been introduced to drinking from an adult cup…and he loves it.  I started doing P90X a couple of weeks ago (trying to knock that off the list) and when I go in my workout room to do the workout, I always carry a huge cup of water in there with me.  Carter saw me drink from it one day and he ran to me and pointed to the cup so I gave him a sip.  He was not good with just one sip!  He wanted to constantly drink from it.  I had to go fill my cup back up with water because he drank all of it and I ended up giving Justin a separate cup so he could give Carter water while I finished working out.  The next day, he wouldn’t drink much milk from his sippy cup, so I put it in a big people cup and he guzzled it. 

Here’s a few other pictures from the month:

 

All a kid really needs is his footie pajamas, a hoodie to keep the ears warm and a fun (empty) sprite bottle to play with :)  It makes for a happy happy kid!

He’s picked up on how Justin and I drink things from bottles.   It’s hilarious to watch him play with them!  He is also LOVING blueberries these days.  He gets so excited when he sees them and he grabs one with each hand and shoves both of his hands into his mouth at the same time.  It’s as if he is afraid we’re going to take some of the blueberries from him so he has to eat them fast!

Left:  Going on a hike with daddy at Red Mountain park.  Right:  Gangster Carterman on St.  Patty’s Day.

 

And this, my friends, is what happens when those fruit pouches go wrong ;)

Overall, I’m loving my sweet sweet boy and this age!  He is so much fun right now.  I can’t wait until we’re in full blown summer and taking constant trips to the Zoo or the McWane Center and going to the pool and hanging out on the golf cart WITHOUT a blanket.  His little brain is learning something new every single day and I adore watching him figure things out on his own.  Only TWO MORE WEEKS until my work craziness is over and then I will have every single Friday off and only be working 34 hours a week!  So much Carterman and mommy time to come :)