colleen writes: What a Difference a Month Makes!

Literally the day after I wrote the last blog post, Carter started crawling. This has been the biggest month for him in terms of growth and development. He can crawl, sit up from a laying position, pull up to his feet, and cruise all around the furniture. I knew the day was coming, but I didn’t necessarily look forward to it the way Adam did. Not because he’s my baby yadda yadda, but because now I can’t leave him alone for more than 30 seconds. I never felt like I got much done during the day, and now I KNOW I don’t. Carter is having so much fun terrorizing the house now. He has a funny way of crawling. He uses his left leg like a bear crawl and crawls the “normal” way with his right leg. He gets some good leverage and can turbo crawl.

I am now seeing the different interests that boys and girls can sometimes have. For example, Carter loves trucks, cars, tractors, motorcycles, you name it. He makes engine noises while playing with cars. We stopped at a rest area on our way up to Houghton Lake, and he was enthralled with the line-up of trucks. The other thing he gets super excited about is beverage containers. Beer bottles, pop cans, coffee cups…you name it…he thinks they are so cool. Whenever he sees something he wants, he points and says, “Dat!” I am guessing it means, “I want that!”

He also got his two front teeth about 3 weeks ago. No more toothless grin…now that does make me a little sad because I love me a baby with a toothless smile! Now he looks like a real little boy with his two front teeth sticking out. He also has 5^th one breaking through, too. He won’t eat baby food anymore—it’s like he knows if it comes out of a jar he won’t eat it…That’s fine with me. It’s so much easier to feed him what we eat. He loves all the typical kid foods—he gobbles down mac & cheese like there’s no tomorrow.

He showed jealousy for the first time last week. He was very upset that Gabrielle was on my lap, and he tried to push her away. (I am very used to jealousy but usually it’s the other way around!) I definitely look at him and catch a glimpse of him as a two-year old. He already has had a couple of temper tantrums. Both times, a diaper change was involved…. He also gets very upset if I tell him no. He’s getting ready to give me a run for my money just like Gabrielle. Lucky for him, I know what’s coming. I’m ready, kid!! In the same respect, he may crawl and eat big boy food, but he is still such a baby. He had a couple of other fun firsts this month…Jammie and Grandpop’s pool and playing in the sand. Both of which he loved!

The month of May seemed so long!! We attending several playgroups and went to the Hartland pool a couple of times. We also spent two long weekends up at the cottage getting the outside spruced up and getting the pontoon seaworthy. Gabrielle’s preschool put on the most wonderful and sweet Mother’s Day celebration. It was just a joy to watch her little musical performance, see her artwork so proudly displayed, and receive a beautiful hand-painted bird house as a gift. Gabrielle also had an end-of-the-school-year picnic at her teacher, Mrs. Peckens, house. I really feel like every child should have the opportunity to be a student of Mrs. Peckens. This woman amazes me. For the Mother’s Day Celebration, the art work displayed was complicated…some fashioned after Monet, the snacks were themed after The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and the gifts took some serious time and love to complete. For the picnic, Mrs. Peckens had fishing, drumming, fly swatter painting, huge bubble blowing, wet sidewalk chalk, sack racing, hunt-for-rubber mice in corn, hunt for rubber worms in sunflower seeds, a nature hike, an enchanted fairy garden, building with concrete blocks station, a “bear den” made out of sticks, sandbox, bug tattoo station, and this awesome PVC pipe golf ball tube that went down her hill. OH-and an ice cream sundae bar in which the kids got special bowls with matching bowls to keep. I mean the entire school year was like that. It was just amazing to me. I wish kids could always have those kinds of learning opportunities. Gabrielle really blossomed this year thanks to Mrs. Peckens.

Summer is upon us! I am sad that preschool is over. I am excited for all the fun that summer brings. Now that I have found Pinterest, maybe I can come up with some reallllllly fun stuff to do! HA!

Until next month, enjoy the moment!

Colleen!

Carter & Mama

Photo by Liz Towle!