A Letter to Carter at 20 Months

My sweet, little Carter boy how I love you.  You are so much fun to be with and this month was again a blast.  Normally I would've gone back to work this month, but I didn't.  I feel like our 2nd summer is just beginning and I'm as excited about this one as I was our last.  It doesn't matter what we do, as long as we are together it's the best day!  You make me laugh so hard at least a couple times a day and laughter really is the best medicine.  It's hard to remember life before you and it definitely wasn't filled with quite as much joy or laughter.  You were not about getting your picture taken during our photo shoot, so I didn't drag it on for too long.

You've picked up a few new tricks that are guaranteed to make me giggle.  I'd have to say my favorite is probably your singing.  When you hear a song you start singing.  You don't actually sing words you just sing gibberish in a sing songy voice.  It is possibly the cutest thing I've ever heard/seen because you also dance as you do it which adds to the cuteness.  Thomas' dog, Quinn, is still getting potty trained and does really well going potty outside, but is still working on pooping outside.  You have a fascination with poop.  When Quinn has an accident in the house you very excitedly come find me exclaiming, "poop" and walk me to where the poop is.  You also stoop down on your haunches to inspect poop in the backyard.  Thankfully you are trained to only observe with your eyes and not your hands because poop is "yucky, dirty".  You also have a bit of wild man in you.  You've recently decided it is fun to stand on your toy car.  I make you get down when I see you, but once I didn't move quickly enough and you fell off as it began to roll.  It sure hasn't stopped you though.

I am continuously impressed with how well you follow directions.  Some things I say daily and you happily jump to do them.  Other times I ask you to do something I've never asked of you before and you do it.  Then I'm left standing there with my mouth hanging open.  When I change a dirty cloth diaper I'll put you down and say "let's go say bye bye to the poopy" and you walk right to the bathroom door and wait for me to open it.  Once I've cleaned the diaper and flush the toilet you wave and say bye.  It's adorable.  Before bedtime I rock you for a little while before laying you down.  When you are ready to go to your crib you lift your head and look at me.  I'll ask you, "are you ready to lay down?" and you very seriously shake your head yes while sucking your thumb.  I'll ask "where are your shoes?" and you'll go find them for me, as long as you know where they are.  You'll also stand where I ask you to or go to a specific place I ask.  When bathtime is over I'll ask you to help put your toys away and you do.  You are really good about cleaning up and anytime I ask you, you pitch in to help.  You also like to put things away in your own special spot that I don't know exists.  Unfortunately some of your favorite things to put away for me are my running watch and phone.  I feel like I'm constantly on the search for them!  My brush went missing for a week and I couldn't figure out where I put it.  Then one day I opened a cabinet in the bathroom and discovered you had put it away for me.  It made such sense for it to be there and I couldn't believe I didn't think to check there!  One day daddy found a piece of sidewalk chalk in the fork slot of our silverware tray in the silverware drawer.  You are creative, that's for sure!   

Right now cars are your ultimate favorite toy.  We found a train table at a garage sale a while back and finally rearranged the living room to fit it in.  You absolutely love it and are constantly standing at it, sitting on it, and even dancing on top of it.  I put all of your cars that I could find on the table and you have a blast driving them around making "beep beeps", "woo woos", and "vrooms".  You can entertain yourself with your cars for a long time!  A new love is puzzles.  I showed you how to flip your puzzles over to dump all the pieces out and you love to do that!  It's so cute to watch you pick up a puzzle piece and inspect it to see where it belongs.  Typically you don't find the correct spot, but you sure try.  When we put the last piece in the puzzle you always get excited and clap.  Books are still a favorite.  You are constantly bringing me books and then backing up into my lap so I can read to you.  When you want to hear a book again, you pass it back to me right after I close it after finishing it.  There have been times where I've read the same book 10 times in a row before you are ready to move on to something else.  Your favorites right now are "Little Blue Truck", "Noisy Farm Animals", and your Llama Llama books.

Things need to be a certain way for you.  You are a bit of a sensory guy when it comes to your feet and hands.  Your socks have to be on just right.  If you have a toe a little bit to the side of the toe section of your sock, you sit and cry until I inspect your shoe and sock.  One time your sock was inside out and you especially hated that!  When there's something on your hands that you don't like, you hold your hand out for me to clean it off.  You also like your plate to be right in front of you on the table.  If I don't place it in the right place, you slide it over to be right where you want.

On our way to the library we walk past a fire station and you say "weeyoo weeyoo" as we walk by.  Sometimes I'm not paying attention to where we are and I hear you so I look up and see the fire trucks.  It is so cute!  You say uncie for both Uncie Jeremy and Uncie Tommy.  You've even gotten to where if I don't do what you want quickly enough you'll cry for your uncie.  You've also heard me call Harper a good girl when she puts up with your shenanigans enough that you've picked it up.  You'll be petting Harper and say "good girl".  Thanks to your "Noisy Farm Animals" book you like to make animal noises.  When you see a picture of an animal you will point at it and say the sound it makes.  The rooster is by far my favorite.  You point at a rooster and say "oggy oggy ah!"  It is hilarious!

You've gotten pretty proficient with hopping and jumping.  When grandma and grandpa were visiting your grandma said, "hop on up here," to you while she was sitting in a chair.  You were standing on the floor next to the chair and hopped up in the air.  You are still pretty literal!  You've randomly picked up slapping other kids and we're working on it.  It seems to be getting better and I hope next month I can say it has stopped all together!

We've changed our schedule around a bit now that I'm able to stay home and do what works best for you.  It's nice not having to stay on your daycare schedule.  We always kept your schedule consistent at home with what they did at daycare so you would be able to nap at daycare time and get enough sleep.  Your bedtime is now 8:00 and you wake up anywhere from 6-7 am.  You didn't seem tired at your noon naptime and struggled to fall asleep so I moved it back to 12:30 and eventually to 1:00.  Once you started going down at 1:00 your nap went from 1.5-2 hours to 2.5 to even 3 hours at times.

Your molars have come all the way in and you are up to 12 total teeth, 6 on top and 6 on bottom.  You got your 2nd haircut this month and loved it.  You laughed and were so hilarious the whole time!  You wear the same sizes: size 4 diapers, 12/18 month shorts, 18/24 month shirts, 18/24 month jammies, and size 5 shoes.  This month you survived 38 hours in the car on our way to and from Virginia to visit family!  You were amazing!

Your favorite teether is a pacifier you found.

Mr. Carter Man, I love you so much.  You are the sweetest little boy.  I am so glad I get to spend my days with you laughing, learning, and playing.  I can't believe you are inching ever closer to your 2nd birthday.  I still have moments where I look at you and realize that you are a big boy toddler now.  One day we were playing in the backyard and I looked at you running up and down the hill.  I was reminded how grown-up you are!  I love you so much, my precious baby!

Now on to daddy:

Always on the move little man! On the move and always talking. So much fun being able to ask you a question that you are able to think about and answer! You are so sure of your no's and don't hesitate to belt them out. But your yes's are subtle, just a little huff of your breath and maybe a head nod.

I love how well you eat fruits, everyone is always so impressed! Uncle Thomas is staying with us and you are constantly stealing fruit off his plate.

We also recently got a fort and swing set from some friends. It was very nice of them to give it to us and you made it know how much it meant to you almost immediately. You love climbing up the rock wall and bouncing around the fort. You are going to be having a blast on that for years to come!