Karston took his first steps yesterday afternoon! We went for a walk to enjoy the pretty afternoon, and Karston was in his baby backpack. When we came back in, we let Karston stand in his backpack while we took our shoes off. He looked pretty happy, so I wasn't looking at him while I took my shoes off. When I turned around, Hmm, I thought Karston was closer to me than that. Then I noticed Kurtis looked surprised. Karston took a couple of steps, and moved his baby backpack himself! So while he's not cruising yet, he is on his way to walking. (He skipped crawling.)
What could top that step forward? Well, I think he tried to sleep through the night, too! Last night we all slept soundly until about 5:30 AM when the Daddy snoring hit a record loudness. I hope Karston makes a habit of sleeping for hours until awakened! I'd like to resume my habit of sleeping through the night.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Half-and-half
Karston's been out in the world now as long as he was in the womb! This really seems like a milestone, maybe because he has developed so much personality recently. He's really his own little person now, sweet-tempered and delightful. You can just watch him figure things out! His fine motor control improves daily. He's learned that if he holds on to the sides of his Jumperoo when he jumps himself silly, he won't flop around. If I tickle his foot while he's in his high chair with the tray blocking his view of his feet, he still knows I'm doing that. He's just such a person now!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
A Fun Week
It's been a fun week with Karston!
On Wednesday, Karston started dancing. Well, maybe not dancing since he doesn't even stand on his own, but he was sitting on the couch, and when the sound started, he started slouching and sitting up straight in time to the music. Too bad it was just an ad on TV because we were ready to dance him around the living room!
Friday Karston picked up a useful new skill: drinking from a cup! He doesn't like bottles anymore (that was a small window), and while he thinks his sippy cup is a fun toy when it's empty, he won't touch it when it has liquid in it. He likes to play with the cups we drink from, so my mother offered him a sip from hers. And he drank from a cup! This should help keep him hydrated since he only nurses at night, and only accepts a spoon during the day. Sometimes that spoon has baby-food-prunes to offset the lack of drinking.
And speaking of food, we tried bananas again, but this time from a jar. He is nuts for peaches, but we could hardly get him to eat the canned peaches that I ran through my food processor when we were out of baby food peaches. I used peaches canned in juice, and I rinsed them just as directed. He loves peas, but when I cooked some frozen peas and ran them through the food processor, they came back on a return policy. (He also loves sweet potatoes, but that would be a lot of cooking.) And that made me reconsider bananas. He returned bananas before, but I mashed those myself. So bananas from a baby food jar was a test, and the results are in: he's not fond of bananas from a jar, and he barfs on food that I make. His parents don't! Our parents don't! But while I can apparently cook for adults, I don't seem to have the touch for baby food. I really don't like this turn of events, but at least I figured it out before I spent much time cooking for him. We'll try again later.
This morning we stopped by a small tractor store just before they closed, so they were driving lawn tractors inside. Karston thought this was the coolest thing ever! When a tractor would start, he would stare in the direction of the sound. When the tractor came in sight, Karston would turn to watch it. And then he would just watch in awe as the driver walked back for another. I said I thought he was young to be such a boy about tractors, but another customer assured that his 11-month-old son was just as fascinated. Everyone there was very nice about a squirmy little boy just staring for all he was worth.
There's still a lot of new to every week.
On Wednesday, Karston started dancing. Well, maybe not dancing since he doesn't even stand on his own, but he was sitting on the couch, and when the sound started, he started slouching and sitting up straight in time to the music. Too bad it was just an ad on TV because we were ready to dance him around the living room!
Friday Karston picked up a useful new skill: drinking from a cup! He doesn't like bottles anymore (that was a small window), and while he thinks his sippy cup is a fun toy when it's empty, he won't touch it when it has liquid in it. He likes to play with the cups we drink from, so my mother offered him a sip from hers. And he drank from a cup! This should help keep him hydrated since he only nurses at night, and only accepts a spoon during the day. Sometimes that spoon has baby-food-prunes to offset the lack of drinking.
And speaking of food, we tried bananas again, but this time from a jar. He is nuts for peaches, but we could hardly get him to eat the canned peaches that I ran through my food processor when we were out of baby food peaches. I used peaches canned in juice, and I rinsed them just as directed. He loves peas, but when I cooked some frozen peas and ran them through the food processor, they came back on a return policy. (He also loves sweet potatoes, but that would be a lot of cooking.) And that made me reconsider bananas. He returned bananas before, but I mashed those myself. So bananas from a baby food jar was a test, and the results are in: he's not fond of bananas from a jar, and he barfs on food that I make. His parents don't! Our parents don't! But while I can apparently cook for adults, I don't seem to have the touch for baby food. I really don't like this turn of events, but at least I figured it out before I spent much time cooking for him. We'll try again later.
This morning we stopped by a small tractor store just before they closed, so they were driving lawn tractors inside. Karston thought this was the coolest thing ever! When a tractor would start, he would stare in the direction of the sound. When the tractor came in sight, Karston would turn to watch it. And then he would just watch in awe as the driver walked back for another. I said I thought he was young to be such a boy about tractors, but another customer assured that his 11-month-old son was just as fascinated. Everyone there was very nice about a squirmy little boy just staring for all he was worth.
There's still a lot of new to every week.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Number Three
The third tooth just poked through! That explains the extra drool and the rough night (at most two hours between wakings, and nursing about 20 minutes each time). It does ruin one of my bedtime songs for him, for Mister Two Toof ("toof" is easier to sing quietly than "tooth"). I wonder if Number Four will show up five days from now, just as #2 came right after #1?
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Jumperoo
We bought Jumperoo on Sunday because Karston is active enough that he should get more exercise. He figured it out in three jumps. The first jump was while I was putting him in it, and he gave me a terribly upset look as if to say Mom, my toys are not this unstable. On the second jump, all on his own, he had a curious look, Do you suppose this motion is intentional? On his third jump, he had a very wide, excited smile, Oh yeah, I can do this! I'd say he loved his Jumperoo in less than 30 seconds.
On Tuesday, he jumped himself silly! He was so happy to be in Jumperoo to burn off some energy that he jumped wildly for an hour, with all body parts (other than his powerful legs) flopping around. And then he slept well. Ahh!
On Tuesday, he jumped himself silly! He was so happy to be in Jumperoo to burn off some energy that he jumped wildly for an hour, with all body parts (other than his powerful legs) flopping around. And then he slept well. Ahh!
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Buttons
Last night before bed, after swaddling and after Karston nursed, he continued to nuzzle. Lately he's been sucking on my buttons, shirt buttons, jacket buttons, any buttons. In fact, the day before, he stuck his lower lip out to reach the closest button instead of nursing! Anyway, since he was swaddled, I held my shirt button steady for ten minutes so that Karston could suck and nibble on it. So let me get this straight ... sucking on buttons is good, but not using a pacifier and sometimes not even nursing? Who knew?
Friday, March 03, 2006
Eight Months
Karston's eight months old now, so it's time to look back at the past month. My first thought is, Another month older already? He has mastered sitting, and that's great! I set him down on the carpet last week, and then quickly unloaded groceries into the refrigerator next to him. He just watched me, didn't tip over, didn't try anything that would give me a heart attack. We've really gotten used to the sitting boy! It's just so convenient!
I don't know if he became ticklish, or just got better at laughing, but now we can tickle him or nibble on him to start the laughter. Baby laughter is the best! We make sure to get all his laughter out before bed.
When he's really happy (for instance, when he knows what comes next, like a bath), Karston is difficult to hold because he turns into Bucking Bronco Baby Boy. He's so happy, he wants to jump, which is tough when you're carrying him down the hall to the bathroom. Baths don't bother him as much now, although he clings to his washcloth or his rubber ducky.
He's tried just about every kind of single-item baby food, and a couple multi-item foods. Karston likes cereal mixed with breast milk (best), sweet potatoes, peas, and pears; everything else he tolerates (especially if Daddy feeds it to him). We haven't tried bananas again, and I don't plan to try again for a good long while. He still nurses at night, but isn't interested in anything so reclined during the day.
Karston had a road trip this month too, to meet my Gramma in the mountains. The weather finally was reasonable on a weekend when we didn't have plans after the pediatrician said he was old enough to meet people. (I really didn't want a sleep-deprived person, either one of us, driving Karston on wintery roads!)
Laughing, stomping, and routines are still popular. We still haven't slept through the night. He looks older and bigger, but he's still holding just above 16.0 pounds which is just above the 5th percentile. Honestly, I feed him as much as he'll eat, but I say that about his dad too.
I don't know if he became ticklish, or just got better at laughing, but now we can tickle him or nibble on him to start the laughter. Baby laughter is the best! We make sure to get all his laughter out before bed.
When he's really happy (for instance, when he knows what comes next, like a bath), Karston is difficult to hold because he turns into Bucking Bronco Baby Boy. He's so happy, he wants to jump, which is tough when you're carrying him down the hall to the bathroom. Baths don't bother him as much now, although he clings to his washcloth or his rubber ducky.
He's tried just about every kind of single-item baby food, and a couple multi-item foods. Karston likes cereal mixed with breast milk (best), sweet potatoes, peas, and pears; everything else he tolerates (especially if Daddy feeds it to him). We haven't tried bananas again, and I don't plan to try again for a good long while. He still nurses at night, but isn't interested in anything so reclined during the day.
Karston had a road trip this month too, to meet my Gramma in the mountains. The weather finally was reasonable on a weekend when we didn't have plans after the pediatrician said he was old enough to meet people. (I really didn't want a sleep-deprived person, either one of us, driving Karston on wintery roads!)
Laughing, stomping, and routines are still popular. We still haven't slept through the night. He looks older and bigger, but he's still holding just above 16.0 pounds which is just above the 5th percentile. Honestly, I feed him as much as he'll eat, but I say that about his dad too.
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