Around the house

Carter loves shoes... his, Ava's, mine, Mark's - he's not picky.

Silly/scary faces.

Ava has some obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Notice how her cheerios are lined up in a nice straight row.

Carter started copying Ava, lining his cheerios up as well, but then decided a random pattern was much more his style (and then very quickly decided eating them was even more fun).

Ava's latest compulsion is stacking books. She is very particular about the order and works at stacking and unstacking until she gets it just right. The good thing is this can occupy her for large chunks of time. The bad thing is when Carter decides he wants a book from the stack and she has a minor meltdown about messing up her stack. We have a lot of conversations about how books were meant to be read and not just stacked.

Sometimes after making a stack, she'll spend another chuck of time looking through every book in her stack.

And sometimes she'll take a break from stacking to line up some friends on the couch and get a book for each of them.

Birthday Pics

We had a great time celebrating Carter's birthday on the 3rd, in spite of Mark not feeling great and me dropping a full can of soda on my big toenail that morning causing it to immediately turn purple (I anticipate the toenail falling off sometime soon).Mark working his magic at the grill (our niece Sydney is quite attached to Uncle Mark... he thinks she's going to outgrow it and realize he's a dork - his words, not mine - but I don't see that happening!).

Carter left the kiddie table to see if other people had better food on their plates.

Apparently, Carter didn't want an audience while opening presents.

He got some great gifts - all his favorite things! Books...

trains...

... and trucks!

Cake made by my cousin Donna.

Ava got the hang of Carter's new t-ball set pretty quickly.

Carter, on the other hand, refused to hold the bat by the small end (even now, a week and a half later, he won't hold it correctly).

I just had to include this... he's already terrorizing girls... this is his cousin Abby.

Our big scary two-year old!

He really is a big boy - at his 2-year check-up, we found out he's 32 pounds and one inch shy of 3 feet tall!

Carter is TWO!

Carter turned 2 a week ago and I still haven't downloaded the pictures from my camera. I'll get to that soon, I promise. He brings us so much joy and I am thankful beyond words for the blessing of our son. Here are just a few of the things I love about this little man.

• I love his chubby arms and legs.
• His lower lip always seems to be sticking out – even if not as pronounced as it may have been a year ago (and I kind of miss the way his cheeks used to take over his whole face).
• He has the best little giggle.
  
• He likes to snuggle when he wakes up from a nap, sometimes for a good half hour.
• He likes to be touched. If I’m running my fingers up and down his arm or leg or playing with his hair and stop, he’ll grab my hand and put it back as if to tell me not to stop (this often happens during after-nap snuggle time).
• He has started asking me to come rock with him at night, even if daddy is home (Mark usually does the bedtime routine with them when he’s home).
• I love to watch him look at books – he isn’t very interested in actually hearing a story, but he looks so intently at books on his own.
• I also love how intently he plays. He likes to be at eye level with his trucks, cars or trains when he’s playing with them and is completely focused.
• I love how he backs up slowly and then charges full speed ahead to pounce on me.
• He gets so excited when he sees his daddy.
• He "talks" to and blows raspberries on my belly/his baby sister.
• I love to hear him say, “sorry” when he’s done something he isn’t supposed to – not just because he’s learning how to treat other people, but because the way he says it is so darn cute.
• He told me “dank-oo” without prompting when I gave him a plate of strawberries last week (and has done it on several occasions since).
• He has a sensitive and giving spirit – Ava was throwing a fit because she wanted to play with one of his new birthday toys and in the midst of me explaining (for the hundredth time) that he did not have to share his birthday toys, he handed her the toy.
• While he is now determined to walk up and down the stairs, always waits to hold my hand.
• I love the way he squeals when I threaten to eat his toes.
• I love the way he bounces when he runs.
• He claps for himself after doing a good job at something.
• I love when he cracks himself up.
• He gives great hugs and kisses.

God gave us such a special boy and we can't wait to see what the years ahead bring and what we might add to our list of things we love about him!