15 months

Carter has fully made the leap from infancy to toddlerhood. He is growing every single day. I swear there are days he has grown during naptime! I thought it would be fun to give you all a little Carter update.

Age:15 months
Weight: 27 pounds
Height: not sure...but he pretty much towers over all of the other babes in Gymboree...I'll have to bust out the measuring tape
Clothing size: 24 months/2T
Shoe size: Pretty much a size 6 right now. The top of his little baby feet are SO fat. Poor kid. Length wise he's probably only a size 4, but there is no way I can squeeze his feetsies into a size 4!
Diaper size: 4, but the next value box we buy will be a size 5.
Favorite toys: He still loves, loves, loves his balls. Every morning he wakes up asking for his balls. He could technically play all day, very happily with just his balls. But Mommy wants him to have a wide variety of interests! He also loves to play with his musical instruments...his guitars (Nana and Papa got him a string guitar and Mommy and Daddy got him an electric one...okay, both are battery operated! Haha. They are made to look like those anyways) ;) He also loves his drum set and musical shakers. He is also really into cars, trucks or anything with wheels. He makes the "vroom vroom" sound and drives them all over the house, our sofas, coffee table, over Daddy. Haha. Books are a big part of his day. He is starting to ask me what things are in the books. He says "wthat" which means "what's that?". It warms my heart! He will ask me what things are all day and I just love feeding his curious mind. It has been my favorite part of this age. His curiousity and the look of wonder in his eyes as he explores and discovers new things.
New words: "wthat" (as I just talked about), "nigh, nigh" (when he's sleepy at night, he will say "nigh, nigh" over and over and go to the staircase. It is so cute. We then let him crawl up the stairs to his room to go to bed, the highlight of his day lately!), "bub" for bubbles, "mah" for more, "bay" for baby "boo" for book....and for the longest, longest time he would only say Mama when he was tired or hungry or needed something. Now he will look me in the eyes when we are cuddling and say "Mama" and giggle. It is by far the highlight of my day. :)
Favorite place to go: Hands down playing outside. He loves run freely, picking up flowers or leaves or grass or whatever. He likes to splash in the water in his water table or kick and throw balls around at the park. He just loves being outside with the sun on his face. He reminds me of our dog Brooklyn when she sunbathes, happy as a clam. When Carter is outside, he will look up to the sky, close his eyes and bask in the sun. It is so funny and heartwarming.
New adventures: We recently signed up at Gymboree, which as been a really rewarding experience for Carter. He is building his confidence climbing and trying new things. He is no longer scared of the parachute rides and can climb up the highest climbers with almost no assistance. We are still working on group time. He is so excited to play with all of their toys and use their climbing equipment, that settling down for music and movement is not always easy, but that's why I signed him up. It's good for him to have that structure and socialization time, because he doesn't go to a child care center during the week and has a pretty limited amount with other kiddos his age.
Favorite food: Carter has been really asserting his independence with food now. He is learning that he does not have to eat everything I give him. Oh, the life of a toddler and their autonomy stage. He is starting to veto vegetables and meat. He still loves most fruits though and I've managed to sneak in veggies through these really awesome squeezable packs of pureed veggies and fruit mixtures. He has no clue they're vegetables...ahhh, I'm so tricky! ;) His favorite foods right now are spaghetti, chicken nuggets with ketchup and yogurt.
Carter is certainly a toddler now. He throws mini tantrums when he doesn't get his way, he runs from me when I tell him it's time to get dressed, he doesn't like to share and he has a mischevious grin that my Mom thinks is so adorable and I know means trouble! My little nickname for him is Dennis the Mennace...which is even more fitting when I dress him in his Osh Kosh overalls!
I feel very lucky these days. Carter is growing up to be such a sweet, good natured, silly, funny little boy. He has quite a sense of humor already and will do things intentionally to make us laugh. He still likes to cuddle and checks back in with me during the day for cuddles. He still drinks his milk (but in a sippy cup now) in my lap, just like he did when he drank from a bottle. Anytime he wants a drink, he likes to sit in my lap and have that cuddle time with me. I relish every moment of it. That is usually a good time to thank the Lord for this sweet, sweet boy. I have done my very best to enjoy every moment. It is going by so fast, sometimes too fast, but none the less, so thankful he is a healthy and happy 15 month old baby boy!