Special Day

Today was a special day. It was the first time that Carter or Dax had ever gotten to run around the field at Wrigley! It is a day that Daddy will never forget.

The Dance of the Belt

Lucky Dax; he was the happy recipient of a new belt on his birthday two weeks ago. And not just any old belt, but a nautical-themed one, with the flags of the Moorings Yacht Club adorning it. Captain Dax loves his belt. One tiny issue...

CARTER loves Dax's belt even more! Every day, upon entering his Mommy and Daddy's room, he seeks out this belt and performs "The Dance of the Belt," an exotic and concentrated modern dance-esque performance. He clutches the belt, and toddling or crawling with it, drags the buckle on the ground, bangs the length of the belt against our sliding glass door, spins in complicated three-point turns from a sitting position, winds the belt around his legs and maneuvers out of pretzel-like positions... there is intricacy in "The Dance of the Belt." (And perhaps only one known performer!)

Woe to anyone who tries to take the belt away during The Dance. Or anyone who tries to thread the belt through his pant loops and wear it. The Dance ends only after a significant period of time, multiple rooms have been traversed, and perhaps Mommy cajoles Carter with a handful of Cheerios or cheese.

Carter performed a similar ritual this past weekend at his friend, Ian's, birthday party. Luckily there was no belt involved; instead, our one-year-old in perpetual motion found a mylar Elmo balloon with a long ribbon string and proceeded to lap the McFarlane's apartment with the balloon clutched in two hands for an entire hour and a half. I was certain someone had strapped a pedometer on the little man and told him he couldn't stop moving until he reached a certain number of steps. But I should have known better - Carter was simply performing "The Walk of the Balloon."

I see marathons in this kid's future. Perhaps run while clutching a belt.

Birthday Boy!

A few pics from Carter's birthday party. More to follow.

Can you believe it, I am 1 year old today?!?

There isn't a better way to celebrate than with Carter's first Southport Grocery cup cake! He took to cake and icing like a Gator football coach takes to quitting - he tried it once and liked it so much he did it again. Although we celebrated today just as a family, on Saturday, Carter is having all of his little buddies over for a proper bash. Kathleen is hard at work on Carter's elephant cake as we speak.

If only Carter were a happy baby...

Happy St. Patrick's Day from our Little Leprechaun!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, Carter rocked his green outfit and took his first 6 steps! At this rate, Carter is only a few months from heading off to college :)

Hello, World, I'm Eleven Months Old Today!

After a weekend in Southern California celebrating radiant bride-to-be Michelle, this morning's 6:30 a.m. wake up call from the little man should have been annoying or exhausting... it wasn't. Never have I been so happy to sprint to my son's room, throw open the door and watch him turn in his crib to grin at me and exclaim his greeting. Carter has stolen my heart, yet again! (Just like his Daddy before him...) I'm convinced the pre-7 a.m. wakeup was purely because he was excited to see me, too.

Our little guy welcomes his eleven month milestone today, still with the sniffles (day 16 of a head cold, poor kid!) but no lack of energy or spunk. Seconds after I've rescued him from his crib, changed his diaper and fed him his morning bottle, Carter is crawling around his nursery at the speed of light, greeting his toys and stuffed animals, pulling on cords to see how I'll react, and then sprint-crawling into my lap to stand up and bounce. Carter loves to bounce. It might be his favorite thing. Either that, a bath, a Bjorn walk with Daddy, or the whole milk yogurt of which he can't get enough.

In a month we'll be celebrating his official birthday, so we are going to soak in all the joys of having a baby boy this last month before having to reluctantly admit he's a toddler.