Carter is Two

I started this post a few weeks ago, and I just remembered I didn't finish. Then I looked at all of the stuff (pictures) I was trying to pack in, so I decided to break it into two posts. Next up: the other parties.


We had planned on having the grandparents over for a small celebration on Carter's birthday. (His big party was going to be a week and a half later.) But... the first snow storm of 2010 hit, so it ended up just being Monte, Lexie, Carter,and I. We had a fun and relaxing evening.



Starting off the evening with a little birthday tickle.
(so much more fun than a birthday spanking!)

We had Carter's favorite food for dinner: cheese pizza. We ate pizza in the living room and watched The Letter Factory. (one of his favorite "movies")

I don't know why he eats his pizza like that. I guess it's easier to hold.





"That's good pizza!"




Lexie and I made cookies while Carter was taking a nap.


Look carefully at LeXIe's cookie.
(You had to load the letters and words into the cookie cutter backwards, so it was very easy to make a mistake.)



"CARS!"

"Mmmmm! That's heavenly."

He loves to help me blow out the candles around the house, so he is an expert.

He's just like me; we both prefer the icing.

Lexie showing him how to make a mess. Trust me, he really doesn't need anyone to teach him that.

Then he opened presents. Since Christmas was just 2 weeks before, he was practiced up and ready to go!

What Carter is doing now:

*He loves to help cook and bake cookies, but he wants to do it all by himself.

*He has a very good vocabulary (well over 100 words on his own) and he repeats EVERYTHING! He puts words together to make simple sentences: That's my color. Where's (whatever he is looking for)? There it is!

*Counts to 10 without skipping numbers.

*Knows a lot of his letters and sounds- T and O are his favorites!

*He loves to sing.

*He loves to watch sports, but his attention span isn't very long so we never make it through a whole game.

*He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES girls- mainly older ones wearing dance uniforms. He and the girls on Lexie's dance team adore each other.

*Every time we walk into the gym for Lexie's games, he starts waving and yelling, "LEXIE!!!! LEXIE!!!! HI LEXIE!!!" then he looks at me, points to Lexie, and tells me "There's Lexie." and then starts the whole thing over again. He loves Lexie.

*He tells me every morning that ,"Daddy go to work."

*He is fascinated with clocks.

*He likes to go to school and see his "frinz." At bedtime he tells me all about them.

*He really likes school and is learning so much. (At first, I used to call it a preschool just to make myself feel better about leaving him. But now I call it a preschool because it really is. I am amazed at how much he has learned! His teachers are wonderful. The main one is certified for PreK literacy, and the teacher in me notices the little things she does that make a huge difference.

*He is a very healthy eater. He loves carrots, and will willingly try new foods. I think one reason he stays so slim is because he does prefer healthy food. I have decided to keep him on whole milk because I think he still needs the fat. (That being said, he does have a big sweet tooth. He loves cookies and cakes, but I do limit what he gets in that department.)

*He is potty trained. His little booty looks so cute in big boy underwear. The lack of a diaper also makes it hard to find pants that fit. He wears boxer briefs :) --I am extremely thrilled that he is not in diapers anymore, but it also makes me sad. He is young to be a potty trained boy, so it's not like I struggled for a long time to get him out of diapers. (Actually, it was not a struggle at all. He knew what he needed to do and did it. I was VERY lucky.) I feel like him being in diapers still kept him a baby, and now that the diapers are gone (except at bedtime-- he wakes up dry, but I'm not that brave yet) I feel like he is all big boy. I know I am weird.

*He loves his sleep. When school doesn't effect his sleep schedule, he will sleep about 11-12 hours at night and take a 2 1/2- 3 hour nap.

*He loves chapstick! He is constantly putting it on. I swear this boy has the softest lips in town :)

BIRTH

ONE

TWO

Carter's growth chart:

birth- 7 lbs. 8 oz. 21 inches

2 weeks- 7 lbs. 13 oz. 20 1/8 inches (he had a cone head at birth)

2 months- 11 lbs. 6 1/2 oz (90th percentile) 22 in. (20 %)

4 months- 14 lbs. (40%) 23 in. (3%)

7 months- 17 lbs 26 in. (5%)

9 months- 18 lbs (10-25 %) 27 in. (10%)

12 months- 19 lbs (5%) 28 in. (5%)

15 months- 20 lbs 4 oz (3-5%) 30 in (10-25%)

18 months- 23 pounds 31 3/4 in

2 years- 25 pounds (25%) 33 in. (25%)

**I know it looks like his height and weight are pretty even, but I think most of his height is in his legs. It is very hard to find pants that fit him in the waist (he is lean) and are long enough for him. I know a lot of pants have the adjustable waist band, but they usually start at a size that is too big for him. Garanimals knit pants and Gap jeans are our best friends right now; most other pants (with a few random exceptions) make Carter look like he is getting ready to go wading in the water. ha!


Here is a picture of the growth chart I started in my closet right after we moved in.

BEING 2 ROCKS!

I cannot believe Carter is 2 today! It seems like only yesterday that my sweet little boy came into this world.

I always took Lexie to have her pictures taken ON her birthday every year. I started that tradition with Carter last year also. Unfortunately the weather for today was predicted to be bad (it is), so I changed his appointment to yesterday. It bummed me out that we didn't get to have them made on his birthday, but at least they were made close to his birthday. (Who knows when we will actually be able to leave the house again!)

When we got to the photo studio, Carter was in a great mood. He was laughing and being funny. I thought, "Wow, this is going to be great!" Well he was looking out the window, and the store across the street is a place he loves to go to because they have a Thomas the Train table. I told him after his pictures we would go and play with Thomas. Well that did it! "Thomas. Thomas. Thomas," was all I heard for several minutes. I went to the car and got one of his Thomas toys, thinking that would be okay for now. Then all he wanted to do was play with his Thomas. The photographer did a good job of cropping the photos because Thomas was in most of them. Carter didn't smile much because he was too concerned with getting to play with Thomas. Most of the pictures turned out really cute, and I am pleased even though we didn't capture his "cheesy smile" in any of them.

In this pic and the one at the top, Carter looks very serious. In both of them I am holding Thomas, and I think he is concerned about getting him back.

** His well child checkup is tomorrow, weather permitting. I will post his stats and a little about what he's doing now after that appointment.

Snow Day

We had an amazing time yesterday playing in the snow. We knew we were supposed to get snow, but we were surprised when we woke up and saw how much had accumulated. This was Carter's first time to play in the snow, and he LOVED it!

The back half of our neighborhood is very hilly, so it is perfect for sledding! Our driveway has a small slope to it, so it was great for Carter. Lexie enjoyed rolling down our front yard as fast as she could. This is something she LOVED doing when she was little.

Ready for the snow! (If his coat was red, he would be the kid in A Christmas Story.)

We didn't buy a sled before the stores around here sold out. We are trying to find some online, so hopefully we will have one if it snows again. We made our own sled out of a cookie sheet. It worked great!!

Lexie knee boarding











Lexie snowboarding

He was so happy walking around in the snow. (He had on several layers of clothes.)

Monte snowboarding

My snow babies!

Please ignore the trashcans in front of the house. We keep them on the side, but I moved them to the front just to make Christmas clean up easier.

Later we got brave and moved to the street. It made for good sledding because the snow was packed pretty good on the street,and the tire ruts made a perfect track for the "sled".


The hill in the background was a very popular sledding place. We will go down there when we get our real sled.

Lexie helping be snowboard; I think I'll stick with skis.

(My legs really are not that big. I am wearing my ski pants.)


Carter "helping" me get snow for ice cream. He would scoop it out as I scooped it in.

Mmm... that's good hot chocolate!

I'm not tired. What would give you that idea?