Carter ~ 22 months old

   Right before our eyes Carter is turning into a little boy, honestly he hasn't seemed like a baby for a long time now.  He's 22 months, which means party plans are underway.  I'm so proud of everything Carter has accomplished in the past few months.  This is the most exciting age, as far as language development goes.  I would estimate he has over 400 words and strings them together in simple 2 or 3 words phrases.  From the moment he wakes up, he is talking or should I say demanding what he wants.  Here is what he says every morning, (from the crib) "Mommy, Daddy" (walks in kitchen) "eat, banana, cereal, thank you" (sits to eat) "nummy cereal"  Imagine each word repeated at least 10 times.  He has pretty good pronunciation, so most people can understand him.  There are some words that are hilarious though, like granola bar "bala bala bah", pajamas "pajassies", butterfly "butterchassy", oatmeal "oat-mee-yall", blueberries "boobooberries", ambulance "amalance", and guitar "grintar" or
"tar".  Each day he learns new words and repeats everything we say, like "crap", whoops!  He imitates characters in books and people he sees, like our neighbor that has the loudest cough you've ever heard.  He'll cough right in his face and laugh, so embarrassing.  He loves singing "ABC's", "Twinkle, Twinkle", "Itsy-Bitsy Spider", "Wheels on the Bus", and "Old McDonald".  He gets the tune and some of the lyrics right, but he is oh so cute when he sings.  Lately, he loves counting things up to 2, like this "One, two bus, 2 bus."  He can count up to 10 like this, "1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10".  He knows all his body parts, animal sounds, and the colors: orange, red, pink, green, and yellow.  I'm not claiming he's a genius, but he's certainly close.  We've already contacted Harvard for an interview.
   Carter loves Barney, Elmo, all things transportation and construction, his brown bunny blanket (which he sleeps with), BOOKS, playgrounds, throwing rocks, animals, and his pink tricycle.  Sadly, he's stopped eating half the foods he used to love and now is being pretty selective.  His faves are hot dogs, bananas, yogurt, spaghetti, cheese, eggs, all bread, rice, everything unhealthy like ice cream and "tandy" and anything dipped in ketchup.  I hope my vegetable loving boy will return soon.  Carter loves to eat and begs us relentlessly to share all our food with him.  His favorite words are "more" and "some", as he points to his mouth.  Physically, Carter is much less dangerous, but still clumsy.  He runs with his hands flapping in the air, as though he could fall at any moment.  Just this week he tripped 6 times in one day and got a goose-egg and gash on his head.  Dislikes: brushing teeth, getting fingernails cut, changing activities to a less fun one, and sharing mommy with little sister.  Tantrums have started in full force and there is nothing one can do to stop them.  Imagine the most shrill high-pitched sound ever and then Carter laying on the floor thrashing around, once for 20 minutes.  Our strategy is two-fold, ignore him, then re-direct him, or one or the other.  Who knows?!  We're pretty clueless with how to deal with the terrible twos.  We can usually expect at least one mini-tantrum a day that is brief, but LOUD!  Carter is very helpful and loves to tidy up, throw things away, sweep, and assist Mommy with Macy's needs.  He takes great pride in being my little helper, which I love.  I'm looking forward to Carter getting along with Macy and her being able to play with him soon!