Carter: 19 Months

Carter Man,
You are NINETEEN MONTHS old today! Officially closer to being a two-year old than a one-year old.  Wow!

Buddy, this month has been hard.  Some of the trouble can be attributed to your mama being huge and pregnant, but most of it is due to your own stubbornness.  You know what you want and you know when you want it, and you won't take "no!" for an answer.  Although I'm thankful that you are hard working and passionate, (two traits I prayed over constantly while pregnant with you) this has proven to be almost impossible to deal with in a toddler.  I can tell you are frustrated with your communication because you clearly know what you want, we just cannot always understand what you want.  90% of the time I can understand your body language, "words", and gestures, but the other 10% of the time we both end up very frustrated.  I'm praying your language skills progress over the next six months so we can return to having easy days.

Speaking of language development, we have a meeting set later this month to get your speech evaluated.  Daddy and I aren't concerned, but talking to Dr K, your preschool teachers, and some speech therapists it sounds like getting you started in some speech therapy can't hurt.  And with two little girls coming so soon I'd rather you be ahead on the language curve than behind!

Just the other night I looked at your daddy and told him how big you suddenly seem to me.  Somehow in the last month you have just turned into a true little boy and are erasing all signs of being a toddler.  I love to see you grow and mature, but I long for you to stay a baby for as long as possible.  Thankfully you LOVE to cuddle and rock with us, which will always be my favorite part about you.

I've officially declared you a picky eater, but I can't be too surprised because you likely get that from me.  We have a pretty set breakfast and lunch menu, and dinner you just pick at small things.  If I let you you would eat cereal, bread and crackers all day.  Boy after my own heart! And you have fallen back in love with milk after a short hiatus.  We're currently going through 3 gallons of milk a week for you!

And somehow over the last month we have returned to the land of awful naps.  We were doing so good there for awhile (something you have always struggled with) but this last month takes the cake.  You are hard to put down, wake up early and try to always end your nap after only an hour.  It's exhausting! We also think you experienced your first night terror this month when you woke up in the middle of the night in a pure panic.  It took awhile but we were able to get you back to sleep and just pray that it doesn't happen again.  Poor baby!

Your favorites this month include stacking toys, riding toys, any type of truck, reading books and being outside.  You are a typical boy and love anything that makes a lot of noise or plays music.  You are getting better at playing independently but still always want us to be within eyesight of where you are.

Sugar dumpling, we love you so very much.  You truly bring so much love and laughter into our home and I'm so excited to spend these last few weeks with you as an only child before your sisters get here.  I'm so happy to watch you turn into a little boy and so proud to call you mine.  I love you forever.

19-Month Stats:

Weight: 25 pounds

Length: 32 inches

Eating: sippys of milk, combo of baby and table food, and one snack

Bedtime: around 7:00pm

Awake: around 7:00am

Nap: around 12:30 

Diapers: size 5 Huggies

Clothes: 18-months

Shoes: 5 wide

Favorites: playing outside, anything with wheels, your paci, books, videos on our phones, Cooper
Dislikes: seeing one of us hold another baby

Development: running, climbing, communicating

Words: mama, dada, nana, dog, uh oh, night night, what is that, outside, bye bye, hi, hey, hello, deer, duck, who is that, Nemo, cup, up