the tiny American

    I meant to show Carter's passport when I got it 9 months ago, but I didn't want someone to steal his identity.  I just got around to cropping it.  Hilarious story behind that photo.  Carter was only a few weeks old and he had to sit up for the picture, which he couldn't do at all, and have his eyes open.  The nice lady at Fotomax helped me sit him on a box, while I squatted down and held him up by two fingers pinching his neck so I couldn't be seen.  He kept falling asleep, like newborns do, and the lady took about 6 shots before we got this one.  In one shot you could see my fingers by his neck.  It's the most precious passport I've ever seen.  Even though Carter was born here in Hong Kong, he is only an American citizen.  Hong Kong doesn't give him citizenship automatically unless he had Chinese parents or if he lives in HK for seven years or more.  Too bad, I thought it would be cool for him to have dual citizenship. So far Carter's been to Canada and Korea (in my belly) and actually seen the U.S. and Hong Kong.

10 Months Old

     At 10 months old, Carter is growing like a weed.  He's finally crawling and I'm glad he waited so long to start.  He's always into something.  We've got 7 weeks until his first birthday and I think he may be walking by then.  Party plans are already in the works.  Top secret theme, to be announced.  Carter has started saying babbling alot more, the g sound is really cute.  He learned to clap, but only occasionally.  If I ask "Can I have some?" he'll give me whatever he's holding.  It's so cute to see him sharing.  I never had to say "No" to Carter until now, and boy do I ever say it now.  He's constantly getting into dangerous situations, even with our baby proofing attempts.  He's trying to pull the TV down, swallow inedible objects, dive off of furniture, climb up the bookshelf, and throw dishes from the table.  It takes a village to keep this guy safe and we don't always succeed.  Three days ago, he fell off the bed and hit his head on our tile floor.  Please don't judge.  I was on the bed with him and turned my back for a few seconds, then I heard a loud thud.  He got a huge goose-egg, followed by a nasty bruise.  He cried for 10 minutes and then acted completely fine.  I called my mom and she made me feel better.  Of course, I feel like the worst mom in the whole world.  My poor little baby!  We've tightened up security around this house.

    Carter's been eating more finger foods and some things straight from our plate.  He's got 6 chompers that make eating much easier.  He loves everything we give him, spaghetti, toast, pancakes, eggs, cottage cheese, wheatabix, fish, beef, chicken, to name a few.  I nurse him 4 times a day.  Starting next month I will begin dropping feedings until he's totally off the boob.  I have mixed emotions about stopping, but I know he's ready to become more independent and so am I!  The thought of being able to go somewhere alone for more than 4 hours is exciting.  Lord knows I need to go shopping for some news clothes and a non-nursing bra.  My biggest fear is not burning those calories from nursing and continuing to eat like a burly truck driver.  I hope my appetite returns to normal.

     Carter's new best friend is our dog, Asia.  They even have a secret language that consists of high pitched squeals and growls.  Carter shares his food with her and now she waits patiently under his highchair.  Yesterday he dropped scrambled eggs on Asia's head and bits of a pancake.  Occasionally Asia will give a little growl when Carter lovingly pulls her tail or pats on her like a drum set.  I think they are so cute together and I'm glad Asia has a friend.

   Carter sleeps 11-12 hours at night and take 2 naps that last around 1 1/2 hours each on a good day.  He weighs around 21 lbs.
    

The Safety Zone

   Lately Carter has been running us ragged and he's not even walking yet.  Now that he's an expert crawler and cruiser, nowhere is safe.  I pulled a muscle in my back, while trying to put him in his newly lowered crib and Blair has chronic back pain, so chasing after him has made life a bit more challenging.  Carter LOVES the space heater, he even gave it a hug (while it was turned off).  Another favorite is spilling Asia's food bowl all over the floor.  He actually laughs at me as he crawls towards a no touch object and I'm yelling "Carter, NO!"  Today we searched online for a baby fence.  After seeing they were over $200, Blair created his own "safety zone". 

       2 minutes later...............

          Not seen on the video, Carter also knocked over the trash can, which spilled coffee grinds everywhere.  Then I created a new and improved "safety zone", minus the chairs and trash can.

Notice the hot water bottle for old lady Phillips.

  He has yet to break out of this steel trap.  It's nice to have at least one safe area, so I can do a few things without him getting in trouble.  Also independent playtime is important for mommy blog time building creativity and imagination.  I feel like I can breathe a great big sigh of relief.  I'll leave you with various crawling pictures.

Happy Chinese New Year

  Today we celebrated Chinese New Year at school.  It's the year of the Dragon, which is a very lucky year to have a baby.  I'm glad Carter is a rabbit and not a dragon, rabbits are much cuter.  Carter stopped by school wearing his traditional Chinese clothes from Aunt Nicole.  It fit almost perfectly.

Sticky Situation

     This is a rare, non-Carter post.  In the past 2 months, I've had 3 run-ins with maple syrup and I'm wondering what the deal is.

• Incident #1:  I put a pancake in a glad tupperware container and threw it in my purse and headed to work.  As I was riding on the train, I looked in my purse to see syrup had leaked out everywhere.  
• Incident #2:  Last month, Blair and I were in Sai Kung and we bought maple syrup. Blair was carrying it and somehow dropped it.  All I remember is the bottle hitting the ground, busting open, and flipping end over end while covering my jeans and shoes, plus Blair's feet (he was wearing flip flops) and jeans in syrup.   Meanwhile there were people sitting outside in front of Starbucks and they saw the whole thing, fortunately they felt so bad they brought napkins over to us.  It was hilarious.  
• Incident #3:  Last week, I was eating pancakes at McDonald's with my friend Dana.  As soon as I opened the little syrup package, I somehow squished the entire contents onto my lap.  There I was with syrup all over my jeans, t-shirt, and the chair I was sitting in.  Not to mention, I had to return to our school's sports day looking like this! 

     Never in my whole life has anything like this happened to me, until these past 2 months.  Have I become clumsier?  I think it's because I've significantly increased my pancake intake since Mila started working for us.  We even eat them for dinner sometimes.  Too bad I don't have any pictures to prove my ridiculous stories are true. 

Carter is crawling!

     I sometimes worry about missing one of Carter's "firsts" while I'm at work.  So far I've only missed one, when he rolled over by himself at 5 months old.  Blair had called me at work and I was thrilled for Carter, but sad I wasn't there.  Today when Carter came to see me at work, I got to see him crawl for the very first time.  I had just finished feeding him and thought that I should test him out on carpet.  At home we have all tile floors and it's very slippery; Carter's legs always slip out from under him when he starts moving.  Lately he has been pulling himself across the floor like an inch worm, so I knew he was getting close.  Anyways, I put him at one end of the office and then put my cell phone at the other, he immediately started crawling towards it.  I was so proud of him.  Blair was so mad he missed it, but this afternoon Carter's been crawling all over the house.  Of course after being contained for 9 months, the first place he heads towards is the electrical outlet, then to the space heater.  It's time to baby-proof this house! 

First Boo Boo

  Now that Carter is fearlessly pulling up on any rickety old piece of furniture he can find, we've got our hands full.  He won't let you hold him, because he wants to stand all the time!  He's had several bad bumps this week and got his first boo boo.  When I called home Wednesday, Mila, my nanny, said something happened to Carter.  She scared me to death, but then she explained that Carter was pulling up on her bed and hit his cheek on the wood bed post.  She felt so bad, but it could of happened to any of us.  It's hard to hold on to him constantly or be right there to catch him every time he slips.  She said he didn't cry that hard.  When I saw his little red cheek I felt so sorry for him.  It left a bruise and a scrape.  Poor little guy!  I know this is just the beginning.  Boys will be boys; I just hope he's as cautious as his daddy.