A Few Rough Days

Carter has been a handful the last few days. He's just been extra fussy. And if there is a few moments without fuss, he's trying to pull up on something or climb on something he isn't supposed to be and he's falling and then screaming because he has hurt or scared himself. (I'm usually right there to catch him, but he has to learn that he can't just let go of things and expect to not fall so I selectively let him figure it out when I know he's not going to really get hurt.)

He's been getting up extra early the last few days so I think he's just tired. And then since I'm tired as well from him getting up earlier, I don't have as much patience as I usually do.

Or maybe those top teeth that are still trying to break through are bothering him. I'm not really sure. I keep thinking they are going to finally pop down, but they seem to have stalled out.

So I was at my limit tonight and decided we HAD to go out for dinner. Luckily Carter is still usually good when we go out to eat (as long as we don't take too long). We can put down the Kiddopotamus mat Sarah gave us and throw down some Cheerios and Carter is fine while we eat. He usually stares at and flirts with everyone around us so there is plenty to entertain him.

Ready for Some Football

Carter is ready for some football!


I know he's not going to stay in one place for more than 5 seconds when a game is on, but maybe by the end of the season, he'll let us watch part of a game without chasing after him the entire time!

We're going to try to make it to Raleigh for a NCSU game this season. Hopefully Carter will enjoy it! He usually loves watching people so it should be fun for him.

Big Boy Bath

Carter took his first bath outside of the baby tub today. It was just as difficult. He will not stay in one place. He was starting to try to stand up while in the baby tub using the side of the baby tub, the side of the big tub, or the faucet. He's not any better in the big tub. He leans forward and is in a crawling position as soon as I sit him down. I'm going to try to find some more interesting bath toys for him to see if he may sit for just a couple of minutes for me.

I managed to catch one good picture of Carter ...


But this was what he was doing most of the time ...


Carter's still jabbering away today. Here's a video of him that I took after his bath.

Screaming

Carter has been enjoyed screaming at the top of his lungs in a really high pitch all weekend. It really hurts your ears when he does it. Hopefully this is one of those things he drops quickly!


Carter's also jabbering more and making more and more sounds. It seems like he's getting close to putting some sounds together and saying some words. We'll see!


Carter's top lateral incisors (teeth next to the two center ones) are starting to come in. They are just about to break through. He had some bad nights the middle of last week so we've been giving him some Tylenol before bed the last few nights. It seems to be helping some.


We watched Mary Grace last night for Sarah and Brent. It was fun having her over! I can't wait until Carter is a little older and can start playing more with her. She was super sweet to Carter though showing him how to do things and sharing all the toys with him!

Soccer Tournament

My team played in the annual soccer tournament this weekend. Instead of seeding the tournament based on regular season results, the league commissioner set up the brackets based on a random drawing. So even though we finished as one of the top teams, we didn't get a first round bye.

The tournament was at Tommy Schumpert Park which is a new park in north Knoxville with three lit fields. It's a really awesome complex that also has a baseball field and dog park. A 2+ mile greenway ends at the park as well. There are plans to add a disc golf course, 2 mile cross country trail, and bmx course. Brian and Carter game to two of my games and walked on the greenway and watched the dogs at the dog park.

We played our first game on Friday night at 8:15pm and won 4-1. We played two games on Saturday - the first was at 10:30am (won 5-0) and the second was at 4:30pm (won 6-1). We played in the championship game this afternoon. We were tied 3-3 at the end of regulation. We went straight to penalty kicks in overtime. Both our team and our opponent made 4 of the 5 shots so we went to sudden death. The other team scored their first shot and unfortunately the other team's goalie blocked our first shot, so we lost. This was the second straight year our team finished as runners-up.

We get a few weeks off and start up fall session in the middle of September.

Today's New Food: Cherries

This morning Carter tried cherries. I made a puree yesterday by boiling about 1/2 lb of pitted cherries in a cup of water and then throwing the mix into the blender. The resulting puree looks like it's going to stain everything it touches!


So this morning I mixed the cherries with Carter's oatmeal.


He seemed to think it was yummy.


A little out of focus, but here's the "I'm getting full" move ...


Carter hasn't been trying as many new foods lately because I've been more focused on mixing the foods he's tried together. Like tonight he had a chicken-cheese-broccoli mix.

I also tricked Carter into eating a finger food other than Cheerios. I mixed in mini-chunks of cheese with the Cheerios on his tray this afternoon and he happily ate both.

9 Month Appointment

Carter had his 9 month checkup today.

We went to a new doctor today. He is part of the same group but is in a different office. This office does things differently than the office we were going to. Before, we'd just see whatever doctor happened to be in the office that day (even when we made an appointment ahead of time). At the new office, we'll always see the same doctor (for well and sick appointments) unless it's Wednesday (his day off). I think I'm going to be much happier with this practice because we were starting to get contradicting advice from various doctors at the other practice. Also, we started getting the feeling that none of the doctors we met with ever actually spent any time with their kids. Their answers to questions sounded just like those we'd read in a book. Nothing from experience. A couple of friends recommended the new doctor we are seeing. Meredith even had one of his kids in her kindergarten class so she knows him outside of his office as well.

We really liked the new doctor. He took his time with us. He did a very thorough exam on Carter and didn't make us feel rushed when asking all our questions. He was also really gentle with Carter which was a complaint I had about a couple of the other doctors at the old office. I know Carter's not going to break, but they didn't seem to care if they gained his trust or not by being gentle with him.

I also really liked the nurse we had today. She was really sweet to Carter and got him smiling lots, which is usually hard when he's in a new place with new people (he's usually Mr. Serious for awhile). She had to prick Carter's finger to do a blood screening and he never even cried. She also had to give Carter a flu shoot which did make him cry, but he was over it in about 15 seconds.

Overall, I'm happy that we switched offices.

Here are Carter's 9 month stats:

• Weight: 17 lbs, 6 oz - 7th percentile
• Height: 27.5 inches - 23rd percentile
• Head: 46.8 cm - 87th percentile
  

Carter gained 2 lbs, grew 1.5 inches taller, and gained 2.3 cm in head circumference in 3 months. Brian and I were a little worried because his weight and height percentiles are so low. I think we're more worried because they used to be higher and are really starting to fall off.

The doctor wasn't really concerned. He said he looks fine. Though he did recommend trying to feed Carter a little more solids during each meal. He also said this may help Carter start sleeping through the night if he's getting more food during the day.

One of the doctors at the old place told us the percentile charts are based on white, formula-fed babies in Ohio. So they aren't a very good sampling of children in the US and don't fit us too well since Carter is breastfed. I know I shouldn't be too concerned, but I still am.

Carter and I have to go back in a month for his second flu shot so I'm going to ask them to measure him again then and to see if he's still dropping off the charts.

Just for reference, here are his stats and percentiles:

Weight:

Birth - 7 lb, 5 oz
1 Month - 9 lb, 10 oz - 46%
2 Months - 11 lb, 6 oz - 45%
3 Months - 13 lb - 42%
4 Months - 13 lb, 13 oz - 34%
6 Months - 15 lb, 6 oz - 16%
9 Months - 17 lb, 6 oz - 7%


Height:

Birth - 20 1/4 in
1 Month - 20 7/8 in - 27%
2 Months - 22 in - 22%
3 Months - 23 1/4 in - 24%
4 Months - 23 3/4 in - 17%
6 Months - 26 in - 36%
9 Months - 27 1/2 in - 23%


Head Circumference:

Birth - ???
1 Month - 37.5 cm
2 Months - 40 cm
3 Months - 42 cm
4 Months - 42.5 cm
6 Months - 44.5 cm - 72%
9 Months - 46.8 cm - 87%

Bears, Oh My!

Sarah and I took the kids to the zoo this afternoon. We got lucky at the bear exhibit where two of the bears were hanging out by the window. One of them even ended up going for a dip in the water! Unfortunately the pictures didn't turn out all that well with the glare off the glass and also needing to use the flash.




We had hoped to try to get picked to help wash an elephant today but we didn't realize that they don't do the program on Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe we can get back before Labor Day when the program ends and try again!

We of course had to ride the carousel before heading out. Carter still loves it and didn't even need me to hold him up (though I had a hand on him the whole time just in case). Today Mary Grace rode the giraffe (to match her outfit) and Carter rode the rhino!


We timed our visit perfectly. A thunderstorm was just ending when we got there and it started raining a couple of minutes after getting in the car to leave.

Carter got to spend lots of time with Sarah and Mary Grace today. Sarah was nice enough to offer to watch Carter for a couple of hours this morning while I went over to my office to talk to a coworker about doing some work. Sarah said Carter did really well and I'm so happy he did! I'm sure he liked all the new toys and new rooms to explore as well as getting lots of attention. Sarah successfully wore Carter out because he fell asleep on the way home and even let me transfer him from his carseat to his crib when we got home.

Swings & Ducks

I took Carter to the park this morning to go on the swings for a little bit. This was the first time he'd been in a bucket swing (we have one of the blue Little Tikes swings at home). He had lots of fun.




I gave Carter a bath when we got back from the pool this afternoon, and he would not give up his little rubber duckie when we were done. He kept it in his mouth like this for about half an hour sucking on it like a paci. Crazy kid!

Happy Boy

Check out those teeth!