TIME FLIES

It seems like just yesterday that I found out I was going to have a sweet, precious little baby, and now he is 18 months old!! He is no longer a baby and is officially ALL BOY (as if the missing front teeth didn't already let you in on that bit of information)!

I am happy to report that our little buddy is in the middle of a growth spurt. When we went in for his check up, he weighed 23 pounds and was 31 3/4 inches tall. Yes, I know he is still on the small side, but we are getting much closer to the 50th percentile. When he got the tubes put in his ears he weighed exactly 22 pounds with a diaper, clothes, and shoes. His check up was 3 weeks later and he weighed in at 23 pounds completely naked. They also remeasured him a couple of times because he had grown so much since the last visit. His feet have also had a growth spurt. In April he wore a size 5 extra wide, and now he is in a 6-6 1/2 XW. I said in the middle of a growth spurt because based on the way he is sleeping, I don't think it's over. He usually sleeps 11-12 hours every night, and takes a 3 hour nap during the day. (I know that should leave me plenty of time to blog, but I have discovered that I am lazy.)

Here is a little about what he is doing now:

- He loves to dip carrots in ranch dressing, and french fries in ketchup. Actually he will pretty much eat anything he can dip in something.

-He loves to play/sing:

*Row, Row, Row Your Boat- He repeats "row, row" the entire time. I also guess he has finally learned that I can't sing because often times he will tell me "no" half way through because he wants to sing by himself.

*Ring Around the Rosy- He loves to fall down.

*Itsy,Bitsy, Spider- He has got the climbing up the water spout and washing the spider out movements down pat.

* Old MacDonald

* BINGO

*If You're Happy and You Know It- He does all of the motions and shouts "Hooray!" He also pinches his cheeks when I say "and your face will surely show it".

*To say he loves to play with cars and trucks is an understatement. He almost always has a truck or car in his hand. In the car he will push them up and down his legs and make the "vroom " sound. He also like to push them down the slide.

*Anything that has buttons on it he can push will keep him entertained for a while. We just got him some trucks at Sam's that have buttons he can push that make noise. Needless to say those are his favorites.

*He still likes to push around a doll (or real) stroller. He will gently put anything in it and push it around. Right now his stroller has a truck in it :) When he puts a baby doll in the stroller, he will say 'baby', give it a kiss, and put it in the stroller. (I always give him a kiss before I put him in the stroller or car seat.)

-He is developing quite the personality! He is very strong-willed. I think I am going to have to pull out my Dr. Dobson book on raising a strong willed child. He is also reaching that independent stage. He pretty much wants to do everything himself, and it has to be his idea. Although he is strong-willed, he is very affectionate and loving. He loves to give and receive hugs and kisses. Sometimes he will be playing on one side of the room, and I will be sitting on the other. He will stop what he's doing, come over and give me a hug and a kiss, and then go back to playing. He really is very sweet.

-"Monkey See, Monkey Do" is his mantra right now. Last week Lexie was practicing dance moves in the living room, and he stood next to her and started doing everything she did. We were all laughing. He has the turn, kick, bow combination down pretty good now. He will even walk around the house saying, "kick" and then kick his leg. And of course Lexie LOVES teaching him things! She has always been an entertainer, and now he is her little apprentice.

-He is already practicing for his career as a Wal-Mart door greeter. When we go anywhere, he greets EVERYONE! I'll be on an aisle at the store, and as soon as another person comes on the aisle he yells, "hi!" (and will usually repeat it until he gets a response). Of course everyone thinks he is cute, so they stop and talk to him. (Which means I never can make a quick trip to the store.) Then as soon as one of us leaves the aisle, he yells, "bye!" He definitely is a friendly child.

-He can pretty much say/repeat anything except "Lexie". I think he refuses to say her name just to irritate her. A few of the words he says on a regular basis are: hi, bye, baby (referring to anyone under 3 feet tall), buddy (what we call him), eyes, ears, mouth, nose, cat (he is constantly reminding Tinkerbell what she is just in case she forgets she's a cat), all done, boppy (Poppy- my dad), ninny (Granny- my mom), shoes, cheese, freeze, ball, bubbles, pop, please, mommy/mama, daddy/dada, cow/moo, duck/quack quack, no, boo boo (he usually has one), botty (potty), cookie, thank you (sounds like day do), uh oh, bath, see you later, I love you (more like I lu ooh),and cracker. I am so happy that he finally calls me "mommy". For the longest time I was "mom". And I don't just mean mom, I mean a cross between an angry teenager and an Italian mob boss yelling mom.

-I know I am going to jinx myself by posting this, but ever since we moved into our new house Carter goes potty in the potty 2 or 3 times a day. He was waking up from nap dry, so we tried it and he did it. He actually acts like he thinks it's fun. His favorite part is getting to flush the toilet and washing his hands afterwards. I am sure we are far from the point of him telling me when he needs to go, but at this point I am very excited that he pees on command. He has also pooped in the potty three or four times. This was a total accident: he was trying too hard to potty. Sometimes he makes a fist and holds up his arms and grunts really hard; I'm pretty sure it doesn't take that much effort to pee, but whatever makes him happy. Don't worry, I am not pushing him. As long as he is interested we try it. Occasionally when he wakes up he is clingy and doesn't want to sit on the potty, and I don't make him. It is completely up to him. I always clap and cheer when he goes potty, and he does too. Now if he follows me into the bathroom, he will clap for me when I go potty.

- One final thing before the pictures. Carter LOVES shoes. He is definitely my child. When we walk in his closet he will point to his shoe rack and say "shoes". He will keep saying it until I hand him the pair he wants. He also likes to bring us our shoes and tell us they're shoes. He is really smart too. He brings Monte his shoes, and brings me mine. He also likes to walk around in daddy's house shoes.

He usually hangs out with me in the kitchen when I fix dinner or clean the kitchen. We made a playroom for him in there, but on this day he found joy in my mixing bowl. It is also a great shot of his missing teeth!

This is an old picture. (The Survivor finale is on the TV.)


On his 18 month birthday at the doctor's office. I know he looks angry in this picture, but he was actually having fun. It was nice having Lexie with me at the doctor appointment. He wears me out!


He loves to sit in chairs and kick his feet.

He likes to watch Monte mow the lawn. He will stand there and watch him the whole time. He also yells, "Daddy....Daddy....Daddy" the entire time. I think he is trying to get Monte's attention. Monte will come over and wave at him when has to empty the grass catcher thing. Then Carter gets really excited like he's just seen a rock star. I guess daddy is his rock star.

Monte is teaching Carter how to mow the lawn.

GYMBOREE--

I know I mention Gymboree a lot (or maybe on Facebook), but it is Carter's favorite place (next to the great outdoors). It is the highlight of his day. And now that it is summer, Lexie gets to go with us. It is so much fun to watch them play together. She is so good with him, and he adores her!

"The Noble Duke of York" lap ride. This is fun!! Lexie had so much fun doing this with Carter that she now plays it with every little kid she knows. Carter really likes it too, but it's hard to tell in this picture.

"I've seen this done at football games, but it didn't look this hard."

Lexie enjoying parachute time. Carter hates it for some reason. The only thing he likes about it is he knows he gets bubbles when they drag it out.