Oh, our sweet Carter man. Right now he is still awake (at 8:18pm). He refused to nap today, was falling asleep (literally) at dinner tonight, put him down at 7pm and yet...
HE IS STILL AWAKE.
How is this possible?
Someday we are going to get past this sleep phase and our sweet Carter man will go to sleep at a normal hour and stay in bed without fighting us for two hours almost every single night.
But seriously...
look at those big blue eyes. Melt my heart! Even with our ginormous (yep, I just used that word) issues and battles with getting him to go to sleep, I have more love for this little boy then I ever knew was possible. He is just amazing. He is funny and spirited, silly and independent. I love his personality and just want to kiss those cheeks all day long. And his eye lashes...
It is seriously not fair that he was blessed with eye lashes an inch long and our precious Mady girl has nothing. It seems to always work out the way.
I wanted to write about Carter because since he turned two I stopped doing monthly posts. Our little boy is growing into a kid right before our eyes. He is all boy! He loves fish, trucks, tractors, backhoes, dump trucks, garbage trucks, flat bed trailers, golf carts, combines, his blankie, milk, drinking out of my cups, macaroni and cheese, fruit snacks, his baby (Madelynn), running around the house naked, playing outside, digging in the dirt (or as he calls it "weeding" like mama), mowing the lawn while daddy mows with the real mower, walking up and down hills, his Sunday School teachers Mrs. James and teacher Nora, his grandparents, playing in the van, not taking a nap, getting out of bed, stuffed animals, bath time, and playing in the water in the kitchen sink. I am sure there are so many more things he loves but I always forget things when I actually sit down to write them down.
He talks like crazy! He is up to saying sentences with 7 to 10 words. I really liked the one he said on our way home from church as we passed a semi truck. "Carter see big truck at church hauling flat bed trailer." He really focuses on each word he says. He isn't a fast talker but he talks ALL THE TIME. He loves saying "watch mama" all day long. He even watches me while he is trying to show me something just to make sure that I am really watching. If I glance away he will start over after saying or often yelling "watch mama." He says words all the time that we didn't even know he knew. We love it! This is such a fun age. I can just see his little brain working all the time and taking everything in.
He is VERY MUCH 2. My boy is a typical two year old. He is sassy, independent, stubborn, and silly. One second he will do the shy act and the next second he is showing off and being silly. When he wants something and doesn't get it...oh boy. When we make him come inside after playing outside or basically doing anything outside...oh boy. When we tell him it's time to go to bed...oh boy. Many things make him upset but it usually has to do with him not getting his way. I just keep telling myself to be patient and consistent. We will work through this phase and I just know we will come out on the other side and smile when we think about his two year old phase. I have had a lot of people tell me that three is worse than two. Thanks a lot people! That is not what I wanted to hear.
Even through his typical two year old stuff, he is fun and sweet! I love the way he talks and wish I could record everything he says so that I will never forget his sweet little voice and the cute way he says things. We have been working on recording some of our favorite things so that we can always hear him talk. He counts to ten perfectly and then says 14, eleventeen. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, eleventeen. Priceless, and I never correct him. I know I should soon but I just love it to much.
He thinks the world of his grandparents. There must be something about the words "grandpa" and "grandpa." He loves all of them (and he has a lot). He got to see Jay's dad and stepmom this week. He hasn't seen them in over a year so he was way too little to really remember them. I think he was in love in five minutes. He was shy for a couple minutes and then grandma and grandpa's best friend. It was so sweet. I am so thankful for the day we got to spend in Seattle with them this week (and Jay's sister Nicole who Carter also fell in love with). I will post pictures of that trip soon. I am beyond thankful for the people in our lives who love our kids so much. What a sweet, sweet blessing for our kids to have so many grandparents who love them so much.
Bedtime is AWFUL! I would say it has been about seven months like this. He was amazing at going to bed until we moved him into his big boy bed. If I would have known then that it would take this long to get him into a good routine at bedtime, he would still be in his crib and Madelynn might be sleeping in the pack n play. Have I said it is AWFUL? I didn't know a two year old could be so stubborn. We have tried everything. We have spanked, bribed, super nanny approach, and everything in between. A typical night takes around an hour and a half to get him to fall asleep. And many nights are even longer than that. He gets out of bed constantly no matter what we do. So at Madelynn's four month check up, we asked Dr. Wilson if he had any tips for us. He told us to do a gate on the door. Seriously? I thought we had tried everything but we had never tried or even thought of doing a gate. So for the last week we have been doing that and it is really helping. It isn't perfect because he just gets up and plays in his room but we have decided to just ignore him and he has always eventually climbs back into bed and goes to sleep. And our evenings are so much more peaceful. He is great while he is in there but just plays. So after the gate worked a little better we decided to take all of his toys out of his room to try and help him take naps during the day. With the toys in there he just can't stop playing long enough to sleep. So all of his toys are in my dining room right now. Not my preference but just not sure where else to put them for a little while. Today he wandered around his room for 20-30 minutes, climbed in bed and fell asleep. Praise Jesus! That is progress and I am sticking with it for a while. I pray it will continue and that eventually we can put his toys back in there. This has been a very challenging phase of motherhood for me. I have cried over bedtime more than I have ever cried over anything in my entire life. But we will continue helping him learn to obey and I know we will come out on the other end alive and even more in love with our boy.
Although he has his disobedient moments he also impresses me so much with how well he does obey so much of the time. When we give him choices, he is usually really good at picking one and then doing it. He doesn't always want to hold our hand in parking lots but if we just say that he either has to hold our hand or we have to carry him, he always reaches for our hand. I just smile when I tell him to do something or that I am going to take something away from him for a while and he says "o tay mama." He really is a good boy and I am so proud of him!
We love you Carter man! You are my favorite little boy in the world!
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