Almost 18 months

I know I’ve been cheating at blogging for the past, say year or so – posting more pictures that I do words. And it bums me out because while the pictures are all cute and great and everything, they don’t really tell the whole story.

So here I am to give you a grand update on my adorable offspring, starting with Carson, aka Carsie, The Carsonator, Buddy, Tank.

TEETH: He’s working on the last of his canines (the other three have been in for a month or so…we’re still waiting on that bottom left one!). Next up will be 2-yr molars.

SLEEPING: Carson is still an unbelievably good sleeper – like better than Mallory was, and Mal was a pretty good sleeper (easy to put down and stay asleep most of the night). I don’t remember Mallory being so happy to go to bed and be in her crib as he does. We usually rock him and read a book or two (Hand Hand Fingers Thumb and Bad Dog, Marley are the two he usually reaches for) and then he goes right in his crib…unless Rick is the one doing bedtime and then it usually means the two of them fall asleep on the rocking chair until I go make Rick get up and spend time doing something productive. LOL. Anyway – I’ll admit there are times when I’m home alone with the kids and I just don’t have the time to read Carson a book and I can usually get away with a quick cuddle and put him in his crib and he’s done. He might cry if his sippy cup is empty – but if I take it from him and ask if he wants more water, he stops crying while I fill up his cup, and when I return with it and hand the cup to him, he takes a big drink and then falls over and goes to bed (I think sometimes he reads and does other stuff). That said, I do try to work it out so that Mallory can watch Mickey Mouse while I put Carson to bed and in that case, we’ll read a quick book and then I’ll hold him like a little tiny baby (across my chest instead of up & down) and give him little kisses and watch as his eyes start to take longer and longer blinks until he’s finally asleep. He was never a big cuddler so I’ll take it now if I have to :-) .

EATING: This is usually a hit and sometimes a miss. Rick & I have always been of the opinion that we’ll feed our kids what we eat. We don’t eat anything bizarre so it’s not like we’re making our kids only eat beets and liver and stuff. We usually have some sort of meat or something cooked with meat in it (enchiladas, pasta, etc) and then a veggie for a side dish. Mallory has always been a fantastic eater (just look at her!) but Carson will eat something one week and then the next week it all ends up on the floor. So if we make something for dinner and he doesn’t eat it – we sometimes offer it for lunch the next day, because we are extra mean. But even if he does eat at the night before, he won’t eat it leftover. The only things we know that are sure things with him are veggies (he’s run the gamut of having favorite vegetables…started with carrots, then corn, then green beans, and currently its peas), veggie burgers (we aren’t vegetarians but my sister used to serve these to her now 9-yr old and they are super easy for school to heat up and serve for lunch), and then the standard toddler fare of hot dogs, mac & cheese, and grilled cheese. He loves fruit too – bananas and apples are big hits, and he likes cantaloupe and grapes too.

WORDS: None really, but who can blame him with a mom and a sister who talk a lot. He does do sign language for “more” and sometimes for “all done” and I think he has words that he thinks mean something but to me just sound like the adults on Charlie Brown. We do have a fun game that we play – I’ll ask for a kiss, and he’ll give me one and then he says “awowerwun” and then I ask “another one?” and he then he does a slight head nod with a sound that may mean yes (sounds like “je”) and then I get a another kiss. This is the funnest game because I usually end up getting like ten kisses before he realizes it’s not cool to give your mom a whole bunch of kisses. Blah. Oh, and I don’t know that I really believe that his first understandable word(s) are “awowerwun” since that would be super weird but just ask my mom – that is totally what it sounds like.

MISCELLANEOUS:

• Carson is at the stage where walking is no good. It’s all running, all the time, and he almost never falls now, which is really cool. He loves to dance (usually when Mallory says “DANCE, BRUDDER!”, on purpose saying “brudder” instead of “brother” because she is so stinking silly) and is now full on pointing at everything from airplanes to birds to whatever is at the receiving end of his pointing finger.
• I can’t not mention his pooping. He is a very obnoxious and obvious pooper. Even Mallory will yell out “Carson’s going POOP!”. And if you ask how she knows, she says his face is all red and then she imitates his grunting face. I’m hoping that this will help with potty-training because I’ve heard that it should make it easier to pop him on the toilet. We have the little potty out and he likes to sit on it and the two times I tried to really put him on it around bath time, he peed like five minutes later ~ on my wall (all over my dry cleaning) and the other time was in the bathtub. Whatever.
• That sweet boy of mine is becoming ridiculously competitive and territorial when it comes to his sister. A little backstory – Carson likes to run the other direction when it’s time to change his diaper. One time Mallory was right next to me so I jokingly said “Ok, I’ll put your diaper on Mallory”. Carson LITERALLY turned on his heel and ran towards me, squawking all the way, pushing Mallory away from me and laying right down for a new diaper. That afternoon, after his nap, he was resisting another diaper change, so I called for Mallory to put on her diaper. She told me she doesn’t wear diapers and I had to remind her that we were tricking Carson. Once she said “OK – you can put on my diaper!” Carson came running again for his diaper. SO FREAKING FUNNY. It also works for when he doesn’t want his pajamas on (“Carson! I’m going to put on your pajamas!”). I am afraid that I’m doing some sort of psychological damage with this “game” but it works for now so we’ll go with it.
• But what isn’t fun is when they start fighting about stupid stuff. Like when Mallory gets herself a sippy cup of water and Carson decides that he is the ONLY ONE IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE WHO IS ALLOWED TO USE A SIPPY CUP. It doesn’t matter that he already has his own sippy cup – if he sees Mallory with a sippy cup, he starts squawking and chasing her around the house, while she runs a Statue of Liberty play. I can’t tell you what we end up doing to distract him from trying to tackle her but somehow they both knock it off.
• And lastly – I have to mention that for all their newly developing disagreements and power struggles, I truly believe that Carson’s sun rises & sets with his big sister. He completely adores her and his reaction when he sees her in the morning or across the playground at school is too precious for words.

We are so lucky to have such wonderful kids – we have been blessed, that is for sure.