Stitches... Again

So... 2020 has not been a great year for anyone. But poor Mr. Carter has had a particularly rough time of it. As I posted about before, he had to get stitches on February 13th. I was hoping we had checked off the obligatory stitches box and wouldn't have to go through that with him again, but alas...

On May 13th, while I was in the kitchen getting lunch stuff prepped, Aubrey and Carter were spinning in the family room. They were having a lot of fun until--thud! Carter started crying and I instantly knew he had hit the coffee table again. This time it was the corner. And this time it was the other side of his head, just below the eyebrow.

It bled for a bit but then stopped, so we thought he probably didn't need stitches. But Daniel did the chat-with-a-doctor thing on Kaiser's website, and they said he should go in. They said he'd probably only need glue. So Daniel took Carter to urgent care, where they informed him that Carter actually would need stitches. Ughhhh.

So long story short, they tried the numbing stuff, but it didn't work. He kept wincing when they tried to clean it. So they had to do a shot. I wasn't there, so I can't give details, but Daniel said it was awful. Carter screamed the whole time, and Daniel had to hold him down. If we had known Carter was going to need stitches, we would have gone to the pediatric ER again. On the one plus side, he was fine as soon as they were done. At least there's that. And I'm glad I didn't have to be there; I would have been seriously traumatized. I just hope Carter wasn't.

The best thing is that I did get some good snuggles from all of it! 

Anyway, no more stitches please! We have a new ottoman coming to replace the coffee table. So that should help. Oyyyy.

On it!

It hasn't been too long since I did a Carter update, but a number of funny things have been done/said by this cute boy, so I had to get them down on paper screen. (?) Anyway, here are some highlights:

• Funny phrases and misspeaks:
• "On it!" (when we ask him to do something... unless he says "no," which is also common)
• "Lellow" for "yellow"
• "Is it bleeding?" (every time he gets hurt)
• Calls Dash from The Incredibles "Dash-Dash" (like Jack-Jack)
• "Ariels" for "Oreos"'
• When he plays by himself, he loves to hold pretend races. I sneaky filmed him playing the other day with a stick he picked up in a walk in our neighborhood the day before. He named it Sticky, hehe.

• He found a stuffed animal frog that Nana gave to us and named it Froggy McWoggy. And for some reason, he loves putting Froggy McWoggy under his shirt and pretending it's his baby. Then he gives birth to it by pulling it out of his shirt. Kids, right? Weirdos.
• He loves playing the game Uno Attack! His favorite thing is having the cards shoot out at him. I don't think he realizes it's not a good thing. But I love seeing how excited he gets.

• One day we had a super funny conversation that went like this:
  Carter: "Did somebody toot in here?"
  Me: "I don't know. I didn't."
  *I give him a knowing look*
  Carter: "I think it was Clara."
  Me: "She's not in here. She's in her room asleep."
  Carter: "I think she did it and it went through that little hole into here."
  Me: "Through the vent?"
  Carter: "Uh, yeah."
• He is getting so good on his bike! It still has training wheels, but we're planning on taking them off this summer. Here is a video of him on the bike for the first time.

He went from that to this in less than half an hour!

• A couple months after Clara was born, he was telling someone about it (I can't remember who) and said, "This is Clara. She's my baby sister. She was in Mommy's tummy, and then she popped out, and then I could sit on Mommy's lap again!" He said this last part because toward the end of my pregnancy I told him there wasn't room on my lap. I love that he loves sitting on my lap still.
• Sometimes, after he has eaten, he will rub his stomach and say he's full. He's cute.
• He loves to feed Clara and make her laugh. He's such a good big brother!

• Before I had my hernia surgery, he used to insist on playing this game whenever we got home from driving somewhere. We'd pull into the garage, and then he'd instruct me on what to do. He would pretend to be asleep in his car seat, and when I opened the door I would say, "Aww, Carter fell asleep!" Then I would carry him into the house, lay him on the couch, and cover him with a blanket. Then he'd pop up and run around the family room. But after surgery I couldn't carry him, so he switched it so that I would say, "Aww, Carter fell asleep! I guess I'll just unbuckle him and let him him sleep." Then I'd carry Clara inside and leave the door between the garage and house open, with my back to the door as I put my shoes in the cubby. In the meantime, Carter would get out of his car seat and run quietly to the door and giggle until I turned around, acted surprised, and then said, "Oh, he's awake!" Eventually he would "sleepwalk" past me, go up the stairs, and lie down on the couch. Then I would cover him with a blanket while he pretended to keep sleeping. Funny buddy.

• We got a huge container of animal crackers from Costco (I think), and he somehow got obsessed with the squirrels. Every time I poured some into a bowl for him, he would say, "Did you give me any squirrels?" Then he would count how many of them he had. When I got a new container at Sam's Club, there weren't any squirrels, so he became obsessed with the penguins. He said they were all named Orville, after the penguin in one of his favorite books, Penguinaut.
• We finally got around to putting up the wall decals in his room. I had him choose where to put the different elements, and he even put some up himself. He was so happy!

• He has started replacing words in songs with "poop." It's super charming. He learned it from Aubrey. He also likes to change the words to songs by changing each word to start with the same sound. (Example: "By bam ba bild bof bod" instead of "I am a child of God.")
• Speaking of singing, when we play Frozen 2 songs in the car (which is all the time), he insists that only he can sing the boy parts of the songs. He gets really upset if we sing them too.
• In general, he's just very sensitive. If you censure him at all, he gets really upset and lashes out violently. I think he doesn't know how to process/handle someone telling him he did something bad/wrong and then feeling bad about himself.

• When he gets really angry at someone, he will put both hands out in front of him with his fingers curled and make a menacing face. We call it the "Star Wars death hands." It really looks like he's trying to use the force to send lightning through his fingers. It's hilarious.
• Every time he uses the bathroom at home, he comes out with his pants around his ankles and says, "Mommy, come see what I did in the potty!" It's a phrase no one wants to hear. I never know if I'm going to just look or have to wipe his bum after. 
• At school they celebrated his half birthday in December, so he got to color a birthday cake and do birthday buckets.

• Sometimes, after he uses the bathroom and I tell him to wash his hands, he'll run away and start touching things in his room just to make me mad. And oh does it make me mad.
• Speaking of using the bathroom, here's a story that will go down in Jibson history. We went to visit Nana and Papa when Carter was first potty trained, and he went outside to play with Aubrey. Awhile later, he came walking into the house with his pants and underwear around his ankles. He proudly said, "Mommy, I went poo-poo!" Confused, I said, "What? Where?" And he said, "On the big rock out there!" And if it wasn't bad enough that he pooped on a rock in Nana's and Papa's backyard, he then added, "Yeah, I was just talking to my friend!" So yeah, he pooped on a rock while talking to Nana's and Papa's next door neighbor. A few days later, Daniel's dad ran into the neighbor and just said, "I hear you met my grandson..." Hahaha.
• When we go to Dos Amigos, he insists on dipping his chips in ketchup. It's so wrong.

• He does a lot of really cute things at bedtime. After we read books, he always says, "Let's race to turn off the light." So I say, "On your mark. Get set. Go!" and we race to the light switch. One time I didn't let him win, and he insisted we do it again. Haha. 
• After turning out the lights, he tells me to say, "Where's Carter?", and then he jumps out of the shadows and laughs. We get in bed, often after he has jumped on it several times, and then we snuggle and do songs. When I say it's time for me to go, he often says, "No, I put a cage around you, so you can't leave." And then he makes a sound effect that is supposed to be the cage closing, I guess. Then he says, "Now you have to sleep here." 
• He also gives me sweet kisses at bedtime (and honestly, all the time). I started doing really fast, loud, repeated kisses on his cheek, and he tries to do the same but isn't very fast. And he asks me to count them. He always ends up laughing after about 10 or so.
• For awhile there, he would switch his head to the other side of the bed after we would leave his room. He also slept in his shark blanket when he did that.

• At the library's story time one day, they read a book called How Do We Get to the Beach? And when the librarian said the name of the book, he shouted, "Take a motorcycle!" At the same storytime, the librarian made an announcement to the parents about a Dr. Seuss celeration that was coming up. She said, "So you might want to mark your calendars," to which Carter replied loudly, "Um, I don't have a calendar!" Both comments made me laugh.
• At that same storytime, I decided to take a video of him dancing to the shaky egg song. I'm so glad I did! He busts a move out of nowhere, man. It's awesome. It's particularly funny because it's right after the song says, "Shake it soft so only you can hear."

• He super loves the Disney Junior show Puppy Dog Pals. And he recently started calling it Puh-Puh-Puh Puppy Dog Pals, which is how they sing it in the intro song. It's so cute. 
• When we ask him to do something and he is actually willing to do it, he gives us a thumbs up and does this super cute winky face/crooked smile thing that is just too adorable. He's kind of making the face in this picture, though I wish I had a better example.

• After he got stitches, whenever he would tell the story of what happened, he would say that he had to go to the dentist after he got hurt. It's pretty funny and cute!
• One Sunday, I guess his teachers at church said he couldn't have the treat they brought until after the lesson and only if he was a good listener. He responded, "Have you been hanging out with my mom and dad?" 
• He loves taking photos on my phone, especially of himself making silly faces. I made a collage of some recent ones.

• And, of course, he likes taking videos of himself, too. I love this particular video because he filmed it while I was putting Clara down for her nap. I have two songs I always sing to her before she sleeps, and Carter always sings them with me if he's around. So you can hear him singing along at different parts of this video, and it's just so sweet.

My Buddy Got Stitches

On Thursday, February 13th, Carter had his preschool Valentine's Day party. We went and had a nice time, and then we went home. While Daniel and I were in the kitchen about to start making dinner, Aubrey got really upset about something; I don't even remember what it was. So she went to our "calm down corner," which is a little spot between our big couch and the wall. She was, however, not calming down. Truth be told, she was completely losing it. And her freakout was increased by the fact that Carter kept bugging her.

He decided to lie down on top of the couch and poke at her and just generally bother her. I told him several times to stop and leave her alone, but he kept doing it and laughing. This, of course, made Aubrey scream more. Finally, he grabbed a long wooden toy (specifically the red arch of a wooden rainbow stacking set) and hit her on the head with it. So I, completely fed up with him, stomped over to the couch, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him down to take him to his room.

Unbeknowst to me, he kind of pushed off against the wall at the same time. So between me pulling him, the laws of gravity, his not insignificant weight, and the fact that he pushed off, he got some good momentum as he rolled down the couch onto the cushions. It was so much momentum, in fact, that he didn't stop. Instead, he came full off the couch and hit his head on the edge of the coffee table. It made a sickeningly loud thud.

I immediately went from angry to sorry when I realized he was hurt and said, "Oh, Carter, buddy! Are you okay?" and pulled him onto my lap to hug him. Daniel, who saw the whole thing happen, said, "Shoot, Michelle, he's bleeding." Carter was, of course, crying very hard at this point, and when I pulled away to look at him, there was a lot of blood. Daniel ran and got a paper towel, and I put it on the cut. It's a little fuzzy at this point, but I'm pretty sure Daniel asked if it was going to need stitches, so I pulled the paper towel back and said, "Yes, definitely." (He thinks he told me that it needed stitches, but I remember telling him. Anyway.)

So Daniel ran and grabbed the keys, grabbed Carter, and carried him to the car in less than a minute. He drove to urgent care, where they said they wouldn't be able to sedate Carter if he needed it. They actually asked Daniel, "Would you be willing to hold him down while we do it?" Uh, yeah, that's a no. So then they headed to the pediatric ER.

Meanwhile, I was at home sobbing and feeling awful. I called my mom and relayed the story to her through my sobs (not sure how she could even understand me), and I said I wanted to be with him. She told me to call a babysitter to come sit with Aubrey and Clara. So I called a girl from our ward who can drive, and she came over immediately.

When I got to the ER, they took me to Carter's room. He was sitting on the bed and watching TV with a bandage wrapped around his head. Daniel was sitting on a chair next to him with his head in his hands. When Carter saw me, he said, "Mommy!" and was excited to see me. I didn't feel like I deserved that kind of affection, but I was so glad for it. I sat in the second chair by the bed but felt like I wanted to be closer to Carter, so I climbed into bed with him and snuggled.

The doctors confirmed that yes, he would need stitches, and then Daniel headed home to put the girls to bed while I stayed with Carter. Before he left, Daniel warned me not to look at the cut. I figured that once they knew he would need stitches, the doctor would just do them and we'd be out of there. But the process was a lot more involved than that. And I'm actually very glad it was, because it made it a much better experience.

They started by giving Carter a popsicle to make him happy and help him feel better. Then they came in, removed the bandage, and put a numbing gel on the cut. I was so glad he didn't have to get a shot! The gel was super cold though, which Carter didn't like. I tried to distract him by saying it was like his popsicle, brrr, so cold! That seemed to help a bit. Then he got another popsicle, and that really helped, haha.

During that process, I ended up seeing the cut without really trying. And my stomach just dropped. It was big and deep, like at least a half inch deep. They placed a little plastic shield over the cut and gave the gel a good 45 minutes to work before coming back in. We just hung out and snuggled while watching Disney Junior.

When they did return, they removed the shield and wiped off the area around the cut. He was nervous, but they hung out with him and made him feel comfortable before they did anything to him. Then they gave him a sedative (a fentanyl nose spray), which he did not like at all. It was the worst part for him, other than the splitting his head open part. But he definitely needed a sedative, because before he got it he was very concerned anytime someone touched him.

While they waited for the sedative to take effect, they gave him an iPad and let him choose a movie. He chose Coco. Weirdly, the doctor said nearly every kid his age chooses that movie. I mean, it is a good one! So the setup involved the doctor on the right side of his head, a nurse at the top of his head holding it still, and a resident watching the process to learn. My job was to hold the iPad for him. They warned me that if I started to feel dizzy that I should immediately sit down. I figured I'd be fine.

And I was right; I didn't get dizzy. I did, however, start to feel very nauseated as they began cleaning the wound, and I seriously worried I was going to throw up. So I passed the iPad off to the resident and sat down. I asked if I could go get a drink from their water machine, but the doctor said, "I don't want you walking." So another nurse brought me a water bottle and offered his assitance with anything else I needed, which was very kind.

It was during the process of cleaning the wound that I really saw how bad it was. And that was what made me feel sick. Once I sat down, I couldn't see anything, so I didn't have to watch the stitching. Carter was a champ (and the sedative was a godsend), and the only complaint he had was that the thread was tickling his face. He didn't feel anything and was happy as a clam. I was SO glad. They finished it up by putting bandaids loosely over the top to keep him from touching the 14 stitches he got.

On our way out, the doctor gave Carter a stuffed animal for being so brave. He had a choice between a cat and a dog, and he chose the cat. Best of all, he named it Mr. Purr. He sleeps with it (and a couple other stuffed animals) every night.

On the car ride home, Carter was really funny. He was just kind of loopy and pointing out weird things, like, "Look, there's a light over there!" I tried to get a video, but he caught me and then asked if he could watch videos, haha. When we got home, we gave him a bowl of pasta salad since he had missed dinner. It was about 9:00, so we had been at the ER for a few hours. He was still just as happy as could be.

The next day, Carter was a tired little buddy. He took a little nap on the couch, and we got a picture. You can see the cut a lot better in it. You can also see him holding Mr. Purr.

Anyway, the whole experience was awful and made it hard for me to sleep that night. I just kept thinking about the thud and his cry and all of the blood. I didn't wash out his shirt for more than a week because it just made me feel so sad for him. The blood did come out, but I'll never see that shirt again without thinking of that night. *sigh*

"I want to go home"

Oh, this boy. He still owns my heart, but WOW does he try my patience these days! He has hit full-on threenager status. I really do believe though that at his core he is still a sweet, loving boy. I think this is just a phase. We can do it. We can do it. Haha.

• Common Carter phrases and funny misspeaks:
• "I want to go home" (spoken ALL THE TIME, including when we're already home)
• "See you at the finish line!" 
• "I want to be nice now" when he comes out of timeout
• "Mommy, I love you sooo much!" (usually spoken when he's in the middle of watching shows)
• "Absolutely" (for example, "I absolutely will not!")
• "This is a rough day" or "This is a lucky day" (spoken randomly and sometimes right after each other)
• "Tow by" for "bow tie" (referring to pasta)
• "Skittle the cards" for "shuffle the cards"
• "Destruction workers" for "construction workers"
• "Caboosk" for "caboose"
• "That is not a good idea!" when he doesn't like something I've said we're going to do
• "If it huggers, let it go" for "If it hollers, let it go" in "Eenie, Meanie, Miney Moe" song
• "You're breaking my heart" when I do something to make him sad or when Clara cries
• "I'm pressed" for "I'm impressed"
• "Huggy, huggy" and "kissy kissy" when he wants hugs or kisses
• "S-T-E-R-T-E-R" is how he thinks his name is spelled
• "Being reverent isn't my thing."
• "_______ isn't my thing."
• Calling Daniel "that guy" to someone at church

• He often puckers up and goes "mmm mmm!" until I let him kiss me. It's so cute! Sometimes he asks to kiss me on the lips, which I don't love. But I don't have the heart to tell him no!
• He still asks me for snuggles when he gets sad. I hope that never stops, but I know it will. *sniff*
• He calls the band OK GO "jump into paint" because of one of their music videos, in which they jump into spraying paint. 
• He likes to play a little game with me in which I say, "Mr. Carter" (pronounced "Mista Cahter") and then he says, "Mr. Mommy!" I then act all confused/affronted and say, "No, it's Mrs. Mommy! Mrs. Mommy!" He always laughs and asks me to do it all over again.
• His current favorite shows are the Disney shorts (Minnie's Bow Toons and the nursery rhymes), True and the Rainbow Kingdom and Doc McStuffins, and he still loves Wreck-It-Ralph, Coco, Moana, and, of course, High School Musical.

• At bedtime I always read two books to him. I used to ask him which book he wanted to read first, and at some point he started telling me to ask him that. Then he would jump up onto the bed while at the same time hitting one of the books to select it. He does it every night now and will even get off the bed to do it if he climbs up before I ask him.
• Then, after we read, we climb into bed for snuggles and songs. When I ask him what song he wants, he (lately) always chooses "I Am a Child of God" and then "I Love to See the Temple." After he selects the song, he'll say, "Do you want to know which verse I want?" He'll then proceed to sing the whole verse he wants (which is always the second one) instead of just telling me which one it is. It's pretty sweet hearing him sing to me! And then I sing it again to him, haha.

• For awhile there, he would ask me to sing him "The Chocolate Milk Song" at bedtime. It basically involved me repeating whatever weird phrases he said about chocolate milk and how/when he liked to drink it.
• One day we heard the kids arguing in the kitchen and then a loud cry from Carter, who had clearly gotten hurt. He came running to our room, and the following conversation occurred, with Carter very dramatically crying the whole time:
• Carter: "Aubrey hit me!"
• Me: "What were you guys fighting over?"
• Carter: "Cheese!"
• Me, trying not to laugh: "What did she hit you with?"
• Carter: "The cheese!"
• Ever since we went to IKEA a few months ago, he has become obsessed with it. He was particularly enamored with the huge and plentiful escalators. Now whenever we drive by it, he points and says, "Mommy, look! There's IKEA!"

• He once said, "See you Thursday!" when Daniel left to go somewhere.
• He likes to play a game in which he comes up to me with his little toy firetruck and say, "Is your kitty stuck in a tree?" I say, "Yes! Could you get him down for me?" He says yes and then proceeds to jump in the air and grabs the pretend cat out of the pretend tree and brings it to me. I then thank him profusely.
• When we get home and I go around the car to unbuckle his car seat for him, he always pretends to be asleep. So I unbuckle him and say, "Oh, Carter's asleep! I guess I'll let him nap in the car." Then I take Clara inside, and while I'm putting my shoes away, he sneaks up and behind me until I turn and act all surprised and say, "Oh, it's Carter! He's awake!" Then he laughs.

• When we go to Dos Amigos, he doesn't ever want to eat rice or quesadilla. He does, however, like to eat chips dipped in ketchup. It's horrible, but at least it gets him to eat something.
• I don't remember what they were talking about at the time, but Carter randomly said to Aubrey, "Ms. Shelley and Ms. Kathleen are nice to me. They wouldn't eat me."
• He sometimes drags his finger across words as he pretends to read them. He has no clue how to read, obviously, so the only things he gets right are the titles of books he knows really well and has therefore memorized. One time, while driving somewhere near Denver with Daniel, he pointed at a sign and said, "That says, 'Happy Thanksgiving!'" It actually said, "We love Denver."
• Just earlier this week I said, "Aww, it's okay, my love!" to Clara when she was crying. Carter then said to her, "Aww, your love, it's okay!"

• At the end of my pregnancy with Clara, I always had to tell Carter he couldn't sit on my lap because my belly was in the way. For a couple of weeks after she was born, he would say, "Mommy, you have a lap again!" He also kept saying the baby was going to "pop out" of me, so afterwards he would sometimes say, "Mommy, you have a lap again! Baby Clara popped out!"
• We made a laminated "getting ready checklist" for Aubrey when she first started kindergarten. Carter wanted one of his own to draw on like Aubrey (who checked things off after she did them), but since he didn't have one he would just scribble all over hers while describing how he'd go to school and walk in and hang his backpack up, etc. 
• Speaking of preschool, he totally loves it. For the first month or so he would say, "I'm so excited for preschool!" when we were on our way, and then he'd say, "I had so much fun at preschool!" when I picked him up. His teachers said multiple times that he was very gentle and sweet, even politely asking other kids if he could have a turn with a toy and offering to help other kids with a puzzle. I'm so glad he is good and sweet at school! 

• At home, however, he's been having a much rougher time. He is going through what I hope is just a phase of hitting, screaming, kicking, and shouting, "Stupid Mommy!" whenever something upsets him. And a lot of things upset him. If I ever tell him no about anything, he immediately throws a fit and starts hitting me and/or yelling. I don't give in to his demands when he does this, so I'm not sure why he keeps doing it. But oh, he does. 
• He is obsessed with pockets. That's all. It's cute.
• When he fake cries (but is actually upset), he puts both hands in front of his face and nods his head while moving his hands up and down. It just makes me laugh at him rather than feel bad for him.
• He often sleeps with his hands behind his head. It reminds me of my Grandpa Westall!

• He turns everything into a gun (which he calls a "shooter thing") and goes, "Pew pew!"
• When my mom and I dropped him off at his first day of preschool and said we were going shopping, he said, "You'll be bored without me." Haha.
• When I tell him not to do something, he says smugly, "But I already did."
• Another time, when we were at the park with my mom, he said, "Mom, can we go to the car? Because I'm kind of whiney." It was true, but I can't believe he recognized it!
• He loves to play with any kind of vehicle, and he often asks me to ride whatever vehicle he's playing with. By that he means for me to put my pointer and middle fingers on (if it's small) or in (if it's larger) the vehicle while he moves it around. I'm usually sitting when he does this, so he can't go too far before my hand loses contact and I "fall" out.

• For a brief period of time, he would move his head all around and smell the air for things he was looking for. It was so weird.
• When I gave him homemade syrup one day, he said, "Thank you so much, Mommy! You made my life come true!" He actually thanks me a lot--without being prompted--for doing things for him. It's the sweetest.
• We decided to do a one-week camp of swimming lessons for him, and it went okay at first. But then his second or third time he decided he didn't want to get in the water, and I had to basically force him. Then one day Daniel took him and didn't force him but just took him home. And the whole thing was a disaster. The video below is from his first day, before he freaked out. We weren't super happy with his instructor, who basically stopped doing anything with him other than holding him and dragging him through the water as he looked up at the ceiling (photo below). After everything, he ended up being more afraid of the water and less confident. So that sucked. We've finally got him back to where he was before, but talk about a waste of money!

• He once called Clara's pacifier a "fireman thing." I think it was the FIER part in "pacifier" that threw him off. Either way, I loved it.
• He is almost always driving a car around our house. It's so cute.
• When Clara still had the umbilical cord attached to her belly, I explained that when it fell off she would have a belly button like Carter's. He then started saying that Clara was growing her belly button. Hehe.
• He is nothing but sweet to Clara. Two different times now he has gotten mad at me and screamed so loudly that he scared Clara and made her cry. And when I pointed that out, he immediately calmed down and said, "I'm sorry, Clara! I didn't mean to!" Heart melted.

• Oh man, potty training. We are FINALLY done with that chapter in Carter's life, and let me tell you... it was rough. We tried several different times to potty train him before he started preschool, but it never stuck. We tried a naked day. We tried having him sit on the toilet for an hour at a time, and he'd hold it the whole time and then pee in his room. We tried giving treats after every success. But then he started saying, "I don't want a treat," when we tried that as incentive. When we said he couldn't go to preschool unless he was potty trained, he said, "I don't want to go to preschool." And so on and so forth. Every time we tried with him, he'd have a day or maybe two of success, and then he'd utterly refuse. It was so frustrating because we knew he could do it. He just wouldn't. So we put him in a pull-up for preschool and crossed our fingers. And he used the bathroom there! But he still wouldn't at home. *sigh* That was when we got REALLY annoyed. It got so bad that we finally decided to just back off, put him in diapers all the time again, and just wait for him to decide to do it. We just kept encouraging him to go if we wanted to, but he always said no. This proved to still be bad for how we felt about him (so much resentment), but it was good for him for us to remove the power struggle. Then one Friday, a little girl Carter's age saw he was wearing a diaper and said, "He's wearing a diaper. He's a baby!" And while I think that was bratty of her, I used it as an incentive by reminding him of it a few times that day and the next. And whether it was related or not, on Sunday he asked to use the potty. By Monday he was wearing underwear full-time and even pooping on the toilet. (I won't even go into all the details, but suffice it to say that if we had had to change one more poopy diaper in the middle of the night--which he had squished until it was ground into poop sand, getting it all over his fingers and all over in his bed--I think I may have shipped him to his grandparents. This happened twice. SO not okay.) Anyway, here's a cute photo from one of his naked days.

• We had a funny conversation at dinner the other night:
• Aubrey: "Carter, do you know what animal makes honey?"
• Carter: "Uhh, sheep?"
• Me, giving a hint: "Bzzzzz!"
• Carter: "Oh, bees like honey on their bread!"
• One time, when we put him in his room for timeout, Daniel went in and found him sitting in his rocking chair in the middle of the room, his toy gun in his hand. Uhhh...
• My parents got him his own toolbox as an early Christmas present, and he loved it so much he asked if he could sleep with it.

• His preschool went on a field trip to the police station, and when his teacher said that police officers are our friends and can help us, Carter said, "You know who else can help us? Jesus!"
• After preschool one day, he came running up to me so excited. He said, "Mommy, Mommy! I went poo poo on the potty at preschool!" I responded, "Awesome, buddy!" Then his teacher said, as an aside to me, "Yeah, it was in the urinal..."

Carter Turns Three!

Why, why, why do my babies have to keep growing up? My mommy heart can't take it anymore! And just to make things harder this year, Google created this "Then and Now" photo showing Carter on his first birthday and then his third, this year.

Awwww! My baby love. Anyway.

This year Carter got to have his first birthday party. Because his birthday is in June, we thought a simple park party would be great. And it was! The weather was perfect. We had his friends from nursery and their older siblings come to run around the park, and all the adults got to hang out and chat. 

I was actually a bit (*cough* 40 minutes *cough*) late to the party myself, due to apparently poor planning regarding timing for making the cake. When I asked Carter what kind of cake he wanted a few weeks before his birthday, he didn't say what flavor he wanted (which was what I was asking) but instead said with great enthusiasm that he wanted a Minnie Mouse cake. So I made a Minnie Mouse cake.

I had made the cakes the day before (which was itself a disaster of overflowing cake pans due to the stupid altitude here), but I saved the frostings and decorating for the morning of... when the party started at 10:00. Suffice it to say, getting up at 7:00 was insufficient. I had trouble with a clogged piping tip and could only find one coupler, so I kept having to take it out of each frosting bag and wash it for the next one. Then there was the fact that I have no experience sculpting and decorating a cake like this.

Anyway, as you can see, Minnie had a serious tan. (The red food coloring, of which I only needed a tiny drop to combine with yellow to make peach, came squirting out with reckless abandon. And rather than scoop some of it out, I mixed it in like an idiot and added a lot of yellow to balance it, which really just made it very orange. I tried adding more white frosting to lighten it, but it only helped a little. A touch of purple food dye made it more brown and less orange, and that was the best I could do. Okay, moving on.)

Carter was super excited when I brought the cake to the party. He recognized it as Minnie (which was really all I could ask for, considering), and he actually said a couple of times, "Thanks, Mommy, for making me a Minnie cake!" It was the absolute sweetest. He said it was "pretty" and that he loved it, so I was ecstatic. That was all I wanted--for him to love it. He kept asking to cut into it right then...

... so we did! It was pretty windy and hard to light the candle. On the plus side, it made it very easy for him to blow it out after the song. (I love that he looks kind of confused about that at the end of the video.)

Despite all the troubles I had with it and all of its imperfections, the cake was a hit! It is truly a tasty chocolate cake. Mmmm.

A happy boy with his cake!

After cake, the kids continued to run around the park. Eventually, Carter found his way back and asked if the presents on the table were for him. When I said yes, he got really excited and asked if he could open them.

I have never seen such an awesome reaction to present opening. When he opened every gift and saw what was inside, he gasped with excitement and then screamed with joy. I wish I'd gotten a video. He was just beside himself.

See what I mean? It was the best. What a stinkin' sweetheart.

When we got home after the party, we had lunch with Nana, Papa, Aunt Karen, Uncle Colt, Emma, Nora, and our family. Carter was way more interested in playing with his new toys than he was in eating, which we didn't try to fight. He did get some food into himself.

Then we let him open his presents from the family, which included squirt guns for the pool, an Incredibles backpack/lunchbox set for preschool, a water table from Grandma and Grandpa, and a slide. The slide was the last thing he got, and it was just in the back yard waiting for him when he went outside (it was too big to wrap). When he saw it, he gasped and screamed and did a little happy dance that was the cutest, best thing in the world. Unfortunately, I didn't get a video of it because I was instead video chatting with my parents so they could see him open his gifts. But I'm so glad they got to see his reaction, even if it means I have no video of it.

Needless to say, Carter ran down and spent the rest of the afternoon in the back yard. I got this sneaky video of him from the deck...

... and then this nice shot of him trying to shoot me with his squirt guns...

... and then this cute video, in which he's showing off for the camera.

After dinner (Carter chose macaroni and cheese), we all played the new game he got from one of his friends, Duck Duck Mouse. It's the perfect speed for him, unlike many of the other, more complicated games we try to teach him. He loved it!

When it was bedtime, I got to read to him and snuggle him in his bed. When I asked him if he had a good birthday, he said, "Yeah, it was delicious!" When I asked what his favorite part of his birthday was, he responded, "The bow!" It then became clear he was only talking about the cake, which again made me feel good. But I could tell from his excitement and joy most of the day (I mean, he's three and definitely still threw tantrums) that it was a good day for him. I call it a success!

And soon, more to come on this favorite boy of mine...

"I did it by my own self!"

This little boy is almost three years old! Ack! I can't handle it! I wish I could freeze time and prevent him from growing up, but I don't think I can. *sigh* While we have had our difficult toddler-related moments, Carter is still my sweet boy. I hope he always stays that way! For now, here are some fun facts:

• Funny things he says:
• "I want to be fancy!"
• "I want Aubrey to feel me better!"
• "Sex monkey" (or at least that's what it sounds like) for "so smoky"

• "Banna" for "banana"
• "I did it by my own self!"
• "Something's wrong!"
• "Good _____[ing], Mama!" (ex: "Good sweeping, Mama!")
• "Mommy, don't go! I'll miss you!" 
• "Can I help make?" (He LOVES to help with cooking.)

• When he does something he shouldn't and we say, "Carter, don't _____," he responds, "I already did it."
• He loves playing in the backyard, but he always throws the balls over fence and into the street/alley behind the house. He also likes to chuck bricks and big rocks into the driveway. Not our favorite thing.
• His favorite toy is the Elasticycle from The Incredibles 2. He sometimes insists on sleeping with it.
• He has finally gotten good riding his little tricycle. Man, he loves that thing. 

• One of his favorite games (NOT my favorite) is to get into Aubrey's booster seat instead of his own car seat (when she's not with us). I tell him he can't ride in the booster because he's too little. The first time he did this, I said, "Okay, we're just going to sit here until you choose to get in your own seat," and I sat down in the open sliding door, with my back to him. He quietly snuck into his own seat and then started laughing until I turned around and saw him. Now it's a tradition. Oy.
• When I take a shower, he always comes in and asks if I'm in the shower. Then, when he hears the water turn off, he comes back and asks, "You done in the shower?" When I say yes, he says, "Great!"
• He loves building tall towers with his blocks. He's always so proud of his creations. It's too cute!

• Sometimes, if he's in the wrong mood, he acts personally offended when I shower or brush my teeth. He'll come into the bathroom and say, "No, don't brush!" or "No, don't take a shower!" No idea why.
• He is completely obsessed with chocolate milk. I honestly think it's the only thing providing him with the calories he needs to function. He's started this bad habit of not eating well, in part because he eats slowly but then insists he's done whenever Aubrey is done. She eats faster, so that's bad. 
• Unlike Aubrey, he gets really into story time at the library. I love it!

• We're still working on potty training. He peed once on his little floor potty (like, a tablespoon), and then he refused to do it again. We praised him and high-fived him, gave him a treat, and put a star on his chart. But he was just not interested in a repeat performance. He said it was too scary. *eye roll* Thankfully, we got him to sit on the toilet twice today, so we're making progress at least!
• He feels it's his job to squish any bugs he sees anywhere, at any time. He gets a little too into it.
• When he sees the back windshield of a dirty-ish car with a half circle where the wipers have cleaned, he says, "Look at the rainbow on that car!"
• He sometimes leaves funny Marco Polo messages for people without me knowing. Here's a personal favorite of mine.

• Daniel recently had to take Carter out of Sacrament Meeting because he was being unruly, and he shouted, "Daddy, where are you taking me?" Everyone was very amused and commented on it afterward.
• While we were in the family room one day, we had the following conversastion:
• Carter: "I want to go home!"
• Me: "Buddy, we are home... This is where we live."
• Carter: "No, this is some other house!"
• One day, while playing house with Aubrey, Carter said, "I'm going to the store to get more mommies." Hmm...
• One time he tried to skate on one of his train cars. I just think this photo is cute. The PJs!

• A few months ago, while we were at Home Depot as a family, we turned onto an aisle that had two older male employees restocking shelves or something. Carter pointed and said, "Look, an old man!" Now THAT was a conversation starter.
• He recently announced to an employee at The Children's Place, "I tooted." He likes to mention this a lot. 
• He pretends everything is a gun (no idea where he got that from) and goes around with random objects that he points at people while saying, "Pew! Pew!"
• We discovered that he loves balsamic vinegar. We're both proud and sad to have to share our good stuff with him.

• He loves giving kisses, and he'll sometimes ask to kiss the baby in my tummy. It makes me melt! I can't wait to see him as a big brother.
• He also keeps saying he has a baby in his tummy, too.
• He has started picking dandelions outside of preschool and bringing them in to Aubrey's teachers. So sweet!
• Sometimes when it's just the two of us at home and something happens that's exciting (or sometimes not so exciting), he says he needs to call Aubrey or Daddy to tell them. Then he holds a pretend phone up to his ear and has a conversation with them.
• And here's a video just because it's cute.

"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.