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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Summer Picture Post Overload

I finally sat down and uploaded all photos...they were backed up to May. So, since we are approaching Labor Day, here is our official summer in photos:

Lots of ping pong-ing at the lakehouse

Very into "driving" cars

lots of bike rides

and LOTS of vacuuming! and trying to "ride ride" all things these days :)

Mommy "got"Western Cabin while Daddy and Carter had "boys weekend"

a whole lot of water table play

visiting Great Nana at rehab and pushing her wheelchair

trying to stay cool with indoor duck watching/fountains at Northpark

helping Mommy wash dishes

LOTS of indoor fun at "gymnastics" all summer!


shirtless eating

Mommy made Daddy homemade spicy pickles for father's day

the finished product!

water fountains with Daddy

Have I mentioned this boy LOVES to eat?

Annual father's day photo shoot



Enjoyed watching quite a few rainstorms

Lots of getting spoiled by grandparents and great grandparents

LOVE this sweet picture--this is a week before Mamie got diagnosed with cancer :(


Summer shrimp boils? Yes please!

Family game nights

poolside fun

new big boy bed....I'm scared to move him into it, but we have it!

Mommy's little helper...putting away silverware (sans steak knives) is Carter's chore  :) (look at those ribs! this is why Caleb calls him "skinny fat"--ribs + big belly!

Mommy took Carter to the neighborhood 4th of July parade...Daddy was sick :(. Carter LOVED all the big trucks!

petting zoo afterwards...he was much more interested in the trailers the animals came in than the animals themselves!

must cool off!

I just love this picture--he "recharges" with his chin cha

more vacuuming? yes, please!

We went to visit Mamie and Grandaddy in Roscoe---and Grandpa and Grandma Jo came too! Lots of spoiling!


LOVES his "new truck" his friend Josh gave him. Begs to play with this on an....hourly basis?

First time at "big church" for the music...he lasted 2 songs. Kept saying "uh oh" when the screens would go blank (for prayers, etc)

Just to continue the summer chronicle we are re-doing our dining room. Hired a fancy decorator and all :). Finished product to come!

We have lots of entertainment by all the trucks around here...trash trucks, and lately lots of roofers after a big hail storm! Carter LOVES it and begs to go outside for the "truck" and the "may may" (hammers)

LOVES to read...will sit and read books for 30 mins

haha, love this sweet face

But it's not ALL smiles....I was THAT MOM in the grocery store with a screaming kid but kept on going!

Very into feeding himself yogurt...will not let anyone attempt to help him!

Bob rides when it's not 100+ outside!

Family pool time

Loves to swing...we go to the splash park but he much prefers the  regular park to the splash park 

Helping Nana celebrate an early birthday in Tyler

And last but not least, Carter and I took the trolley around downtown last week. He LOVED it. Did not want to get off. Was completely in awe the entire time...this is a look of fascination, not of fear :). We must do again, free entertainment!

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Carter-ese

I just read a blog about a Mom getting ready to send her little boy to Kindergarten and got all teary :). One of the parts she said something of "it seemed like only yesterday I was the only one could understand his language and now he's got an expansive vocabulary..." or something like that. We're in that stage right now. This past weekend we went to visit my Nana for an impromptu 80th bday party and people kept asking me "what is he saying"? and I became his little interpreter. Come on folks, don't you know that mae.may means hammer (which he's really into right now...love all the roofers in the 'hood after the hail storm!), rai.rai means ride (the truck, the car), chi means fish, the "moo" cow sound actually means go to chick fil a (the boy gets way too much CFA--very confusing marketing for a 1 1/2 year old!), da.da means throw the ball (or watch baseball, football, espn on TV...can you tell whose son he is?!). However, people have figured out chin.cha...the beloved blue blanket. Although I still typically call it his blankey, part of me always wants him to call it chin cha.

Just a little sentimental post....and glad I've got 4 years before Kindergarten!

Friday, August 3, 2012

20 months

Slacker mama totally missed his 19 month post so when I realized that our little man is 20 months today, I decided to sit and write NOW (during oh so precious naptime) to keep this little blog/personal chronicle up to date.

Right now still wearing 12-18 month shorts, mostly 18 month tops. The 24 month stuff is way too big, Caleb calls Carter "skinny fat" as he's pretty skinny but definitely has a round belly. Size 4 diapers, size 4 shoes.

EAT:
I don't know if it's his daycare or he's just moved through the picky phase but thank goodness he will now eat vegetables. Still doesn't like broccoli, but will eat carrots and green beans (canned is the fave) which is a huge improvement. He LOVES chicken and anytime I ask him what he wants to eat for lunch/dinner he'll say "chik chik". Also begs for yogurt (wo.wer) by banging on the fridge and saying wo.wer wo.wer in a pitiful, whiny voice. Not so into deli meat and cheese, still not into melons, peaches, or any other yummy summer fruits. Thankfully now pretty much drinks 6-10 ounces/milk 2x/day (nap and beditme), is now on 2% milk like the rest of the fam. LOVES water--so much so that I had to google childhood diabetes and have my mother in law smell his diaper for smell of ketones :).

DEVELOPMENT:
Expressively, I would guess he has about 60 words now. Will occasionally put 2 words together. Thankfully now will answer "yeah" to most things instead of no--so if he doesn't understand what you're staying, he'll say "yeah". Caleb takes this to his advantage and when he talks to him on the phone will say things like "is Mommy making a really big yummy dinner tonight?", etc He does still say no many times when he knows what you're asking and doesn't typically just say no. He accompanies "no" with  multiple repetitions (no, no, no, no..),   a finger shake and head shake to REALLY get his point across!
Some of my favorite "Carter-isms" these days:

chin-cha=blanket
wa wa=anything to do with water (bath, shower, water table, swimming, water to drink)
choo-train or shoe
ma-mo= lawnmower\
wer=work, fork, or spoon

At school they are working on saying hi and bye. Carter has transferred this to all places and must say bye bye to everyone--the check out lady at the grocery store, the man smoking as we walk out of the grocery store, the man in the grocery store parking lot pushing carts, etc. You get the point. We say bye to EVERYONE when we leave somewhere :). We've started telling him "one more minute" when he is doing an activity that he really enjoys to prepare him that it's about to be over....although it doesn't work every time, it definitely helps minimize the tantrums. We also talk about "good choices" and "sad choices". Lately he's been making a "sad" choice by standing up in the bath and has to get out. In the grocery store if he makes a good choice he gets to ride the toy trucks when we leave--last time he made a sad choice by trying to pull off items from the aisles and it was meltdown city when he didn't get the trucks. I was THAT mom in the grocery store!

-He still is extremely into trucks and will rarely nap in the car as he is fascinated by all the trucks. Anytime there is a truck on the street, he stares in amazement and says "wow".
-Loves swimming, does best in his puddle jumper and little floating ring.
-Does not like shoes being left out. He wants everyone to always have shoes on, if you leave your shoes out, he will bring them to you.
-Asks for Caleb 100+x/day. When I say "where's da da?" his response is always "wer" (work)
-still loves to "drive" our cars

Motor Development:
-started attempting to jump on the little bounce house
-goes down stairs holding onto rail
-will RUN everywhere
-continues to attempt to climb everything
*we've been going to this preschool open gym gymnastics place frequently over the summer and Carter loves it--can run, jump, climb, throw balls, etc. Pretty much guarantees a 3 hour nap.

Fine:
-pretty much will only use open cup for meals, still use sippy while we're out and about
-not so much into using utensils, still prefers feeding himself with his hands although does NOT want us to help him!

Social:
-Is becoming more aware of other kids but still figuring out how to play. Right now will typically push them or smile and poke their face  to show he's excited to see them. Definitely working on sharing and taking turns--he's funny though. If the kid is his size or a little younger, he will take the toy away or push the child out of whatever he wants. If the kid is bigger, Carter doesn't even try :). Haha. Does know how to "give hugs" to say he's sorry (again, that one was learned at school! he must have to do that a lot!).

SLEEP:
7:45-7ish at night, 1230-3ish during nap, no issues! We got his "big boy bed" as a hand me down but no plans on moving him anytime soon!

HEALTH:
Around 7/4 he had a pretty big asthma flare up and was getting 2-3 treatments/day for about 10 days, but since then has been great! Oh, and he learned how to BLOW his own nose! I think they taught him that at school....LOVE that we don't have to use the nose frida anymore!

Dear Carter Boy,
You are exerting your independence and starting to test boundaries. It's hard for me as your mama to balance letting you be your active, exploring self and creating firm boundaries for your safety and character. I love that you still love to rock and every night will look at me and say "wa?  wa?" which means you want to crawl in my lap with your blanket and rock. You love to play chase and hide and seek--the anticipation always gets you so giddy! You laugh so easily, I love it. You are great playing quietly by yourself with your toys but definitely prefer interaction. You LOVE when your grandparents come to visit and talk about them for days after they're gone. You are one tough little boy--you always have a bruise or bump somewhere, but after the initial fall (and immediate request for the chin cha--you don't really want mama, just your blankey) you never complain. I love how resilient and flexible you are--most of the time happy to go wherever. You never cry when we drop you off at nursery, gym, etc--I think you see it as just a new, fun place to explore! You also leak your diaper on a regular occasion and wake up soaking wet--but you don't seem to care :). You're such a boy and I love you just the way you are.
Love you to the moon and back my Carter Bug,
Mama

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

8 years...

A day late for posting, but we had 5 full days (well 4 days and an evening!) of celebrating our 8 year anniversary. Didn't take many pics (what I did take I'll post later of course!) but we had a wonderful time in Cozumel. Carter stayed with family--having a vacation all of his own. I thought it would be really tough to leave him, but after a 6 page printed document of all things "necessary Carter" it really wasn't that bad :). Caleb and I had such good quality time--2-3 hour long dinners, lazy mornings (well, Caleb still woke up and ran at 5 am and I was awake by 6:30 every morning) , room service breakfast on the balcony overlooking the ocean, playing cards, snorkeling, laying by the ocean/pool, floating, reading 2 1/2 books in 3 days (Dad always said you can tell how good a vacation is by how many books you read!), falling into sleep while reading, then waking up to a server asking you if you need another drink or anything off the menu. Ahh....bliss. We reminisced on the past 8 years, God has been so good to us. We remembered our honeymoon how we couldn't wake up before 10 am....and how things have changed, now we can't stay up past 10 pm! We of course talked about Carter but felt like we did a good job of not obsessing over him :). It was a great 'lil getaway and good for all 3 of us. Happy 8 years to my best friend....and cheers to 80 more!