Carter at Two and a Half

It's been awhile since I've posted a Carter update (or posted at all) so here's everything I can think of off the top of my head about our firstborn:

• sleeps 8pm-7am after a 2.5 year battle with sleep.  He went through a rough patch this fall where he was waking up e a r l y but typically sleeps until 7:00 or a little after.  
• naps 2:00-4:00pm...finally! 
• might be the pickiest eater on the planet.  He has severe texture and temperature issues so there's A LOT he won't eat and doesn't even like to touch his plate. 
• goes to preschool Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am - 2:30pm.  He LOVES his teachers this year and asks every morning when he wakes up if he is going to school today.  
• lives for tractors, trucks, construction vehicles, etc.  Anything that he can drive or that has wheels is automatically his favorite.  Bonus points if it's John Deere.  
• typically watches a DVD while we are in the car, but when he is not he navigates our trips "up the hill, go, stop, there's the tractor, go to Dada school, etc"
• tells us "1/3/5 minutes" for everything, and it's always a negotiation.  "Mama, I have one cookie" "Mama, three more minutes." 
• can count to twenty and says "five-teen" instead of fifteen and I hope he never corrects himself
• calls himself "Car-ker"
• loves to run laps around the house "Mama run with me!"
• before bed we play "hide" and he always tells us how many "hides" we are going to do.  Carter and I get on one side of the dresser and Matt gets on the other and we pop out at each other.  We always get the very best laughs at this time of night during this game.  
• loves Paw Patrol, Blaze and the Monster Machines, Mickey Mouse, Despicable Me, Cars and Daniel Tiger
• loves, loves, loves his babies.  He looks for them first thing in the morning, makes sure they always have toys to play with, kisses them when he leaves the room, and watches them on the monitor during their morning nap.  
• One time at church I left the girls inside with some other moms while I ran to the car with Carter in the rain.  Carter didn't understand that I was pulling the car around and FLIPPED OUT thinking we were leaving the babies at church.
• gets iPad time at night after his bath while I am nursing the girls down for the night.  He has a couple apps he plays with but his favorite is to watch tractors on YouTube.  He has figured out how to "subscribe" to tractor channels and can navigate his way through YouTube pretty well.  Most of the numbers, letters, colors, shapes, etc he knows he learned from watching tractor videos on YouTube.  
• loves Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" song and dances in his carseat whenever it comes on in the car
• receives OT and ECI once a week with Tina and Rosie and really enjoys the time he spends with them.  I give them and his preschool teachers 100% credit for the change we have seen in him the past two months
• potty trained himself! He came home from school on December 2, the day after he turned 2.5, and used the potty the rest of the day by himself.  We didn't prompt him, we didn't talk to him about the potty, he just did it 100% on his own.  We've had several accidents since then but I would say he is about 85% potty-trained.  Sooooo much easier than I thought this would be! 
• is still my snuggle bug and enjoys being held, rocked, carried, or anywhere close to me.  If I've been holding a baby too long he is sure to tell me "Mama, put Molly down and hold me!"
• finally started stringing words together around October and has been talking up a storm ever since then.  He can tell us about his day, remembers things we did weeks ago, and can explain to me what he wants which makes our lives so much easier.  
• enjoys being a coach's kid running around the field house and football field like he owns the place.  Thankfully he thinks visiting Dada at work is the best.day.ever. and loves to ride the gator, watch video in the film room and eat Coach Joseph's peanuts.  
• his favorite place is PawPaw and Nana's house and all the tractors/mowers/4-wheelers that come along with it
• calls Mason "MeeMee"
• gets in trouble regularly at school for tackling, to which Matt replies "atta boy!"
• knows all the signs for "Jesus Loves Me"