15 Months Old

I remember being at a playdate at the McCormick house and there was a friend there and her son was 15 months old. I said to myself, wow, I can't wait until Carson is 15 months old. That moment, seems like yesterday. Carson was about 10 months old then. Blink of an eye.

Height: 32 inch
Weight: 23lbs 7 oz

Food: He eats whatever we eat.
Favorites: FRUIT and VEGGIES <=Yes, as weird as that may seem, when all else fails he will take fruit and veggies over anything. Loves Bananas, Kiwi, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, peaches, pears. Aunt Patty's Strawberry Jam on toast. <=Loves! Loves Guacamole from La Bamba. Loves beans. LOVES tomatoes. Dislikes: broccoli, I wouldn't say he hates it, but he isn't crazy about it.

Some new things we have tried are peanut butter and chips and salsa. The dr gave us the ok on peanut butter since Carson didn't have any reactions when we gave it to him. He said that peanut butter is actually a great source of goodies for Carson.
He loves Chips and Salsa. When we go to La Bamba we can now give him his little dipping dish of salsa and he dips the chip in there with perfect form!
I recently gave him his own piece of pizza to see what he would do with it. He ate pretty much the entire piece and took all of his own bites without me cutting pieces.

He is doing so much better with silverware. One night for dinner I gave him a bowl of cheerios and milk. He dipped his spoon in and went to town. Same thing with vanilla ice cream. I can't wait to take him to Jaxson's for an ice cream date.

Carson received a bike seat from Grandpa for Christmas. He seems to like it once he is in the seat but he isn't crazy about getting in the seat and then putting on the helmet. He really only goes on the bike with Geoff, as Geoff has explained he doesn't want me riding the bike with Carson. That's ok, I know he's jealous I can go over sweet jumps with my bike! He doesn't want Mama showing Dada up!

Teeth: All four of his first molars have broken through. I think he has a total of 12 teeth now.

He knows where his belly is and especially his eyes. When you ask him where his eyes are, he blinks at you. When you ask him where his belly is, he lifts his shirt.

Words: I don't know if we have any new specific words. Carson has pretty much developed his own language. It's a guessing game as to what he is trying to tell us, but as long as he points, we can pretty much figure it out. I'd love to know what he is trying to tell us. He even furrows his eyebrows and purses his lips during a "story time" to mommy and daddy about his day.

When getting ready to go somewhere, he assists me in getting himself dressed. He knows his feet go in the holes for shorts and the shirt somehow fits on his head. The best is the shoes. He knows the shoes go on the feet. He knows if he has shoes on, it means we are going somewhere.
Last night, I was making dinner and I took his shoes off and he cried and brought them back to me. I put them back on and he went on his merry way throughout the house. It's the little things.

Saying goodbye this month to the nighttime bottle and he is still taking two (2) naps a day, only an hour long.

LOVES BOOKS AND PUZZLES! LOVES! LOVES! LOVES!

Sleep: I don't even really want to brush on this subject. He still wakes up at night, he still comes in our bed, he still needs to be rocked to sleep.. blah blah blah, your kid sleeps through the night. I'm not exhausted from this because now it is just routine. Geoff doesn't mind him in the bed, as long as when Carson doesn't sleep parallel or turn around and you have a foot in your face. So we don't have any arguments about it, just thankful Carson is the only one.

Potty: Not even going to think about potty training, but the funny thing is.. When Carson poops, he now walks away and hides. This from what I hear is a big step in the right direction to one day potty train as he knows he "has to go".

Temper Tantrums: We asked the pediatrician who advised us that this is all normal right now. Carson started slapping us or slapping himself or sitting down on the ground with his face down when he doesn't get his way. We ignore it and wait until he is done or when he slaps us we tell him, not nice and show him "nice".

The road from baby to toddler is very interesting. Exhausting and tiring for all three, but so rewarding. Carson is becoming his own person and we are lucky enough to be with him every step of the way and guide him in the right direction.

Thinking about him, I can't wait to go pick him up and get the hug from him where he squeezes around my neck and then pats my back. Then turns my face towards his so he can give Mama a big kiss. So sweet he is.

Happy Holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year

Happy Holidays!

It seems as if within a blink of an eye, Christmas was here and now it's gone. In 11 months we will be unpacking all of the Christmas goodies again and ready to celebrate another Christmas and New Years.

We started getting ready for Christmas by making handmade ornaments with 2 of Carson's girlfriends, Sophia and Kailyn. He wasn't thrilled about putting his hand in the dough, but he did it.

Geoffrey and I took Carson to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops. He was NOT happy. He wanted nothing to do with Santa. I submitted the photo to Sun Sentinel in the "Scared of Santa" section and the next thing, there it was in Sun Sentinel.

Christmas Eve we spent at my parents house with family and friends. We had a great time and Carson was spoiled rotten. We had the opportunity to see Santa again and he wasn't thrilled, but he didn't cry. He was very excited by all of police lights and sirens when Santa came down the street.

Carson helping Mommy decorate the tree

Christmas Day was everything I expected it to be. Not so so much fun for Carson, but fun for Mommy and Daddy watching his reactions to everything. He started to open the gifts and pulled little pieces of paper, but he was bored with it after a minute. Diesel helped him with the rest. For Christmas we bought him a Magna Doodle and his first crayons and coloring book. He received puzzles, books, clothes, toys, a jelly fish tank (which he loves), his first pair of cowboy boots, money for college and so many goodies from everyone. We are so happy and appreciative that Carson has so many people that love him. In his language he says.. "m u gufgbcas" <==That is Carson's Thank you. Mommy and Daddy thank you so so much.

Merry Christmas from Carson and his Mommy and Daddy



The Ellison Christmas Tree all ready for some action

Carson opening his magna doodle

Christmas Morning after we opened our gifts we went to Grandpa's house to open gifts with Grandpa and Uncle Jeremy. Afterwards, they came back to our house with Nannie and Poppa and we had Christmas morning breakfast. We cleaned up, packed up and headed to Melbourne afterwards to see Aunt Patty, Uncle Charlie, Jacqui and Griff. We normally would have gone the day after Christmas, but since I wasn't off work on Monday, we went up on Christmas Day. We had a wonderful visit, a delicious dinner and lots of laughs fireside at night.

To end the New Year, we ate at La Bamba's for dinner and then came back home to celebrate with April, Billy, Sophia, Jay, Monique, Stacey and Rai. Geoff had been working 24 hour shifts and wasn't suppose to be there at midnight. I have to admit, I was a tad bit disappointed because I've kissed Geoff at midnight since I was 17, not a year missed. Low and behold, just before midnight, he walked in the door to wish us a Happy New Year and then back to work he went. My dearest Carson somehow stayed up until 12:30am!! He wouldn't go to sleep. Refused the idea of going to sleep, sleep was un heard of for him. At 12:30 it was as if someone turned out the light and he was out until 9:30am!! New Years Day, Carson and I spent the day in our jammies while Daddy slept.

First Family photo of 2011

We bid you farewell 2010. Looking forward to meeting all the new babies of 2011 that our friends are expecting and celebrating a very, very, very exciting engagement!!! Congrats ___ and ___!! We loooove you!!! (I'll wait until they make the announcement) (It's BEN AND AMY) :) :) :) Smiles for Miles

On the journey to 2, a pit stop at 14 months

New photos have been added to Carson's 13 months, Fall and Holidays albums.

On our journey to 2 years old, we stop to take a break and look back on the past 2 months since Carson turned 1.

In the past 2 months, Carson celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving. For Halloween he was the cutest little Garden Gnome ever!!

Carson is not just a walker, but a runner. Boy, oh Boy, when he wants something, he gets it and there is nothing that can stop him. He recently has started climbing. Not only climbing on his chair, climbing on EVERYTHING. The dresser, the couch, the futon, his play table, his music leap frog table, Turbo, Diesel, the toilet, need I say more.

For Mommy's biggest news so far..........He did it! He said it! Maaaaaaaaaaaa!!! It's beautiful.

It's like a loud.. "Maaaaaaa" On November 23, 2010, we were at Publix and Geoff went around the corner and all of a sudden I hear, Maaaa..pause...Maaaa....pause... I could see him, but he couldn't see me. I was soooo excited. He reminds me of my brothers calling my mom from the other side of the house... Maaaaaaaaa........Maaaaaaaaaaaaa.............

Along with Maaa..He has added to his vocab... boat, down, baba (bottle). He clearly thinks he is having a complete conversation with you and I wish more than anything I could understand what he is saying.

Carson no longer eats ANY baby food. What we are eating, Carson eats. A no fail meal, "beany weenies". Turkey hotdog and baked beans. I truly think this kid would eat this every day if he could. He LOVES fruit. Kiwi, melon, strawberries, rasberries. Recently I gave him a whole banana to see what he would do. He took bites off and ate the banana like a big boy. With that being said, we said hello to another milestone. He has accomplished biting his food into pieces he can chew. I still have to cut some of his food, but most of it he just bites off as much as he can chew. And he really loves to use silverware. If he doesn't have his own fork or spoon, he's "hey'in" at you for yours..Kinda like a loud.. Heeeey.. Heeeey..

Carson's sleep patterned changed once again in the past month. We watched, followed and documented for a couple of days and started changing things around to accomodate this new routine. Carson use to eat dinner at 7, however now eats at 6. He is STARVING by 6. Bath at 7 and down at 8. We moved an hour back. When bedtime comes around, I tell him, go get Mommy your book and I'll get your "baba" ready. He walks to the bookcase and I go get his bottle and he looks at me with book in hand and will say, baba. Sometimes he will even come back and stand next to the sink patiently waiting for his baba.

Instead of my little angel sleeping in until 8am, he is bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:45/7:00am. Now eating breakfast around 8am and down for a nap at 10:30a.m., waking him up after an hour. If this goes as planned, he is down at 3:00 without a problem. Again only sleeping for an hour, which we found makes that 800pm bedtime SO MUCH EASIER!

Last but not least, TEETH. Carson has 4 teeth coming in, at least 4 that I can see and feel. He is getting his upper and lower, right, lateral incisior and his top right and left first molars.

The Ellison Family is getting ready for Christmas.. Stay tuned for the next blog post!

Very thankful

1 Year Later

I sat outside reminiscing about the way things were last year and how fast they have changed. I remembered Carson sitting in his chair in the middle of the kitchen while Geoffrey and I prepared all the food for our Turkey Day feast. My eyes started to fill up with tears remembering the little butterball that was just brought into our lives a month and a half earlier. Just as I fell into a full memory, I was delightfully interrupted by Carson's giggle as he ran through the back yard after Turbo, Diesel and Tuna. Amazing how things change in a year and how blessed we truly are.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for.

Attention Attention...We have a WALKER

This is a moment we have been waiting for, along with Carson's knees. At about 10months old, Carson started taking his first official steps on his own. He would hold on to furniture and take steps towards another piece of furniture. That was super exciting. Then he did it more and more and more. Then on September 24, 2010 he started walking around the living room and his bedroom, out of nowhere. That abruptly stopped after he got a very bad ear infection.

This past week he is on the move. You can't help but smile when you see him. As soon as he starts going towards something, his eyes light up and he does the "freight train horn" which he also did when he first started crawling. We believe it is his way of saying.. "Here I come, watch out"!

On Sunday, 10/31/2010, was the first time he stood up from a sitting position and started walking. Geoff sat him in the grass in the backyard, I turned my back to get something from Tuna and I turn around and there he is standing. Of course, I screamed and started clapping my hands. Such a proud moment. Just like that, one foot in front of the other with a bit of a wobble he made it to his destination.

He gets more and more stable every day. He gets going and he has now figured out how to stop dead in his tracks, turn around and go to something else.

Geoff and I are soo very proud of our little man.

I tried my hardest to get a video of him. It's harder now than it ever was. Below is the link to the video... Enjoy!

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nucVL7Px0tM