Carter is growing up so fast — in spite of my best efforts to stop him. These past few months, he has turned into quite the little ball of personality.

Carter’s favorite foods are vegetables; he doesn’t like fruit much at all. He also loves Cheerios and has mastered the pincer grasp. His favorite song is “The Wheels on the Bus”; it can stop him from crying like nothing else. His favorite toy is a ball; it doesn’t matter what size or color, if it is round he needs to be holding/licking it.

Speaking of licking something, a few weeks ago I was in Sunday School with Carter — a rare occurrence since Sunday School is right during nap time — and he was playing with one-year-old Stella. Stella kept saying “baby, baby” so I thought maybe she wanted to play with Raine’s doll that was sitting on top of the diaper bag. Apparently, she had just been referring to Carter because when I handed her the doll she wasn’t interested. Carter, however, grabbed it and quite aggressively started trying to eat its face. It looked a little “odd” — my son sucking the face of a doll — so I ever so carefully attempted to get it away from him. It was one of those delicate situations where one false move could send the child into hysterics over the stolen toy and therefore cause the exact attention that I was trying to avoid. After a few failed attempts I finally diverted his attention enough to swipe the baby without creating a scene. It was pretty funny . . . if you were there.

Carter is such a great little brother. He loves to play with Raine and endures her constant toy stealing, violent luvies, and smothering without protest. He is always there for her with a shoulder (or head) to lean on.

(Apparently we need to adjust that helmet.)

Carter also thinks Raine is hilarious. He will laugh at her all day long. And he has the most infectious laugh!

We really love our little Carter bear.