Carson -- 18 Months

To Carson:

**You got cold playing at the splash park.

**You wouldn't go out into the water. So we put your shoes on so that we could leave. Once they were on you were ready to get wet.

Well, 18 months is here and along with it has come a lot of new things for you, buddy. You have started throwing tantrums quite a bit. Along with the tantrums comes a lot of crying, usually getting hurt somehow (running into a wall, tripping or bumping your head) and then wanting to cuddle. You have never been much of a cuddler and you are starting to like it more and more. Maybe because Porter is here, and you see us holding him all of the time? I don't know. I think some of these tantrums come because you can't say all of the things that you want to say (or do what you want to do). Although, you are saying a lot more words in your own cute little way. My new favorite is 'ope'. You say it really quickly and it means Heavenly Father. And after you say it you have a big smile on your face.

**Here you are watching a show (Elmo) and sitting at your table eating goldfish... you couldn't be happier.

Some other new things that you say (Daddy and I might be the only ones who can tell what these mean) are cereal, show, lasagna, fish (meaning goldfish), pizza, Logan, friend, basketball, Daddy (instead of dada), apple, applesauce, shoe, sock, abc, baby, outside, house, home, and moon (for Goodnight Moon). That was the very first book that we started reading to you when you were a couple of days old and you just said it for the first time 3 days ago. About 2 weeks ago I asked you who your friend was and you thought about it for a minute before saying 'nana' which means Logan. It was so stinking cute and it was the first time that you answered a question instead of repeating what we say.

You love to climb all over everything! All over the couches and chair, your little picnic table, our chairs and one day we turned around and you were on the kitchen table. You like to get to the top of whatever you are climbing and stand up and yell. I think you have really just discovered how cool it is to yell, because you do it a lot. And most of the time it is when you are happy.

You are really warming up to your little brother. On friday night, when we were at your cousin Logan's house you took the empty bottle that holds the milk (not the bottle that Porter eats out of) and walked up to Porter, who was sleeping in his car seat, and held it up to his mouth. You also like to sit on his blanket and sit with him.

**This is how you sit by Porter. You sit close to him but don't really interact with him.

You let your feet touch his leg and you pet his belly. You like to share a room with him and I am pretty sure you said goodnight to him when he was taking a nap a couple of days ago. You are also a really good helper and help burp him. I discovered today that you liked to be burped too. I held you and patted your back and then when I put you down, you held your arms up for me to pick you up again.

You still like to copy what other people are doing, especially Daddy.

**You are trying to wear Daddy's shoes. Usually you try to put them on our feet.

You laugh after someone else laughs, and you try to cough when you hear someone cough. If we are working out you think it is funny to watch and you still do happy feet. When your dad shuffles his feet and makes noise, you do the same and look at him and smile.

Two new teeth just broke through yesterday that makes 12 total and I see two more about to break through. That might explain why you always have your hands in your mouth. You are always chewing on your hands. You also LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your pacifiers.

**I tried to take the pacifier out right before this picture and you freaked out. I think that is why you are giving me the look.

Now you are only down to 1 because your dad tried to cut the tips off of the other 2 on Sunday and we soon realized it wasn't worth it. You couldn't stop crying the entire day. Plus, your dad is a softy and if you get sad he gives you anything that you want. We try to only give you the pacifiers when you are in bed and then we take it away after you fall asleep. We just started putting it in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom where your toothbrush is. But now you will stand by the bathroom door and get upset. And when we say it is nap/bedtime you don't go directly to your bed anymore, you stop at the bathroom and wait for us to get them out. It is really cute, but it will have to stop sometime soon. I am hoping that this recent obsession with them is because of all of those teeth that are coming in right now. Maybe that has something to do with the tantrums too??

You love to eat and when it is time to eat you try to get out your high chair yourself. You don't want us to feed you anymore and insist on doing it on your own. You are getting really good at using a spoon and a fork and if we put a bunch of chicken or pizza on your plate you don't try to shove it all in your mouth at once. You actually chew your food and swallow before you take more in... usually. You love cereal so much.

**You found the empty box this morning and carried it around all day. You look at the box like you are reading a book.

More specifically, Life cereal. If you say cereal and we get out another box other than that you get really mad. Then when we get out the box of Life you say cereal again and cheer up. You just sit and eat cereal with milk and are just so happy. Even when you aren't eating it you like to carry the box around.

You love any type of ball. You know the difference between a basketball, football, soccer ball and bouncy ball. You don't just say ball anymore, you say 'bababal' for basketball. And when Dad gets his shoes out to go play you say basketball, even if he doesn't have the ball with him. You can just tell when he is going to play. If you are awake when he leaves, you always want to go with him. You usually cry when he leaves if he doesn't take you. I think that is how your Dad was when he was little when his dad and brother would leave. He always wanted to go wherever they were going.

**These pictures from today crack me up. That is Porter's hat and you kept trying to put it on your head. When I helped you, you wore it around forever. When I would try to take it off, you would try to put it back on.

It doesn't matter what you do or don't do, Carson. We love you so much no matter what. You are growing up so fast and you are so playful. You are so funny and have such a fun personality. You make me so happy and my days worthwhile. I love spending time as a family and just letting you have fun.

Love, Mom

**Updated 5/6/09

Weight 28 lbs. -- 75th percentile

Height 33 1/4 inches -- Further off the charts