16 Months with Carter

January 28th-February 27th

On Thursday our little guy turned 16 months old.  I figured by this point I would be done with monthly posts, but seriously, these days he is changing and learning by the minute and I just don't want to forget any of it!  So bear with me... :)

The beginning of the past month started with the Super Bowl, which means absolutely nothing in the Smith house (thank goodness!).  However, we did switch the TV over to the Puppy Bowl for Carter and he had so much fun watching the sweet little puppies play!  He still wouldn't sit and watch for hours or anything, but it got his attention for a few minutes here and a few more there, and that is about all of the attention anything gets these days with our busy little guy.  Anytime he sees a dog he starts going "arf! arf!" and it melts our hearts every time!  

For Valentine's Day, I made up some cookies to send to Carter's friends at the babysitter's and Carter got a fun little gift from Mommy & Daddy.  We got him a SkipHop hippo backpack to be his new "diaper bag" and a couple of new books since he is so into reading them.  I was trying to give him a little more variety because I get incredibly sick of reading the same ones over and over and over, but of course it made no difference.  He will get stuck on one or two books and we will read them until we have them memorized.

We also got some nice weather for a few days this month, which meant we spent some time outside for a change.  Carter doesn't even have to be doing something outside, he is just happy to be out there!  He loves to just wander around the yard and see what he can find.  One night after work we took a little ride on the Ranger before supper and then I went in to get supper ready while Carter and his Daddy played and did whatever it is guys do out in the garage. It was amazing having the kitchen to myself and not tripping over little feet or toys!  I have a feeling I'm going to really like it when spring and summer come around because they will be outside from sun up to sun down, giving me a much-needed break.  

Playing around after riding the golf cart with Aunt Claire.

Getting Carter to come back inside afterwards, though, is quite the challenge.  He will go limp when you try to pick him up or lock up his legs if you try to get him to walk in the door.  There are usually tears involved.  So I'm not really looking forward to that part!

Airing up the tires with Daddy.

We started going to the chiropractor this month to see if it could help him out with his ear infections.  I'm so happy to say that he has not had one since we started and he has even managed to avoid all of the other sicknesses that have been floating around the babysitter's house.  When we first started going, Carter was definitely a little scared of the chiropractor, but he has really warmed up to him and knows the routine now.  We began going everyday for about a week, then backed off to every other and so forth, but now we are down to once a week.  I imagine we will keep it that way until summer when the runny nose/congestion finally go away.  It's so funny because he knows the last thing he has done is a neck adjustment and as soon as he hears/feels it, he hops up and says "all done, all done, all done".  

One morning on our way over to the babysitter's from the chiropractor, I was starving so I ran through the drive thru for some breakfast.  They are building a gas station next door, so while we waited in line to pay and get my food, he got to watch the construction equipment.  He kept saying "tractor!" and was so excited to see real, moving equipment!  I wish we could have just sit there all day and watched because I know he would have loved that.  I feel myself becoming a "boy mom" thinking stuff like that is super cool more and more everyday!

We also got a chance to go swimming this month.  Our church had a family night at a local athletic club.  We took little man for a swim for the first time in about 6 months.  He still loved the pool like last summer, but he was a little freaked out at first.  The water was heated, but still pretty cool even to us, so I think that plus the fact that there were about a million kids in there screaming and splashing around had him a little apprehensive for a bit.  He warmed up to it in no time though and loved it when his daddy "swam" him around bouncing up and down out of the water.  And he was asleep within seconds of leaving the parking lot afterwards! :)

One of the not so fun moments this month was when we had a tornado warning and some super scary looking clouds going over the house just as Carter and I got home from work and the babysitter's one night.  I swear it looked like those low, dark clouds could just swoop down any second and take our house away!  I'm a total freak-out when it comes to tornadoes, and Brent was not home from work yet, so Carter and I just camped out in the closet under the stairs.  Carter couldn't figure out why his mommy was so tense and just kept bringing me a book to read to him.  Of course I brought a noisy book in there so I was about to go insane when he kept pushing the buttons and making me unable to hear what was going on outside.  My dad came over just as the worst was about to pass, so he was able to kind of keep watch on the news and the sky for me while I just kept Carter still and safe.  I'm so thankful nothing happened!

Some of Carter's favorite things this month: Steps.  Oh my goodness, that child will wear you out going up and down steps!! I know he is just trying to practice and in no time that will be boring stuff, but in the mean time it is exhausting and stressful.  He loves to wave to his Daddy every night when I take him up the stairs for bathtime.  Still a big fan of books, but he is really going through phases where he will sit and read the entire book with you (sometimes several times) and then he will go through another where he barely listens to two words you read and he's done.  Being outside.  Watching Bella through the window.  Spilling his milk/juice from his sippy on purpose (spill-proof, yeah right!).  Entertaining us. He has a new squinty/smiley face he makes when he knows he is being cute that is known to get even more attention and he has been working that face a lot here recently!  Waving and saying "bye bye" every time our neighbors pull up or leave.  Watching the pictures go by on our digital picture frame.  He loves to point out his aunt "Care" (Claire) and "HoHo" (Santa).  Belly buttons!

His favorite foods have been chili (or basically anything with beans), french fries, and Mac n Cheese.  He will still eat most anything, but lately since his gums have been sore due to more teeth he is liking the pouches more than ever.  It is so nice because now I can just hand it over to him and he (for the most part) can do it himself and not make a huge mess.  He is also a big fan of any type of meat from the crock pot since it is so soft.

Clothing-wise, he is basically grown out of anything that is size 12 months, and is in anything from 12-18 months, 18 months, or even 18-24 months.  He retired his first pair of Nike's and is now wearing the pair I bought him back when I was pregnant with him that are size 5's.  He is pretty much obsessed with the new pair and wants to wear them all the time!  I also ordered him a new pair of Tom's when they were on sale on Zulily.  He is still in size 4 diapers and I don't see that changing any time soon.  

Sleep this month has been great.  He is still taking two naps during the day and seems to really need them.  And apparently sleeping with your hood up at nap time is the cool thing to do.

This month has been more challenging than any other because Carter is getting to where he wants to be so independent, but he just can't do everything on his own yet!  He also has a bad temper and will throw some serious fits over the silliest stuff.  He has started banging his head on the floor/couch/chair/anything around when stuff doesn't go his way and it is about to make me insane!  I guess this all just comes with having a toddler, but my goodness I didn't expect it to be so hard just yet.  Thank goodness he has me head over heels for him or I might just send him off to boarding school or something! ;)

Thank goodness he is so cute! :)

Overall, though, we have had a fun month.  Mommy and Daddy cannot wait to have tax season and the shutdown Daddy is working on over because then we will have so much more time as a family to do fun stuff and hopefully the weather will cooperate so we can be outside.  We have lots of fun plans for summer already!