Last Trip to see Dr. Karl

We went to see Carter's Orthodics Doctor this morning for an updated head scan. His flat spot and ratios have improved so the little guy doesn't need a helmet. We will continue to monitor and only go back if we notice any issues.

We decided to celebrate with a shopping trip to Target!

Carter and Mom's Play Day

With mom on vacation and a new camera in the house, there was lots of picture taking going on Monday and Carter was the main subject. Carter started his morning checking out his new toys on the floor.

When that got old, he spent a while zooming around the house on his new trike.

There was lots of teething going on and unfortunately these teeth are causing Carter lots of discomfort.

Mom tried to help by giving him a piece of cheese to go with his Whine (not successful). Luckily we have lots of things for Carter to chew on.These rings were his favorite chew toy of the day.Hope those teeth come in soon little one!

Little Yellow Jacket

In order to celebrate the last GT football game of the season Carter got all dressed up.
He was particularly excited about his new GT hat and bee blanket.

Carter made sure that the opponents mascot was prepared (we substituted Big Bird for a Falcon... both birds right?). It was a nail biter of a game...
So Carter broke the tension with some games. First was how big do you have to open your mouth to fit a balloon in it.Then was a halftime performance on the trike.And he finished things off with a balancing act.Dad had fun explaining the finer points of the triple option (not to be confused with the wishbone) to Carter. I see lots of father-son bonding over football games in their future!

Santa Baby

Carter and Elmo... Round 1

Carter has been fascinated with a Christmas Elmo Santa brought him. He decided to spend quite a while playing with him and unfortunately it turned ugly. It started so innocently, Carter invited Elmo and Dog for a chat.Things went well for a while but unfortunately Elmo told Carter that Santa wouldn't be back for a whole year.Carter didn't like that at all and took Elmo down. He even stuffed his mouth to get him to stop saying it.Carter didn't hold back. He gave Elmo a head butt...followed by a few quick jabs. He even got a piece of Elmo's fur in the scuffle.

Then the real pain began as Elmo's foot was turned into Carter's latest teething toy.

That's when mom had to step in. Carter tried to claim that Elmo started it.

But mom wasn't buying it and Carter knew he was in trouble.

So Carter let Elmo go...and they both laid down for a long recovery nap.

Lesson of the day: Don't mess with Carter and Santa!

Month 7 - Week 3

Needless to say this past week was mostly about Carter's first Christmas. It was such a fun time and Carter had a blast.

On a non-Christmas front, Carter is continuing to grow up. He is becoming more accepting of finger foods and is improving at feeding himself. Though his success rate is still fairly low as demonstrated by the picture below.

Carter's favorite activity is anything that involves him moving or standing. He is still working on his crawling technique. He likes to grab things in front of him and pull himself forward. He is also very good at scooting himself backwards but the forward crawl is still a work in progress.Something else Carter is hard at work on are his teeth. His bottom two teeth are fully in... and by his excessive drool and obsession with everything going in his mouth, we are expecting the top ones soon. On average the top four should be coming in during the next month so we are officially on the lookout for any new teeth. This is typical Carter behavior... one thing in his mouth and he is already on the lookout for item number two!

Overall it was a fun week of Christmas activities and time with family. It's hard to believe that Carter is almost 8 months old!

Jumping Baby

Here are a few more videos from December of Carter. He has really started to take to his bouncer. As with the Wiggling, he is such a ham. He loves to show off and make mom/dad smile. Here he is showing off his jumping skills!

Carter's New Trick

So Carter is still an expert at his balancing act (see Dec 1st post) but he has recently added to his party trick repertoire. Dad has taught him how to wiggle on command. Carter has also decided to add a little Micheal Jackson flavor to the move but it's still cute.

Party at the Smith's

The whole family braved the wintry weather and headed of to the Smith's to celebrate Christmas and say Hello to our favorite California couple. We made a quick pit stop on the way on for a picture with Santa. It was great to see everyone, especially Bryan and Julie all the way from San Francisco. Carter had fun playing with Julie and checking out all the fabulous Christmas decorations. Dad took the opportunity to show off Carter's party tricks.Carter also was excited to see baby Julian. They were both dressed in the same Santa outfits. How cute?It was a fun evening and we can't wait for the next time we see Bryan and Julie!

Boxing Day

When we woke up Sunday morning, the house was still as white as when we went to bed. It was really nice outside...but luckily we had lots of new toys and Christmas dinner leftovers so we didn't have to go anywhere!We still had a few presents from Aunt B for Carter to open that we didn't get around to yesterday morning. So we decided to open those up and give dad a chance to try out our new camera (Thanks Pops!). Carter proceeded to pick up where he left off yesterday with his present opening technique. Using the mouth is key to success! The hands work okay too.But most important... never give up. Carter made sure to test everything out with his mouth to make sure it wasn't acceptable.Luckily even the boxes got a passing grade.

Carter even got a gift from cousin Felix. He's okay even if he is a Bulldog ;) Carter decided to Thank cousin Felix with a song.

After the morning play session, Carter took a nap which meant mom and dad got to go to work assembling all Carter's new toys.

Dad was MUCH better than mom at this task but he is an Engineer. I'm sure he passed his Children's Toy Assemblage class with flying colors! When Carter woke up, everything was ready to go so he went right to playing. I never knew mail tasted so good.

Carter tried his best to do some crawling as well

but he decided he was a much better sitter.

Though that position left him very susceptible to tickle attacks from dad.

So Carter decided to try and "walk" away with his new walker.

It was a big hit even if it required support from dad.

It was a wonderful morning spending time with the family.