15 Months with Carter

12/28/13-1/27/14

Carter man turned 15 months old on Monday!  Brent and I were just talking the other night about how wild it is that he is already a quarter of the way to being two...and it feels like we just celebrated his birthday!  It's just going WAY too fast.  

The boy loves his tractors!

Thankfully this month has included a lot more time spent with his Daddy.  There were several days it was just too cold or snowy for Brent to go in, and towards the end of the month, they dropped back to five day work weeks. Only a couple of hours into Carter's first day home alone with his Daddy in nearly 6 months, Carter fell and ended up with his first busted lip.  Thank goodness it didn't freak Brent out too bad and besides that incident they really had several fun days together. 

He's such a happy boy when he's with his Daddy!

Carter man has now perfected walking and is pretty much running around these days.  He loves to climb the stairs (with us close behind of course!) and is pretty much just a monkey in general with the way he is constantly trying to climb.  He has figured out how to pull himself up on the bay window seat and also up onto the chaise lounger in our living room...both of which freak Mommy & Daddy out since he nearly falls off constantly because he pays zero attention to what he is doing.

The first time he got up on the window seat...he was waiting for Daddy to get home.

Another favorite place of his has been the laundry basket!  It doesn't matter if it is full of clothes or empty, he loves to climb in and out of it or play peekaboo with whatever is inside.  His favorite is when I put him inside and carry it from the laundry room to the living room to fold the clothes.  

He is straight up amazing us everyday with the things he catches on to.  He has learned exactly what pretty much every toy he has does and what you are supposed to do with it.  Play phones go up to his ear and his golf club is for hitting the ball and the utensils from his kitchen are for giving out "bites" and his instrument set is for making music.  It's something new everyday and we love to see him learn new things.  

Clearly not using the drum right here...but so, so funny! :)

Little man still loves to be on the go.  He is always bringing me his shoes so we can go "bye bye".  We got a preview of some spring weather over the weekend so we spent some time outside and I thought we would never get him back inside!  He threw a major toddler temper tantrum that we had never seen before when we made him come back in.  I have a feeling that our entire spring/summer will be exactly like this and while I'm looking forward to the playing outside part, the coming in part is going to be challenging!

A family Ranger ride on a "warm" January day!

He is really starting to test us when we say no...a LOT!  He has started getting lots of "spankings" (like a baby version if you know what I mean!) because he just can't seem to take no for an answer.  I'm really hoping this is just a phase and not going to be his personality because, oh my goodness, it is wearing us out and he isn't even close to being a teenager yet!

Carter is very very into his routine.  I've found he goes down for his nap with much less fight and much faster if I can get him down in anticipation of him getting tired.  If I wait until he is already completely worn out, he will fight and fight and it can take him over an hour just to go to sleep!  And if I try to skip out on giving him a bath some nights, he just won't have it!  He will go stand at the bottom of the stairs at the gate and say "ba" over and over until I just give up and go give him one!  

He LOVES his bathtime!

He is still not into watching TV most of the time.  He does sometimes watch more when we are somewhere that the TV is down more on his level, but ours is over the fireplace so he doesn't really pay it any attention.  I have pulled up some videos on YouTube of puppies and he will sit and watch those with me as long as I will let him!  The kid loves him some "dog dogs"!

Speaking of dogs, we let our dog Bella in the house during the first "polar vortex" thing that came through our area and brought our temperatures down well below zero for a couple of days.  At first, they were a little leery of one another, but within a few hours they were the best of buddies!  I almost was convinced to let her stay inside because I never had to clean up the floor after Carter ate a meal with her around, but then I noticed how much she had shed and all of the hair coating our floors and I quickly came to my senses!

Checking out "Bell Bell"

This month has been a rough one for my little guy's gums!  He is now up to at least 10 teeth, 4 across both the top and bottom, and two molars on top fully in.  The bottom ones are still working their way in though, you can see them, but they still have a bit further to fully push through.  We had several nights when he woke up hurting, but really for the most part he has been really good with it considering how painful it looks to be.  

He has also battled a cough/cold most of the month.  The weather has been a rollercoaster, so that is not at all surprising!  Somehow, we made it through the month without an ear infection though, so that is a win for us.

Eating-wise, he is doing great.  He doesn't miss a meal, and rarely turns down what we are trying to feed him!  I love that he pretty much eats what we eat....it makes for much easier meal times.  Going out to eat is suddenly enjoyable again!  Carter loves being out and about and people watching, so going out for our meals is actually easier than being at home these days.  I just take along some sort of snack to keep him occupied before the meal (especially when we eat Mexican and have chips/salsa beforehand...he's not a fan!), plenty of juice, and a sticky disposable placemat for him and we are set! 

He takes after me...french fries are his favorite!

Carter is up to size 4 diapers around the clock now.  We did start putting him in his 18 month clothes, but he still fits just fine in most of his 12 month stuff too.  I need to get a good measurement on his height and weight!

We love our little man so much and every month just gets better it seems!  We would love to just push pause right in these moments, but then we would miss what next month brings, so onward we go I guess.