Attacked...again

Tomorrow, I'll be calling the program that we use for Carter's daycare. Remember the biter from last year? He's on the attack again. The other day Carter came home with a bite on his arm and I asked who did it and he said the kid's name. And kept saying, "(name of kid) bite, (name of kid) bite." I talked to Shaista about it and she said she'd keep an eye out. Okay, no big deal. I was just bringing it to her attention so she can look out for this kid biting again.

But today, my baby came home with bite marks all over his arm. At least SIX of them! One of them is pretty bad, but thankfully none of them broke the skin. Chris picked him up and talked to Shaista and she said the kids were playing out back and one of the older kids (about 10 years old) caught the kid biting Carter and tried to stop him but the kid turned on him and started attacking him too! So at least we have it confirmed by a third party who the biter is, and not just relying on the testimony of a one-year-old.

Since this is AT LEAST the 3rd time this has happened, I feel it's time to get the program director involved. I'll be calling tomorrow, you can count on that.

(Click on the pics to make them bigger. You can really see the bite marks in the full size version.)

Puzzles, and other miscellaneous stuff

Carter has several Melissa and Doug wood puzzles that his grandma and grandpa got him for Christmas. He's always enjoyed telling us what the animals are and what noises they make, but he didn't grasp the concept of putting the pieces where they belong. Yesterday, however, we discovered that he can do it now! He picks up the pig, says "pig" and then points out the pig on the puzzle. He has some trouble getting it to fit perfectly and gets frustrated, but he at least understands the concept. So cool!

But what's not cool is that he knows how to curl his little hands into fists and make contact with another person. He does it and then says, "hit" so he knows what he's doing and is doing it on purpose. Not very nice.

Oh,and one more thing. He has a serious OBSESSION with the Horton Hears a Who movie. It's insane. He's constantly asking to watch it and if you try to put it on in the middle, he throws a fit until you start it from the beginning. He won't even watch Yo Gabba Gabba anymore! All he wants is his "Who" movie. Good thing it's a good movie so I don't totally hate it yet. I just wish Horton would sing the alphabet or count to ten or something so I can at least call it educational.

Speaking of counting, Carter has a pretty good grasp on counting. He can count to five pretty much without mistake, if he's really trying. Otherwise, he says, "1,2,5,10!" But he knows the numbers and when you get to 10, he says 11 and 12. So I guess you can say he can count to 12? His favorite is saying, "8,9,10!"

New job

My new job started this past Thursday. I left my old job on Wednesday and started my new one the next day. It would have been nice to have had a day or two to myself, but my old job needed me as long as I could stay and the new job wanted me as quickly as I could. So, that was my compromise.

The first day I spent training on their computer system (it's a different program than the one I used at my old job) and I think I picked it up fairly quickly. It's not really an intuitive program, but I took a lot of notes and screenshots and by Friday I was left to myself to grind out some commitments (I'm a title insurance underwriter) and see how it went. I got a bunch of them back today for edits, but it was stuff that was just related to weird kinks in the program that I need to learn to work around, not underwriting issues, for the most part. So that was good.

The first day has some good stuff and some bad stuff, but it seems to be getting better each day. Right now my desk is right out in the open, no walls or anything. I'm told my cubicle has been ordered but it takes a while for delivery. It'll be nice to have a tiny bit of privacy again. I'm used to having my own office, so the open work environment is taking a little bit of getting used to. The other thing that I didn't like was that on my first day, no one offered to go out to lunch, or sit with me at lunch, or anything. I sat outside on a bench and ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It was lonely and embarrassing, to be honest. Now, I just bring my Kindle and eat in the lunchroom, and chat with whoever's in there. It seems that most of my coworkers eat at their desks, but I don't want to get into that habit. I did that for too many years.

My coworkers are nice for the most part. I'm still getting to know them but we seem to work pretty well together. As with anywhere, there are those I click with more than others, but so far no big conflicts of personality. Ask me again in a few months and I'm sure I'll have more colorful things to say. :-)

So, that's what's new with me. As for Chris, his last day of work is this Wednesday, and then he starts school on Monday. He's very excited!

And little Carter...well, he's just a hilarious dude. He imitates EVERYTHING. We were at Dick's the other day and there was a man bent over, looking at the bottom shelf of one of those glass displays. Carter stood right next to him, leaned over just like the guy was, and smiled at him. The guy was like, "He's imitating me, isn't he?" We said yes and we all laughed and laughed. And then we ate bologna sandwiches. (Only Heather will understand that last line, so the rest of you can ignore it.)

And since I haven't posted any new pictures in forever, here's a pic of Carter after we went blackberry picking a few weekends ago. He tasted some of the merchandise, as you can tell.

Labels

Everything now needs a name. I hear "Wut dis?" a hundred times a day and I never tire of it. First of all, I love the way he says it, but second, I love that he's curious about his world and wants to know what things are. And when I tell him, he repeats the word and moves on with what he was doing.

And there's a new body part that he knows. Armpits! I didn't teach him that; Shaista must have. I was just going through his body parts with him the other day and just decided to ask where his armpits are, thinking he'd say he didn't know. But he reached his arms up so his pits were showing and said "armpits." Love it.

Other than that, we've just been busy wrapping things up at our respective jobs and looking forward to all the changes that are coming. Chris' textbooks came yesterday along with his new graphing calculator (1. damn, those are expensive and, 2. they're just as big as they were in 1993 when I had to use one in high school...isn't technology supposed to be getting smaller???). My job has hired my replacement and she's learning quickly and doing well, and my boss is comfortable with how things are going to end up there. She sort of panicked when I gave my notice because it's hard to find someone who does every aspect of what I do, but thankfully this woman came along and she's going to work out great. It's all going to be good. I feel it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Chris has applied for and been accepted to utilize the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, since he served active duty after September 11th. He's been talking about going back to school for years now, but it's never been feasible financially. Thankfully, his service has now paid off and he's going back to school next month to finish his degree. He'll be going back full-time, which means he'll be leaving his current job and will be a student and SAHM dad (on the days he has classes at night or no classes at all). This is a good thing for a lot of reasons and we're all very excited about it.

Since he's going back to school and leaving his job, we'll be losing our medical insurance (his company provides our insurance benefits). As much as I love my job and the company I work for, I quickly realized that in order to make this school thing happen, I'd have to move on and find somewhere that can offer me insurance for my family. It was a really hard decision to make, and one that made me cry more than once, but it's a sacrifice I need to make for my family.

I applied for a few jobs that sounded like something I'd be interested in, and I quickly had three interviews lined up. The first interview offered me the job on the spot but I had to wait for a background check to come in, the second interview just didn't feel like a good fit, and with the third interview I got a call 10 minutes after I left offering me the job. After a lot of deliberation and talking to Chris and my mom about the pros and cons of both, I decided to go with Offer #1.

I'll be working for another title company out in Chantilly, so my commute will be quite a bit longer than my current 10-15 minutes, but the pay and benefits are more beneficial to what we need to survive the next few years. I'll miss my one day off a week, but that's sort of gone by the wayside recently anyway since most Mondays I find myself dialing in from home or even going in to the office for a little while.

Giving my notice to my current employer was really, really hard. She and her husband (also an owner of the company) are like family to me and I really enjoy working where I do. But, after seven years, it's time to move on I suppose. I'm really going to miss it there.

One more before I go to bed

One more video before I hit the hay. Pretty self-explanatory.

You spin me right round

Haven't had a video in a while. Here's Carter imitating his buddy, Ricky.

We're here

We're still here. Busy weekends, busier workweeks. Lots of changes but I can't talk about any of them just yet.

We were in Delaware this weekend to see Chris' family and Carter has taken on a new look. Really it's just a furrowed brow but it's hilarious because he can't look at his great-uncle David without making that face. I got a picture of it and will try to post it tonight if I can remember. Poor David. Although Carter did give him a hug when we left, so that was progress. And Chris' grandmother? Well she got tons of kisses and hugs from the little man. It took him a little while (okay, about a year) to warm up to her but he's been asking for her ever since we left on Sunday. We'll have to go back soon. I know that would make his MomMom happy.

Mea Culpa

I recently responded to a blog post of someone I've been reading for a while now. I've found her to be crass, smart, entertaining, and hilarious, but something about this particular post rubbed me the wrong way. And I decided that instead of being my usual non-confrontational self, I'd post a comment expressing my displeasure. She took the time to email me to explain her post a little further and I was really impressed that she cared enough about me as a reader to do that.

But then? I never wrote her back. The email was lost in the insanity of my inbox and I dropped the ball. I should have just written her back right away but life got in the way, I suppose. Now she's called me out on her blog, rightfully so, and I feel like a total shit.

I'm sorry, CP. It wasn't my intention to ignore you or your reaching out to me. I just suck, that's all.

Oh, come on!

I took Carter to the fountain this morning to play and there was a little boy there, maybe two years old, down on the ground crying and having a hissy fit. Carter was very concerned and was watching him for a minute and then said, "Baby?" I said, "Yes, the baby's upset and crying." The mom (or maybe she was the grandmother; she was quite a bit older) made a point of asking me how old Carter is and then said to the other kid, "You're not a baby, are you? You're older than that boy. You're no baby!"

Get a grip, lady. I wasn't trying to insult your kid. Carter calls all kids "babies." He doesn't know the difference. So I told her that he calls all kids babies and she said, "Yeah, at THAT age, they do." in a tone that insinuated that I shouldn't be calling him one. Whatever.

Damn you recession!

We tried to go to our local Fractured Prune yesterday for breakfast. Closed down. Bah.

Feeling Itchy?

Yesterday marked seven years since Chris and I met and started dating. Is the itch supposed to start seven years after dating or seven years after marrying? Because I am feeling just fine, thank you very much.

I give up

I have to give up on Carter's Word List on the right-hand side. He's adding so many new words each day that I'd have to keep a piece of paper and pen on me and write them all down before I forgot. He's doing a lot more combining of words, which is really cute and exciting. He has a little trouble making it flow easily so there's always either a slur in the middle or a little pause between words. For instance, "I louhdooiuyouyouh Mommy" for "I love you, Mommy" or "yellow (pause) bus." And another thing I'm noticing is that sometimes he gets his letters out of order. Like, he'll say "pack" instead of "cap" or where "zebra" used to be "bahbrah" it's now "bahbree."

A new thing he's doing that I just love love love, is that he kisses everything. He pulls my shirt up and kisses my bellybutton as I'm standing over his crib. And then will walk around and kiss all four sides of his crib. And then the tv. And the coffee table. And himself in the mirror.

In case you were concerned, and I'm sure all four of you are, Carter's butt is much, much better. I'd say it's about 90% healed. I really think it's the Epsom baths that did it. That stuff is magical!

Two Days Later

Still a very angry butt. Between the last post and when we went to the doc the next day, the part at the top got more brown and scabby, rather than bumpy and red.

The doctor was, um, confused, as to what was going on. He called it "interesting." He put Carter on a trifecta of steroid cream (just for a day or so to get the anger away), then antibiotic and Lotrimin. He said between the three, one of them should work. Helpful, right?

And, per NG's suggestion, I also put him in an Epsom bath for a little bit today. It seemed to work on it pretty quickly. The scabby part started turning whitish, which I supposed is a good sign.

Below are some updated pics if you can stomach them. Kinda grody, unless you're into that sort of thing. Which I am. Parts of it look better, but other parts look worse. Damn thing is mystifying.

Rash

Carter's got a helluva rash on his butt. He had a few days of diarrhea the week before last and got a bad butt rash from it. I had a lot of trouble getting it to clear up. It would start to get better but then have another flare-up. Today, it got worse than it's been. And it's migrated from his cheeks to the top of his crack. It has a horrible texture to it and the top part seems a bit yellowish. We're headed to the doc in the morning to get him some help. We've tried all the usual treatments: prescription butt cream, hydrocortisone, etc.

The End of an Era

Carter has nursed for 90 seconds in the past three days. I started weaning him when he turned 18 months. I stopped offering it in the morning and throughout the day, but if he asked for it, I would oblige. I was still nursing him before bed though. That was my favorite time, cuddling with him in the glider. We spent this past long weekend in Baltimore and Pennsylvania and he was so exhausted by bedtime that he had no interest in nursing and when I offered, would say, "No meemees, no meemees" (which is how he pronounces "milkies"). I think this weekend was the boost we both needed to take the plunge and just stop altogether.

It makes me sad but I think we were both ready.

New Hat

He wore it all day.

I've created a monster

I had no idea how many school buses there were until Carter started saying "bus." Good lord, it's all I hear now!

Oh, and we got a childproof lightswitch cover last night and moved his room back to how it was. He went to bed perfectly and slept until I had to wake him up to leave this morning. Heavenly.

So proud of himself

I've been trying to teach Carter the differences between a car, bus, and truck for a few days now. Maybe a week. Anyway, he gets car. Everything is a car, even motorcycles. We see a lot of school buses on our way to daycare and he always notices them and yells out "Car car car car" repeatedly until I acknowledge him. I correct him that it's a bus and ask him to say "bus" and he does (except he puts the "sh" sound at the end which is so cute I could die). Yet, he still continued to call them cars.

This morning, though, we pulled up next to another big yellow bus and he yells out, "Bus! Hooray! Clap clap!" and clapped his hands. He knew he got it right and was so proud of himself. I couldn't stop laughing. I'm laughing now remembering it.

He No Likey the Change

Last night we rearranged Carter's room to move him away from the light switch. And the curtains. His crib was on a wall where the top part was accessible to the light switch, and the bottom side was at the curtains. Yes, it's a very small room. I tried moving him closer to the window but he liked pulling at the curtains to see outside.

So we moved him to the opposite wall. I hate how his room looks now but we really had no choice. He would constantly turn the light on and then whine and cry and not sleep until someone came in to turn it off. Forget the fact that he could reach it to turn it off also. He just didn't realize he could do that.

Anyway, last night? Didn't go so well. He was very, very upset at the change. He can't see out the door anymore, which is probably a little scary. He could see the light from our bedroom before and now he has a view of the big chair in our living room. I think he likes the reassurance that we're right there, and the way his crib is now doesn't give him that. We let him cry for about 5 minutes and then he fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion (it was 9:00 and he hadn't had a good afternoon nap). This morning he woke up crying. Typically he wakes up and plays and talks and says "Hi Mommy" over and over until I come get him.

I hope he gets used to it soon. I don't know what else to do to keep him away from the light switch. They don't make a childproof cover for them, do they?

His Father's Son

I'm the messy one in our relationship. I just can't help myself. I'll get motivated and clean clean clean and tell myself that I'm not going to bed until the house is straight, but then after three days, I'm tired and over it.

Don't get me wrong, Carter makes a mess like any toddler. But last night he proved he takes after his neat father. Carter had two pairs of shoes in the living room and I asked him to put one pair away in his closet. He asked for help and I followed him in his room and showed him his closet and he put the shoes neatly down. I asked him to put the other shoes away and he grabbed them and ran into his room and yelled "Help?" I went in and he couldn't find a clear floor space to put them down and didn't want to pile them on top of the other shoes. I moved the first pair somewhere else (more like, I threw them toward the back of the closet, typical me) and he neatly placed the second pair in the now empty space.

Body Parts

The body parts Carter knows and can point to:

• Hair*
• Head
• Eyes*
• Ears*
• Nose*
• Teeth*
• Mouth
• Tongue
• Shoulders
• Belly Button*
  
• Fingers
• Elbow*
• Penis**
• Knees*
• Toes*
• Feet*

* He can say all the words with a "*"
** I believe in using the correct words for body parts. Therefore, he has a penis, not a willy, a peepee, or other made-up name. No judgment for those that do, just not my choice.

Pretend Play

Carter has started pretending! You know that thing parents do when they pretend to eat something, or pretend to drink something, in order to get their kid to do it? Carter does that. He'll take his cup and pretend to drink from it and then say "Mmmm!" It's hilarious.

A little excitement

Yesterday, I was in my office and heard someone out in our main area so I peeked my head out and saw a man walking toward the door. It's not atypical for someone to come in and not say anything and then leave again. We don't have a receptionist so a lot of times someone will come in for directions, not see anyone right there, and then leave. Most of the time I hear them and help them, but since he was on his way out I didn't say anything. Plus, he looked a little "off." I assumed he was one of the many people that come in here looking for the Probation and Parole Office that's across the street but kind of hidden so it's hard to find.

Next thing I know I hear my boss Sue yell out, "Excuse me! Give me my purse back please!" I ran out to the main area and saw him take it out of hiding (he had a shirt thrown over it) and handed it back to her and then just walked out the door. My coworker Jim came running over (he sits in the back office and can't see the main area from where he is) and started following the guy out the door. He pointed out to me there was a safety officer next door at 7-11 (you can see the parking lot through my office window) so I went to get the cop while Jim kept an eye on the guy to see where he was headed.

I ran over to the officer in his car and told him briefly what happened. I gave a quick description and heard Jim yell that he was headed down the hill toward the library. I started to tell the officer when he said, "Just get in!" I got in and he called it in on his radio and we were off! We turned the corner and I saw the guy up ahead. I said, "That's him" and he got on the radio again saying he was about to be in foot pursuit of a suspect. I put my seatbelt on and we raced up to where the guy was. The officer stopped the car, told me to stay inside, and ran up to the suspect. He yelled for him to get on the ground and the guy sort of hesitated and had his hands underneath the shirt he'd used to hide Sue's purse. Next thing I know the cop pulls his weapon and is shouting to him to get down and show his hands. I was shaking. It was crazy being so close to the action. Another officer pulled up behind me and they cuffed him and she took custody of him since the vehicle I was in was a safety vehicle, not one used for arresting people.

Several more officers arrived and I was talking to them while they were dealing with the guy. One of them asked me to get Sue, since it was her purse that he stole. I walked halfway up to my building and she was on her way down. The cops asked how much the purse and it's belongings were worth and the good news is that it's a Kate Spade from Bloomingdale's. Since it's so expensive, they got him for grand larceny, on top of the many counts of theft for each credit card.

The officer called this morning and asked a few more questions about what I witnessed and then told me the guy's name. I looked him up on the Sex Offender Registry and wouldn't ya know it...convicted rapist. I started shaking thinking about what could have happened. When Sue first confronted him I was terrified he was about to draw a gun on her, and thank God he didn't. He just walked away calmly. It could have gone in a whole different direction and it's really, really frightening to think about that. I'm trying hard not to.

The guy's being held without bond and we'll probably be expected to make a statement at his preliminary hearing in about a month. But the cop was pretty certain that with his record and the grand larceny charge on top of all the other theft charges, he'll probably plea and it won't go to trial.

Craziness.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Saturday we took Carter back to Portrait Innovations for his 18 month pictures. Here's a sneak peek. If you're my Facebook friend, you've already seen all of them.





On Sunday we headed out to Chris' parents' house to see them and my FIL's son and his girlfriend who were in town from Boston. Carter behaved himself despite not having an afternoon nap, and having a shortened morning nap due to a poopy diaper. That's always a bonus. We had a nice time visiting with them and went out to a fabulous dinner.

Memorial Day Monday we finally ventured out to the pool. Carter was scared at first and clung to me on the steps, but after a little while he warmed up and splashed and kicked. By the time we left he was walking all by himself all around the baby pool. When we were leaving he had to make sure to say goodbye to every last person before we could go. After that he took a 4 hour nap (woot!) and then we grilled Asian chicken skewers for dinner. Delish!

All in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. I was even able to go shopping all by myself and get some summer work clothes. It was awesome.

18 month stats

He's moved on up! Carter is now finally in the 33rd percentile for weight (after hovering around 10% for most of his life) at 24 pounds. I've noticed his face is chubbier than it used to be, but I can still see his ribs when he walks around in a diaper. Naturally lean, that one.

His height is 32 inches, which makes him exactly average. 50th percentile. His head is in the 82nd percentile, which makes it sound huge but it seems all of my friends' kids have big noggins (like in the 90th percentile and higher) so his is small by comparison.

We put off his MMR shot until this visit in the hopes that the risk of any ill-effects that it *may* cause are lowered. They gave Carter an autism screening test and he passed with flying colors. His social skills are fantastic and the doctor was VERY impressed with his vocabulary and communication level. He said he would have been happy if I said Carter had 10 words; the fact that he has over 70 thrilled him. Smartypants, he is. I'm very proud.

18 Months

Tomorrow, Carter will be closer to two than to one. But for today, he's still my baby. Halfway between one and two. He's so polite, extremely smart, hilariously funny, and such a happy boy. I don't know what I did to deserve him and I'm so grateful for him. He makes strangers smile. What a gift that boy is. What a gift.

To celebrate his birthday, we took him to a new Indian restaurant in town. My boy tore up some Chicken Tikki Masala. Tore. It. Up. I love that he's willing to try new things. He makes me proud.

Happy 18 months, sweet little man.

One more thing

I knew I was forgetting something on the list earlier. I wanted to share how weird my husband is. I bought OJ for our Mother's Day brunch but I got the kind with extra pulp, because apparently I like to chew my juice. Chris HATES the pulp in it, but last night he was craving orange juice (plus, he's sick so it's good for him). So what did he do? He put it through a sieve! What a weirdo.

Catching Up

On Mother's Day we had my parents and Chris' parents over for brunch. It was nice to get to stay home for once and not have to worry about whether Carter will get a good nap, or if he'll sleep in the car, or if we'll be too tired to drive home later. It's just so much easier when people can come to us, rather than having to drive to Baltimore, or Leesburg, or Delaware. All that packing and driving and crankiness gets exhausting. Life is easier on our home turf. Hopefully one day soon we'll have a bigger place and can host more get-togethers.

My mom bowled on our Wii and killed all of us. It was crazy. She got 185 I think as her best score. Me? I barely got over the 100 mark. I still need some practice.

Here's the one halfway decent picture Chris was able to get of Carter and me on Mother's Day. Kid wasn't cooperating. But, in his defense, he was popping a few teeth through so I'm sure that didn't feel too great.

After everyone left and Carter got a little nap, we headed out to the local elementary school to play on their playground. Carter enjoyed playing in the dirt and showing me his hands and saying "messy" over and over again.


Some other tidbits:

• Carter went for his semiannual dentist visit this morning and screamed like someone was cutting him open. It was horrible. I had to pin his body down while a hygienist held his head still while another hygienist cleaned his teeth. Thankfully, they were very quick and he recovered immediately. The second they stopped and he was allowed to sit up, he crawled in my lap and said hi to them. Then they gave him a "byoo" (balloon) and all was right with the world again. The doctor was very happy with the way his teeth looked and said all we have left are his 2 year molars (the rest are either popped through or just about to). He warned me that those are the biggest and toughest ones. Not looking forward to that.
• Girl said farewell to her blog this week. It makes me so sad, but I'm sure not half as sad as it makes her.
• I get my final crown on my broken tooth tomorrow. Can't wait for this to be over with. It's been damn expensive between the root canal and the crown(s). Good thing we planned for this.
• Our cleaning ladies started on Monday and I'm so happy. Our place looked amazing and I don't feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up anymore. It's nice to know that twice a month they'll be there to hit the reset button. Thankfully we were able to use our tax refund to pay off a loan and can use that money we were paying toward the biweekly cleanings. It worked out really well.
  

The end of an era

My favorite jeans, the ones that I can wear fat or thin, have a hole in the knee. The thighs have been wearing thin for a while now but I've been hoping the day they died would come later rather than sooner. Poo.

In other news, Carter has tooth #15. It's his lower left canine.

Oh, and also, we started with a cleaning company today. I feel like a new woman in this clean condo!

Bye-Bye Mama and Dada

As of two days ago, we are now Mommy and Daddy. That's too grown up for my little boy!

File this under TMI

I have a clogged milk duct and it really hurts!! Every time my arm brushes against it, it makes me wince. And now I'm nervous that it's going to turn into mastitis. So far, I feel fine (except for this cold that keeps lingering) but from what I've read, mastitis has a very quick onslaught. When I get home I'll hop in a hot shower and try to massage it out (ouchie!!) but in the meantime I'll just have to suffer since I'm at work.

Let's look at the bright side, though. I've made it almost 18 months with no medical issues related to breastfeeding. That's pretty darn good!

I just have to share

We never did family photos growing up, so maybe that's why I find this site so funny. Enjoy!

Lazybones

I've been so bad about posting. But the good news is that it's because we've been keeping busy. We've gone to playgrounds, and parks, and playdates trying to make the most of the beautiful weather. Plus, work has me so busy that I don't really have time to post while I'm there. So, in the meantime, here are some pics to whet your cuteness appetite.

Three

Happy anniversary, my love!

Happy Anniversary, My Love!!!

It has been the best 3 years, yet! I can't wait for the next 50!!!

I love you!

#14

Toofer #14 is in. His right incisor has joined its buddy, Left Incisor. He handled it like a champ. I love those nice sharp teeth; they seem to not hurt as much coming in.

Haircut

Carter got another haircut tonight, and he's progressively getting better each time. We went a lot shorter this time but I think it turned out really cute. And I love the faces he makes when he has hair up his nose.







Before:


After:


Such a handsome boy.

Playground fun!

Some of the Mamistad girls were meeting up at Clemyjontri Park today so we thought that sounded like a great idea! I'd heard it gets packed on the weekend so we got there early (around 10:00) and we still had to park in the overflow lot. Carter had a blast! He ran around exploring all the structures, going down slides, running in the grass, swinging, going on the carousel. He really enjoyed himself.

This playground is so amazing. It's made for all kids...able-bodied, hearing- and sight-impaired, wheelchair-bound, everyone. It was really cool. I've never seen such a huge playground in my life, either. The swings really impressed me. They had your standard big kid and baby swings, but they also had swings with 5 point harnesses for kids with less body control. Carter liked that one I think because he felt safer swinging really hard. There's a pic below of him clapping, but he laughed and laughed the whole time he was swinging.

We only saw a few of the Mamistad girls, and not for long, because we'd been there a lot earlier than most of them. But it was still cool to see how much the kids had grown up since we last got together a few months ago. More than half of them are pregnant again! I can't imagine.








Check out the aerial view I stole from the website:

Note to self:

Note to self: Don't allow Carter to feed himself ravioli until he can properly use a fork.

It's Here!!

And my favorite subject...



(that's a crumb on his face, not dust on the camera)

Tomorrow

Something awesome is happening tomorrow. Here's a hint...it starts with an "N" and ends with an "ikon." I'm going to be stalking the UPS guy all day long...

Customer Service is alive and well!

I just went to the Metro Silver Diner to get some lunch and milkshake. I waited and waited and my order just wasn't coming out, and they weren't busy at all. Finally I asked the cashier and he sent the manager over who apologized profusely and completely refunded my $11 lunch. And then gave me a coupon for a free entree for next time I come. Sweet!

Potty progress

I have no illusions that Carter will be potty-trained any time soon, but he's making great strides. He tells us when he has "poo-poo" in his diaper, and the other day he was standing naked in the bathroom waiting for his tub to fill and he said, "Pee-pee! Pee-pee!" Next thing I know, he's peeing on the floor. I was so proud of him that he knew it was coming. Now we just have to show him how to do that in his potty and not the floor.

Reunited, and it feels so good

Chris has been gone for the past week at a convention in Vegas. The first couple of days Carter would ask for him and run around the house looking for him. Then, the day he was coming home I told Carter that Daddy would be home that night, and he ran into our bedroom saying, "Dada? Dada?!" and looking for him in the usual spot on our bed. He missed his Daddy. Needless to say, there were lots of kisses.

Happy birthday!

Happy 31st birthday to my wonderful husband! Carter's on the sidebar giving you kisses.

Ashes and Twinkle

Carter's two favorite songs.

Poop

This morning I was sitting on the couch while Carter played. He came up to me, said hi, and then proceeded to obviously poop. Then he said, "Poopoo" and then "diaper."

Continuous Loop

There are three songs in rotation in our house: Pat-a-Cake, Ring Around the Rosy, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We sing others but these are the ones Carter likes to join in on.

For Pat-a-Cake, he does the clapping part, and then he loves to roll his hands while saying "yule" which is "roll" roughly translated. And to mark it with a "C" he points to his belly.

Ring Around the Rosy starts off normal. He sort of runs around in a version of a circle and then after the first two lines says, "Ash ash" and then likes to yell the "DOWN" part. Sometimes he'll fall, sometimes he won't. I have this on video, but haven't gotten around to uploading it yet.

To me, Twinkle Twinkle is the most impressive. He makes a "k" sound repeatedly with his hands in the air opening and closing for the "twinkle twinkle little star" parts (his sitter does up high jazz hands and that's his interpretation of it). And then he'll say the first part of each line. For instance, when it's time for "Up above the world so high" he'll say "up-ah" and for "How I wonder what you are" he says "how."

And I swear the other day he said "ABC" when I asked him if he wanted to sing the ABC song.

This morning he was in his car seat saying "Ash...ash...DOWN" over and over again. And then I saw his little hands in my rear view mirror doing his twinkle fingers.

So cute.

Got milk?

Yesterday Carter and I were watching TV (and I have no guilt about that, thank you very much) and a commercial came on for the Got Milk campaign. At the very end they said, "Got milk?" and Carter yelled out "Yeah!" and ran up to me and said, "Muh! Muh!" asking for some milk.

Damn commercials are already infiltrating his little brain. Not looking forward to the holiday season when all the toy commercials are on.

Graduation!

I took Carter in to the doctor this morning to look at a rash he's had on his face for over a week. Turns out it's probably a bacterial infection that he keeps spreading when he rubs it, but that's not the point of this post. The point is that they weighed him on the big kid's scale. AND they took his temp in his ear, not his butt! He's in the big leagues now.

Shaken

Just the other day, I read Amalah's post about her son choking on a cereal bar, and thought to myself, "Gah, I have no idea what I would do if Carter choked on something like that." Tonight? I found out what I'd do.

I'd yank him out of his highchair, and finger sweep his mouth, and then whack him on the back a few times like I would never hit him in real life. And then? I'd thank God for his fearful screaming and crying. And I'd hug him and kiss his tears and not take my eyes off him for the rest of the night.

The only reason I kept my cool afterwards is because my in-laws were with us, and I didn't want to embarass myself by breaking down in hysterics. But I sure felt that way inside. It's hours later and I still feel on the verge of tears. I've never felt that terrified in my life.

Lucky #13

I was brushing Carter's teeth this morning with him laying in my lap, as opposed to in front of me, or sitting on my lap, and noticed he has a new tooth! One of his incisors is poked through. I wasn't expecting any new teeth so I hadn't been inpecting his mouth at all so I was surprised to see it.

Also, I forgot to mention the big event that happened this past weekend. Carter got his first fat lip. He was running around my mom's and his foot landed on a book, which slid on the wood floor, which caused him to fall. He handled it really well. He whined/cried just like he normally would when something doesn't feel good, but he wasn't full on wailing by any means. I told him he was okay and gave him a hug and when I pulled away I saw that he was bleeding. Surprisingly (to me), I didn't panic at all. My mom got him a cold wet paper towel but he didn't like that too much, so we gave him a popsicle to suck on. That seemed to do the trick. His lip swelled pretty nicely anyway but he didn't seem to mind, or even notice to be honest. Little rock star.

Catching Up

We spent last weekend up in Baltimore because my grandparents were in town. It also happened to be their 61st wedding anniversary. I can't even imagine. Carter had a great time running around my mom's condo and opening doors and eating every bit of food that made its way out of the pantry or fridge. Only downfall is that he refuses to nap at my mom's house. I don't know if it's the Pack N Play, or that the room is too bright, or that he's too excited to be in a different place, but it's exhausting for me to always be "on." When he naps I get to decompress and stop being on edge watching everything he's doing to make sure he doesn't break any antiques or get chocolate on their furniture. Alas, no break for mama.

One highlight was that we got video of my grandparents talking about their childhood, dating, and early adult life, which was really interesting. Next time they're in town, we'll have some questions ready to guide them because it was hard to think about what to talk about. But my grandmother? The second the red light on the camera lit up, she was talking like she'd been doing documentaries her whole life. She's a natural.

We didn't get to see my new cousin Mason because Carter has a cold, so that was a little disappointing. I'll just have to live with Facebook pictures for now. I can't wait to hold and squeeze and kiss on him. Carter's going to look so grown up next to a tiny little baby.

Nothing else is really going on. Work is still very busy, which is great. Carter is talking more and more each day, and now answers his cell phone with an I Love You instead of Hello. And the second he wakes up, he's running into the kitchen saying "Waffle? Waffle?"

Some pics of our leprechaun from yesterday.

A regular comedian

Carter discovered that if he fake falls off the step, we laugh. He did it one night, and then a few nights later saw the step and remembered, so he did it again. Check it out. The dude's a laugh a minute.

Lots of Sadness

They say things come in threes. Girl had an extra tough day yesterday. Two babies lost.

Today I got news that a former friend's daughter just lost another precious baby. I know she reads this blog sometimes, and although she and I aren't friends anymore, my heart aches and the tears flow for her and her family. Once is too much, twice is too much to handle. I'm so sorry, K.

Could you just DIE???

Some videos

This one is Carter telling you what he's eating for breakfast. I love the way he says it at the very end.




Today we went to Fairfax Corner and Carter ran around for a little while with the big kids. During the summer, where he's running is a fountain. The water shoots up through these little holes in the ground. I can't wait to take him there to play!

Pimp Daddy

It doesn't get much cuter than this little Pimp Daddy rollin in his tracksuit.

Daddy gave him another haircut last night and I must say this one was way more successful. I think it looks great!


And this one I just included because he was sick of me taking pictures and it made me laugh.

Giveaway!

Tara's having an awesome giveaway that I'm dying to win, if the fact that I commented three times doesn't give it away. (Ha! See what I did there?) Check it out!

He didn't like it

I thought he'd love the snow. Nope, not so much.

Yellow and Purple

You can't hear it super well, but here he is saying his new colors.

Go Vikings!

Carter's Grandpa Don will be happy to hear his first colors are yellow and purple. And it's super cute to hear him say. I'm not sure he knows exactly what they mean, but he says them pretty clearly.

Yogurt mess

Carter watched this with me this morning and kept saying "Baby!" "Mmm!" "Foo!" (spoon)

Toofer update

Molar #4 (top right) is causing all sorts of trouble for little Carter. It's due to cut through any day now so hopefully the every-3-hour nursing sessions in the middle of the night will stop. And his 4th bottom front tooth (on the left) finally cut through the other day, so his bottom teeth won't be funny looking with just three of them in there anymore.

So, we're up to 12 teeth, including that bastard Molar #4.

And so it begins

Carter had his first true temper tantrum yesterday. I gave him two cookies, one for each hand. The little turkey moved them both into one hand and asked for more because he had an empty hand. I told him to eat the ones he has and then he could have more. Well, apparently that wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. Homeboy flopped himself on the ground and started wailing, tears flowing, spit falling out of his mouth. It was awesome.

Ah-Choo!

Whenever anyone sneezes, including himself, Carter likes to talk about it.

Best. Day. EVER!

Saturday, Carter was doing better and hadn't thrown up in over 24 hours so we headed up to Baltimore to meet up with some friends. Most of them I know through a mom's board I'm on, and two of them, I'd never met before and was REALLY looking forward to it. When I got sick on Friday I was so upset that I wasn't going to be able to go up there. Honestly? Heartbroken is more the word.

Saturday morning rolled around and I was feeling 100%, and Carter was doing great except for his runny poops, so we headed up there. I'm so happy we got to go. I was the first one there, intentionally, because I knew Heather, our host, would be nervous. I wanted to be there early to help make it more comfortable. A little while later, I see the world's most beautiful family walking down the driveway and knew that Girl had arrived. After that, everyone started coming and it was so great. After the first minute or so, it felt really comfortable. We all know each other so well so it just sort of carried over easily into "real life."

The babies got cranky after about...oh...5 hours so we all called it a day. Girl and Jill had long drives back home to PA and NY, and Nita, Marty, and Jess all were headed back to Virginia that night.

And now I'm just basking in the glow of getting to see the people who just may know me better than anyone.

Now we all have it

Carter thankfully hasn't vomited since yesterday, but he's still got the nasty diarrhea. Me? I spent the whole early morning in the bathroom doing both. Chris came home early from work because he's sick too. Damn stomach bug has infiltrated our house. Sorry, Mom. You're next.

Dude

Dude. No clue. But it made me laugh more than 3 times. Therefore, I must share.

Go away, ickies

Carter has puked no less than four times today. And I'm not talking spit-up, I'm talking full-on, fire hydrant puking. Banana chunks everywhere. Like you needed that visual.

On top of the puking, he's had some decent diarrhea also. Poor kid. Chris had to give him a bath and change his clothes a few times from the blowouts and leaking wet poop. It's been quite a day.

The funny thing is, between episodes, you'd never know he was sick. He's been sweet and funny and adorable. He's been walking around saying, "Hi Daddy" all night. It's so cute.

Playground

The weather was really nice the past few days, so we had some fun with Carter at the local playgrounds.





As for how he's feeling, he's doing much better, obviously. He's still got the cold symptoms (runny nose, cough, etc.) but it's not impacting him at all.

Carter update

That poor child. So miserable. I finally got him to nurse last night but it was a really half-hearted effort. He just didn't have the energy to do it.

The good news? He slept through the night. His fever is down, although he's still a bit warm. He ate half a banana and a cereal bar, and nursed from both sides this morning. And he's talking a little. Yesterday he hardly said a word until 7:00.

Today he's going to spend the day cuddling with my mom. She's good medicine for him.

Carter's No Good Awful Very Bad Day

Yesterday, Carter had a runny nose and a nasty sounding cough, but seemed in good spirits so I didn't worry too much. I figured it was just a cold and we'd wait it out. Well, this morning I got a call from his sitter telling me that he's got a fever and his eyes are excessively watering and he's miserable. She also said he was trembling, which sort of freaked me out a little. So I picked him up, intending to spend the rest of the afternoon cuddling the sick out of him. But in the car, he started doing this thing where his eyes would start rolling back into his head. I even pulled over to make sure he was okay. He was fine, just exhausted. But it was enough to scare me into calling the doc.

They fit us in at 2:15 and I'm really glad I took him in. He has a fever of 103.5 and a double ear infection. His left ear is minor but his right ear is severely infected. The doctor said it was making his own ear hurt just looking at it. The poor baby spent the entire doctor's visit just completely lethargic, laying against me. And he was so hot. I'd never felt him like that before. The doctor was surprised that his flu test came back negative because of how quickly his symptoms presented, but that was good news.

So now, we pump him full of antibiotics and pain relievers, and wait. And cuddle.

Tickle Me Carter

We brought Carter into bed with us for a little bit last night because he wasn't feeling well. We were all just hanging out when suddenly he reached over and started tickling Chris' leg. Thanks to our new Flip, I was able to catch the action moments later.

Night night

I love that he understands what I'm saying. Earlier today, I asked him if he wanted to take a bath and he said "yeah" and then walked over to the bathroom. The door was closed and he called for me because he couldn't get in (we leave the door closed because he likes to throw things in the tub).

A few things

• Carter can show you his ear when you ask him where it is. When you ask where his nose is, he points to the corner of his mouth. But...this is the kid who covers his ears to play peekaboo. He's a little confused.

• I've had a blog post about the flood at my mom's condo for forever now, but can't seem to get it finished. Suffice it to say, a pipe burst and flooded her entire place and now they're displaced for weeks. It's awful. The force of the water pouring down her walls was unbelievable. Thankfully, they have a nice hotel suite they've been staying in.

• Finally, FINALLY, Carter does the sign for "milkies" which is our word for nursing. And now that he learned how to do it, he looooves doing it. He was nursing tonight, and kept sticking his hand in the air to do the sign.

• You may notice that our video is a lot clearer and nicer than it used to be. We bought a new toy, a Flip camcorder. It's so cute and easy and fun! It uploads to YouTube in minutes, whereas before it would take an hour or more. It was awful.

• I haven't been posting to this blog as often lately, but it's for good reason. I've been really, really busy at work. It's great. I forgot what it's like to actually do work all day long. Sometimes, it's a little overwhelming and frantic, but my days go by really quickly. And I feel like I'm actually EARNING my paycheck.
  

New words!

Carter combined signs last night, including using one he'd never used before. He did "more" and then "eat"!! It was awesome. I was so proud of him.

As for spoken words, he said "cookie" a few times yesterday when we were reading his Cookie Monster book. And he also says "two" after you say "one." Smart little dude.

Snow

We're having our first snow of the season today. It's really pretty outside. When we left the house and stepped outside, Carter said, "Wow!" He's funny.

The commute was a little scary though. It's so different driving in this weather with a happy little boy in the backseat. But he made it to daycare safe and sound and I'm at work, so we're both warm and inside. And if I had to walk to get to him, I could. It would take me a little while, but it's possible. That's reassuring and one of the reasons we chose the daycare we did.

Anyway, I've been working on a blog post for several days now updating everyone on the past week or two, but I've been so slammed at work it's been hard to get it out. Stay with me, I'll be less busy next week. I promise.

#10

Tooth #10 (molar #3) has popped through on the bottom right. He's handled it pretty well, but he usually waits to get cranky from it until the day after it breaks through. So, tonight should be interesting.

And, I got an appointment at a dermatologist for next week. I'm seeing a Physician's Assistant, but that's okay. If it's even questionable, I know she'll bring the doc in to double check it.

Ridiculous

So I have this mole that I want looked at. I have a coworker that died of melanoma a few years ago, and since then I've been really vigilant about looking at my skin and Chris' skin for any weirdness. I have a mole that's been around for a while but it's just looking a little odd so I want to have it checked. You'd agree that's important to do, right?

So why is it that I'm finding it nearly impossible to get an appointment with a freaking dermatologist?? None of the docs I've called are taking new patients, and the one derm I've been to before won't see me until late March. And I even told them that there's a questionable mole I'm concerned about. Nope, they don't care. Their suggestion? Call every morning at 9:30 to check on any cancellations for the day and they'd fit me in. Nice.

Some advice

Don't do a home haircut unless you don't mind your kid looking like Lloyd Christmas.

Jump jump!

When I dropped Carter off at daycare this morning, he made a beeline for the trampoline. His sitter has one of those personal trampolines that people use for exercising, and the older kids love to jump on it. Carter has always enjoyed watching them and sitting on there while they jumped. Today, he climbed on, stood up, and started bouncing on it!

Vote

Go and vote for Jenny, The Bloggess for Best Humor Blog. She's crude and funny, and she comments on this blog. And I have a little bit of a girl crush on her.

She can't lose to that stupid Comics Curmudgeon. Please help her. You can vote once a day.

What a difference a day makes...

By the way...

I'm proud to say we are officially totally bottle-free (for about 2 weeks now), and mostly binky-free. I gave him his binky yesterday when he was inconsolable after I woke him from a nap to take him to the doctor. When I got into the backseat to take him out of the car, he pulled it out of his mouth and handed it to me, like "Thanks, Mom, but I'm done with it now. I appreciate the loan." He was never really addicted to the binky like a lot of kids are, but he enjoyed it. And he still does if I hand it to him, but it's happening less and less often that I feel he needs it.

My boy's growing up. Fast.

Walking

After a week and a half since his first steps, Carter finally decided tonight was the night he'd start full on walking. He had so much fun!

Yuck

Carter had his first Ledo pizza today and of course loved it. Then? He blew chunks all over himself and his carseat. Lovely. First pizza and first real puke.

We think he coughed up a little piece that triggered his gag reflex because he was perfectly fine after that.

Showing off

Just showing off my smart kid.

Here he is reading his "Where is Spot" book. Every time you open the flap, the animal hiding says "No." Carter says a cross between "nay" and "naw."



This one is self-explanatory: