I'm Lovin It

Today, Carter and I had this conversation: 

 Me: Carter, we're going to play at a new place today with fun things to climb on. 

 Carter: What's it called? Me: It is called McDonalds. 

 Carter: McDonalds? 

Me: Yes, it is a fun new playground inside. 

 Carter: Okay. 

 Me: They also sell food, but we are not going to eat any food, we just go there to play. 

 Carter: Okay. 

 It occurred to me that Carter is almost 3 1/2 and the only restaurant he knows is Applebees (Because it has an apple on the front). He considers restaurants a place to go to watch football on a big screen!!

Spelling

Carter has been very interested in letters recently (probably has something to do with preschool). He has been asking what letter various words begin with. He has been doing it for a couple weeks now. He asks the same words over and over again, and every once it a while he will ask a new word. We are so excited that he has this love for learning. Part of me wants to say "Don't you know that one by now?" or "You just asked me that." But, I don't. We really want him to love learning and do not want to discourage him in any way. 

I won't actually tell him the letter either (Unless it is a difficult one, like K/C/S, PH/F, SH, or anything that doesn't sound like it should start - you know, all the English quirks.), I just sound it out and let him answer his own question.

He is having a tough time with W and Y right now. He asks what a W word starts with, and it sounds like you would say the letter Y. Yesterday, we were going over words that start with Y so he could hear the difference. He said "Like Yup!" I said "Yes, just like Yep." I asked if he knew what that meant. He said "When your Mommy or Daddy says you can do something." Well, yeah. I guess that is when I give him an affirmative "Yep". When David got home I asked Carter to tell him about "yep" - thinking he would give the same response he gave me. NOPE. 

"Y-U-P, Yup"

Both David and I just started at him. He spelled a word! Not the way I would have spelled it, but it is a Webster's recognized variant.

He has been spelling his name for a few days, but I have been working with him on that. I have been having him spell it out for me, as I wright it. I have never spelled any other words for him.

This morning he started spelling Car and Cat in addition to his own name.

Also, for about 2 weeks now he can tell you my phone number. I am not sure where he got it. Maybe he has really been paying attention when I leave it on other people's voicemail. I am happy about that because it is something he should know, I just didn't think he was ready to learn it.

This is his monkey family. He took this picture with David's camera. he wanted to get a family portrait. I am the pink one, Daddy is the one in back with the red beard, Beckett is the naked one in front, and the Carter monkey is the one with the blue stripes. 

Pictures

I have a TON of clothes from Carter when he was small. We are rapidly passing the time that they will be useful. I am lacking in time to take pictures of all of them on Beckett before he grows out of them.

I wanted to take pictures of these cute little vest outfits, as he will never wear them to church. It will be another month before we will take him to church, and even then I don't think too many people will see him until flu season is OVER. It is really scary out there for a newborn right now.

(This outfit cost me $0.81 after tax.)

(A second vest that I could switch out for the fist - an additional $0.27.)

Just hanging out with dad - looks so grown up with his arm resting on David's arm. 

Thinking about what, I'm not sure.

Probably thinking about food. 

At a play date on Monday, Carter - OUT OF NOWHERE - turns to his friend's mom and says "Beckett is a boob man." I don't know where he got that, we certainly don't talk like that at home. It was so hard not to laugh. You should have seen my friend's face as she was trying not to laugh!!

Improper Dress

Carter has always been sensitive to immodesty. Last summer we were driving with the windows down and he saw a lady wearing a tube-top walking down the sidewalk. At the time, I thought the window was just blocking his view of the rest of her shirt. He yelled out that the lady didn't have any clothes on, and she needed to get dressed. He was quite upset that she would be walking out in public naked.

He doesn't like it if I come into his room in my bathrobe. He knows that I am not dressed yet, and it bothers him.

I was flipping through the coupons that came in the mail when Carter started yelling at me. "Don't look at that!" I wasn't sure what he was talking about. He saw this picture:

I asked him what and why: "That man isn't wearing any shirt or underwear!" He meant undershirt. "I don't want you to see that." 

He grabbed it and turned it upside down so I couldn't see it.

I have NO CLUE where this comes from. We haven't even had the modesty discussion in our house.  

Christmas...Continued

I forgot to post about the food. I love the food around Christmas time. It is all so yummy. I feel bad that Carter cannot partake in a lot of the yumminess. He doesn't seem to mind - maybe it is the picky toddler/preschooler stage that all kids go through.

For example, just yesterday he was saying how much he liked avocado and how he wanted some on his lunch. So, we got some avocado out and went to put it on his lunch and he FREAKED OUT. He didn't want it anywhere near him because Avocados are yucky!! It is the age he's at.

Anyways, the food. 

My mother sent some super yummy peanut butter cookies that were gluten-free for Carter (I probably ate more than he did while he wasn't looking). It was his favorite cookie she has made so far. However, he was asking for some with candy corn on them after he ate them all.

For Christmas lunch, David's mother made Carter his very own gluten-free dairy-free version of the quiche that she made for all of us. I think he ate more olives than any other part, even though he could not put them on his fingers. She also put some Gluten-free cookies in his stocking that he is just now remembering he has. Yum Yum.

One Month

Beckett is one month old, weighing in at 12 lbs!

He has been an EVERY 2 HOUR eater (day and night!!), with naps lasting not longer than 20 minutes (including night time). I was so unprepared for this. I was counting on those sleepy newborn weeks to get things done and back to normal.

I finally stopped feeding him every 2 hours this week. I have been stretching him out to 3 and now 4. That involved holing him and rocking him a lot - which is what he wanted anyways.

Just as he hit 4 weeks old, he started sleeping longer stretches at night!! We finally got a 4 hour stretch. The last 2 nights he slept 2 4 hour stretches. We actually got a decent night's sleep. Except, he would start to fuss in his sleep about 30 - 45 minutes before David's alarm went off.

We are finally moving up a diaper size, out of Newborns.

Most exciting thing, is that he is finally looking at me!! I did not know that newborns didn't really look at you. Carter never opened his eyes. This kid will just stare around, and I can't catch his attention. Well, now he watches me. I have been excited for him to notice me and what I'm doing - and now I'm going to wish he would stop watching me so closely for the next 18 years!!

Heaven

Today on the way to library story time, Carter wanted to hear a song by Brad Paisley - "The one about Heaven". Midway through the song, I get the message that David's Grandma Bobbie passed away.

I honestly believe that kids have a closer connection to heaven than we do. The older we get, the further it gets, then it starts to get closer again as we get older. I am pretty sure that is why my newborn stares around me and past me and smiles like crazy. He is not looking at me, he is looking at the angels watching over him and I. He knows them better than he knows me right now - because he was just with them. 

We are so grateful that Grandma Bobbie has finally been allowed to go home. She was ready, even if we weren't ready to let her go.

We lost a beloved family member - cousin Laura - when Carter was only 4 weeks and one day old. Her funeral was held when he was exactly 5 weeks old. 

Coincidentally, Grandma's passing comes as Beckett turns 4 weeks and 2 days old.

Christmas

Christmas was pretty quiet this year. Just the way I like it. 

Santa only got Carter one thing for Christmas. It was the only thing he'd been asking for: A BYU football helmet. It came with a jersey. It is the only thing he wants to wear!!

Carter really got into it this year. He LOVED watching this video:

The Piano Guys are his ABSOLUTE favorite. Can't go wrong with classical right?

Every night he wanted to watch the nativity:

I tried to teach him that Christmas is about Jesus. At this age, there wasn't much I could do to steer him around the whole present idea. So, I tried to teach him that this is a season about giving, not about getting. He still wakes up every morning asking me what I want for Christmas, or suggesting something he will get me - like Legos, or a football helmet. It is a start.

Halloween....pregnant

I guess I should check David's camera more often huh? I found these pictures we took from Halloween. So, they are a little late. . . but still worth posting.

This was my Halloween costume. I LOVED it. David's cousin posted a picture of this shirt on Facebook back in March and I knew I had to have it. I wore it almost every day for a couple weeks. I figured it was the only time in my life when I would get to.

I paid extra to have it glow in the dark...