Emotional

Today is a bit of an emotional day. I've cried a few times (once when Jeff and I were out for breakfast and he told me that people were going to think he made me cry) thinking that this year has gone so fast, I can't believe I am the mom to an almost one year old.

These were my thoughts a year ago

Gotta go finish getting ready for his birthday bash.

Snuggles

Carson has started to go for one nap a day (for the most part) and now he's gone from having two two-hour naps a day to one hour and a half nap a day. And he's been waking up super early. But, his demeanor hasn't changed whatsoever, so I figure it's just a phase and before I even question it, he will be back to sleeping like his regular self. I was talking to Kaethe last night and she said it was probably cause he was so wired about daycare and all the new changes, and he's too excited to sleep. Just like his mom :)

Does anyone notice anything particularly funny about his hair? I want to bring him to get a haircut, but Jeff has vetoed me.

Daycare is going so well, he hasn't cried once which makes me SO happy. And each day he seems less and less interested in us when we pick him up (one thing I will not be selfish about and be sad that he's OK to be with other people).

Anyways, onto the point of this. Yesterday when i got him up from his nap, he was a little sad. I got him out of bed, he leaned towards the ground (it's how he lets me know he wants down) so I put him down. He laughed and then started towards whatever had caught his eye. Then he looked back, realized he wasn't with me anymore (even thought it was HIS choice), let out a little cry and put his head on the ground and then scrambled back towards me. After doing this a few times, I decided to get on the ground with him. The same thing, except when he scrambled back to me, he would lay his head down on my lap for a few seconds, and then he was off. Then I decided to lie right down on the ground, and the same thing kept happening except this time he kept coming back to me and kissing me! I could have stayed there for hours getting all this cuddly attention from him. I wonder if it has to do with the fact that he's with someone else during the day (up till now only halfish days) and is that much happier to be with me now? Whatever is, I will take it. Make that a double.

This was the best $8 I ever spent. I bought him this truck from a consignment store and every morning as soon as we get downstairs, he looks around until he finds it. He plays with that truck at least 80% of the time he's awake. Seriously.

The apple doesn't far fall from the tree

I walked home tonight from a friend's house, in the snow, and passed a family. The mom, dad and 3-4 year old boy where dressed in jackets, snowpants, hats, scraves and gloves. The tiny girl was bundled in a snowsuit in her stroller.

That's going to be me. And Jeff (I haven't told him this yet). And Carson. And any future sibling thereof.

My mom sent my sister and I outside to play no matter what the weather. Cold, hot, wet.. no matter the weather we were outside. Bundled up with the hats falling over our eyes, the wind whipping across our face, we were outside and loving it. And my mom was right there beside us. In the spring we would be outside in the rain, with rain jackets and boots and splashing in the puddles.

I know I will be exactly the same. I've taken Carson out a few times in the snow already and will continue to do so. I love that I won't be inside with him for the winter months, that we'll still be getting tons of fresh air and learning to love the outside like I do. I love that my mom taught us to enjoy the outdoors and not laying in front of the TV or playing video games - she's the same with all the grandkids now too.

On a side note, I think it's kind of funny those parents who think that they are perfect. That they look down on other parents "Oh what they're doing isn't right, they shouldn't feel this way or they shouldn't act that way". Really? It's whatever works for you and your child. What works for me certainly will not work for everyone. I love listening to, and hearing stories about tips/tricks/advice/suggestions/success stories, I don't look down on anyone for anything they are doing. Sometimes I laugh and think - wow, I SO couldn't do that. Or Carson definitely would not go for that. But if it works for them, why WOULDN'T they do it? Heh, just a bit of a rant - I'm over it now :)

I love

Having such a happy go lucky kid. I'm glad that Jeff and I have introduced him to so many people, different scenarios and environments, that he is taking his transition to daycare like he does everything else in life. He loves it. Every day he is less and less frantic to run over to us when we go pick him up (the first few days he heard our voice, dropped whatever he was doing and couldn't crawl fast enough to ge to us). I love how she writes so much every day about the things he does and what he eats, so I know exactly what's gone on. I know it won't be such a full report every day as time goes on, but it's right now that it's really important to me.

He's officially dropped down to one nap. It's a tad early, but I'm just following his leads. Even if he doesn't sleep twice a day, he does have quiet time twice a day. And I couldn't be happier! So long as he is the one who made the decision, I am more than happy to follow his lead. We can actually go out and do things that take longer than an hour. And he's not even grumpy come time for his regular nap, he's happier. Then ever? Does that make sense? I think it's also cause we are getting closer to the one year mark.

Stand tall

I've caught him a few times standing by himself for only the briefest of seconds, but tonight he was standing up - sticking a ball in his mouth with both hands and he was standing on his own for close to 45 seconds. It was amazing! The room was a disaster from Ethan, Isabelle and Carson playing for the better part of an hour and I was looking to see what he was leaning against or toward. And he wasn't. Then I got excited, and yelled for everyone to look, and he saw me looking at him, dropped to his knees and crawled over to my lap. Go Munchie** Go!

Tonight Mom, Rick, Rob, Carrie, Ethan & Isabelle came over for dinner, and Carson loved (as always) following around his older cousins.

Seconds later, Carson leaned over and kissed the rubber fish lips

Props to his cousins:

Mayhem ensued:
I got lots of snuggles tonight...

** Munchie is probably the nickname I use the most. I must have a million names for him, among them are: Pumpers, Jumpers, Pumpernickel, Bean, Buddy, Boog, Muncher, Munchkin, Pumpie, CarsonWarson, Woog ... I'll spare you.

How much fun is having a kid?

Seriously, they make everything way more fun. Well, maybe not sitting on your butt and reading for the whole day, or watching a movie on a rainy afternoon, or shopping for 6 hours... but they make you see the world in a different way.

Like those who know me, know I don't like winter. There's no outdoor sports that I'm into, I hate being cold and I hate my nose running. So really, what else is there besides that to winter? Now that Carson is here, I love looking outside with him and seeing his expression when he sees everything covered in snow. We got all bundled up and went outside for a bit earlier today and it was amazing to see winter through his eyes. And he's not even big enough to enjoy snow for what it's really made for (snowmen, forts, snowballs, igloos...). I was so excited to get dressed up and take him outside, whereas in previous years I absolutely dread the first snowfall.




After a while though, he was starting to get a little weary of all this white stuff.


These were just taken inside while we were goofing around - how cute is he?

Must.not.compare

It seems like Carson IS ready to drop his morning nap. This morning, no nap at daycare. Jeff picked him up at quarter to twelve and by noon he was at home, in bed, dead asleep. It's 2pm and we haven't heard a peep. In my communication book, she said that she put him down at 9 and he talked until about 9:30 and she finally got him out of bed so they could all go out to play.

In my head I have that he should drop that nap at about 15-16 months. This is because of what I've read and from what I've heard from others. But if he's ready, why not let him drop it? Why do I feel the need to compare him to all the other kids I know or have read about?

I'm going to try for another couple days to see if he really is ready and then I will make the decision. Or rather, let him make it for me.

Good and ?

He laughed for her, he slept for her, he ate for her, he did everything he should, so yay! It makes for a VERY happy mommy.

Now... the past two days he hasn't slept in the afternoon. He's been in his crib for two hours both afternoons, just talking and laughing but not sleeping. I wonder if this means he's ready for just one nap a day? Jeff keeps reminding me that he's going through lots of changes, so maybe it will take a while before he settles into his routine. I'm just so used to him adjusting to everything without having to bat an eye that I question it and analyze it and try to think of different scenarios, when really - he IS going to daycare, being woken up from his morning nap after only an hour, been around new people, chasing other kids around... so what do you expect me to do Mom? Give me a few days!

Day 3

He's there for the whole morning. I'm kind of walking around in circles, not knowing what to do with myself! My plan was to do some running around this morning, but it's snowing and we haven't gotten winter tires put on yet, so I just stayed at home. I'm picking him up at quarter to twelve and now I'm counting down the minutes. I have this weird knot in my stomach and can't wait to see my little boog.

This is what I see

If I'm not right down on the floor with him (which is almost constantly) he comes over to me, climbs up and hangs onto my leg. He looks up at me with his big gorgeus eyes saying "Hey mom, why won't you play with me?" It's super cute and I'm going to miss it while I'm sitting at my desk at work.

Wow! This morning we woke up to snow! Jeff and I were lying in bed and we heard a big truck go by and Jeff said - that sounds like a snow plow. It never even crossed my mind that we would have gotten that much snow. We woke up, got the peanut up, came downstairs and wow - it was a white wonderland out there. Carson didn't know what to think about the snow. He put a bit on his tongue, shivered and made the best face ever. He's at daycare right now (it's SO weird to be sitting at home without him!) but I'm leaving shortly to go get him. Then there will definitely be playing outside.

Success part 2

Kids are so easily manipulated (I say that with love).

I was planning on waking Carson up at 10, so I just opened the door and watched him for a bit and he woke up on his own at 10:15. I fed him lunch early, to fit into the caregiver's schedule (which he didn't eat, ended up with me being super frusterated, but whatever) and then put him down at 12:45, he fell asleep without a peep.

Success!

His first hour away with a non-family member and he was perfect! I dropped him off, gave him a bulldozer (such a little boy), kissed him goodbye and I left. I went to do groceries, came back after an hour and while he crawled as fast as he could to me the second I walked in the door, she said he was happy the whole time. In his little "communication book", she said that they played with some cars and the stroller (anything with wheels is his best friend), played peekaboo and mostly he just watched the other kids. She said he was laughing and playing and didn't seem to miss me!

This makes me soooooo happy. Tomorrow is the same time at her house.

Getting him up and out of the house is a little trickier then I thought. Maybe trickier is the wrong word, but I'm used to doing everything at my own pace and not paying much attention to the clock (especially in the morning), but I'm really going to have to start working around the schedule he will be following once I head back to work. He wakes up normally at 7, so I used to change him and bring him downstairs for breakfast (this was the first week I've cut out his first morning bottle and he doesn't even miss it). I used to only get him dressed after his morning nap. I ended up getting there at 7:50 when it should have been 7:30, so tomorrow I'll get him dressed while I change his bum first thing. That will shave off some time and then right after breakfast we will scoot out.

He came home exhausted. One thing we are trying to work on is getting his morning nap down from 9-11 to 9-10. This way he will be ready to have his afternoon nap at 12:30 with the rest of the kids. This is great for me as it will let us go out in the morning before lunch.

I talked to my new manager and 7 - 3 isn't really an option for my working hours, because core hours are 9:30-3:30 in that dept, so I'll be working 7:30 - 3:30 which will work out great because I can see him in the morning before I leave.

Always makes me so proud

We went out for his second birthday party of the weekend yesterday. He was so good the whole time, considering he skipped his morning nap (by his own choice). We went here. He had a blast with all the other kids. The last picture is when we got home and he was absolutely beat!

This morning was our first day at daycare. Well, I went with him and we were there for only about an hour. He crawled away and went and played with the other kids, but would wander back to me and put an arm on my leg and look around. Just get a feeling for it. We had a great talk, mainly about his eating and sleeping and we've come to some fantastic arrangements that I think are going to work our perfectly! Tomorrow and Wednesday I will be dropping him off for an hourish in the morning, and I will leave and come back to get him.
He seems to be a little flushed today, bright red cheeks and he feels a little warm. He was a bit subdued after his morning nap, seemed a bit out of it. Then he played for an hour or so and was fine, but his cheeks are still super red. See for yourself.

Just off the top of my head

He cuddles. When we are on the ground playing, he'll often look at me, a huge smile comes over him and he crawls over and leans his head against any part of my body. It's most definitely my favourite thing in the world.

He loves his water, just like his mommy. During meal time, he will grab his sippy cup so dramatically. He sucks on it like he's been in the desert for a month and then slams it down, and repeats two or three times. Then he typically throws it on the ground and then peers as far to the side as he can and looks at it.

He takes after both his parents in that he loves books! No matter where he is, if Jeff or I sit down and pull out a book, he drops whatever he is doing and rushes over to us and comes just short of climbing into our lap. We could sit for hours. He only turns the page if you ask him, otherwise he just assumes we are going to do it.

He knows where the animals are on one his favourite books: Old McDonald had a farm. He doesn't quite know how to point yet, but he puts his hand on the right animal. See? Where are the doggies Carson? Where are the pigs?

He loves eating grown up food. He's eaten tofu, tilapia and meatloaf this past week. He's independent in that he wants to eat on his own. He's way better with letting us give him his veggies and the "bulk" of his dinner, but we are giving him as much as we can for him to eat himself. We were at Isabelle and Ethan's birthday party today, and Isabelle left her plate in front of him.


He loves to sleep. I know I've referred to his insane sleeping schedule before, but he sleeps on average 17 hours a day. I am being totally honest when I say I'm looking forward to him dropping his first nap (although not at all encouraging it), it will just allows us to have more fun! Especially because in two weeks my time with my little boog is going to be cut down, so the two days a week together I want to make the most of it. I figure things will get switched up at daycare, so I'm anxious to see what's going to happen.

He's busy. He's in bed and I think I will follow. Jeff out at a deepfried turkey/poker/game night, I just finished a book and now I'm going to take a hot bubble bath and then get into bed and sooo looking forward to it.

Quick post

Welcome back mom!

And I missed you so much, I'm going to wake up at night to say hi :)

Last night Carson was up from about 10 till 11:30. I think this has happened once in the past 8 or so months. Eek! I hope it's not a new trend. I was thinking it was teething (really, is there anything else we parents blame night wakings on?) but I don't see red or swollen gums and nothing peeking through. We'll see.

After about an hour of him crying and us unable to settle him, I gave him a hit of Motrin. I was sitting in the recliner with him, trying to calm him down and then he started to laugh, touch my face and giggle... so I knew the meds had kicked in and I put him to bed. Then I laid on the floor in the dark to see what was going to happen. I was laughing at myself, I've never stayed in his room before like that and I thought I was being overly protective or worried. I finally snuck out. It was really because I was being lazy and didn't want to be going from room to room. It was probably the first night I realllly wanted to go to bed too, I had been shopping straight for two days and travelling by car and all I wanted to do was sleep!

I just talked to our caregiver (I still totally love her) and I'm bringing Carson in for day 1 of our transition period on Monday. That's 6 days away! Holy crap! I'm starting to make lists of what I'm going to be bringing, putting his name in his clothes, and so on. I can't believe this is happening so soon!

So frusterated!

This mini vacation (aka shopping trip) is coming at the perfect time.

The past week or so, Carson is not eating. I make all his food. I made probably 10 different recipes this week and only at one meal, he ate what I made him. Chicken and apple balls. That's it. He'll eat: toast, yogurt, apple sauce, fruit, squash and peas. That's it. No ham, potatoes, pasta, tomatoes, cheese, chicken... nothing else I try to give him! I'm stuck in the whole - should I just give him one of the 6 items listed above at every meal so he at least eats something? Each meal I introduce something different, I keep thinking maybe he will like it. But he literally spits it out. It's frusterating. I suppose I am doing the right thing, by introducing something at every meal and I konw he's too young to try and reason with (have one more bite and you can have something you DO like) - so what to do? Do I keep as I'm doing, try new things but then have his faves on backup and give them after he refuses everything else? I'm worried he's not getting enough protein.

I hear about children doing things at daycare they don't do at home. I hope he eats at daycare! Maybe a new face is what he needs. Maybe he's tired of his routine, tired of me and needs a new change of pace. That's like me, I can feel myself itching inside for a change. It's coming, in three weeks now. I'm starting to get a bit anxious, I had a few problems yesterday just thinking about having only weekends as "full days" together, not seeing him after every nap, being the one to see him do his "firsts", playing, laughing, crying... but I'll be OK. I just need the first week under my belt, I always get anxious just thinking about change, but as soon as the change happens, then I adapt quickly and it's all good.

About his sleeping - he slept for 3 hours this morning, and is on his second hour of his afternoon nap. Sleep more at night Carson and less during the day!!! For some reason I always feel like I have to justify myself, but I'm an early riser - I don't mind being up at 5:30, but he's not happy at all. Then he has to make up for it by sleeping all day and we could be having so much fun!

Sorry Carson

I was reading someone else's blog this morning and they were not feeling well and going to spend the whole weekend in bed. I got all nostalgic for a minute and thought about the days where we could do nothing for the whole day except watch movies and laze around. Sometimes, I miss those days.

Then, Carson crawled over to me, pulled up his blankie and laid his head on my lap. The longing thoughts disappeared in a matter of seconds as I snuggled and loved my little boy. On a side note, he LOVES his blankie these days. Luckily it's not any one single blankie, we have about 12 of these ones (I think gagou tagou?) that are soft, and on the smaller side (not the ones used to swaddle). When you get him from his crib, he always reaches down and grabs his blankie. He carries it around with him, getting frusterated sometimes as he's trying to crawl, but he's on top of the blankie. When he's going up or down the stairs, he takes the blankie and puts it on the next stair, crawls up - grabs it - and puts it on the next step so it's there waiting for him. It's absolutely adorable. The other morning I went into his room, he was standing up with the blankie in his mouth (not holding it at all) and when he saw me he smiled, the blankie fell out and didn't know what to do. It made my heart melt.

He wakes up so early (betwen 5:30 and 6:30) and he's so tired, I try feeding him and putting him back to bed but he's awake. An hour later though (read: 7:30 this morning) he's ready for bed and has already been sleeping for 2 hours without a peep. He's tired when he wakes up. I wonder when he will clue in that he should sleep longer if he's still tired.

So I said...

Let's go peek. It's only 8pm, and this will happen probably three more times before we head to bed. Here he is asleep. Yeah, no blankets/toys in his bed !

Here he is sitting at his new old table

Happy Days

First birthday...

So, I'm just kind of making the invitation (just evite, letting people know the time) and I'm browsing around the web looking for ideas for food (there will be lots of kids, so I'm looking for cute little ideas) and it's AMAZING what some people have planned for thier child's first birthday! I've seen clowns, napkins with the child's picture, posters, crazy invitations.... it's insane! I know when Carson gets older and starts looking forward to his birthday parties, I will put more time and effort into them, but really? At 1? He won't remember anything. And he loves having people around, so if there are kids, food and grandparents - he will be happy as a pig in (finish it yourself). I'm just astounded at the lengths some people are going to for the 1st birthday! It's definitely more about THEM then the kid, and I suppose some people just love throwing parties and maybe if I loved all that I'd be going overboard too? But I've never been the type to decorate the house for parties, have themes and worry about entertainment. My friends and family are too lowkey (don't think you aren't worth it though!) and we aren't hoity toity like that.

Fun = No Nap

Most other kids, if they are out in the morning - doing things, playing, swimming, blah blah blah come home and are exhuasted and they have fantastic naps.

Not Carson. The more we do, the less he wants to sleep. We went out and played in the play area with Nadia and Sofia today for 2 full hours. Carson almost fell asleep in the car, but we made it home, upstairs for a quick change and to bed. He played/talked for about an hour then proceeded to lose his junk.

By 5:30 he was laying on the floor playing with his cars, head on the ground... so tired. Tomorrow we were supposed to have another playdate, but I'm going to cancel. He needs at least one afternoon nap this week!

On a side note - tuna? No go. Fruit Pear Muesli? No go. Apple and Chicken balls? Can't get enough.

Pink

I'm going through about 4 bins of girl clothes that Isabelle has grown out of, in case our next baby is a girl. The clothes are SO cute. Right now I'm so digging the little boys things and I love getting Carson dressed each day, but the pink, the skirts, the dresses, the ruffles are getting to me and I hope one day we will have a little girl!

And all I have to say is... the house was completely clean this morning, and this is after 2 hours of Carson.

Darn time change!

Carson is having a harder time adapt to the new time then he had when we went to Vancouver! This morning he was up at 4:30. That's WAY too early. We let him play in his crib for about an hour (he probably fell back asleep a few times, who knows) but 5:30 is too early for him. I don't care at all about me, I'm not tired and I'm fine at this hour, but it just throws him off the rest of his day. And it's hard to decide whether I keep him up until 9 (his normal morning nap time) or do I put him to bed at 8? I usually just read him and put him to bed when he's tired, but now he's tired all day!

Ahhhh the more they sleep, the more they sleep. The less they sleep, the less they sleep.

Sunday morning

We spent the morning with the cousins. Sofia has the CUTEST faces lately, she's always frowning (only cause she loves the reaction she gets) she's such a ham. And you should see her walk while holding onto her parents hands, it's like she's running, she's quick.

Carson and Sofia always seem to gravitate towards one another, probably cause they are the same size. Every time we see them, they are that much closer in size, they started out and Carson looked like a monster next to her.


Trying to get the 6 cousins together, looking at the camera at the same time is not always easy. I have to find out how to put the camera on the setting where it just keeps taking pictures one after the other when trying to do this. I got one where they are all pretty much looking at me, and then a second later it's over. I love how Maya is wearing her Snow White costume. She wore it to the skating rink yesterday too. I love seeing kids wearing just crazy costumes at any time of the year, hey, if they want to wear it, why not?

Carson loves wheels. As soon as you get him in a room he just immediately spots a wheel and makes his way over. At the park, he'll crawl across the whole playground to get to a stroller (ANY stroller) and try to bite the wheels. He always flips over any car/truck/tractor and just spins the wheels. What a little boy!

Following in his footsteps

When I was little, my dad used to chase my sister and I up the stairs. He would bang his hands on the stairs and stomp his feet. We knew he was coming and we would squeal until we got to the top of the stairs and he would barely miss us. He did it all the time. So much so, that now I always make Jeff walk up the stairs in front of me, or if I am walking in front I cover my bum so he can't get it.


Anyways, sure enough I've started doing this to Carson. And he plays the part. He starts to move SO fast, he screeches and laughs hysterically. He starts to fumble seeing as he's only about 3 months into this whole stair climbing thing and he's just trying to move so fast. It cracks Jeff and I up.

God I love that kid

He's going through a super snuggly stage. He snuggles in if you ask for a kiss, if he sees someone he doesn't know, if he's tired or if it's as simple as he just wants to snuggle. We've been seeing new people for the past week or so, so he always gets a little shy at the beginning but if they start playing with him, put him on their lap or whatever, he's OK in seconds. He LOVES books. He can sit on my lap and read books with me for half an hour. I catch him sitting by himself reading books too (or just chewing on them...). He isn't walking yet (that last picture may have looked like he was) but we just lean him up against the wall, trying to get him used to standing up while not holding onto anything.

I just can't get enough of him.

I've also met a really wonderful person at the park, who is just starting a daycare and I would have sent Carson to her in a second if I hadn't already found my caregiver. I am getting her # though, it's always nice to have a backup. For now, we have our daily meetings in the park with her two little boys (one is hers, the other is her friend's) and Carson has a grand ole time. I think I need to buy/find some sand toys though - he always steals Nate's (although he's OK with that), but I think he needs his own. Sometimes we are the only crazies in the park.

Sorry to disappoint...

But Hallowe'en was SO busy that I didn't take that many pictures. I should have taken some of Carson by himself, but I didn't! Bad mom. Bad bad mom. Carson had fun going around trick or treating with Ethan and Isabelle (we went to about 8 houses) and just loved all the lights, noises and people. Then we all came back, ate some pizza and answered the door to all the gorgeus little kids in their wonderful costumes. I think E & I had more fun doing that then going out trick or treating! The past week has been busy, so rather then explaining it all, I just took pictures :)

And one month today, we will be celebrating Carson's first birthday. WHAT???