Sunday, December 18, 2011

Let the Christmas season begin!

Ok, so it began a while ago.  But if Kroger can have Easter candy out in December, then I can put a Christmas tree up in early November.

Nonetheless, the Christmas season is in full swing here.

The other young Rinker crew visited this weekend, and the kiddos had so much fun together, (so did the big kids!)








Karson also enjoyed a few early Christmas presents during a recent trip to West Virginia.    He and daddy put together his new Radio Flyer tonight.





 
Here's a quick video as well.  I'll have to learn to talk very quietly when holding the camera.  And Karson was talking softly, but if you listen in and watch him closely, you'll see him saying "ball" and "buh bye".  ~K's new ride!

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

10 Months!

Karson is 10 months old today! WHAT!

He’s changed so much since the 9 month update. It seems every day he finds a new spot in the house to investigate, or repeats a new sound or word he hears us say.

Still a great eater! He has cereal and yogurt for breakfast, a meat/veggie combo and a fruit for lunch, and cereal and fruit for dinner.  We're finishing up the current stock of food, then switching to stage 3!  He also has four bottles throughout the day. We’re working on learning to drink diluted juice and water from a sippy. He’s also eaten a few club crackers to practice taking bites and chewing. (AND every now and then, he gets a teeny tiny nibble of something from mommy and daddy’s plate. He likes applesauce, and ice cream…HATES orange sherbet.) 

Speaking of taking bites…still just those two front bottom teeth...but I think his top front two are almost ready to poke through.

Karson is on the move! He may have been a little late to start crawling, but as soon as he got the hang of it…he really took off! He is all over the house; behind the recliner, banging on the steps, getting in to our shoes, breaking a nutcracker (whoops), grabbing my dishtowels from the oven handle and dragging them around the house. Getting his finger (and tongue) prints on everything! Busy guy! “They”say crawling is good for a baby, so while we are helping him practice standing and learning to put weight on his feet, we’ve taken away his jumper, and are just letting him focus on crawling and pulling up for now. He can pull to his knees with no problem, and in bed, has basically gotten to his feet a couple of times. In fact, we had to lower his mattress to help me rest easier.

That busy guy is also in love with our Christmas Tree. He stares at it, points at it, softly says “tree!” and despite our constant “no” can’t seem to resist crawling over and touching it and the ornaments. He even broke the tail wing off of Santa’s little airplane!

He’s getting more and more verbal. Still mostly sounds and babbles, but there are increasingly repeats and intentional sounds mixed in. He on a fairly regular basis says “mama”, “dada”,“juice” “uh oh” and “tree”. He has repeated “ball”, “up”, and “drink it”. He is the chattiest late at night when it is just us 3 hanging out and he’s getting sleepy. He points constantly and says what we think is a version of “what’s this” or “what’s that”? Only his sounds more like “deesh” “dah”. 

Example:
Karson “deesh!” (pointing at the zebra mask on our wall)
Me: That’s a zebra
Karson: “dah!” (pointing at the chair)
Me: That’s a chair
Picture this going on for three hours every evening…and you’ve got a pretty good summary of my life. J

I think he’s had another growth spurt. He is completely in to 12 month clothes now, but still doing fine in size 3 diapers for a bit longer. Virtually overnight he was too long for me to cradle and bounce him to sleep like I’ve done nearly every night for 10 months. We’ve changed to rocking in his nursery, but even that seems to get later and later as he stays awake to play longer. (So much to point at!)

In short – Karson is an amazing little boy! Watching him grow and change is such a joy. I am in disbelief that I’m already planning his 1st birthday party. That doesn’t seem possible! Let’s just say we’ll probably go bananas over it. ;-)

Here are the pics of our little growing monkey.  You'll notice that "deesh" and "dah" continued throughout.




I need blocks!



"Deesh?"

"Dah?"




Then he found a wagon, and forgot the camera and I existed...




Monday, December 12, 2011

Road Warrior

Or at least a ham for the camera.  Check out our little rider with the wind in his...hair?  Karson had a blast checking out Mipa and Grandad Buck's toys!












Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Wordy Wednesday

Lots to say since we're behind!  I'll try to keep it brief...

  • We had a great Thanksgiving, and I need to post some super cute pics of Karson testing out some wheels.
  • We got our Christmas pictures taken on Sunday...Karson was not feeling well, so we are short on smiles.  We'll have to get creative on our Christmas card...
  • Speaking of not feeling well,we learned on Sunday night at the ER that Karson had croup, pneumonia, and an ear infection.  WHAT!  I'm home with him today helping him beat the cough and get a little healthier before returning to day care.  He still has a runny nose, cough, raspy voice (which he seems to like the sound of) upset stomach, and now a mild fever.  But don't tell him!  He seems to have no idea he is sick...   Considering everything he's fighting off...he's a fantastic patient!  Even if I've been peed on, spit up on, and have snot on the shoulder of everything I've worn.  Aside from not sleeping great at night, and napping a bit more during the day...he's mostly his happy self!

Here's a few quick pics of our big boy playing:


An open door policy!!


Better check it out.

Too soon to tackle stairs?


Checking it all out...

This side too.

I know I'm not supposed to...but can't resist!