I LOVE hanging out with Carter! He is so much fun to pal around with while Raine is at school. He is very affectionate and a bit of a home-body — he is happy to play by himself… with his dinosaurs, in Raine’s doll house. (It is hilarious to listen to!) His goofy sense of humor always makes me smile!
I’m not much of a home-body so I drag Carter out to playgroups every so often. He is infinitely more social than he was a year ago — I think the speech therapy played a big part in that. Once he figured out that other people could understand him, I couldn’t get him to STOP talking! The other day we were out for a walk with the neighbors and I had to do something that I NEVER thought I would have to do with Carter (it’s par for the course with Raine). I had to physically pick him up and have a little face-to-face about how he needed to STOP TALKING because no one else could get in a word! Having said that, Carter despises playgroups when there are more than a couple kids running around. He will park himself on my lap or hug my leg and refuse to play. I can’t figure it out, but I really like him so I don’t mind!
Carter is having a hard time giving up naps. He will take a nap whenever and wherever he feels the need. Riding in the car puts him out in the afternoons. Eating dinner, or even a snack, will do it too. Then there are those days when he just climbs onto my lap and falls asleep without a word.
The problem comes at bedtime. If he takes a nap, of any length, he can’t fall asleep before ten. So he comes out of his room, over and over, until I finally give in and let him stay out with me so he doesn’t wake up Raine. He knows I can’t resist his little puppy-dog eyes and he uses them to his advantage — he knows they’re especially effective when DJ is out doing Bishop stuff! He will get himself a whole stack of his favorite books and then snuggle down in my bed so I can read them to him. Am I enabling a very bad habit? Absolutely! Do I care enough to stop it? Not even close!
Here are some photos from a recent playgroup outing to the zoo.
This was the first time we had seen the two baby elephants.
Carter and Hudson (or “Hudsy” as he calls him) watching the white tiger.
Hudson, Carter, and Cade ‘riding’ the turtle.
“Do not be afraid, Man Cub. Trussssst me.”
Fearlessly touching the rat snake.
We decided to let our zoo membership expire and get a membership to the Fort Worth Museum of Nature and Science instead. Carter calls it the dinosaur museum because it has an exhibit of dinosaur fossils and interactive activities as well as an outdoor dinosaur dig. Needless to say, he loves it!
Carter’s favorite part of the museum is the wind-energy room. He is OBSESSED with paper airplanes and can’t get enough of the launcher — fortunately, Momma has some pretty good paper-airplane-making skills!
