Carson's First Birthday

With one tooth barely showing

Crawling

Pulling to stand and cruising

Climbing up steps

Weighing in at 17 1/2 pounds and measuring 28 1/2 inches

Whistling (seriously whistling, check out the video clip)

And eating everything in sight....

Carson James turned ONE on February 16 and we celebrated on February 17.

Unlike his sister's first birthday (she cried during cake time), Carson loved his cake as long as someone fed him. Who wouldn't love PF Chang's Wall of Chocolate? We kept it simple with Vic's family for 2 hours. He enjoyed the company, but not as much as Ella did. She got dressed up for little brother's birthday; she wanted him to be 3 like her. She sang happy birthday to him and carried the cake to his highchair. With his lightning fast reflexes, he reached for the lit candle but Vic saved the day and blew it out.

With all the concerns about his assymetric scooting, I decided to have him assessed by the Good Samaritan physical and occupational teams that evaluated him in the fall. Now up to this visit, he was army crawling by rolling over the left arm and keeping the left leg straight (our in-home physical therapist's concerns). That little stinker decided to crawl on all fours FOR THE FIRST TIME during the assessment. The Good Sam therapists did not feel he required therapy through our insurance; he was pretty much on target for his adjusted age. Some skills were slightly delayed, some skills were emerging so inconsistent and others were ahead of schedule. The basic conclusion from the Good Sam PT was that he had full range of motion on both sides but decreased quality on the left side. It was mentioned that sometimes kids learn with one side first (his right) and then work on the other side after mastering the first side. Good news!

In trying to put our minds at ease about this, Vic and I looked back at Ella's milestones. Carson actually got into the all four position, crawled, pulled to stand and cruised before Ella and there were/are no concerns with her gross motor development. We are still going to have him evaluated by a Neurologist at Children's Hospital on March 10 to be proactive based on our in-home PT's advice. Our pediatrician doesn't think this is necessary, but I'd rather be safe. It's not that I don't trust our pediatrician because I greatly do. But Amy (our PT) spends 1 hour per week with him so she has more observation time with him. She is very pleased with his progress over the past month but still wants to consult with the Neurologist to rule out other issues. Since there's no pain/stress during the first visit (just a physical exam), we are inclined to be proactive and put our minds at ease. If there are other issues, early intervention could aid his development. I'll post after the visit.

Waiting...

So, it's the early morning of Friday, February 8 and I have been sitting at First Church of Christ since midnight to register Ella for preschool. I thought I was crazy and was worried about being the only one waiting at a church, but that was not a problem. For when I arrived at midnight (registration opens at 9AM), there were already 4 ladies waiting. 1 was waiting for the 4 year old program and the other 3 were waiting for the 3 year old program so I am second on the waiting list. Someone should open a preschool in the Northern Kentucky area. Seriously, St Timothy registered recently and they are already full.

Other happenings... Carson's birthday is coming up - Feb 16. Can you believe a year has passed? He is finally cutting his first tooth (you can feel it but not see it). The lack of teeth has not stopped him from eating; he had a slice of pizza last night. Carson is scooting or army crawling everywhere; he is not content to stay in one place especially with Ella running everywhere. He is getting into a crawling position, rocking and on occasion moving forward a few patterns. The therapist still visits Carson weekly and has expressed concern on one occasion about his left leg. When he scoots, he uses his right leg to move forward, bends his left arm underneath him and rolls over it, and drags his left leg behind him. If you bend his left leg while in this position, he typically moves it normally. He uses his left leg when jumping or balancing objects while laying down. This concern was only noted on one visit and we've had two subsequent visits and she thinks everything is fine. When she expressed the concern, she indicated we would watch closely and if necessary consult with a Neurologist. Our appointment with the Neurologist is the first week of March, but hopefully, we can cancel it.

Carson continues to adore Ella. He smiles and laughs at her. Yesterday, they were laying on the floor and he scooted to her. As he looked at her, he giggled. I told her to kiss him and when she did, he smiled and giggled. Ella cheers for his accomplishments and is proud to announce them to me (if I'm not looking). She watches out for him by taking away small objects or paper. She loves to feed him cheerios and sometimes baby food. When we eat, she often asks if Carson can have a small bite of this or that.

Ella cracks us up. At preschool, she made an airplane out of a box. The teacher gave her 4 people - a mom, dad, boy and girl. The boy and girl were the same height. Ella asked the teacher for a baby like her brother Carson. The teacher listened and thoughtfully took the boy to the copier and shrunk him. Ella was so excited to share this project with us. Everything is relative to her (at least I think) for she says that I am a big momma and that I have a big bottom. At least I don't think I am a big momma. She has a new friend at school, Harrison. Her favorite friend, Isabelle, is no longer in her class. She told me that she held hands and marched with Harrison in music. Then she told me she liked Harrison's shoes (they were black and shiny). Of course, she said, Harrison liked her boots. She continues to attend dance class on Tuesdays and enjoys Ms. Dee. Her recital is in May and then we will take a break to enjoy summer activities. We're also planning her birthday party at the end of March; she wants to go to the jumping place with all of her cousins.

So, lots of things going on... and still waiting for 9AM to arrive. After that, I will go home, play with Carson and Ella, and anxiously await nap time. It can't come soon enough. Normal nap time is 2PM, but I'm hoping I can get them down by 1PM. Hope... hope... hoping.

Carson's 9 1/2 Months Pictures

Here are Carson's latest pics - could he be any more handsome? Yes, he is sitting on his own now... and he is army crawling. This is happening way too fast. Ella was not mobile at her first Christmas and he has already helped himself to some ornaments from the tree. Enjoy!

Once Upon A Time...

On the way home from dinner, Ella asked us if we wanted to hear her story. We replied yes of course. Here is mostly how the story went:

Ella: Once upon a time, there was a little old man who was walking with candy canes.
Tonya: What happened next?
E: The ducks took the candy canes. And then the mean cat took them.
T: Did the mean cat take the ducks or the candy canes?
E: The candy canes.
T: Then what happened?
E: The little old man tried to catch them.
T: Then what happened?
E: The ducks threw them in the water. And the fish got them.
T: Then what happened?
E: They went in the fish's belly. Then, the fish gave them back to the little old man. He gave some to the ducks and some to the mean cat. That was 'berry' nice of him to share. Then, they were happy.

Ella was a crack-up all day. Whenever I am looking for something to wear, Vic tells Ella that there is a raccoon in the closet. So, when she was going potty today with Vic supervising, I peeked in. Ella said in her silly voice "There's a raccoon peeking in."

As we were leaving the restaurant, Ella says to no one in particular except for maybe the nice strangers holding the door "Daddy has a boyfriend." This is absolutely NOT true and here is where she picked up on this. As we arrived at Thanksgiving dinner at Vic's parents' house, Vic commented that Amber had brought her boyfriend, John. Ella had never met John before and she rarely sees Amber. So, somehow she is convinced that Daddy has a boyfriend.

Over the weekend, we ventured to the mall and unexpectedly had their pictures taken with Santa. We anticipated huge lines, but there was none. Ella was excited and talked and smiled to Ho Ho. Carson did not cry. He looked up at Santa's face and then watched Ella to decide what to do next. The usually cheerful Carson didn't even crack a tiny smile, but he did manage to look at the camera. After this excursion, Vic is now convinced of my need for a double stroller so we are making that purchase very very soon. We also decided on Carson's bedding (yes, he's in a crib in our room still) so we'll be putting his room together in the next few weeks. I'm actually not looking forward to my trek upstairs for his naps and wakings at night. And what did Ella ask for - an expensive kitty cat. You know, the FurReal white cat that meows and moves... We saw it at Wal-Mart and played with it in the cart. Then mean mom told her we couldn't buy it because it was too expensive. I know that kitty cat will make my Ella one happy girl on Christmas Day : ) thanks MawMaw!

Carson continues to show his strength. He is sitting for longer periods of time and can prop himself. Today he transitioned from sitting to laying on his stomach smoothly while on our bed. He loves to kick in his bath and makes quite a mess. Tonight he splashed with his hands and thoroughly enjoyed himself. His flexibility has improved - he now eats his toes. When we first started physical therapy, he did not bend his feet/legs toward his mouth. I could stretch them there, but he resisted. He enjoys removing our glasses and rubbing our eyebrows. We've started giving graham crackers to him and he would shove them whole in his mouth so this is closely monitored. He is chewing/crunching them. He is excited to drink water from a glass. He opens his mouth, grabs the rim with both hands (fingers inside the glass, palms on the outside of the glass) and pulls it to his mouth. He has a tight grip and you have to wrestle the glass away from him. He is still putting everything in his mouth and I do mean everything.

Time to go to bed.... good night...

Watch what you say!

The pictures above are from our family outing to Daniel's Petting Zoo. We fed the animals took a hayride, picked out pumpkins and Ella had her first pony ride. We had so much fun, but unfortunately, I let Carson get sunburnt. C'mon - it's the middle of October. You can see his red cheeks in the close-up below; he's wearing a navy shirt with striped sleeves. Dumb Mom! I felt awful.

Ella is ever so amusing and she cracks us up everyday. Here are a few of our favorite stories:

• Ella and Carson were monkeys for Halloween; however, we did buy a kangaroo costume from Old Navy. She did not wear it and the tags were attached so we returned it on Nov 1. Ella goes into Old Navy with me and I sit her on the counter. She likes to pay. And as the associate is processing the return, she asks Ella what she was for Halloween. Ella confidently replies "a kangaroo." And I wanted to hide under the nearest clothing rack.




• I don't remember what Vic did, but it wasn't what Ella wanted him to do. She looked at him and asked "what were you thinking, Dad?"
• When we were eating out, Ella requested Sprite so they brought her a paper cup with a straw. Strangely, Ella turned it up and drank from it like it was a sippy cup. Of course, she got wet. After telling her that we don't drink from cups like that and this is how you do it, she stated that "she wanted to drink it like a beer." Vic & I did our best to not laugh and she added "I wanted to drink it like the armadillo." Texas Roadhouse has a stuffed armadillo laying on his back (upside down) drinking a beer. That's what I get for explaining too much to her.
• After preschool, Ella informed us that Grace was missing. I asked where she was and Ella replied "she was on China." Having met Grace's mom a month ago, I knew she was travelling to China to adopt a sibling for Grace. I told Ella that she was right - Grace was going to get a baby sister. And Ella said, "no, that's not right. a baby brother." I can't honestly recall so we'll wait and see.
• And this last one is strange... as we were leaving for preschool, she asked "Mommy, did our house burn down?" We have not discussed that with her, but I am sure it has been discussed with family and friends in her presence. After taking a deep breath, I explained that it had burnt down, Daddy built us a new one, and that it happened a long, long, long time ago. And on a different day, she said "maybe our house will burn down again. That would be fun." She has never used "fire" and "burnt" in the same conversation so I don't think she completely understands, but she definitely picks up on more things than I had thought.

After attempting another parent/child class with Ella, we decided to hold off on gymnastics until she was 3 and could attend without a parent. Ella wanted to do the big equipment and not the Wiggles dance and obstacle courses. But after hearing one of Ella's friends attending a dance class, we started looking into that opportunity. Vic's friend from high school has her own studio and she agreed to let Ella try the three year old class. We observed the first class and Ella was dying to join the girls. We bought tap shoes and ballet shoes for the second class and she loved it. It's a 45 minute class with tap, ballet and tumbling. She had so much fun, but it's obvious she's the youngest. We pay monthly so we'll see how it goes. The downer is that parents aren't allowed to watch, but if you watch from the window outside the studio, you can sneak a peek. Of course, we did that! Tomorrow, we are headed to a dance supply store to pick up a pink leotard and pink tights. I'll post pictures soon. Ella's in blue in the pic; they are doing ballet butterfly stretches.

Carson had his 9 month doctor visit and the doc was pleased with his growth. 14 pounds, 15.8 ounces and 26 1/4 inches in length. He is still not on the chart for weight but falls in the 8th percentile for length. His iron level was good so we can stop the multi-vitamins (one of the reasons for his constipation). He is starting to sit on his own for short periods of time, rolls everywhere every direction, starting to prop with his arms when sitting, bangs toys against the highchair tray, can pick up cheerios and place them in his mouth, pivots on his stomach and is starting to pull his knees underneath of him and move his legs to move towards an object (the beginning of the army crawl). He visited the eye doctor and this visit was much less stressful (no flipping of the eye). He looked great and we don't have to go back for another year - yippee! He had his follow-up with the NICU at Good Samaritan Hospital and he was on target for his adjusted age. He'll visit again at 15 months of age. Carson is making great progress with the physical therapist and he is starting to be more expressive. Although he uses consonants and vowels like ga, ba, da, he doesn't babble (babababa, dadada). He is starting to show different inflections when excited. He cried today when I took a tag off of his zebra because he wanted to eat it. Did I mention he mouths everything? This is so different than Ella. He has no teeth but has swollen gums so maybe soon. I think he's starting to play the pick up game. He drops a cup from the highchair and I'm supposed to pick it up... maybe Ella will want to play.

Ella had her first dentist visit this past week and she passed. I was honest and confessed that we brush her teeth once a day. Of course, he would like to see her try it in the morning on her own (at the very least) and then we should do it at night. He suggested I do a better job at the gum lines in the front by pulling her lips out. She always giggles because that part tickles. The bad news is that her thumbsucking (only when she sleeps) is affecting her bite; I could see the impact. The good news is that it is self-correctible. Dr. Bert told Ella that she needed to stop sucking her thumb and she still likes him. She has a security blanket and if she holds it, she sucks her thumb so we have new rules about Toodle-Doo:

• He can't leave her bedroom because he might get lost.
• He can't nap with her because he's dirty and needs a bath. He might get muddy footprints in her bed.

So far so good... she fake cried yesterday at nap time, but not today. I'm not forcing anything overnight because I don't want to regress on the potty training. We'll take it slow, but hopefully thumbsucking will stop before age 3.

It could ONLY happen to me!

Vic has been busy with client/business evening/weekend entertainment. Reds game on Tuesday, golf outing on Saturday and Bengals on Monday. So, I decided to escape from the house on Saturday by returning some library books and making a quick trip to Target (I needed to focus for this to be quick). I planned to be back at the house for lunch.

Vic left around 10AM and I left shortly thereafter with Ella and Carson. Did I mention that we're back on the potty training again? Anyway, we made it to the library and paid our late fines on the first floor and Ella said "I have to go potty." Although she says this more often than she needs to go, this is one of her usual times to go. I had Carson in the carseat attached to the stroller and the restrooms were on the second floor. We quickly walked to the elevator and waited for it to arrive. Although it seemed like forever, I'm sure it was not. We rushed onto the elevator. With my mouth open, I watched in slow motion as my keys fell off my stroller hood and oh no!!! down the elevator shaft. I really wanted to cry/scream/curse but I managed to calmly focus on getting Ella to the potty. She successfully pee-ed in the toilet and we celebrated. Then, I explained the key situation to her and told her we needed to find someone to help. After sharing my embarrassing predicament with the librarian, she informed me that it would cost $500 for the elevator company to retrieve my keys today or $0 on Monday. She then lovingly reassured me that my carkey was probably going to be ruined anyway because it was sitting in a puddle of oil under the hydraulic elevator. Her husband was an elevator man so she seemed to know a lot about elevators. The staff opened up their playroom for us and offered to drive us home, get anything we need, etc. I know a replacement key would be expensive, but probably close to the same price so I set out to find a ride home.

I called my sister-in-laws who live down the street and no one answered. I am sure they were outside enjoying the beautiful day. I called my husband who had driven three other co-workers to the golf outing at least 45 minutes away - no hope there! Thankfully, my father-in-law rescued us. As I drove through McDonald's to pick up food for Ella, I had a thought to call the fire department. Since they rescued cats from trees, maybe they could rescue my key from the deep vast elevator shaft (really only 2-3 feet). They were willing and eager to help; however, the librarian and particularly the facility manager were not happy with my idea. The facility manager was not happy because he would have to drive from his home to the library on his off day. The librarian could not understand why I could not wait until Monday; her attitude completely changed toward me. Here's a simple answer: if my key was sitting in a puddle of oil, I would rather it sit in the oil for less time. I guess that's selfish, but oh well. It ends up that the firemen did not have the right key for the job (which would suck if there was an entrapment) and the facility manager claimed he didn't have a key. The firemen could, however, see that my key was sitting on dry concrete not in a puddle of oil so I was content to wait until Monday. On Monday, I picked up my key from the same librarian who said absolutely nothing to me. So, lesson learned, do not put key on the hood of your stroller and always have a bottle with you (just in case). BTW, the firemen were awesome. They chatted with me, answered Ella's many questions and let her touch the firetruck.

Meanwhile, potty successes continued.... dry all day on Saturday and Sunday while she was awake. She's still not completely comfortable telling her teachers at school so we've come home wet from school on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. She's not staying dry during naps or the night yet, but she tells us that she's wet when she wakes. She is staying dry in the evenings and stayed dry ALL DAY today. She went to the potty FOUR times today without us prompting/questioning her. She's telling us, holding it, pretty much pulling her pants/diapers down and going pee pee on the potty. She's not pooping on the potty by herself yet although that's what she started doing first in June. So, after two training potties, two toilet seats, four how-to books, numerous stickers and sticker charts, too many to count prizes and children's books on potties, we are very, very close to having a potty-trained 2 1/2 year old Ella.

If someone asks me for my secret, I don't have one. None of the trained in one day methods worked for us. Sticker charts were great for getting her started, but they weren't motivating enough for her. After we knew she knew when she needed to go but chose to go in her pants anyway, we started using consequences. At first, we marked a black X on her 5 circle per day chart instead of giving her a stamp for a success. When she began to tell us that we now needed to mark an X on her chart when she had an accident, we knew she understood consequences. So, I went for the ultimate sacrifice... her 10 market pieces from her Little People playset. She absolutely loves to play market especially with Dad. The rules were simple:

1. If she had an accident while awake, she lost one market piece.
2. If she went pee-pee or poo-poo on the potty, she got all the market pieces back.

She lost three pieces on the first day, but got them all back on the second morning. So far, she has not lost more than two pieces before earning them all back. Surprisingly, this plan has not caused panic, tantrums or tears. No arguments either. She gets it! If you played market and some pieces were missing, she knew why they were missing. Oh - and we never told her she was bad, but that pee-pee in the diaper was bad or mommy doesn't like wet diapers. It could be coincidentally the right time, the peer pressure at school, the market pieces, showing her how to pull down/up her pants/diaper, or the new Baby Bjorn toilet seat and stool that help her go like grown-ups. Who knows but keep your fingers crossed - we think we're approaching the finish line.

Quick Pictures of Carson

I took Carson to Sears this week for updated pictures. Can you believe he is 7 1/2 months? I am kind of biased, but he is definitely CUTE!




Carson is scheduled to start Physical Therapy this Thursday. The state of Kentucky has a great early intervention program, First Steps. They are unbelievably reasonable in cost and the therapists come to our home. At the time of his assessment, Carson was not rolling from back to tummy (with lots of coaxing), required moderate support for sitting and appeared to be stiff at the trunk. He didn't bring his knees to his chest as easily as most babies; however, this could also mean that his muscles are more developed in that area. He was also standing with support and taking some steps; this was more than what was expected for his adjusted age. He is now rolling without any coaxing and is so very close to sitting. He can sit for a few seconds if we place him just right. He hasn't figured out how to use his arms for balancing and propping. He now stands and takes steps with less support, too. After meeting with the team on Thursday, we don't think he will be in the program for long (unless his needs change). We also are scheduled for a full assessment at the Good Samaritan Hospital NICU clinic on Tuesday, October 2. They often refer to First Steps when necessary. I am anxious to hear their thoughts.