18 months

It seems like Carter has really gone through a burst of development lately, and is really at a fun age right now. When he's happy, which, unfortunately, isn't often enough. But let's focus on the positive here. He's a fun, adorable little boy (who hates nursery).

He has finally started talking and communicating much better. For recording purposes: he says mama, daddy, day-day (Damon), allie, bubba (his term for McKay) (no Kyla unfortunately for her), hi, bye-bye, cheese, poopoo, all done, drink, ball, yeah, uh-uh, uh-oh, shoe, night-night, bath, eyes, soft, hot, hat, teeth

He insists on feeding himself, which is always EXTREMELY messy. Most of the time, though, I let him because I just have too many other people to take care of.



He still LOVES food and will eat just about anything I serve him. He's not crazy about raw vegetables and will usually refuse those, but he is not picky about meals at all. Recently we have found that he loves cherry tomatoes. Good thing we have a plant growing in our garden with dozens of them. That might keep him entertained for a few minutes. One day he was snacking on a lemon, rind and all, and he gave me this smile when I asked for a picture.

Like Damon at this age, Carter loves balls of any type. He has spent a considerable amount of time finding a ball, climbing the stairs to the top, and dropping it over the railing below. He also loves baby dolls, so that's a good balance. He loves animals, especially dogs, and gets so excited to see them. He about lost his mind watching the monkeys at the zoo last week. It was worth enduring the smells to see him so excited.

He needs a lot of sleep (probably because he's such a whiny child). He would take two naps (two hours each) most days if I wanted. He only gets his "night-night" (frog and binky) when he's in bed, so he still doesn't really fight me about going to sleep.

In order of preference in our family, I would say he likes 1. me 2. Jeff 3. McKay 4. Damon 5. Allie and a very distant 6. Kyla. He doesn't like her to push the stroller, sit on the couch by us or interfere with his time with me in any way. He loves his bubba and is constantly kissing him and reminding himself to be "soft" with him.

He is learning to run and it's my favorite thing ever. He swings his right arm only as his little feet slap the floor. He also loves to climb on the coffee table and "jump" to the couch. One day he forgot where he was and jumped from the step stool onto the kitchen floor. Ouch. I don't think he'll do that again!

He likes books but still has a very short attention span. He recently started noticing the tv, which is more than he ever had before, but has yet to watch more than 30 seconds continuously. Except for that one time we were watching Wipeout and he was getting sad for the contestants who kept falling. His eyes were glued to the screen and we couldn't stop laughing.

He likes going for rides in the car and will only fall asleep in the car when he's really tired. He LOVES being outside and is constantly getting balls out of the garage and "jumping" on the trampoline. He also loves getting dirty, but he hates the bath/shower/swimming pool. I think it stems from a bad experience with spray sunblock (and his least favorite person, Kyla), and we had to flush his eyes with water. After that, he wouldn't go near the water of his own accord for weeks. It's starting to get better, and he even sat in the shallow end of Chris' pool by himself the last time we were there.

He's incredibly sweet and loving and I can't get enough of his hugs and kisses. I'm really just in love with him right now and wish that he were his happy, adorable self a little more often.

This picture just made me laugh.