Carter Cutie!

Carter is my little sweetheart, even though he is always telling me that he doesn't like kisses. His response to my sad-face is a disgruntled, "but, I just love hugs!" I hope he still feels that way when he gets to be dating age. He's very inventive and mechanical. Many of you have heard the story of how he cut my blinds in order to get some rope to make a parachute. He loves to show me spaceships he's made of legos, or castles made out of paper cups.

Carter generally doesn't cause a lot of trouble, and when he does, he always has a perfectly good reason for it. For example, the other day at the park he pushed his cousin Macie off the playground equipment because "She was just in my way, and she wasn't going!" I've also gotten after him for taking toys away from his sister only to be informed that he said please and she just wasn't giving it to him. You may have noticed in my quotes that he says the word just quite frequently. He also likes to say "You're just not trusting me, Mom!," and add "or something" to the end of many of his sentences. Such as: "Why can't I have a cookie? Is it junk food or something?"

I'd like to tell you that I taught him the difference between junk food and healthy food...but no. It was Captain Carlos from Nickelodeon. He's also always telling me when I have "a safety violation," which he learned from some cartoon brother and sister of whose names I can't recall at the moment. I know, I know, I need to cut down on the tube!

He doesn't spend ALL of his time watching TV, however. He's very interested in art and music. He loves to make "cards" for me, and he's getting much better at drawing. There is never a square inch of space on my fridge due to all of his artistic creations. My friend BreAna even noticed that he's no longer drawing heads with arms and legs like kids do when they're first learning. His people have bodies now, and a few weeks ago, Mommy's body even had a baby inside it. Don't get too excited folks, his drawing was not accurate.

He takes his role as big brother very seriously. He likes to carry (drag) Meleah all over the place and warn Lydia that if she does that again she's going to have to sit on the naughty stairs. Another big brother trait is that he can be a bit of a

know-it-all. (Love ya Steve!) There have been many occassions that I have asked him what something is, and rather than admit that he doesn't know...he just says that it's a shoodle, or a chauster, or something equally inaudible.

I've been a little bit concerned about his manners lately. I mean, for a kid that's first words were do-do for thank you, he sure seems to be regressing in the politeness department. For example, these days a common way for him to tell me he needs food is "Huuuungry Mom!" Sometimes he even goes so far as to just point at his open mouth and make grunting noises. Is it really so hard to say those few extra words and make a complete sentence? Would it just take too much time and effort?

Whether Carter is behaving good or bad, he brings so much laughter into my life. Even the time I discovered my blinds strewn haphazardly across the playroom floor, I couldn't help but giggle at his justification. Friends and relatives love to tell me about the funny things he's said while they tended him, and although it can be a little mortifying at times...it's so much fun. I realize that all parents are somewhat biased when it comes to their own children, but I know that my little Carter-Cutie is one in a million. I "just" love him to pieces!