Tunnel of Love

Carter has been having some fun with his new play tunnel. He coaxed Jack into it on Christmas, and a couple days later he decided it was time to get Mommy into the tunnel with him. Except, he didn't just want me in the tunnel. He wanted me in the tunnel with him. And then he wanted to climb over me and give me kisses. Jack captured the experience on camera. I rarely laugh as hard as I laughed during this little adventure.

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas Dinner With the Dillards

Jack's grandparents host Christmas dinner, so after some play time at home, we headed over for some more food, family time and gifts. Jack's grandmother has a lot of toys at her house, but most of them are, shall we say, girly? No fear: Carter is an equal-opportunity explorer. He had fun pretending to have a tea party with me.

And then he took the Barbie cars for a spin.
And finally, he took the doll babies for a stroll.

After dinner, he and Mallie paused for a brief photo op in front of the tree, before tearing into some more toys.

Christmas Breakfast With the Smith Family

Christmas breakfast/brunch was with my family, at our house. My youngest sister was out of the state, so she didn't join us. However, Carter still had fun tearing into gifts and showing off his new discoveries.

Some of Carter's highlights? A bowling set, monkey book and set of big crayons from Aunt Alecia; a pair of Elmo tickle hands and a remote-control truck from Grandpa and Grandma. Grandpa took him on an outing to Bass Pro Shop last week, and Carter reportedly couldn't get enough of this truck. It's a little above his skillset at the moment (he holds the remote and tries to use it to push the truck), but it was a joint gift to him and Jack--and the two of them have been having fun with it together.

Santa Came to Carter's House

While Carter was nestled all snug in his bed, Santa made a visit to our house. The sound of rain (or reindeer?) woke me around 3:30 a.m. but we finally got out of bed a little before 6. If Mommy and Daddy want to shower and get dressed, it's a lot less complicated to due it while little ones are still sleeping. Carter finally stirred a little before 7:30.

Stockings were overflowing (with not one but two Elmos peeking out of Carter's). The funny part about the stockings was that, for about a week leading up to Christmas, Carter would bring one of his play golf clubs into the living room, and he'd knock on each stocking, one by one, as if checking to see if anything was inside. But Christmas morning, he would not, regardless of my encouragement, knock on the stuffed stockings.


Under the tree was a tent and tunnel, and a play table/easel.

Carter was really excited Christmas morning when he saw new toys under the tree (which still provokes an "oooh" each morning, as if he's seeing it for the first time--that child is going to be heartbroken when the tree disappears). He knew just how to use the easel.

And he had no hesitation about climbing through the tent and tunnel.

Last but not least, Carter tore into his stocking. He didn't want to take the time to unwrap anything that was wrapped, but he turned it upside-down and shook it to make sure nothing was left. In his stocking he found: a stuffed Elmo doll, an Elmo bath squirt toy, an Elmo coloring book, a Cookie Monster book, a pack of peanut butter M&Ms, a pack of big-boy underwear, a chocolate milk box (which he tried to open right away, so we had to grab his sippy cup of milk) and a cup of Cheerios - which he had to open and begin eating immediately.

He loved the stuffed Elmo.

Christmas Eve Dinner

We usually spend Christmas Eve dinner with the Dillard family. In between the Haines and Dillard meals this year, we watched a little Charlie Brown Christmas with Carter. He really enjoyed snacking on some chocolate cookies (a new recipe I tried this year - definitely a keeper).

We had three chefs this year for Christmas Eve dinner: Jack, Brad and Nana. Each had their own apron. Nana's new apron says "Nana loves Carter."

Carter had a lot more fun unwrapping his gifts this year. Like all little boys, he tossed aside the clothes and wanted the toys unpackaged immediately.

Carter really enjoyed playing with his new vacuum from Uncle Brad and Aunt Meredith. I mean, he really enjoyed playing with it.

And then we wisked Wee Man home to bed. We didn't even take time for a bath - I asked if he was ready for a bath. He shook his head and gave me the sign for "bed." After he was in bed, Jack and I put out some milk and cookies for Santa.

Carter's New Bed

One of Carter's Christmas gifts from Nana and Papa Jack, was his new toddler bed and bedding (Elmo). Jack set up the bed, and Carter thought it was a playground. No transition plan yet, but it is in the house and ready . . .

Christmas Eve With the Haines Family

Before all the family Christmas celebrations get underway, we have Christmas Eve breakfast with our future family: Carter's future wife (Mila) and her parents. Both Carter and Mila had the sniffles this year, so they were a funny sight to behold. And Carter was all too happy to give Mila a great big hug. Of course, they're almost the same size so they nearly pulled each other down in showing their love.

Christmas Wrap

I took advantage of Carter's most recent interest to let him "help" me wrap some of the Christmas and birthday gifts this year. Actually, I had plenty of Christmas-themed paper, but I let him decorate some anyway. I didn't really have any birthday paper, however, so I just turned some solid-color gold paper inside-out and let Carter have at it. He used red and green markers for Christmas gifts, and anything BUT red and green for the birthday gifts.

Beware of Large Packages Wrapped By Small Hands!

Where to begin? I suppose one could say 2009 was less eventful than 2008 because we didn’t acquire any new people or dogs in the house. But aside from that, you know how it goes – things are always changing these days.

To say the least, Carter is the talk of the house and is into everything! Shortly after my last update, he started moving around on his own (I could walk by myself at a month old; it took this kid a little more than 10 months to start walking). Now he’s talking (he calls me “Lala”), running, jumping, climbing – and he seems to particularly enjoy throwing himself on me. I might be minding my own business, napping on the couch, and he runs up, jumps on me and gives me a gigantic hug. But most of the time I enjoy his company. I’m discovering that he actually can be pretty fun to play with—plus he is my primary source of table scraps!!

Jack made a lot of changes this year, and I can’t keep up with his schedule anymore. This time last year, I knew that I’d have the house to myself from 6:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and that Christina and Carter would be home on Fridays. After witnessing schedules from one extreme (Jack home all the time) to the other (Jack home to eat, sleep and do homework – and sometimes not even that), recently he seems to have found some balance. His office is at home, and calls me his water cooler buddy. He’s been trying to convince me to buy something called a “yearbook”. Not sure what that is, but Jack seems to have taken a very heavy interest in it. I’m just glad he lets me nap during the day! Jack also has begun the countdown to May 7, 2010, when he will graduate with his master’s degree.

Christina has been the real glue for the family during this chaotic year. From staying home all the times when Carter was sick (although it has been better since Carter got ear tubes in the spring) to being a coupon queen helping keep the budget in check, she has outdone herself. She got back into her running routine after Carter’s birthday. Personally, I wouldn’t call running with a toddler for six miles “stress relief” but she does – I’m just glad I don’t have to run with them! Hopefully 2010 will bring some relaxation with it. Besides, I need to get back my beauty sleep with my daily 18-hour naps.

Now, if someone could help me out of this box, I’d appreciate it.


Love,

Wordless Wednesday

Daycare Christmas Party

Carter and I attended his daycare class Christmas party last Friday. Even though he's normally home on Fridays, I thought he'd enjoy the goodies and seeing his friends. Plus, since he'll be home the next two weeks, his stocking would have sat in his cubby until January. So we went to the party. The kids all did a book exchange. They each brought a new, wrapped book earlier in the week and then exchanged them. Carter was very excited that his new book has Elmo on every page. There were a lot of Elmo books . . . probably 40-50% of the class . . .



Apparently Carter enjoys carrying dolls around sometimes. Here he's playing with his daycare girlfriend, Kylie.


As we knew from home, he also is all about the vacuum cleaner. I wasn't quite fast enough to capture him using both vacuums (one with each hand), but that was a funny site.


And when it was time to go, he actually was reluctant; he wanted to keep playing. He finally came with me when I convinced him I was going to leave with or without him. And then when I came back into the room to put on his jacket, he realized I was not leaving, gave me a goofy "haha" smirk and went back to playing.

Dobson Christmas Party

Part of Jack's family had their annual Christmas celebration on Saturday evening. After celebrating my birthday, I changed Carter into some nicer clothes and we were on our way. Five years ago, there were almost no children at these gatherings--we hit a lull in the generations, where the youngest generation had become teenagers and young adults, but for there were only a couple of children (out of the 40-50 people attending). In that time, there's been a fertility explosion, and Carter is right in the middle of it. There were six babies under age three at the party, and another was missing.

Carter got to play with the "bigger" boys (the only ones their age, before the miniature baby boom) a little; all of them received toy cars. And at this point, I just want to say . . . moments afer I snapped this picture, the hostess (Jack's great-aunt) told all the boys not to play with the cars on her coffee table; they might scratch it. Oh, I should also say that the toy cars were gifts from her. Yeah, she never had kids . . .

Celebrating 27

So, I turned 27 yesterday. I started the morning with an awesome nine-mile run. I left Carter at home with Jack (I think an hour in the jogging stroller is long enough for him) and spent 79 minutes with just the crisp morning air to keep me company (and a handful of other obviously semi-serious runners--none of the casual walkers in the winter, apparently). I decided the week prior that I'm going to make the leap to run a half-marathon in February. I'd been considering running one for about a month, and actually briefly considered trying to get in on a last-minute registration for Thanksgiving. My sister is running the big Atlanta ING half-marathon in the spring (end of March or beginning of April) and asked if I wanted to run it with her. I declined for two reasons:

1. The early registration fee was like $65--and that's if you registered by something crazy, like December 10. After that date, it starts going up.


2. I wasn't sure I could commit to keeping up my runs for that long. Strangely, I feel like I can do it sooner but maybe not later.

So in the end I decided to run a very small, casual race on February 13. Eight weeks out, $35 registration fee, and the fees don't start rising until February 8. Yep, I have until five days before the race to actually commit to it.

I think training is off to a good start: 9.3 miles in 79 minutes, which is just a bit faster than a 9:00 mile. When I run on the treadmill, it's an 8:00 pace; when I run with Carter, it's a 9:00 pace. So I was right in my comfort zone. But I'm thinking I may need to alter my goal for 13.1 miles. I was thinking two hours. But that would give me 41 minutes to run the final 3.8 miles--a pace I think I could hit right now.

And after my awesome run, I came home to a very stressed-out Jack. Let's just say Carter had already been bathed (not a planned one) that morning. But I did get to enjoy some homemade chocolate-peanut butter cake. And it was awesome. Who am I kidding? I run so I can eat cake. :) Carter liked it, too. And he also enjoyed everybody singing. He thought they were singing to him, and asked for more when they finished.

Oh, and my boys made me a home-made card. It was awesome, too.

New Tricks

Carter has learned a couple new tricks in the last week or so:

1. Nodding his head "yes". He's had "no" down for a while, and now he has started to nod for yes. Sometimes he gets tripped up and can't figure out the motion, so his head does a couple circles before he settles on the up-and-down motion. But he definitely has started.
2. Flushing the toilet. He has understood for about three months, how to flush the toilet. He usually pulls the handle with me. But just this week, he figured out how to pull it hard enough to actually make it flush all on his own. And then he repeated the trick three more times, one right after another. I finally physically removed him from the toilet handle. Luckily, we keep all our doors closed so he generally isn't in reach of a toilet unless someone is watching him. So hopefully he won't be flushing anything unflushable any time soon. Hopefully.

Augustus

Did I mention that Carter thought Aunt Katya's little chihuahua Augustus, was the funniest thing ever?

Visit and Gifts from "Ahta"

Since Aunt Katya will be out of town for Christmas, she brought gifts when she visited last weekend. Carter enjoyed opening his first gift, though he found the paper to be a little tricky (that pesky tape).

He did enjoy standing on the box when he hit a snag in unwrapping it. Thank goodness it wasn't fragile. You can't really tell because you can't see motion in the photo, but he actually is signing for "more"--apparently he amuses himself.

When he saw that he was going to be able to color, he grinned (tongue hanging out and all) and rocked back and forth. He immediately demanded that he be able to use his new present. He then proceeded to use it three more times that day. Aunt Katya has set the bar pretty high.

Sleep Sheep On Sale

Okay, folks. I have touted more than once how wonderful Sleep Sheep is. We have used ours every single night since Carter was two days old (in other words, when we came home from the hospital). Literally every single night. He loves it. We love it. We love it because he loves it. Now that he's old enough to turn it on himself, it is very useful in the car - if we want him to nap in his carseat, I hand him Sleep Sheep (and his paci). He grabs it, turns it on, and he knows it's time to sleep.

In case anyone is interested in buying a Sleep Sheep for their own little one, I want you to know that Amazon has an amazing deal right now! Normally the "on the go" version (slightly smaller, with a velcro strap - this is the one Carter has) is $24. The full-size one (same function and same sounds, but bigger and I think without the velcro for attaching to the crib/car seat) runs $28. And they are never on sale. Last week Amazon dropped the prices to $15-16. Today, they are at $13.99 and $13.72! They are eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime or a $25 order. This price has me racking my head for ideas of who I can gift them to - I have wanted to give one on numerous occasions but didn't want to spend the $24-28.

Cloud b (the company that makes Sleep Sheep) also has some similar animals - giraffes, ladybugs, sea turtles, etc - which have similar soothing sounds and which are deeply discounted to prices below $20.

Wordless Wednesday

Herb and Michelle Are Paper Pregnant!

I just want to give a shout-out to my cousin and his wife, who are officially on the list to adopt a baby. It's amazing the hoops you have to jump through to adopt a baby, when so many less qualified people become parents with no oversight. If everyone having a baby had to meet the requirements of adoptive parents before they were allowed to bring those babies home, there'd be a lot more babies available for adoptive couples. Congratulations to them! Hopefully next Christmas there will be one more member of the Suereth household.

Sick Weekend

Carter's "Ahta" (how he says "Aunt Katya" - my youngest sister) came to visit last weekend. She is at college four hours away and stayed with us for a couple days.

Since the three of us (Carter, Jack and I) were all battling various forms of viruses (Jack had respiratory; I had stomach; Carter had both and then some), we didn't have a very active weekend. Jack and I tried three separate times to watch the new Harry Potter movie (arrived on our doorstep Monday, but I had to wait for Jack to come home) but kept falling asleep and couldn't follow it (despite having read all the books - the dozing in and out really threw off the sequence of events). After sleeping through the entire middle of the movie Friday night and again Saturday afternoon, we finally made some progress on Sunday night. In the meantime, we all enjoyed some good naps and television Christmas specials on Saturday. Carter actually asked for football, but since the regular season is over for colleges, he had to wait for the Falcons game on Sunday. Carter slept from 3:30-6 p.m. Saturday while Jack and I watched the movie (err--took a 1.5-hour nap) and while Aunt Katya visited Aunt Alecia.

Mommy and Me

Carter and I had some "mommy and me" time last week, as Jack spent four days in Charlotte on business. This wasn't our first excursion on our own, and it wasn't our longest either. Jack has spent a day here and there out of town, including a three-day trip just hours after Carter's tube surgery and a two-week trip in May. But there were a couple differences this time. Since then, he's only been gone one night at a time - which has almost no impact on my schedule. But in the last seven months since his last multi-night trip, a couple things have changed which threw some glitches into the routine.

• I'm back to running in the mornings. In May, I was still nursing, which meant I was running after Carter went to bed. I am not one of those moms who can run while she's full of milk, which meant it had to be after Carter nursed - which meant it couldn't be first thing in the morning. So I was able to get up in the morning, take Marley out (normally Jack's duty), get myself ready, get Carter ready, then take Carter to daycare (normally also Jack's duty). No big deal. But now, I get up at 4:45 to run, while Jack and Marley sleep in until 5:45 or so. With Jack gone, I had to sneak out of the bedroom to run before taking Marley out; luckily he was happy to remain nestled under our bed until after my shower.
• Carter now eats real meals with us. Last time, I kind of relished the freedom to have a bowl of cereal or half a head of roasted cauliflower for dinner, if that's what I wanted. Carter was eating pureed foods and maybe some bread or pasta - but usually not the same foods as us. Now, he eats our dinner with us (with a few exceptions), so I had to prep slightly more rounded dinners.

I think Carter is glad to have his daddy back home. Every morning when we left his room, he asked for Daddy - and every evening when I picked him up from daycare, he asked for Daddy. Just like normal. So he was really happy when he actually got to see Daddy on Thursday night. He certainly appreciates the extra cookies while he's waiting for his meals. He doesn't get them quite so often from his mama . . . ;-)

Growth and Development

Just a quick update following Carter's 18-month checkup.

Height: 32-3/4" (59th percentile)
Weight: 26lb, 13 oz (61st percentile)
Head circumference: 48-1/2 cm (97th percentile)

Development all was above par. He was sick at his appointment and when I wiped his nose I told him to blow, and he did - a command he follows about 75% of the time. His doctor turned around (her back had been to me) and said "That's a three-year development, blowing his nose. That's great!" So he proved how smart he his for his doctor to witness. ;-)

His iron level finally was in a normal range. She recommended that we switch to an OTC iron supplement from the prescriptive, but that we continue to continue supplementing his foods with some sort of iron. (What? In a kid who usually refuses any form of meat put in front of him, except hot dogs? Gee, I can't imagine why his iron is low. Note the sarcasm.)

We also talked potty training. At our last checkup, the "your baby is 15 months old" handout that I was given said not to try it yet--to wait until 24 months. It's the standard Children's Healthcare of Atlanta paperwork. Well, today his doctor saw he was in a Pull-up and asked if he has shown interest in the potty. I didn't quite tell her he's been using it for four months, but did say he does pretty well with it. She was very encouraging and said she recommends capitalizing on the potty interest at 18 months, because for most kids (boys) that interest won't resurface until almost age 3. She was completely onboard with him potty training at this age. Hooray!

Finally, Carter didn't get his scheduled vaccines. Like usual, he was sick (cough, congestion, mucus pouring out all crevices of his face, ear drainage, puking and very sleepy) at his checkup, so she didn't want to give his vaccines. He already has delayed his MMR from 12 months (was sick), and was also slated to get his Hep-2 booster and his H1N1. She said she's fine with delaying them all until 24 months (she seems to be very open about vaccine delay, which many parents choose for autism reasons). But, if I do that, we'll have a REALLY expired vaccine form on file at daycare, and we're already on the black list because he delayed MMR once and because I always forget to get an updated form. So we'll head back after Christmas to get his shots.

In the meantime, she prescribed an antibiotic to clear up his congestion, an anti-nausea so we could get him re-hydrated (wouldn't eat Friday morning and threw up all his juice), told us to keep doing the ear drops to prevent infection (since fluid is pouring out through the tubes), and strongly recommended that he go back on Zyrtec for the winter season, to help dry out his sinuses. I guess I'll see how the next week or two go with the Zyrtec; I'm still not crazy about it.

One more note . . . because I mentioned autism above and because I think it is one of the scariest worries as a parent these days . . . Carter's doctor said his social development is excellent. She sees no reason for concern about his development or about autism. I had never mentioned it to her, but it always had been in the back of my mind. Carter has never exhibited any signs of it. But the sheer mystery surrounding the disease (and a woman who works for me has an autistic son) is very scary--one that seems to have few answers on causes. Sometimes when he throws really bad tantrums, 1% of me gets a little concerned. But apparently this is normal behavior.

18 Months: Potty Update

Has it really been four months already? Just about . . . And here's where we stand at 18 months.

I really think that if I were home with him all the time, I could have him almost completely potty trained in the next few months. I don't know about naps and overnight - but I really think we could knock out all the daytime Pull-Ups. Well, there would be one challenge . . . but I'll come back to that.

On a typical work day, Carter uses the potty twice, sometimes three times: wakeup, as soon as we get home, and bed time. Considering he's at the house for 30 minutes after he wakes and 90 minutes before he gets ready for bed, that's pretty darn good in my opinion.

On a typical weekend day, Carter may use the potty as few as three times or as many as eight times. Mostly, he uses the potty in addition to his Pull-Ups. However, we are seeing increasing instances of dry Pull-Ups at potty time, which leads to him wearing the same one for sometimes as long as 4+ hours. (And in return, I change them whenever they're at all wet, which means sometimes he only wears them an hour or less. So we are only using marginally fewer Pull-Ups overall.)

Carter loves being on the potty. It's where he wakes up in the morning. He easily could spend 20+ minutes on it. He gets out of bed, gets on the potty, and I hand him a cup of juice and his iron supplement (hopefully not much longer for that). He sits there, drinking, reading his books and playing with Elmo. Even after he pees, he may sit there indefinitely - until I start getting his clothes ready in his (connecting) bedroom. Any other time during the day, he jumps up as soon as he goes - but that morning session is his therapeutic wakeup time.

Two challenges to the process . . .

1. He still does not want to sit on a grown-up toilet. He sometimes gets curious at home so I sit him on it. But just like in public, he immediately gives me the "all done" sign and wants down. We can't be fully potty trained unless we can use a public bathroom . . . and I can't carry his potty everywhere.
   
2. Daycare continues to be a challenge, though they are working with us. It's hard for them. They have 12 or so kids with two teachers. Any time Carter goes to the potty (they now have one little girl who they're trying to train also; she's about to turn two - but no other kids yet), one teacher has to take him into the classroom bathroom, leaving the other teacher to attend to the other 11 kids. And then they go in, and half the other kids are peeking into the bathroom, because they have to leave the door open (boy child and girl teacher) - so Carter is distracted and on display. So on average, they take him once a day. And I have received one report that he actually peed on the potty at daycare. So I know there are challenges, but I just wish there were an easier system in place - one that wouldn't involve us waiting another six months before he gets real training support during the day.

18 Months

Carter is officially a year and a half today. We have his checkup later this morning, so I'll post height/weight updates when I have them . . .

Development:

-He says dozens and dozens of words. Some are closer to the "real" word than others, but they are distinct have have specific associations.

-He has begun putting two words together to form phrases. Last weekend we heard "where dadda" while Jack was upstairs.

-He runs with the best of them, and has begun climbing the stairs like a grown-up; rather than crawl up the stairs, he almost always holds the banister and takes them one foot to a step.

Favorites:

-Characters and TV shows: Elmo, Phineas and Ferb, Spiderman.

-Animals: Dogs, horses and lions.

-Nursery rhymes: Hey Diddle Diddle, Three Blind Mice (could be because of Mommy's acting it out).

-Foods: Cookies, juice, peanut butter, cheese, bananas and cantaloupe.

-Activities: Coloring. Crawling through tunnels and teasing Marley are a distant second and third . . .

Potty time: Uses it several times a day, every day. More on that in a separate post.

Sleep: He usually sleeps from 8 p.m. until 6:30 or 7 a.m. He usually naps around noon, for about 1.5 hours.

Eating: He eats pretty much everything. No whole nuts (though if they're chopped really small, we let him have them - like bite-sized Snickers) or pretzels. He eats hot dogs and grapes (if he would actually eat them) but they are cut into tiny slivers to prevent choking. He is really picky about meat, and probably only eats it 1/3 of the time that it's offered. He still drinks organic 2% milk. I try to feed him organic when feasible, but his milk and yogurt are my only real sticking points. About half his snacks and vegetables are organic, and sometimes I buy other organic products (flour, pasta, pasta sauce, bread, vegetables, fruits, etc.) for the whole family - in which case he obviously gets them also.

My little boy is growing up . . .

Papa Jack's Birthday

We celebrated Papa Jack's birthday on Sunday. (Don't get confused: Jack is Carter's dad; Papa Jack is Carter's grandpa; Daddy Jack is Carter's great-grandfather. If he has a little brother one day, then Baby Jack probably will be Carter's little brother.) Carter's favorite part? Decorating the envelope for his card - of course!

He also (like his mommy and his Papa Jack) enjoyed some homemade chocolate peanut butter cheesecake. It was my first attempt at a cheesecake, and I think it turned out pretty well. I would make a couple minor changes (I thought it wasn't sweet enough and the peanut butter flavor was too light; and I'd probably skip the sour cream-based topping), but nothing major.



He also enjoyed helping Papa Jack open his birthday cards and gift.


And finally, he enjoyed crawling through the "tunnel" in the living room. Dear Santa, please bring Carter a play tunnel for Christmas. I think he'll really like it. What's that? You have one for him already? Well isn't that convenient. ;-)