Carter'sblog: May 2010

My mom's zoo membership was about to expire, so we decided to take one last trip to the Dallas Zoo . Now, I am not always impressed with the Dallas Zoo. I have always felt sorry for the giraffes, elephants and lions as they were in very basic cement cages. Thankfully the Dallas Zoo decided to spend 30 million dollars and create a new environment for there awesome creatures, and it was neat!

The highlight of the trip for me was getting the feed and pet the giraffes, so cool!!! For $5 you could buy 5 pieces of lettuce (rip off!) to feed them. Expensive, but such a neat Carter was a little but fed them with my mom's help. I didn't get a picture of him feeding them, but got the video of it.

So cool!

Carter watching the elephants in their new Savanna.

We ate lunch at this new resturant where you basically dine with the lions!

Ostriches are so creepy!

Colt and Carter riding an elephant.

Ready for a safari!

They had all kinds of cool people walking around.

I bought Carter this squirt bottle/fan and he and Colt had so much fun with it. It was hot outside!

African drummers. They played cool beats!

Colt and Carter

Dallas skyline on the monorail Carter was scared that it was going to go too fast..my mom traumatized him at Six Flags the other day!

I remember taking a pictures like this a few years ago and Carter was sitting by the little one and and he was so small!

Watching the penguins swim!

Carter had so much fun climbing on this rope spiderweb. He loves to climb!

Whoops!

Having so much fun!

We couldn't leave without a ride! He wanted to ride on the dinosaur, but little girl got it before he could get to it. He talked about being mad about that the rest of the day!

I have been SUCH a bad blogger! I have been so busy, I haven't even had time to sit down and do it. I still want to post pictures of his party amongst so many other things, but for now, I wanted to get these thought about who Carter is right now after just turning 3 before I forget! This is very wordy without any pictures, but it's more for my memory than anything else, so here is Carter at newly 3 years 101:

*Carter is very independent. He likes to at least try to do everything by himself. He dresses himself (he sometimes needs help with his shirt) and you will often times find him with his shoes on the wrong feet. H e loves that he has a shelf in the fridge so he can get his own water when he needs it and wherever we go, he loves to open the door for me. The other day we were at Chickfila and Carter needed some ranch. I got up to get it and he said, “No Mommy, you stay here, I get it.” He started walking to the counter and I started to follow him and he said, “Mommy, you stay there, I get it.” He proceeded to march up to the counter and wait patiently for his turn. When it was his turn the girl said, “How can I help you?” and with all the confidence in the world, he said, “I need some ranch.” He came back to the table so proud of himself.
*Carter loves animals. He is just so naturally attracted to them. After watching Beauty and the Beast, he had the idea that if he held his hands out, the birds would land on them (do know the scene I’m talking about?). He still will just stand there with his arms out waiting for them. Whenever he sees a dog (or cat) he wants to pet it. He talks so sweetly to them. He is always telling Wrigley and Fenway that they are sweet girls. He pets them all the time and kisses them on the head. I love that he loves animals so much.
*As much as he loves animals, he HATES bugs. He is so scared of them it is funny! He freaks out if one lands of him. He is also grossed out by snakes. He shudders when he see them and says, “that gross.”
*Carter hates brushing his teeth! I got him a cool Spiderman toothbrush that I though might want to brush them nore, but it is still a battle twice a day!
*Carter loves to sing. I will often times find him singing songs to himself when he is playing. He sings real and made up songs. His made up songs are my favorite. He will just describe what he is doing in a sing song voice. I got a CD at the library that he loves. It has a bunch of “traditional” songs on it, but they kinda added some new parts to them. He loves their version of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” There is also this song about an elephant that he loves. He gets really serious when he sings and does his lips soooooo cute! Sometimes when I try to sing along with him, he will tell me I can’t sing because it’s his song. He also still loves Taylor Swift. The other day in the car he was passed out asleep and then “his song” (You belong to me) came on and he popped his head up and started singing. His song is “You belong to me” and he says my song is “Fairy Tale.”
*Right along with singing, Carter loves to dance! He really gets into it. He moves his whole body. On his Spiderman bike there is a little music player. He loves to find this one particular song and dance to it.
* Carter is still a pretty picky eater. A few of his favorites are pizza, V-8 Fusion Juice, apples, Chickfila (he will eat a whole 6 count kids meal), strawberries, peanut butter, yogurt, cereal with milk (Cheerios with Oat clusters), handi snacks and just about anything sweet, especially ice cream!
* His new favorite saying is “Remember when?” He will refer to things that happened months ago. One of his favorites is “Remember when I fell backwards in the chair and my head?”
*Games are a big thing right now! Carter loves to play Chutes and ladders and Hungry, hungry hippo. His FAVORITE game is Hide and Seek. He loves for him and daddy to hide under the covers in our bed and then for me to pretend to lay on the bed and scare me. Then he will want to do it again. That is his version of hide and seek. We also play the traditional version, thought he likes to hide in the same place almost every time and when he is hiding he will say, “You can’t find me.” Ha!
*If Carter wants my attention and doesn't get it he will start calling me Chelsi. Many times in the morning I will heat, "Mommy, Daddy" and then after a few minutes, "Chelsi, Kris"
*Carer has started to have a sense of humor. Lately he will tell me something and then say, "I was just kidding." For example, "I can't do that. Just kidding, I can."
*Carter is so aware of his surroundings! When we are driving home he will notice if I go a different way. He will say, “You turned the wrong way.” He does the same thing to my home diving to/from school. He also surprises me by remembering places we pass that he has only been to once. A few months ago Kris took Carter to the movies at a new theatre and when we pass it (it’s quite a way from our house) he will say, “That’s where we saw the fox movie.” When we pass the YMCA he says, “That’s my basketball class.”
*Carter is like a little parrot. He will repeat everything you say after you say it. He especially does this to Colt and Kris. He starts talking right as they start the sentence and ends just after it, copying their expressions and all. It is so funny.
*I think Carter might grow up to be a stuntman. He loves to climb and jump off of things. It is so funny how he will size up his challenge and figure out if he can do it. He is pretty cautious, but takes some daring moves. He wants to jump off of every curb, bench, whatever he sees. He is really pretty coordinated!
*Well, I knew it would happen sometime and hopefully this will be the only time….Carter cut his hair. He was in my mom’s room after school and got a hold of some kid’s scissors and cut a chunk. The good part is that you really can’t tell, but my mom said there was quite a bit of hair. Hopefully this will be the last time it happens!
* Carter is such a little chatterbox. It seems like he always has something to say. I have concerns about his articulation (no concerns what so ever about his language). He has trouble with sounds that use the back of the tongue such as (k) and the lips such as (f). With that said, I can understand pretty much anything he says and most people can understand just about everything he says. One of my favorite things he does is he says “how” instead of “why.” For instance “How you do that” or if I say, “You can’t go to the park” he will respond “how?”
* Carter is so super confidant with himself. He walks around with his shoulders back, and really thinks he is pretty special (we do too).
*Carter loves his friends! Every day when we drive home he looks down the street to see if the kids are out to play with. He also loves playing with all of my friends’ kids, Carson, Emma, Ella, Colin, Gage, Corbin. He seems to instantly click with kids. He can be too rough, but always is having fun. He also loves to play with all of Colt’s friends. He thinks he is soooo cool when he goes out and plays with Colt and Justin. He is now getting to the stage where he thinks every kid is his friend. Yesterday at Gatti Town a little boy about his age walked by and he told me, “I play with that boy after I eat. He wants to be my friend.”
* I love how Carter’s imagination is really blossoming. He finally has gotten to the point where he will entertain himself, playing with toys and has the cutest little conversations amongst his toys. I just love to watch and listen to him play.
*Carter is still obsessed with sports. He loves golf, football, baseball or his favorite basketball. He is always ready to play. He and Kris are always shooting hoops. He insists on dribbling the ball before he shoots every time. He still has a good arm and really thinks he is a fast runner. He is very persistent and will practice the same shot over and over unitl he gets it. He likes a challenge and will continue to move further from the basket trying to get the best shot. When he makes a basket, he jumps in the air and says “Yes!”.
*Carter has a little (okay, maybe a lot) trouble listening. I often times have to count down time for him to make the right choice. I will start counting 1,2…..and before I can get to 3 he will say, “fine” and do it. It’s like I have a teenager! We are working on saying “yes ma’am” instead of fine. When he does make a bad choice he is quick to say, “I’m sorry, I not do it again.” Sometimes I think he makes the choice to make the bad choice and then just says sorry quickly after.
*Carter is also very bossy. He loves to think he is in charge. My mom had him at the park the other day and he was climbing up the slide and told her, “You stay here, you not big enough to go up here.” He thinks he is so big and that he has things under control.
*Carter still sleeps in his crib with his bunny and his buh (paci). He only gets his buh at sleepy time. So while he seems like such a big boy a lot of the time, there are times he is still my baby. Every night before he goes to bed we sing our 3 songs and he is just so sweet it melts my heart. Soon enough we will say good-bye to the buh and move him to a big bed, but for now, that is where we are.

So that is a little about Carter a 3 years 0 months. He is changing so fast, I had to get my thoughts about him now down, to somehow freeze time, it’s going too quickly and I don’t want to forget!