"That makes you happy?"

It's been WAY too long since I did one of these, so I'm going to pack this one full of pictures and videos. This boy is the cutest of cutes, so I figure it can't be bad to show more of him.

• Favorite Carterisms:
• "Don' talk a me!"
• "That makes me cry!" (when we tell him no, usually)
• "I'm happy again!" (once he's calmed down after crying)
• "That makes you happy?" (he always wants asks this when something he does makes me smile... he likes to make people happy)
• "You woke me up!" (said indignantly when I open his door to get him out of the car)
• "I do love ___________!" (usually said about a food when we offer it to him)
• "It's not okay!" (when someone tells him it's okay)
• "That was too much fun" (when he didn't like something that was supposed to be fun)
• "That makes me tired!" (when does doesn't want to do something or doesn't like something)
• "Frozone waffles" for "frozen waffles"
• "Beautifuls" for "videos"

• He's unbelievably sweet at bedtime (except when we brush his teeth... ugh). We do pajamas, teeth, and two books, and then he has me count to three, at which point he runs as fast as he can to turn off the light. Then he remarks on how fast he was. Onec the light is off, he and I snuggle in his bed and sing songs. He often sings along, which just slays me. SO CUTE. Sometimes he says, "Stay with me, Mommy?" and leans his head against mine, and with serious effort I tell him I can only stay for a minute. Sometimes, however, he says, "You can go. Go, go," while elbowing me out of his bed. It's hilarious.
• He loves The Beatles (woo!), and he's very good at learning song lyrics. I love to catch him singing along in the back seat.

• He still loves Moana and The Incredibles 2, but his major obsession is the show "Little Baby Bum." He always wants to watch it if we offer screen time. And he sings along with all the songs and sometimes sings them to himself when he's playing. It's so sweet!
• A friend told me that during nursery one day, when they were sitting down at the table to have snack, a friend wouldn't come and join everyone. Carter apparently said, "Come here!" and then "Wan me carry you?" He's apparently a very good boy in nursery, and everyone loves him. I'm biased, but I can see why. :)
• Speaking of nursery, when we ask him every Sunday what he learned about, he says, "Uhh, I learned about snacks." Hahaha. Then when we ask for more, he says, "I learned about Jesus." Hey, it's something!
• He likes to play dress-up with Aubrey, and he always says, "I'm fancy!" when he does. We've got some good show-the-girlfriend photos of him now...

• For awhile there, he just would not keep his pants on. He still rocks the diaper look occasionally, but it's not as often as it was.
• He's afraid of using the big toilet, so we're going to have to use the training toilet for him, I think. And the plan is to potty train him in the next couple of months, so we'll see how that goes. When he takes a bath, he likes to sit on the edge of the tub and pretend to use the bathroom. He says, "I'm going potty!" So yeah, soon.
• When we read the scriptures together, he just repeats words he hears like a question. So he'll say, "God?" "World?" "Son?" It's super adorable.
• He loves hiding in the kitchen cupboards. He also loves playing a game where he hides and then I pretend to look for him. When I "can't" find him, he says, "Be sad," and then I'm supposed to pretend cry until he shows himself.

• He has started to want Aubrey when he gets sad (usually if one of us makes him sad by saying no to something or taking something away). He says, "I want Aubrey make me feel better!" while crying. It's pretty cute.
• He pretends to play hockey using a plastic miniature golf club and whatever relatively small object is in reach. He's got good taste!
• He likes to kick things and people. It's impossible to get him to stop kicking once he's started, unless you sit on his legs while he yells. It's infuriating.
• He loves music and can often be heard singing something. I LOVE hearing his sweet voice. He often gets embarrassed when he realizes we're listening to him sing, which just adds to the cuteness.

• We took him sledding for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and he loved going down the hill the first time with Daniel until he got a faceful of snow. After that he wanted nothing to do with it. He said, "That was too much fun." It's sad, too, because he was apparently belly laughing and having a great time at first. So we let him have a break for awhile, and then we tried pushing him down again by himself. That started out okay, but he quickly realized he was not okay with it all, and he turned around on the sled so that he was sliding on his stomach, and he reached both hands above him in an attempt to hold onto the snow and make himself stop. Best of all, he kept shouting, "Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" the whole way down. It was hilarious and cute and sad, and I wish I'd been filming him. *Sigh*
• He's becoming more and more interested in pretend play, and it's so fun to watch him turn anything and everything into a favorite character or anthropomorphize them in other ways. His little conversations with himself are too cute.

• We moved him into a big boy bed a month or two ago (with great success, I might add), and he now loves playing with his toys under the bed. He also likes to hide under there when it's time for diaper changes.
• He has started to say, "We're thankful for Mommy to feel sick and tired" in his prayers. It's hilarious.
• One time I asked him to five me a "magic kiss" to help me get up and go do something, and now he loves to give me a "magic kiss" when I leave his room at bedtime. He kisses my cheek, and I jump out of the bed like it was so powerful I couldn't help it. He loves it.
• He is still obsessed with water, and anywhere we go water is the main attraction.
• He's also still very snuggly and affectionate, and I hope that never changes. It's my absolute favorite.

• He has a deep, husky laugh that is the best sound in the world.
• He's like his mommy, sadly, and is ridiculously clumsy. He falls down, runs into things, and just generally hurts himself ALL THE TIME. Poor kid.
• He gets mad if I sing or dance along to his and Aubrey's music. He very rudely tells me to stop when I do either one.
• Whenever we make or prepare any kind of food, he insists on dragging over a chair and helping us. The boy does love food! 

• Speaking of food, when he wants fruit snacks and we forget to lock the pantry, he'll grab a bag, put it behind his back, and come up to one of us with a big grin on his face before unveiling the snacks with an expectant flourish.
• He often pretends to be a cat, crawling around on all fours and meowing. It's probably his favorite game... as long as Aubrey doesn't pretend to be a cat, too. When that happens, you'd better watch out. Haha.
• He still says, "I missed you!" when I go somewhere without him and then come back. I love it.
• You can often find him leaning back with one or both hands behind his head, as if he's just kickin' back. As my mom said, it reminds me of my Grandpa, who liked that position as well.

• He likes to play ice cream shop, and he'll randomly come up and ask, "What flavor do you want?" That's how you know the game has begun.
• When one of us is sitting on the couch with our feet up on the coffee table, Carter asks us to "open the door" so he can get by. When we drop out legs down, he is satisfied and walks through.
• He used to do this super cute thing where he'd pretend his hands were butterflies. I'm glad I got this video. It was so cute.