19 Months with Carter

April 28th-May 27th 2014

Late, as usual, but finally getting around to posting on my little guy's 19th month.  I'm kind of getting to the point where I want to stop aging him in months, but there are so many changes every month in what he can say/do/understand that I feel like it is still necessary (at least among other moms who understand!).  

We started the month with a second haircut...except this time we went all out and really had it trimmed up.  The baby curls in the back are now gone...cue a mom tear over here! And in the front where it was hanging into his eyes is now nice and short...except that it has actually grown back since we had it done and he could use another one!!  Thankfully he did so good sitting in the chair by himself.  He did shed a few silent crocodile tears during the process but it was more out of being scared than anything I think.  He officially looks like a big boy now. Here's the before with the sweet baby curls and the after that night with them all gone. 

That weekend we also attended his cousin Brayden's first birthday party and then we went to watch Brent weigh in at a fishing tournament he fishes in each year.  Brent didn't do well, but we thought Carter would like watching all of the big fish being brought in and weighed.  He was only interested in the playset there though...so we ended up spending most of our time watching him climb up the steps for the slide and climb back down.  But when we got home and Brent was ready to clean his fish, Carter had a blast playing in the cooler where the fish were.  He even touched the fish and ended up playing in the nasty fish gut water and there was no stopping him!  We used lots of soap in the bathtub that night!

Then on Memorial Day weekend, we had the annual Wilson family Everita Bass Tournament.  Carter had an absolute blast because it was on a farm with real, life-size TRACTORS!! It was hard to even pull him away from them to watch the teams weigh in their catches, but he did finally get his mind off of them and was in the middle of all of the big fish in no time!  

The next day we went to the lake with my mom and stepdad.  It was a beautiful day and we got to spend most of it out on their pontoon boat.  Carter had fun running around the boat, but he refused to get in the water with his daddy.  It was still really cold in the water, so I think that was what he was so worried about.  He would not take his nap while we were anchored out on the water, but he finally fell back to sleep when we drove around for a bit before heading back to the campground.  We went out for burgers and then came home to have a fire out back to end the day.  Memorial Day was simply spent around the house working on the yard.

At one time this month, my mom (Ninny) and sisters (aunt Claire & Raylee) brought him home his first goldfish.  We lovingly named it "fishie".  Unfortunately, it only made it about a week with us, but Carter really enjoyed it while it was around.  He was constantly wanting to feed it, telling me "fishie bite".  I don't feel too bad about it not making it long since the two my sisters got only made it a few days!

Early in the month, Carter was definitely having some teething issues, although none were actually pushing through.  I guess they were just pushing in further.  He still is at 16 teeth and all that are left are his 2 year molars!  I'm so glad we are through with teething for the most part.

I have been letting him sit on the potty some before/after bathtime and he seems to know what it is for, but he has yet to actually use it.  I know he has control over peeing since he will stand up in the bathtub to pee (and then laughs about it!).  So we just have to work on getting him to tell us that he needs to so we can get him to the potty.  Of course, I know he is too young to completely train, but it's worth trying a bit!

His other favorite bathroom activity is brushing his teeth.  We keep his toothbrush upstairs by the bathtub for after bathtime at night, but he has now demanded to brush his teeth in the morning when he sees us brushing ours.  I had been giving him his Daddy's toothbrush, but after one morning when he dipped it in the toilet bowl, we knew we had to get him his own (and teach him not to do that anymore...YUCK!!).  So we all got new toothbrushes and Carter got his own to keep downstairs.  

Thank goodness he is learning to communicate with us much better.  Instead of crying because he ran out of a certain food on his plate, he will point to where it was on his plate so I know what he needs more of.  And he has finally quit crying when I come to clean him up after a meal, instead he will make this silly little cheesy grin face as I am walking up to him.  I love that little face!  The only problem is that he seems to always want to go for one more bite while I am doing it or after I am finished.

His temper, however, is still coming through strong.  There is way more throwing of toys/food/etc. going on than I would like to admit, and he will occasionally try to hit when he doesn't get what he wants, but only when he is really worn out.  Still hoping this is part of his age and not a part of his personality...but I guess if that is the worst part of his personality, we can deal with it. 

Words he picked up this month: apple (plain as day coming out of his mouth!), saying "bye girl" every time we tell him to tell someone bye...whether boy or girl! (not sure where that came from), calling the polka-dotted shower curtain "balls", and so many more...really he will pretty much repeat whatever we ask him to if he is in the mood to do so and he catches on to things so fast!