Carter, the Dog

Most people that know me know that I love dogs. We have three, and I would love more. However, Steve has told me no more. So, Carter is around the dogs often. Now that he is mobile, the dogs stay behind a large baby gate in our bedroom when he is out and about in the living room. One of his favorite things to do is stand up holding on to the baby gate and shake it as hard as possible while yelling loudly. We think he is yelling at the dogs to come to him, or he just associates the dogs with yelling. We tend to yell at the dogs to be quiet a lot (great use of my dog training skills).

Today, Carter and I were playing around the living room. I gave him a new ball and bat to play with. They are both very soft. Well, to Steve's dismay, he shoved the bat out of the way to get to the ball. He proceeded to put the ball in his mouth, then crawl around with it in his mouth like a dog. He almost looks like he is growling in this picture.

I thought, maybe this is just a fluke. He would only do this once. Nope...after crawling around for about 30 seconds with this ball in his mouth like this, he sat down, took the ball out of his mouth, examined it, placed it back in his mouth and headed down the hallway.

This scenario went on for about five minutes until he decided to stand at the baby gate and yell at the dogs again. Do I love dogs so much that I have willed my child to act like one? He tries to bark like the dogs, he constantly eats like the dogs would like to, and now he is crawling around with objects in his mouth.

Later that afternoon, Carter was playing with Steve in the living room. See picture below...

This is a soft Michigan football that our friends Ryan and Kelly brought Carter back from Michigan. My son can't throw the ball, he has to carry it around in his mouth. This isn't looking like a promising future in football.

Are there any sports out there that require you to put the ball in your mouth and run? I guess it is time to do some research. And, start investing for future braces. Maybe Carter believes he is a dog. Maybe he has observed the dogs so much that he thinks it would be fun to be like them. Or, maybe he was a dog in a past life. All I know that it is darn cute, and we will continue to encourage this behavior for awhile. :)

Carter Loves His Wrigley

Wrigley, our Gordon Setter, took to Carter as soon as he came home. This is how she introduced herself to him. I'm sure she smelled something dirty that needed to be changed. And yes, he is on the kitchen table. In my defense, he couldn't move yet, so he was safe. Well, safe from everything but Wrigley.

So, as Carter has gotten older, Wrigley has gotten wiser. She has associated Carter with the smell of food. At first, it was formula. In the spring, Wrigley gave Carter his morning bath of dog slobber to clean up any remnants of formula that might be on his face. Carter loved it! It doesn't look like it in this picture, but he really did enjoy the puppy kisses. He is about four months old here. Notice the empty bottle. This is Wrigley's cue to lick up the leftovers on his face.

Then, Carter started eating in his high chair. There is not only milk, but now there is baby food. Sometimes, the baby food would be swatted out of my hands by a flailing baby and hit the walls and the floor. Wrigley was right there to clean it up. Carter also discovered that Wrigley was near his high chair. Most meals now consist of some form of feeding Wrigley and pulling out her hair in large clumps as he yells at her. Carter is six months old here.

Now, Wrigley feels she is invited to every meal that Carter has. He eats mostly finger foods now, so some of it drops on the floor. During each meal, Wrigley lays beneath his high chair, and snaps up any drops of heaven that fall on the ground. After he is done eating, Wrigley cleans up the high chair for us (not the tray), and Carter thinks this is fantastic. We don't ever have to sweep up after his meals because Wrigley is our vacuum.

Carter is crawling all over the place. Wrigley does not understand that she is MUCH bigger than him, so she tries to play with him whenever he is mad dashing through our house. Carter thinks it is funny, but we are scared she might accidentally hurt him. On rare occasions, Wrigley is allowed out with Carter. Here is what happened the last time:

Wrigley is laying quietly on the floor, for once, letting me take her picture. Doesn't she have a pretty face?

Carter discovered Wrigley on the ground and crawled over to her. He is either trying to give her a kiss or bite her nose. Wrigley is checking him out for leftover food or milk on his face.

Carter then decides she would be fun to crawl over. I am telling him no, so he stopped for a second. Wrigley is looking at me saying "Please save me from this child!"

Carter then proceeds to attempt to crawl over her, even after I said no. No is an optional thing, right? Wrigley is allowing him to do this, but under protest.

After slipping and sliding, and me trying to remove him (although I didn't try hard because it was a very cute scene), Carter gave up. He then decided to come grab the camera from my hand. This is his close up.

As for the other dogs, Chance, our Golden Retriever, would prefer that Carter doesn't exist. If Carter gets close to him, he moves to the other side of the room. Chewy, our mixed breed, tries to eat the food off his high chair, but Wrigley pushes him out of the way. Chewy is lukewarm about Carter, but knows he is good for food.

My First Professional Baseball Game

As Told By Carter--

On Sunday, I went to my first MLB game in Tampa--the Detroit Tigers vs. Tampa Bay Rays. My Uncle Ryan's favorite baseball team is the Tigers, so I decided I would cheer for them. Go Tigers! Mommy and Daddy rode with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kelly to the game. They all thought I would fall asleep since it is a two hour drive to Tampa, and they think I love to sleep in the car. Well, I fooled them and decided that it would be more fun play and bug Mommy and Daddy for attention. After a long time, I finally gave up and fell asleep, but Mommy woke me up really soon after that. I heard Mommy say that I slept for 20 minutes and that she hoped I would be good at the game. In my opinion, I am always a good boy.

When we got inside the ballpark, there were so many people and colors and sounds! I was a staring at everything with my mouth wide open. We walked around, and then Daddy took me over to this really hairy looking thing. I couldn't figure out what it was. It was as big as Daddy! I stared at him for a minute, but he was really scary. Mommy and Aunt Kelly tried to get me to look at them for a picture, but I didn't want to. I wanted to leave that scary blue, hairy thing.

This is me and Daddy with Raymond, the Rays mascot. He sure is funny looking!

We had to go up some very big moving stairs to get to where we would watch the baseball game. Daddy said we were in the nosebleeds, whatever that means. My nose didn't bleed. All I know is that we were really high up.

Daddy and me going up the really big moving stairs.

When we got to our seats, we saw the Tigers hitting the ball. I didn't really pay attention to them. There were other things to do, like jumping on Mommy and falling backward on Daddy's lap to look at people all around me. I also at some lunch--carrots. Mommy gave me some bread from her sub too. I would rather have a sub than some mushed up old carrots.

Then, more people came and sat near us. I started to get really hot. I was very sweaty because Mommy put me in these silly overalls. I heard her say that it is never this warm in here. All of a sudden, it got really loud with some man saying a bunch of stuff. Then, this lady sang some song. Everyone was really quiet, but I decided to sing along really loud. Everyone looked at me. I must have been singing good! When the game started, I decided it was time to crawl around. But, Mommy and Daddy wouldn't put me down! I couldn't even stand on the ground! In my opinion, baseball is really boring right now. Not enough colors or action for me! So, I decided to get cranky. Sometimes when I get cranky, Mommy and Daddy let me get my way. It still didn't work. So, Mommy gave me Cheerios instead. I like Cheerios, but not as much as crawling.

Daddy played the jumping game with me again, and I shook my rattles around for awhile. Then, I started to get really sleepy. Well, I think sleep is overrated. There are too many things to see, and I can't see them when I am asleep. Daddy held me tight, but I squirmed around and fussed. Then, Mommy took me. Daddy calls Mommy the fun stealer sometimes, and she was definitely the fun stealer at this game. She held me tighter, and I couldn't move! I finally gave in a fell asleep.

Mommy and Me (asleep)


How embarrassing!



I was asleep for a little while when I woke up to a really loud noise. Someone hit a home run for the Rays! Lots of people were cheering, but Uncle Ryan was really mad. Daddy explained it me. See, the guy for the Tigers that catches the ball, the catcher I think, was traded to the Yankees (Daddy says we hate the Yankees), and the yucky Yankees gave the Tigers a pitcher named Farnsworth. Well, Daddy said that this pitcher played for the Cubs (Daddy's favorite team) and lost a lot of games for them. So, Uncle Ryan was not happy with this trade because Pudge, the catcher for the Tigers, was one of his favorite players. It just so happens that this was Farnsworth's first game for the Tigers, and his first batter hit a home run off him. I think Uncle Ryan said some very bad words about Farnsworth. Mommy took this picture of Uncle Ryan after the home run.




The Rays came back and beat the Tigers. I don't know the score because I didn't care. I just wanted to crawl around and no one would let me! We finally left that baseball game almost four hours later. Mommy said I had only slept an hour that day, which was fine with me! I got to see so much stuff! I had a lot of fun with everyone who went to the game.

Look at Me! I'm Brushing My Teeth!

So, since Carter got his first two bottom teeth, Steve and I have been meaning to begin brushing his teeth. However, I kept forgetting to buy a toothbrush and toothpaste for him. Every once in awhile, I would remember to wipe his teeth down with a cloth or gauze pad, but not very often. It took Carter getting three more teeth on the top, at the same time (of course) for us to get on the ball and buy a toothbrush.

I have heard many stories about little ones hating their teeth being brushed. Carter definitely has an opinion of his own, and if he doesn't want to do something, he will make if very difficult to make it happen. So, I was very curious how he would react to having someone stick something in this mouth, move it around, and expect him to sit still (which doesn't happen at all these days).

At first, I let Carter explore the toothbrush and play with it. Then, once the toothpaste was on the toothbrush, I told him to "open" (a word used to get him to try something new, like food) and he opened his mouth right up. He sat there for at least 30 seconds, a miracle, and let me brush all his teeth! He actually enjoyed it! Lastly, I let him brush his teeth on his own. Of course, he just chews on the toothbrush for a little bit. When he was done, he handed the toothbrush back to me. We have no problems at all brushing his teeth every night.

He has always loved watching Steve and I brush our teeth. Maybe he was so excited he got to do it on his own that he didn't mind. Whatever the reason, I hope this love of brushing teeth continues...

Infant Swim Research Lesson

Over the summer, Carter took survival swim lessons. Steve and I thought these lessons were important because of all the water in Florida, and my parents live on a boat in a marina surrounded by water. Carter took lessons Monday through Friday for 10 minutes each day for four weeks.


Carter started swim lessons at the end of June. Within the first week, we was able to float on his back alone. It was amazing! I couldn't believe that a little boy could learn and retain this concept so quickly.





Here is Carter during his first week of lessons. Michelle, his instructor, is supporting him very little in his back float. I didn't get in the water with him until the last lesson. Carter would whimper through lessons, but he never screamed.














In swim lessons, he learned how to get to air by floating in his back. He can get on his back if he fell straight up and down into water, fell forward into water, or flipped into the water. I can't tell you enough how amazing it is to see this little guy rolling over and floating all by himself. This was one of the best things we have done for him.




This is toward his last lessons. Again, he has very little to no support in his back float. We also wised up and put him in a regular swim suit instead of the Speedo that was sent with the ISR welcome kit. We don't want to start THAT habit.

My New Blogging Space

Well, I decided to join the others and start a page to share the happenings of the Wagganer household. Although I don't necessarily find our lives very interesting, other people might :) It is named the Wagganer zoo because we practically live in one. We have three dogs--Chance, Chewy, and Wrigley--some pigeons moving in soon, and Carter has some fish.

So...Carter is now 10 months old and is forming one interesting personality. His new thing is to whine when he wants something, usually food that Steve and I are eating. This is a really fun stage, especially in restaurants, because he can't whine quietly. He has to whine, then yell really loud. Maybe we won't frequent restaurants very often anymore. His music teacher this summer called it "vocalizing". Sometimes, I wish he would vocalize a little quieter.

He has also learned how to climb up on our fireplace. However, when we tell him no, he smiles at us and crawls faster to his objective. I think we have our hands full with him. He is definitely all boy!

I will try to update this as much as possible, but I am not promising anything since I go back to school soon.