12 Month Check-Up

We took Carter for his 12 month check up the first week of September and he is a very healthy boy! He had three shots, which unfortunately had to be in his arms (all previous shots were in his thighs), but he did o.k. with them. He cried for a minute, but we were able to distract him with our cell phone and he cheered up quickly. Other than that, everything went great.

Stats:
Weight – 21 lbs. 6 oz. = 60th%
Height – 28 ¾ inches = 25th% (up from 10th% last check up!)
Teeth – 7 (4 on top, 3 on bottom)
Walking – He officially started walking a week before his birthday. He is taking 4-5 steps at a time without falling…but he prefers to crawl for better speed.
Talking – basically only “ma-ma,” “da-da,” and “da” (for dog), but he babbles a lot lately.

Favorites: tomatoes, watermelon, cell phones (real ones, play ones don’t cut it), remote controls, pushing down his gate to escape into the whole house, opening and closing stuff (cupboards, drawers, the toy box, the ottoman, etc.), books, “driving” things around the house (he pushes anything like he’s driving it), and when the dogs bark to announce someone arriving at our house (he squeals and goes right to the bench to look and see who it is).

Least Favorites: being confined in his play area, diaper changes, and napping.

Overall he is a very happy, healthy boy!

Labor Day Safari

Dave and I took Carter to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek over the Labor Day weekend. Binder Park Zoo is HUGE compared to John Ball Zoo and there are so many interesting and cool animals! We were there for a few hours and I don't think we saw everything there was to see. Our favorite part was the "African Safari," you take a tram to this huge grassland area where African animals are grazing and wandering all over the place. The animals obviously can't get to where you walk along a path, but the neat part was there were no cages or walls so it seemed like you were right there with them. There was a cool "giraffe lookout" point where you go into a treehouse type area and the giraffes are at eye level with you. We fed them biscuits, Carter squealed when they stuck out their super long tongues at us. Another favorite part was feeding the baby goats, it was quite a circus with the goats running all over place. Carter tried to pet them but they were very fast and didn't stick around long if you ran out of treats. Carter also loved the monkeys so at the end we stopped in the gift shop and got him a stuffed monkey, which he immediately hugged and kissed. We can't wait to go back next year when Carter can enjoy it even more!


Carter and Dave posing by a big bird as we walked into the zoo.

This was part of the African Safari area - the zebras were grazing all over the place.

Here is one of our giraffe friends, he was waiting for his biscuit.

Check out his tongue! They weren't kidding around when they wanted a biscuit!

We were trying to pet this one, but once he saw we were out of biscuits he left.

This was one of the monkeys Carter loved to watch, he came right up to the fence to say hi.

Here is Carter talking on his cell phone...he thought the monkeys were so cool he had to call someone.

This is Carter and I in the petting zoo area.

Here we are trying to feed the crazy baby goats. Carter just wanted to grab his nose.

On the way home...totally wiped out.