16 months old

Happy Birthday, Carter Maxwell!

 

We've been so busy lately that we barely 

had time to take your 16-month pictures.

 

We were able to sneak them in this afternoon

and despite your needing to take a nap,

you were surprisingly cooperative!

 

Mommy is too tired for editing tonight,

so I'm just going to post my favorites as is.

 I know I say it every month, 

but you are SO FUN right now.

You recently started saying your name

and I think it might be even cuter

than the way you say "Nigh-night."

It doesn't always sound exactly the same.

Sometimes you say "cah-tuh,"

sometimes you say "tuh-ter,"

sometimes you say "ter-ter,"

and sometimes it's a perfect "Car-ter!"

No matter how you pronounce your name, you
always say it in your sweetest sing-song voice.

Maybe it's because that's the way

Daddy and I always say it - adoringly!

You are still obsessed with the book

about the monkeys jumping on the bed.

Only now you don't even need the book

to tell me the story.  It seems to be on your

mind a LOT and it's rare that we even get

through a nursing session without you doing

all the motions from jumping to patting your

head to shaking your little pointer finger

like the doctor in the book.

In fact, now that you've started shaking

your little finger, you do it every time

Daddy or I tell you no about anything.

 Even when we don't say it, you will

point at something you're not allowed

to touch and start wagging your finger at us!

You have four "friends" with you most

of the time.  You chose them a little over a 

month ago and I can't count the hours you've 

spent carrying them all from room to room, 

couch to couch, moving all of them from 
one side of you to the other, etc.

They are quite an eclectic bunch.  

Your favorite, hands down, is your Asian baby doll.  

She's the first one you grab every time you move them.  

You come walking into the room with her tucked under one 

arm and plop her down right where you want her.  

Then you disappear again and come back with 

your little brown dog and your Mickey Mouse.  

After you've put them in their new location, 

you go back for your green "Scout" dog that 

talks and sings songs about you. 

Those four are your "guys" and Daddy and I joke about how
you "leave no man behind."  If you happen to bring Mickey and 

Scout on your second trip, you will look at the three you have, 

think for a moment, realize who's missing and go running 

to get your little brown dog.  It's super cute.

If we had to choose one word to describe you these days, 

it would be industrious.  You love to create "jobs"  for

yourself and you take your "work" very seriously.  
You always look determined and deep in thought as you play.  

When you are "on a mission" (as we call it), even your posture
changes, like what you are doing is of utmost importance. 

Sometimes you carry a big heavy bin of toys 

from the family room, up the two steps into the kitchen, 

through the dining room and into the living room where you 

dump it out, fill it with other toys and carry it all the way back. 

You spend lots of time making up and 

completing these little tasks each day.  

I'm consistently amazed at your creativity.

Your favorite toy this month has been your airport, airplanes and accessories.  

You love to push the different buttons to hear the pilot and flight

attendants talk and you love putting the little people in the seats 

and taking them through the airport security, etc. 

Your favorite airport guy is the one in the orange outfit 

who drives the luggage carts.  He has an orange baseball hat 

and I mentioned once that he wore a hat like Daddy.  

The next time we played, you started calling him Daddy 

and you still do to this day.  You carry him all around the 
house and even help him play with your other toys.

You are also into your doctor kit lately 

and you love to do checkups on Daddy and me 

as well as all of your stuffed animals and poor Molly, 

who has had her ears checked and been given more "shots" 

than any dog should have to endure.  Thankfully, 

you guys get along much better than expected!

Daddy was giving you yellow fruit and veggie puffs as bribes and they stuck to your teeth.

You still love songs with motions. 

This week you're really into "Little Bunny Foo Foo." 

You love to do the part about "boppin' 'em on the head."

You also continue to insist on hearing "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" 

several times a day.  You come to me with your hands in the air 

 and show me "down came the rain," to tell me what to do. 

The new twist is that instead of me doing the motions myself, 

you want me to make your toys do the motions.  

Usually all FOUR of your favorite guys.  

Scout actually sings the song while the 

other three take turns doing the motions
until they've all had a chance, or two, or three.  

Mommy is getting more than a little tired of that song!

Just today you started putting words together.

After you did something, Daddy said, "No, Carter!"  

You were not happy with his reprimand, so you came to me to tattle.

 You were very animated as you told me, "Dada,"

then shook your finger "No" and said "Carter."

You kept telling me over and over again.

And later in the day it must have still been on your

mind because you decided to tell me again!

You are growing up far too fast, and we are

grieving the end of each wonderful month 

as we look forward to the next.  

Here's hoping the trend continues 

and next month is even better, 

though it doesn't seem possible.

Happy 16 months, Cutie-Pie! 

15 months old

Carter, Carter, Carter.  

 

I don’t even know where to begin with 

all the fun things you’re doing this month.

 

You have gone from our baby to your own little person – 

a funny, playful, rambunctious, creative, mostly good-natured, 

but very independent little person.

 

Your personality is becoming quite complex and 

we enjoy getting to learn a little more about you each day.

   

 

There are so many sides to you and so many contradictions.   

I think you are still figuring yourself out right now. 

  

 

Part of you wants to do everything on your own, 

but you also love knowing that you can still be my little baby

 whenever you need to be.  

 

There are so many things that you will no longer let us do for you.  

 

You cannot stand to be spoon or fork-fed, no matter how messy the food.   

You insist on holding your own utensils which makes for some very interesting mealtimes.   

You’re wonderful at getting a big heap of cottage cheese on your spoon and then 

as you put it in your mouth, you flip it upside down and dump most of it in your lap.   

We feed you in nothing but a diaper and I don’t know what we’ll do when the weather gets colder…

 

You also hate to have your diaper changed.  Except when you don’t.   

Sometimes you lie there so patiently and let us change you 

and other times it’s like wrestling a crocodile!  

 

Most days I can barely catch you and when I do, you are squirming to get down and go play.   

Other days you want to be touching me the entire day.

 

Sometimes I want to read to you, but you’d rather go read by yourself.   

Other times I am trying to get something done and you insist that I come into the play room 

so you can bring me a book and climb into my lap to read together.

 

Your favorite book lately is the one about the monkeys jumping on the bed.   

You hand me the book and before I can even open it, you are frantically bouncing up and down.    

(You know, just in case I don’t know what book it is.)   

I begin the story, “Five little monkeys jumping on the bed,” and 

you start tapping the top of your head before I can even say, 

“One fell off and bumped his head.”   

Then you point to the picture of the monkey with a bump on his head, look at me, 

grab your own head and say “Oww!  Oww!  Oww!” just like I used to say to YOU!   

It’s so cool to know you've been paying attention all these months 

and now you are trying to tell ME the stories!

 

 These days you are walking like an old pro.   

Or maybe I should say running like an old pro, since you run as much as you walk now.   

You don’t crawl at all anymore.  You even hold onto the railing and walk up and down the stairs 

between the kitchen and family room.   The first few days you did it, I almost had a heart attack, 

but now you’re an expert!

 

You are also really into spinning in circles.  

You look up at the ceiling and spin around 

until you are dizzy enough to fall down.  

We don't mind it on the carpeting in the play room, 

but you prefer to do it on the tile floor in the kitchen!

 

A nice change this month is that you’ve started asking to go to bed when you’re tired.   

You usually let out a yawn and then come to one of us and say, “Nigh-night?” 

and reach up to be carried upstairs.  The way you say it is so sweet that Daddy and I agree 

that it’s our favorite of all your words right now.

 

You have added “Uh-oh” to your vocabulary and you are 

saying a closer word to “dog” than you were last month.   

You have learned a few new signs, too, like pancake, all-done, bath, no, 

and milk (which is a lot nicer now when we're in public than the way you used to ask to nurse!). 

 

Your favorite thing to learn lately is animal sounds.  You love them.   

If you see an animal and I don’t tell you the sound it makes, 

you will wait and wait and insist that I tell you what it says.   

Usually it’s not a problem, but there are a few that don’t know 

(like a raccoon, a seahorse or a turtle).  

 

 I even looked up what a goat says this week so I could tell you 

and now you are saying “meh-meh-meh” better than me!    

You also say “moo” for a cow, “oink” for a pig, 

a high-pitched “hee-“ for a donkey (can’t get you to do the whole “hee-haw”), 

a low “growl” for a bear, a high “eek-eek” for a mouse, 

and you do a very realistic “quack” for a duck.   

You also make a monkey sound and of course your favorite – 

sniffing like a bunny!

 

Daddy and I talk every single day about how much we love you

 and how lucky we are to have such an amazing little boy in our lives.   

You are an absolute joy, Carter Maxwell.   

Happy 15-month Birthday!