Carter ~ 4.5 Years!!

My Carter Thomas, how is it possible that you are half way to 5?! You are such a sweet boy and I love you so very much.

You are have been enjoying school and seem to be behaving better with your new routine. You certainly still have a mind of your own but we are working on listening and following directions the first time vs. counting to 3. You are generally pretty good at this anyway but I had been noticing that Daddy had been counting to 3 a lot more recently.



Who me?!

Then, I was reading a blog and this mom was talking about how she teaches her children to listen the first time so that when it is REALLY important - they listen and follow directions. She gave an example that really rattled me. She was at the park with her kids and they were playing when she noticed a man standing around watching. She didn't have a good feeling about him because he wasn't there with any kids so she told her kids it was time to leave (without alarming them), rushed them to the car and by the time she got the kids in the car and shut and locked her doors the man was standing right next to her!! So scary!! And it really got me thinking that if that was us would my kids have done the same. Of course, I want Carter to listen to me and follow my directions because I am the authority figure but I never even considered that there may be times I would need him to listen for our safety.

Carter loves our neighborhood because of all the friends that live nearby. He even got invited to his first 'kids only' birthday party!

Crew's party!

I love that for him too but it is making me realize how old he is getting. His friends come over and ring the doorbell to see if he can come play. Then, before I know it, he is leaving me behind to play with his friends. And I always think "there he goes" and pray that he is making good choices (like not crossing the street without an adult when the other kids do!). I have never been big on having to protect Carter from everything or wanting to put him in a bubble. But most of that was in terms of him getting germs or falling down leading to a non-serious injury. Now I am starting to get that feeling since he is being exposed to things earlier than I would like since most of his friends are a year older and are in grade school. I just don't want him to grow up so darn fast! And I am not around him all the time. Most of our previous playdates have been when we were present also so I could kind of keep an eye on things. So I just have to trust that I have been raising him right...

Updated to add: I usually start these entries as things pop in my head and try to have them finished in a timely manner :). I wanted to include a couple of things that Carter did regarding my fears above. I was outside with Isla and Carter had gone down the street to play with his friends. His friend Jake lives on our side of the street but his friend Crew lives across the street. I have witnessed Carter running across the street without an adult before and even though he did look both ways I am not confortable with him doing this yet. So I  always, always remind him that he isn't old enough and needs an adult (or Jake's sister Hannah). So I was watching him down the street from our house when the kids were heading over to Crew's. I saw him stop and ask Crew's mom to walk him across the street ~ whew! I know he probably won't always make the right choice but I am glad he is at least remembering our conversations :).

On the same lines, the other day Carter came in from playing outside with his friends when he asked if he could go into Jake's house to play. It wasn't a big deal but I thought it was cute that he stopped playing with his friends, ran down to our house just to ask my permission. He can be so sweet!

He is working on sounding out letters and spelling words at home and at school. This is something relatively new but if he is nagging me about something I have already said no to (read: asking for milk for the millionth time when I say 'in a minute' ;) I tell him that if he can spell it he can have it...This will clearly backfire on me and kinda all ready did when he and Addison were nagging us for some of their parade candy and I said, "if you can spell it!" And wouldn't you know that they sounded it out and spelled it perfectly :).

Parade time!



Carter is doing better at soccer. We had one really bad week where he pouted the entire game except for when he was playing goalie. Like sat down in the middle of the field pouted...so frustrating! So Matt and I used an incentive to get him to participate. Carter found a Mater he didn't have at Target and we bought it for him under the condition that he had to 'try' at soccer. Again, I don't expect him to be the best or even score a goal ~ in fact I didn't even care if he touched the ball as long he was at least running around and not standing there. The first day we had these 'deal' was a complete disaster (read above). He was bummed after the game that he didn't get his Mater and told me on the way home that he wished tomorrow he had soccer so he could get his Mater. The next week it was a night and day difference and I really think he had more fun. He has the most fun playing goalie and goofing off on the sidelines. He LOVES being goalie and is really pretty good at it. He isn't afraid to throw himself on the ball. Although play has had to stop because he was 'hurt' at least once a game but generally it is more than once. Oh Carter!

He is going to be a shark for Halloween. At first he wanted to be a fireman and I was, surprisingly, having trouble finding a fireman costume when out of the blue Carter told me he wanted to be a shark. Cut to my mom and I randomly going to TJ Maxx one night and would you believe that they had a shark costume?! I guess it was meant to be!

Just a normal evening...

He is still my cuddle bug and wants to cuddle with me before bed and has many nights where he sneaks into our bed at night. This is one parenting battle that I just don't fight and Carter knows it. And while for some this may be an issue it has never really bothered me. He isn't going to do this forever so it is fine for now.

He is tolerating his sister more but still doesn't really want her to play with her or his things. But they will have the occasional moment where they just play so nicely. Most of the time it is when they are chasing each other but there was a cute moment that happened the other night. After Isla had her bath I was going into our room to put her in her jammies when I realized Carter was taking a shower. So I let Isla get in the shower with him. They were so cute standing playing at the shower seat. Carter even gave her a few hugs!! Hopefully once she becomes more verbal he will like playing with her more and I know that she can handle his toughness :).

Carter wanted to sleep with Isla...he even got her bed 'ready' for her!

He went to the Pumpkin Patch with his preschool and with us so he has been talking about his farm again. He even remembered that it was in Carterville :).

Things he says:

Sometimes he gets in these moods where it is just rapid fire questions...he hardly waits until we answer before he is asking another one. This happened one evenining while Matt and I were making dinner. It went a little something like this: "Are those shish kabobs?" "What are kabobs?" "Are you
making a pattern?"

Carter: "I won't be here...when I grow up and get bigger and bigger I won't live with you anymore."
Me: "Will you live close to mommy or far away?"
Carter: "Close...maybe I could live next store!"
*I like the way he thinks!

Addison still knows how to get under Carter's skin and Carter still totally lets her. Her new thing is to tell Carter that she is 5 and he is only 4. He does NOT like that he isn't the oldest so he always says, 'well, I am the oldest in MY family.' He and Addison went back and forth on this forever on the way home from the pumpkin patch. Then Carter looked and Addison and said, 'Well, I didn't have to have to have any tubes when I was born.' And Addison replied, 'Well, I did!'

Either best friends or worst enemies!

'All the girls in my preschool class want to marry me.'

'Mom, do you kow what I am a fan of? Dusty! I'm a Dusty fan.'

'Dad! You want to see the best thing ever?! I got two more sharks! They're slippers!' ~ super excited to show Dad the slippers Grandma got him.


My grandma got Carter (and Isla) a Halloween card with $10 dollars in it and Carter was so excited about his money and told me:
Carter: 'I'm going to buy a toy with my ten dollars!'
Me: 'What kind of toy are you going to buy?' (thinking he would pick something a lot more expensive)
Carter: 'Like a ten dollar toy.'

"Boys are beyond the range of anyone's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years." ~James Thurber