Tiny toes

~I can only imagine where these tiny little feet will go in a lifetime...My only hope is that they never forget their way home~ Unknown



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!

Best Friends

Yesterday we went to Zoomars Petting Zoo in San Juan Capistrano with my dear friend Amanda and her two adorable little girls. We had such a great time! The weather was perfect. Sunny, but not too hot and the kids had such a blast together. Carter LOVES Bella and Abby. He's known them his entire life and just recently seems to recognize them when we get together. He is especially drawn to Bella. Bella is 2 years old and is Amanda's first born daughter. When Amanda was pregnant with Bella, we were both so excited for this baby. We couldn't wait to meet Bella! Both of Amanda's girls are the two of the happiest kids I know. Always upbeat and all smiles. Bella has such an expansive vocabulary for her age and I think Carter really enjoys having "conversations" with her. She is always very gentle and understanding with him because she has a little sister at home the same age. Carter, Bella and Abby will certainly grow up to be best friends. It warms our hearts to watch them all play together. Here are a few pictures from our day at Zoomars.

Carter giving Bella a hug :)

Getting some hand sanitzer together after petting the bunnies and guinea pigs

Checking out the pig together

Checking out the donkey and the goats

So handsome!



Carter taking Bella for a spin in the jeep!



Carter is SO excited to ride on the train by himself!

They had so much fun on the train!

An attempted group shot...the train conductor scared Abby {hence the tears} and Bella got cut out of the picture! So typical when you try to take a picture of 3 kids after a long day at the zoo :)

I would HIGHLY recommend Zoomars for little ones. It is the perfect size and everything is hands on. You can literally pet and feed all of the animals there. Once, Carter gets a little older, I think he will really love the bunny and guinea pig area. He wasn't quite old enough to understand "gentle", so we moved on to the bigger animals. There is also a small park for the kids to play and benches for us Mamas to chat and catch up. It was a great day and I can't wait to go back!

Baby's Day Out

We usually spend Sunday afternoons at my parent's house {Nana and Papa's}, but they just got back from Hawaii {lucky ducks!}, so we are going to let them rest and visit them tomorrow. So that left us free without plans. It was far too gorgeous of a day to let it go, so I packed up Carter and we headed out for lunch and water play.
Our first stop was lunch at Johnny Rockets. I had a coupon for a free kid's meal...so EVEN better!


Yummy yogurt!

Our next stop was Barnes N' Noble's. My incredibly sweet husband gave me a gift card on my last day of the school year, so I decided to go and take a peek. It's too bad I've become so addicted to my Nook. I even stopped and asked how I could use my gift card to buy books on my Nook...when did buying the real deal become such a thing of the past for me?! I forced myself to look through the REAL books {especially all of the fun summer reads so perfectly laid out on the tables} and decided that even though my Nook is convenient, easy to read and instantly gratifying, REAL books just can't be replaced. I love the smell of new books. I love books period and I hope if I can instill anything learning/teacher/education wise in my son, it is to love to read. Hence, our visit...our BRAVE visit mind you {have you ever let a one year old out of his stroller at a bookstore before?}. Haha. I laugh NOW, but I'm sure I had that nervous, apologetic look on my face, our entire visit, as Carter screamed in pure excitement at the very sight of books. For some people, they're not sure what to think. Some even go as far to reassure Carter it's okay. "No, no", I reassure THEM, "he's just excited." {Those of you that know Carter, know this scream...it's not always the most pleasant sound. He just gets VERY excited and hasn't learned the slightest thing about "inside voices" yet...Mom's fault} ;).

Look at all of these books Mama!

Our next stop was to play in the water fountains. Once the weather turns warm, the Shoppes at Chino Hills has water play for the kids. I strolled by the kids playing in the water a few weeks ago and Carter almost broke out of the stroller, trying to get to the kids. I figured we would give it a go, but I wasn't sure if Carter would love it as much as he thought he would. I mean, often the water shot out from the ground RIGHT when he looking down and he got soaked...but he LOVED it. Every moment of it. He loved it so much in fact, I had to drag him away kicking and screaming. Not my favorite moment, but we had so, so much fun! I plan on taking him back next week when Daddy's off, so he can see him in action!

Water Dude

Our last stop of the day was Panera Bread for my free treat. If you sign up for a Panera rewards card {it's free and we go there every week after Gymboree}, you rack up points and get free stuff like cookies, pastries, smoothies, lattes, etc. I've only had it for about a month and every other week, I have something free on the card. It is awesome! I am obsessed with these shortbread flower cookies with lemon icing. Now, if I want to put on a bathing suit in front of anyone but my husband this summer, I really should NOT be eating these...so Carter was the lucky one today! {But, I did end up nibbling off a petal...YUM. You must try!}

Ahhh, to be a kid again!

It was overall a GREAT day. I sometimes complain and pout about Justin missing the weekend festivities with us, but I am grateful for days like this, when Carter and I can share memories and have our special time together. Happy summer!