Big Boy is 20 months

Carson is such a BIG boy!! He is walking, talking, running, into everything... It has all gone by so fast. It seems that he's adding new words all the time. He is learning that the binkie is for ni-ni time only - in fact, I put him in bed this morning to play while I put his clothes away (he wanted to be there). When I got him out of bed, I told him the binkie stays in bed. He took it out of his mouth and threw it in the crib. WOW!!

Carson says lots of words: mama, dada, Lily, pugkah (Potter), nano (Tanner), papa, mine, no, nee (neigh for horse), ooh ooh aah aah (for monkey), tank oo (thank you), more (with the sign), eeee (eat), juice (with the sign), mik (milk), duh (Linda, I think), beep (with a sign for me to sing Wheels on the Bus), row (with a sign for Row, Row, Row your boat), money (he loves to take the change out of my wallet and play with the credit cards - scary!), peas (please, with the sign), byie (bike), wah (walk), waher (water), baby (which he says plain as day and is his name for Savannah - don't know if he realizes she has a name), Tigguh (Tigger - love it!) along with many more and the signs for spider (itsy, bitsy spider), jesus (Jesus Loves Me) -- seems like we are adding a new word all the time!

He loves to dance whenever he hears music, which just cracks me up. The beat starts on the TV or radio, and the little booty starts bouncing and shaking.

Carson is now into opening and shutting the microwave door and putting his juice inside then taking it out. Oh, gracious. One of our next major purchases will be a microwave over the stove. I don't really care for those, but I don't want my little man playing in the microwave anymore. Not a good toy.

He also has a fascination with our digital picture frame. He will stand there watching it for a long time pointing out mama, dada, nano, pucott (Uncle Scott) in the photos and gets excited for each new one. He calls himself 'baby' as well, but he does answer to Carson, so he recognizes himself in the pictures. I guess baby is easier to say. The funny part, too, is that he will make faces at his reflection in the mirror (quite hilarious, especially when he laughs at the other baby) then stop to look for the other baby behind the armoire door.

Carson is learning to push buttons to see how much he can get away with. Some days the boy pushes me past my breaking point. Good thing he's cute and I love him. :)

**He was wearing one of Tanner's old shirts to bed and loved it! It fit kind of like a robe and it was big enough to make it easy to get on and off by himself. WOW!



**We are working on brushing our teeth. He has his own toothbrush with Tigger on it, and sometimes he really likes brushing and getting toothpaste and other times he's not such a fan.

De-pooping

Carson and I decided to help Daddy de-poop the yard while he and Lily took a nap before having to mow. Carson carried around the scoop and the bag and got mad whenever I took it to actually clean up a mess. It wasn't so bad and actually kept him busy, until he decided he wanted to stick his hand into the bag. GROSS!! Needless to say, we were done pretty quickly and scrubbed our hands for a looong time when we got done. And to think that he points at the scoop hanging in the garage and wants to play with it... NO WAY!

Tanner's soccer camp

Tanner had the opportunity to participate in the Rush Festival this past week/weekend. Rush teams from all across the country, including Hawaii, came in to play and attend classes. The boys and girls played games in the morning, then had lunch, followed by classroom sessions and practice. Camp started at 8 am and ended at 4:30. What a long day! Tanner had a blast and really enjoyed going. He learned a lot but got frustrated with how good the other teams were that they were playing against. We were very proud of Tanner and how well he played. He did really well about being on time and having everything he needed, until the last day which ended up being a fluke mistake. **He couldn't find his jersey, which ended up being in a side pocket of his bag beneath his notebook. No wonder he couldn't find it. :)** The parents were invited to watch the kiddos play their games, so we went out on Sat and Sun mornings to watch Tanner, which is something Cj and I love to do.
overlooking the fields to the trees
watching "nano" play

Tanner is the one in the grey jersey with his left arm in the air in the middle of the photo
bribing Carson with Starbursts

Home with Mommy

Carson and I were home together on Wednesday since Daddy and I went to the Poison/Def Leppard concert on Tuesday night. I was missing my baby, so I thought I would stay home and enjoy the day. We had lots of running around to do - Lily to the doctor in the morning, followed by playtime, then doctor for Mommy in the afternoon. Even though we had to wait a LONG time at both doctor's offices, Carson was all smiles. :)


Carson was a BIG help - he mowed the mulch, the sidewalk, and the drain pipe. Wow! He even knows how and where to "park" his mower. He doesn't always do it when you ask, and typically not the first 4 times you tell him. Selective listening already?


We're getting ready to go on a walk with a VERY tired boy. He wanted to go a long way, and Lily got tired, so I put her in the basket of the stroller beneath the seat. She did pretty good about riding, but had to jump out and get Potter a couple of times. It was so funny! Of course, Carson wouldn't nap at all during the afternoon walk, so he crashed after my doctor's appointment and I let him sleep until about 6:45. Any later than that and I knew he wouldn't go to bed that night.


Days like this make me want to stay home and play!!

Sleeping in his own bed

This week has been a challenge, sort of. We decided it was finally time for Carson to put himself to sleep and sleep in his own bed. So, bedtime came on Monday, and Carson ended up staying with me since Cj was going to sleep on the couch to help his shoulder. Tuesday night came round 1. Carson fell asleep on the walk, which was great, but he woke up as soon as we got home. Dang it! Cj snuggled him for a few minutes, then I snuggled for a few minutes. When I put him down to sleep, he got upset for about a minute. I thought, I can do this! Then it started. Cj went to check on Carson about an hour later and the stinker woke up screaming. I went upstairs to see the commotion and had Cj leave with me and we agreed that we couldn't go in there because he would wake up. About 2 am (after being up every 1-1.5 hours screaming for 5-10 minutes), Cj suggested I check on Carson (who was screaming at the time) and maybe change his diaper. I vetoed the diaper idea since we didn't to that when he was in our bed, but I wanted to make sure Carson has his binkie and his blankie. He had both. He stood up, and I just laid him back down both times. (I was very proud of myself.) I rubbed his back for about 10 minutes, but he still wasn't asleep. That's when I chose to leave the room. He cried for about a minute then went back to sleep. The garage door woke him up when I left Wed morning, so Cj decided it was late enough and brought him to our bed.

On Wed night, Carson cried for a minute then slept thru the night. He was in our bed Thurs morning when I got back from the gym, but Cj said he had just gotten there. The garage door woke Carson up, but Cj let Carson cry himself back to sleep.

Last night, Carson slept thru the walk, then woke up a little bit as he was being transported from the stroller to his bed. As I put him down, it looked like his eyes were open just a little bit. He didn't make a peep and slept thru the night again. I did have to go up once to put his binkie back in, and he was back out instantly.

Needless to say, I think Carson is getting a much better night's sleep in his own bed. I cannot say the same for me. Unfortunately, I am used to him being there, and I am half awake waiting to hear him cry at night, even though I'm not going in there to rescue him. I know it is better for all involved and it's nice to have my bed back, sort of, if you don't count Potter and Lily...

Grammy's birthday

The family headed over to Grammy and Grampy's for a cookout to celebrate Grammy's birthday. We were also very excited to meet baby Benjamin! Grammy was excited to look out the door and see Carson coming up the stairs with flowers - it was so precious that we had to get a photo.

Carson has taken to sitting in "his" rocking chair. We haven't bothered to tell him that Mommy and Uncle Scott used to sit in that chair too.

Aunt Mary has perfected the art of holding Benjamin while doing squats to bounce him up and down. Uncle Scott does arm lifts with Benjamin to calm him down.


We tried to have Carson hold Benjamin, and he wasn't too sure about this baby. Then, Benjamin decided to punch Carson. Cracked me up.


And, of course, we had to get a picture of Grammy and Grampy with their two grandsons. Aww...

Playing outside

Carson LOVES to play outside. He doesn't understand why he can't go out if it's cold, dark, or rainy. It can make for a VERY long day when we have to stay inside. When we get home from Linda's, he runs off to get his lawnmower or sidewalk chalk so we can stay out and play. These photos are from my mini-vacay when Cj had his shoulder surgery. I bought the chalk that week in hopes that Carson and I could play with it while I was home. He loved it! He grabs it by the box handle and looks like a little man with a briefcase when he carries the chalk out. It is so cute!
playing with chalk
Carson and his pretty coloring

This lawnmower was an accidental purchase. I bought it when we were supposed to be getting a play kitchen. Carson saw the mower and wouldn't let it go, so we got that instead of the kitchen. Oh, well. My driveway and sidewalk sure look nice!!
mowing the grass instead of the sidewalk
fixing the mower
trying to make it a riding mower-- in fact, Carson does like to sit on the mower and have me push him on it. He gets the biggest giggles out of it. The other nice part is that gets him where I want him to go a lot quicker.

Carly's wedding

Carly and Dan - the happy couple
the wedding party

We headed up to the lake for Carly's wedding and reception. It was well worth the trip!! I was told to "start yelling at people" as soon as we walked in the door. :) Good to know I'm needed! The boys had a great time, but it was harder than usual since they had to watch the wedding and not just run around and/or go swimming. It was good to see my grandparents, and Tanner and Carson enjoyed visiting with Mimi and Pappaw, too. Carly made a beautiful bride, and I'm so happy to have Dan as part of our family. He got a great wife and even better in-laws. :)
Here's a link to her photos: www.abbottstudio.com
Carson and me

One of my fave photos!!

Grammy and me

Mimi and Pappaw
Just Married... Again on the gettaway boat
My two boys
Carly and me
Carson helping Grammy drive the golf cart

Playdate at Avery's

Since I had the day off due to no daycare, so Carson and I headed over to Avery's house to meet up with her and Molly. Way too much fun! The girls included Carson right away, even though he played by himself for a while. He was really excited to jump on Avery's bed with the girls and now likes to jump in his own bed at home! Playing at Avery's was a lot of fun, then we all headed to Jason's Deli for lunch. All of the kids had "cheese" (grilled cheese) and fruit for lunch. The girls had good moms that cut up their strawberries, while I gave Carson a whole one. He's good about taking bites and not eating the green part, so I didn't worry too much about it. Naptime should great that afternoon, since Carson fell asleep on the way too lunch then on the way home. However, when I woke him up taking him out of the car, he didn't want to go back to sleep. Ugh! I really needed that rest time!
Carson playing with the piggy bank. The kids loves money already!
Carson, Avery, and Molly jumping on Avery's bed.
I love this picture of Avery with the flower headband.