Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Carter: 16 Months


Carter Man,
Well look who turned another month older?! You are SIXTEEN MONTHS old today! Sixteen months is oh-so close to 18-months, which is basically TWO! Please, I beg of you, stay little and don't grow any older.  I just wanted to keep you my baby forever...one who will rock with me, say "mama" in that little baby voice, and give kisses freely.  Yes, that's what I want for the rest of my life.  M'kay?

The biggest update for this month is that you started preschool! I have prayed and worried and worried and prayed about this since I signed you up way back in January, and things have turned out pretty good.  I mainly wanted to see you interact with other children your age, listen to adults that were not family members, and learn to follow directions and socialize.  So far  you have attended seven classes and we are actually seeing real progress being made.  Drop-off and pick-up have gotten better from the screaming fits you threw in the beginning, your lunch is coming home empty everyday, and your daily reports are always so fun to read.  Baby boy, it sounds like you have your first girlfriend (don't tell Eva!)  You have a little friend, Amy, and it seems like y'all do everything together.  Mrs. Flo told us today that she is the only other student in the class that you will let ride in your Cozy Coupe with you.  If that's not true love I don't know what is.  They put y'all's nap mats next to each other, you eat lunch next to each other, and Amy tries to hold your hand all day long.  If I weren't so jealous I think I would actually be a little happy for you! I'm so glad you have made a friend and hope this just continues.

Other than preschool our month has been relatively boring since we spend five out of seven days a week locked in the house unable to go anywhere because of my hematoma.  But we have done really well for two people going stir-crazy.  I've learn to let you tear things up a little at a time, and I think we are actually making some progress in the sitting still department.  You will actually sit and watch a little TV if you are in my lap.  Not the point of being allowed to watch TV, but it's definitely a start and soon I'm sure you will be entertained for short periods of time by a show.  Come March when your little brothers/ sisters/ brother & sister get here we will need something to distract you!

Since we transitioned so much of your home-life so that I don't have to pick you up at all we've been pleasantly surprised at how much you actually understand us when we talk to you.  I have to give you verbal commands all day and most of the time you actually do what I'm telling you to do.  You can throw your diaper and trash away when asked, you take your clothes off (or at least try to) when it's time for bath, you walk to the backdoor or garage door when it's time to go outside, among other things.  Had we not forced you to grow up so fast this month I never would have believed that you could do all of these big boy things.

Along those lines we've also seen your frustrated side come out more and more this month.  You clearly can understand everything we say but you do not have the words yet for us to understand you.  You sign what you can (please, thank you, more, all done, water) and actually are able to point enough that I can usually figure out what you want/need.  But when I can't figure out what you are trying to tell me it absolutely infuriates you and you can throw a fit with the best of them.  It's actually quite amusing to watch: you throw your head back, fall to your knees, slowly lay yourself down onto the floor (very carefully) and put your hands next to your sides and just cry, cry, cry.  Can you say drama queen?!  I will need to catch it on the video camera at some point so I can show it to you one day when you are older.

Besides this, not much has changed.  You bounce back and forth between one and two naps a day.  We have started playing around with using a fork with meals, but you aren't showing much interest there.  You sleep great at night even in your toddler bed.  I'll catch you on the monitor in the morning and you just lay in bed talking to yourself and playing with your pacis.  You are eating three meals and one snack a day.  And we are officially done with the bottle!! You've boycotted milk a little since we give it to you in a sippy cup, but eventually you drink it once you think I'm not looking.

My little precious baby boy, I love you so very much.  I love spending my day with you and I'm so proud watching you walk into preschool everyday.  I hope you love school as much as I did growing up and you continue to make lots of friends.  To the moon and back.

16-Month Stats:
Weight: 25ish pounds
Length: 31ish inches
Eating: sippys of milk, combo of baby and table food, and one snack
Bedtime: around 7:30pm
Awake: around 7:30am
Naps: either around 10 and 2, or noon, depending if you take one or two 
Diapers: size 5 Huggies
Clothes: 18-months
Favorites: playing outside, anything with wheels, your paci
Dislikes: not being able to get into something, nursery at church, getting your teeth brushed
Development: running, following directions, sleeping in toddler bed
Words: mama, dada, nana, dog, uh oh, night night, what is that, outside, bye bye, hi, hey, hello, deer, duck, who is that

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