New Tricks

About a month ago Carter FINALLY realized what his legs were for and that they had some function. One morning I left the room and came back and this is how I found him....


He had pulled himself up to his knees and was "typing" away at my lap top. This was the first time he'd ever pulled himself up to even his knees so I was quite excited. He didn't stop there. That same day he discovered that he could pull himself up to a standing position. And that is when our lives changed..........for good and the bad.

We were at my mom's house when he discovered his new trick and the day we got home and he slept in his own crib was the day things got bad!

We had never needed to lower his mattress before but the second he got in there he pulled himself right up. We quickly got Daddy upstairs with his tools to lower the mattress so there would be no falling babies.

Since he discovered his new-found abilities he has been nothing but "helpful." I use that term very loosely. Here he is "helping" Neil lower the mattress.

He loves to "help" unload the dishwater. I swear he can hear me open the dishwasher from miles away because he makes a beeline for it and starts always with the silverware. His favorite thing to do is unload the silverware and then take it to the stairs and throw it down. My favorite new game is loading the dishwasher again and again after Carter unloads it (not). I only wish that Neil and I shared his enthusiasm for unloading the dishwasher!

Here he is helping me to "unload" his suitcase. He still does his army crawl but he is starting to do a normal crawl more and more. He has realized that doing a normal crawl helps him to be able to stand more quickly. He still prefers the army crawl because he is as fast as race horse that way. Plus he can still carry multiple forks and spoons to the stairs that way. He's realized it's harder to carry things in your hands if you are doing the normal crawl. This next picture shows perfectly how Carter now prefers to sleep......
or actually, not sleep. Once he figured out how to stand, nap time has become a huge war. Sometimes Carter is victorious and sometimes Mommy wins. It is hit and miss. He would pull himself up and then not know how to get down. Sometimes he'd cry and sometimes he would just laugh and play. I would go in sometimes 6 or 7 times and lay him down but as soon as I left the room, he'd pull himself up again and we'd repeat the process. Even when he was absolutely exhausted he'd stand there. It was taking about 2 hours for him to finally be too tired to pull himself up anymore and fall asleep. Some afternoons he would spend the whole 2 hours standing until I gave up and just got him out. It made for one very cranky baby and an even crankier mommy. He has since learned how to sit himself back down and the novelty has finally started to wear off. So he doesn't pull himself up as much and if he does, I have just learned to leave him there until he gives up and lays back down. It was so hard going in there and laying him down because as soon as I'd walk into the room his face would light up and he'd say HI to me. I tried my hardest not to smile at him or make eye contact. He is just too cute!

Luckily my good sleeper is back and hopefully to stay. Here he is with his stuffed monkey whom he LOVES. The monkey was almost banned from the bedroom though because another of his new games was to throw the monkey over the side of the crib and sit there and grunt and point until I retrieved it. Now if monkey gets tossed overboard, he remains there until the next morning. Mean I know.

He's just starting to take steps but they are still pretty wild and awkward steps. Before he wouldn't even support his own weight but now he likes to walk with assitance and is starting to try and walk holding onto the furniture. I'm so ready for him to walk!