Look Out! She is on the MOVE!

Well, Carly is a toddler. She isn't quite yet 1, but she is toddling around the house. She will still cruise the furniture or crawl on occasion, but she will also just stand herself up and toddle. I do believe at the moment she sees her three ways of moving like three different accessories for her outfits. She chooses the one she wants and swaps it out as she chooses. Gradually her days are starting to be filled more and more with toddling and less and less with crawling. Crawling is still a faster approach for her, so she resorts to it after toppling over from trying to toddle too quickly.

This new phase is a lot of fun, tonight she toddled slowly from the restaurant towards the car. However, this phase is also makes me feel sad. Carly will eventually start to want walk more than be carried, resulting in less and less closeness and cuddling.

Video Walking Update

10 months, 5 days

Walking Update

It is official, Carly is a show off. After dinner last night we walked over to visit some friends, and to check out their new kitchen. It had been a few weeks since they had seen Carly, so we showed how we had been setting her up to take a few steps and how her cruising ability had improved since the last time they saw her. After being in their home for a while Carly got quite comfortable with herself. Dave set her up to walk to one person, she would take a step away from him, turn slightly, and walk towards me. She did this a few times before becoming fascinated with a sofa pillow. Her excitement for this pillow resulted in her sitting down and playing with it, and then independently standing up from her sitting position while holding onto this pillow (it was about 2.5 inches thick, so it gave her some help in pushing herself up off of the ground). Once standing she would begin to walk, until deciding to dive bomb the floor and land on the pillow. She got quite a kick out of herself and repeated this a few times. Dave and I were amazed at how much "walking" she did last night and are quite intrigued about what will follow today.

10 Months

Carly is 10 months old today. Her daddy and I are having a hard time accepting that she has entered the world of double digits, and she is only 2 months away from her first birthday! (OH MY!!)

At the moment Carly is really enjoying playing. She will cuddle with her stuffed animals and dolls, along with her plastic truck and train. She really likes to look at/read board books. Her favorite books right now are Love (in the Ruby and Baby Max series) and Where Is Baby's Belly Button?.

Today Dave took apart Carly's exersaucer to make it into a stand up play table. She cruised around it checking out all of the toys and looking at it from a whole new angle. She also took many, many steps today. Prior to today we had to prompt her to take steps. Dave or I would stand her out in front of us, drop our hands, and hope she walked towards us. Today she was standing in front of me, I picked up her doll and put it in her hand, in hopes that she would stand holding the doll and allow me to stand up straight for a few moments. She did grab for her doll, then began to walk. I'm sure to an outsider it would have been quite comical, as she was walking I was trying to silently get Dave's attention in hopes of not distracting her. She did this for a few more times, before we really set her up. Dave sat down, helped her stand up and get her baby doll cradled in her arms and then pointed her in my direction. I was about an arms length away when she started walking towards me. Being the "challenging" mom that I am, I continued to move backwards as she stepped towards me. After many steps she caught on to what I was doing and showed her frustration with me.

Carly is becoming more and more of a daddy's girl. She wakes up from her naps calling for Dave, loves to play peek a boo and hide and go seek with him. She doesn't complain when I am around, and still only wants me to put her down for bed, but she does really love playing with Dave when he is home.

At 10 months Carly is eating:
~ apples
~ avocado
~ banana
~ barley
~ biscuits
~ blueberries
~ broccoli
~ butternut squash
~ carrots
~ cantaloupe
~ cauliflower
~ Cheerios
~ cheese (cheddar & American)
~ green beans (Gerber only, and mixed with rice)
~ macaroni and cheese
~ nectarines
~ oatmeal
~ pancakes
~ pasta
~ peas (Gerber only)
~ peaches
~ pears
~ rice cereal
~ turkey
~ waffles
~ whole wheat cereal
~ yellow squash
~ yogurt (mixed with various fruits)
~ zucchini

We have really made a point in the past few weeks to begin adding more table food to her diet. Our only dilemma is that she still doesn't have any teeth. We can only feed her foods that can easily be smashed between our fingers (to mimic the power she has with gumming her food).

She is still wearing a variety of clothing sizes. She sleeps in onesies that range from 3-6 months to 6 months. Her day to day clothes are 9 months or 6-12 months. Within the past week she has outgrown many of her 6-9 month outfits, but not all of them. It really surprises me that at 10 months she is still wearing such a small size. During our first ultrasound at 8 weeks she measured a week or 2 large. She continued to measure large until around 36 weeks. Her growth then seemed to slow down and I delivered a 7lb 14oz bundle of joy at 39 weeks. Now she is consistently measuring in the 50th percentile for weight; however, her mobility is causing her become leaner and leaner. Maybe she will have grown into her 12 month clothes by her first birthday!

Look Out!

Warning to the wise!! If you want Carly to come visit, then you better baby proof. On Friday afternoon Carly found a VERY interesting way to entertain herself for over 5 minutes. Here are a few moments of her enjoyable time:

A Few More Steps

Carly took a few more steps today. She and Dave were playing on the floor and she stepped towards him on two different occasions. I was able to catch the remainder of her steps on video. She still has some time before she is running around, but she is definitely making progress.



She is also beginning to stand more and more independently. She can stand up, pick up a toy, play with it in her hands for a few moments, put the toy back down, and then sit down in a controlled manner.

"Smarty Mom"

I am truly honored to have been chosen as this week's Smarty Mom for Charlotte Smarty Pants, a sassy mommy website for the Charlotte area. Below is a link to the article highlighting me (and our family).

Smarty Mom
(The photograph in the article was taken on Mother's Day)

Evening Cruise

We had a perfect Lake Norman evening. After Carly's marathon of an afternoon nap we headed down to the boat. We took a short evening cruise over to the Rusty Rudder and met some friends for dinner and drinks.





Carly was really well behaved (for a 9 month old) during dinner. She played with her toys, ate the food we packed, and smiled at everyone that passed by us. After dinner we headed out for an evening cruise. This was Carly's first night time trip out on the water, and she loved it. She squirmed (like she usually does) through the no wake zone; however, once Dave picked up the speed she was thrilled. The water was very calm, so Carly and I were able to sit up in the bow. This allowed her to feel the air on her face and overall be a lot more comfortable in her life jacket. Unfortunately our cruise needed to end early do to lighting in the far distance. Hopefully we can get a few more evening cruises in before the summer temperatures disappear.

Dinner Time Fun

Carly woke up from her afternoon nap hungry. In hopes to help get food in her faster, we placed Cheerios on her tray. She began eating Cheerios in between spoonfuls. Once she was out of pureed food she continued to feed herself.



She then began playing with me between Cheerios.

Baby Proofing

We have been saying for over a month that we needed to baby proof our stairs. Carly climbed them for a few days, then quit. She began climbing again last week and now can do it with speed. In attempts to keep her downstairs while Dave and I were preparing dinner, Dave engineered some "walls" to keep her closer to us and away from the stairs.

Fun in the Sun

This afternoon we headed down to the pool for a little fun in the sun. She enjoyed kicking, moving her arms, and going under the water (sometimes provoked by Dave and other times done independently). There were also a number of neighborhood children available for Carly to play with, she enjoyed splashing them as they swam over to see her. She really enjoyed the float that two of the girls brought down to play with. She definitely is rather fearless at the moment.

One Handed

This afternoon Dave and Carly were "walking" around the house. Dave was feeling daring, and pulled his hand out of one of Carly's hands. She continued "walking" through our foyer holding only one of his hands. They looked very cute walking hand in hand.



The cuteness continued tonight at dinner. After arriving at the restaurant, Dave got Carly out of her car seat. The three of us walked hand in hand on the porch of the restaurant (until we decided we were running late enough).

Today's steps and walking together as a family was wonderful! A year ago we were counting down Carly's arrival, and tonight we walked a porch hand in hand as a family of three.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dave!! We celebrated tonight with a steak dinner at home and a home made delicious ice cream cake. Carly also made a point to show off for her daddy while he was receiving a birthday phone call.

Dave had opened his gifts and was pacing around our downstairs while on the phone. I was washing up dishes from making his cake. Carly proceeded to chase Dave down with the assistance of one of Dave's birthday gifts. Unfortunately, Dave and I just watched her in amazement instead of documenting it. Luckily she continued to enjoy playing with Dave's gift long enough for us to get some video.

Full Rainbow

Carly is now eating a full rainbow of colors.
Red - apples
Orange - carrots, butternut squash, peaches
Yellow - yellow squash, banana
Green - peas, green beans, broccoli, pears, zucchini
Blue/Purple - blueberries
White - cauliflower

She is also eating Whole Wheat, Barley, Rice, and Oatmeal cereals and Cheerios.

Bumps and Bruises

All of the books, many of our friends, and even our pediatrician have warned us about bumps and bruises that infants get as they learn to toddle. Carly has begun to take a few independent steps. Nothing significant, but one to two steps here and there. What no one has bothered to warn us about are the bumps and bruises I would receive as she began to toddle. I received a bruised lip and knee as she fell into me trying to take a few steps. Apparently we will both show signs of her learning to walk over the next few months.

Daddy's Girl

Carly goes through various moods. Some days she is a "mommy's girl," and some days she is a "daddy's girl." This weekend she was all smiles for Dave. She has also been babbling up a storm, with her main word this weekend being "dada." These two things have been precious to observe this weekend.

Dave walked in the house on Friday afternoon and Carly smiled, waved, and babbled "dada." She wanted to play with him, follow him around, play hide and seek, and be chased. She would babble for me when she was hungry or awoke from a nap. There was also the occasional game of leaning towards me while in Dave's arms, he would hand her over, then she would immediately dive bomb back for Dave. There was also a moment today when they were playing on the floor together and she decided to "get" him.