13 Months with Carter

10/28/13-11/27/13

We started Carter's thirteenth month with his first Halloween to dress up and go trick-or-treating.  He was the cutest little turkey I've ever seen! :)

Then, that weekend, Carter got another ear infection.  We ended up going to a walk-in clinic on Saturday afternoon and I am oh, so thankful that we did.  I always have trouble figuring out if he has an ear infection or if it is just teething because he never runs a fever with his ear infections.  But this time, he did...and it was rough!  His fever spiked up about the time we got to see the doctor and it took a couple of days before we could come off of the motrin/tylenol regimen without it coming right back.  That night, he barely slept and we ended up in the recliner all night.  Thankfully, he felt a lot better by the start of the week.

After a long night in the recliner :(

We tried to start the transition to whole milk right around the time he started coming down with the ear infection and it went over terribly!  I was convinced I could get him to switch over from formula to milk easily and without mixing, but it just didn't work.  I would give him a sippy of milk and he would take a big gulp and then spit it back out.  Then, I tried mixing formula and milk and he did the same thing!   Finally, I just gave in and bought another thing of formula and he wouldn't even take that.  I ended up giving him pedialyte for most of the time he was sick with the ear infection because he wasn't drinking anything else and had very little of an appetite!  Sometime that week after he was feeling better, Mrs. Judy, his babysitter, tried warming the milk up for him and that did the trick!  From then on, I was able to just warm up milk and he would happily drink it.  So we are still doing that!  Too bad I had already wasted my money on that huge tub of formula! :( 

He has picked up on several things this month.  It's amazing to see him learn so many things everyday!  He has really started pointing at things, especially things on the walls, like clocks/pictures/decorations.  I guess he never noticed them before and now he wants to check them all out!  He wears us out going from one thing to another just pointing and looking.  He also started blowing kisses this month.  It is the sweetest thing ever, especially since his version of kisses are slobbery, open mouth kisses.  He has also picked up shaking his head "no", which is actually a huge help in communication, although it can be aggravating when he won't cooperate with me!  

Pointing at his Daddy in our wedding picture at Granny Mac's.

In the bathtub one night, he got "uh oh" down.  He started dropping his toys one by one out of the tub on the floor and said "uh oh" everytime in his cute little baby voice.  It was a wet mess in there, but so worth it to hear him say it.  It's been a hard habit to break him of since then!  Speaking of bathtime, he is hating being rubbed down with lotion and getting in his PJ's afterwards.  I'm hoping he comes to understand it is just part of life before I go crazy!

Little man finally started taking a few steps on 11/5.  And the next week, when I picked him up from the babysitter's house she was so excited to show me how many steps he was taking.  He had been doing the same at home, but he just wouldn't do it often.  He still is preferring crawling to walking, but does take a few steps here and there.  He definitely can do it, it's just a matter of wanting to.

On 11/8 we went in for Carter's one year checkup and shots.  He weighed in at 21 pounds 15 ounces and is 28 1/2 inches long.  His head measures 17 1/2 inches around (not really sure why this matters, but just for future reference! :)).  He was due for 5 shots and had to have his finger pricked twice.  It was absolutely terrible!  His little feelings were so hurt!  Thankfully, the sucker I gave him afterwards made him forget about it pretty quickly!  Everything was right on track developmentally and physically.  The bloodwork came back that he was a bit anemic, but since he was still on the antibiotic to take care of his ear infection, it didn't alarm the doctor too much.  Carter was doing so well after his shots that we were able to stop by a consignment shop on the way home!

He is still eating really well, although he is starting to learn to refuse certain things...green beans no longer fly with him (not that I blame him!).  He is still loving bananas, lasagna, chicken, beans, yogurt and sausage.  He is drinking more juice now too, especially apple juice.  I got him switched to the more "sippy cup" spout rather than the bottle type nipple that came with it.  Now he will pretty much take any soft spout sippy.

Starting to be too independent for Mommy to feed him his yogurt! :(

He is still at 6 teeth (I think!).  He never lets me look much anymore so I can't be certain!  He is also still wearing 12 month/12-18 month clothes and size 3 diapers, but we did have to start using size 4's for night time.  After about a week of him soaking the bed every morning, I decided we had to do something!

Little man's temper seems to be really be flaring these days when he doesn't get what he wants.  Even his babysitter who never has anything bad to say about him said he had a major temper tantrum and she was scared he was going to hurt himself with the way he was kicking and screaming!  She had to strap him in the high chair for a little time out!  I'm sure this is only going  to get worse before it gets better, unfortunately.

Brent has worked all but one half day this whole month (and it was due to tornadoes!).  So, this month, a typical day for us is Carter waking up at 6:30 with an immediate sippy of milk, then him playing while I get him/I ready for work/the babysitter's.  We are out the door at 7:25-7:35.  Then it's drop off time at the babysitter's at around 7:45, where he is ready for breakfast.  He always takes a long, good 2-3 hour morning nap before lunch.  Sometimes he will take another for her, but usually he doesn't these days.  Then I pick him up at 5:15ish and head home.  We start supper around 5:30/5:45 and he usually tears apart the kitchen while I cook.  I manage to feed him and scarf some food down myself around 6:30, then I clean up the best I can and take him up for a bath around 7:15/7:30.  Brent has been getting home at 8, so they have some time together after the bath/lotion routine, and then he lays him down after rocking him with a sippy of milk around 8:15/8:30.  I'm amazed at how easily he goes to bed, and praying it lasts!!

I think I have pretty well covered it all.  I've decided that even though this stage is exhausting because all little man wants to do is explore, it really is the best so far!!