14 mos & a flashback to 13

So I realized that I haven't blogged about Carter's 13 mo. milestones yet, so I will catch up on those first & then fill you in on what he is up to these days. I know some of you probably could care less about "what all Carter is up to" but this is for my records at least.

Carter @ 13 mos ~

Not walking yet but surfing over all of the furniture. Still drinking formula out of a bottle but we are working very hard on getting him off formula at least & then onto throwing out the bottle. He is so spoiled with it warmed up all the time too. He is still sleeping 7-7 or so & sometimes still goes to bed even earlier...he is pooped after playing at school all day! He is talking all the time (not full words yet), constantly laughing/giggling & is still obsessed with being upside down. He is still a Momma's boy but becoming more accustomed to going to Daddy now. He is eating only solids unless he doesn't eat any veggies & mommy will sometimes sneak in some veggie baby food. He is wearing mostly 18 mo. clothes but a good amount of 24 mo. as well. He has 10 teeth...4 on the top & bottom in front & a top molar on each side. I'm sure there is more I would've discussed a month ago but I can barely remember last week.

Carter @ 14 mos ~

We are WALKING!! He started actually taking steps on his own about a week before he turned 14 mo. & then actually started really walking a few days before...so he technically started walking right at the end of 13 mo. Slow going but glad we are finally there. He still isn't full fledge walking...he prefers to hold onto something & surf if he can but taking 10, 15 even 20+ steps at a time so we are doing great!

And thanks to his wonderful Shashe (Justin's mom) who kindly took care of him over Memorial Day w/e, he is off the bottle & formula!!! It was just cold turkey & we've never looked back. We are still struggling to get him to drink actually milk though...he was doing ok for a few days but here recently he will come home from school with only taking maybe a few sips. So I am hoping we can get him on the milk train very soon. I just don't want him to be missing out on all that good calcium. I know he can still get some from veggies, cereal, etc. but I am going to do my best to get him eating more yogurt, cheese, etc too. Justin mentioned adding some nesquick to the milk which we may try & I have read some things about kids not liking whole milk, which is what they recommend, but that they may like 2%. From what I have read, it sounds like they still can get all the good brain growth/nutrients from 2% so I'm ok with that. If anyone has any good suggestions on how to get him to like milk & whole milk preferably, I'm all ears!!

Carter graduated to his new class at school on June 1st. This has been a bit of a transition since he is in a whole new building now & they don't take a diaper bag with them anymore. He's a big kid now! Every week we just take a blanket & crib sheet on Mon & then everyday he just takes a sippy cup(s) with him & that's it. He does have some spare clothes there in a cubby hole but they don't have room to store all the diaper bags, not to mention they move rooms a lot, go outside & play everyday that it would make it difficult to keep up with them I guess. His schedule has totally changed too. They feed them breakfast until 8am & then they have lunch @ 10:30 (wouldn't be my choice) & then they only have 1 nap now instead of 2 from 11-1. Again not my favorite. I would think you would at least do a normal nap time 1-3 or 2-4 but whatever works for them is fine. He is still napping twice a day for us on the w/e. He is a great napper for us...normally around 2 hours or so.

One of his newer tricks is launching his extra (sometimes all of them) pacis from his bed at some point during the night. We always have to "hunt" for them since they are green or blue & match his crib skirt which is getting longer the more the bed gets lowered. I'm thinking he does this either before he goes to sleep or when he wakes up in the am...I guess he thinks it's fun to see how far he can throw it...working on his shot put. :)

We have 12 teeth now...one new molar on each side of the bottom. I think those were a bit painful coming in b/c for a few days he was extremely fussy at dinner time & would scream out sometimes when he bit down on something.

His personality is really coming out even more & it is so much fun that he is starting to understand, communicate & really process things. I would say his favorite thing to say right now is "uh-oh" but he also sort of says "get down". "Guh-guh-guh" is what he will constantly say & keep repeating but I haven't a clue what that means. He loves to clap & looks around to see who is watching & if they'll clap too. He learned how to climb the stairs recently & gets better every time he goes up. He can take off now up them but we are working on teaching him how to come down them properly & not face first. He has also figured how to open doors. We have the horizontal handles that you grasp & pull down so we were out buying locks for those today or at least for the doors to any stairs. Books are becoming much more interesting now...he used to just try to close them all the time. Bath time is very active...he loves to stand a lot & knock anything off the edge of the tub onto the floor. Still sleeping about 12 hours a night but he actually stayed up 'til 7:30 the past 2 nights...that's pretty big for him!

I guess that's about it for now. I hope everyone is having a great w/e!!