Happy Birthday Carter!!

We've had oh so much fun the past couple of weeks, I've got a lot to catch up on! However, I wanted to go ahead and do his one year post now so I would remember all he's doing at this age. We just got back from the doctor, poor guy got 4 shots and 5 vials of blood drawn (after 2 sticks!) but he's a trooper and a healthy little one year old, couldn't ask for more!

STATS:

Weight: 19.12 lbs (10%)

Height: 30 inches (55%)

Head Circumference: 18 inches (25%)

Stage 3 diapers

mostly 12 month clothes, pants still fit at 6-12 months

size 2 shoes (very little feet!)

I think it's crazy he went from 80% to 10% in weight in a year, but the doctor says he's very healthy and proportionate, so I'm not worried. He's just a skinny, active little boy!

EAT:

The big change this month was transitioning to whole milk. He got 1/2 whole milk 1/2 breast milk  in a sippy (no more bottles!) up until Thanksgiving day at which point we transitioned to 100% whole milk. Upon the change to 100% he started to get less interested in drinking his milk. I didn't think much about it but the Friday after Thanksgiving he vomited (I thought he had too much water) and then over the next few days we started correlating vomiting with times he consumed his entire 7 ounces of milk. This, along with blood in his stool (this is my diary folks, so you just ignore these parts if it's tmi!) and persistent wheezing (and with the help of google) had me self diagnose Carter with a possible milk allergy. Well, I didn't really diagnose--Caleb had a cow's milk intolerance as a kid, I called the doctor, he said I'm not too off target, and recommended I start giving him soy milk as an experiment for the week and we would do a blood test today at his check up. So, he's now on soy milk and is doing great, but I also think he might have had a little bug last week, so I'm not sure if it's coincidence? Either way, he's back to liking his milk and no more vomiting/GI issues, so we're happy. I will be interested to see what the bloodwork shows. As far as food, mostly table food, pretty much whatever we're eating. Caleb says Carter's so skinny because I give him chicken and broccoli for dinner :). He ate cake at his birthday party (on 2nd attempt...more on that in a coming up birthday party post) and a cookie on his actual birthday, so we are slowly acclimating him to yummy goodness and not just fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and whole grains! After the little bug/milk issues he is back to being our good little eater and is eating a TON--just ate an entire grilled cheese sandwich and 6 strawberries for lunch for example :). 

PLAY/DEVELOPMENT:

A friend at a party last night summed up Carter perfectly in one word: "busy". He is WALKING (as of 11/14!) and climbing and exploring like crazy. He is interested to see how things work, as cause/effect is definitely mastered. He is getting more interested in books, especially touch and feel, and will turn the pages. He started pointing (mostly does the "Hitler salute" type of point) and now will point wherever he wants to go or what he wants--primarily it's the door and will then wave "bye bye" as this boy loves to go and loves to be outside. As the doctor so eloquently put it today, "he's all boy". As a SLP, I feel like we constantly work on naming things but to him, everything is still /dada/. I know he'll get it, and believe me--he does a great job communicating wants/needs by signing (eat, bye bye, all done) or by pointing to what he wants. He's very active and strong, will rarely cry because of falling down, but if I tell him "no" or move him from something he shouldn't be doing, he cries so easily. I'll be interested to see if we have a sensitive little guy on our hands. He loves balls, lights (not light up toys but actual lightbulb lights), bathrooms, remotes, and phones. He even picked up the remote, aimed it at the TV, and started pushing buttons the other day....must get that one from Daddy :). 

SLEEP:

Minus our week of GI issues and trip to Austin which were miserable sleeping nights, he continues to be pretty consistent with a 7:30-6:30 schedule and 2 naps (8ish and 1ish) during the day. He may play in his bed for up to an hour before falling asleep (he acts grumpy and wants to go to bed but will play before falling asleep) and I love watching this playtime on the video monitor. Just this morning he was doing the "downward dog" yoga pose and talking up a storm!

HEALTH:

Not such a great month for health. I pretty much summed up the possible milk allergy stuff in the eating section,  so I wont do that here.  About 2 weeks ago he got a cold, which turned into fever, got diagnosed as croup. Lungs sounded clear, just a nasty cough. Well, fast forward 3 days, croup resolved but wheezing begins. The pulmonologist told me at the first sign of wheezing to give him a call, so he put him on pulmicort 2x/day in addition to albuterol, advair, and nasonex. Wheezing got worse, he had retractions, took him into the doctor and he put him on q 4 hour albuterol treatments around the clock--yes, setting our alarms to give him breathing treatments during the night. Thankfully, he slept through them in our arms as we put a mask on his face and blared his nebulizer. Love that sound sleeper :). We only did that a few nights, but no changes--not better, not worse, stayed the same. So, this past Monday (11/28) we put him back on the oral steroid :(. Thankfully, he's back to his healthy little self and we're hoping and praying we can make it through cold and flu season without any more steroid doses!

He also got his first molar this past week (bottom left) which puts him to 4 bottom teeth and 2 top teeth. 

I need to upload all my pics so no 1 year photos here, so hoping for lots o picture posts ahead--Thanksgiving/turkey trot, birthday party, Beth's wedding, birthday day, marathon---whew, what a couple of weeks!