I love you to the moon and back Carter...

Pierce is really starting to take off on the whole concept of treating others the way you would like to be treated.  He obviously enjoys doing fun things (he has told me this multiple times), and he enjoys being cuddled and not in time out, so he is starting to carry this on to Carter.  Big time.  Carter was put in time out yesterday for biting Pierce, and was upset that he was placed there.  Pierce decided that the bite wasn't worth Carter being sad and upset, so he walked over to the time out corner, sat down next to him, and started rubbing his back and gave him a kiss on his head.  Then he looks at him and goes, "Just no more biting Carter, ok?"  Tonight as we are tucking Carter into bed, Pierce goes, "Carter I love you to the moon and back."  How much sweeter could my little boy be?

The boys have had so much fun with their new toys too.  Pierce had me set up the train set yesterday while Carter napped.  And there are 43 pieces of little track that has to be put together.  I had a moment of clarity in my sleep deprived brain, and actually numbered all of the pieces, so that I would remember how they went together.  Yay!  His goal was to build the biggest train ever.  And lets just say, he got upset when the train was so long that it would not go up the bridge, since it was too bottom heavy and stuck on the curve inside the tunnel.  Pierce has also thoroughly enjoyed his tempera paint markers.  I have learned that no matter how many different brands of tempera pain say washable on the outside, they are NOT washable on clothes.  But, it is a lesson learned.  And luckily, it was a brown shirt and you can only see hints of blue.

Carter is liking the cars he received, and every human being, dog, surface, etc., has become a race track.  Vroom noises included.  :)  He is starting to get into imaginitive play, and I LOVE it.  I honestly do not remember Pierce being this interested in stuff at 16 months, but then again, I also had a newborn at the same time and everything was a blur.  Carter was also very proud of himself tonight when he figured out how to walk and ring a bell at the same time.  The smile on his face was worth a million dollars.  To go along with that accomplishment, he also laid down on his belly in the bathtub tonight, and started swimming.  First. Time. Ever.  Go Carter go!

However, I have noticed, that Carter is NOT a fan of the recent cold or snow we have.  I had him outside with me yesterday while I was grabbing wood in preparations for the storm we were hit with today, and he screamed nearly the whole time.  Today, he screamed the entire time.  Thankfully Daddy took a personal day from work since he could not get a vehicle up the driveway, so he was able to take Carter while Pierce and I stayed outside for a little bit longer.  It was that nasty wet rainy snow, so it saturated everything and was not a lot of fun to play in.

As of tonight, the Christmas tree has been put out to pasture, and the decorations have come down.  I never take everything down this early, but that tree was leaning more and more, and my logic was that before it fell it needed to be taken out.  Pierce was a bit disturbed by this, but he solved this disturbance by ringing a bell and pretending to be Santa (he saw the Salvation Army Santas in NYC).  When Dan asked him what Santa wanted for Christmas, his response?  "More hotdogs."  Do they have a hot dog anonymous that I could send him to?

The last new thing, is a change to our nightly routine.  Carter is asking for a bottle by 7:30 PM the latest, every night.  I have felt guilty that Pierce and I are never done playing by the time Carter wants to go to bed, so he has been missing out on the nightly reading time.  So, tonight I suggested to Pierce that before we do our big boy puzzle time, why don't we both go read Carter books.  I picked a couple that Pierce knows by heart, so he honestly felt like he was reading to Carter, Carter loved his books, and both boys were very happy.  Then we both tucked Carter in with an, "I love you to the moon and back," and went back out in the living room to work on puzzles.  Pierce then was able to read his big boy books with me (Where the Wild Things Are is his new favorite), and he was able to stay awake a little later.  Hopefully this still works after Mimi and Papa come back from vacation.  I am pretty sure it will.  :)

Now that I am done babbling through this post, I am going to catch up on some much needed sleep as well.  When a whole house ends up with a stomach virus, it is amazing how little sleep you have achieved in a week.  Good night everyone, and give all of your loved ones extra hugs and kisses.  And to my two boys, I love you to the moon and back times infinity.

TRAINS!

Paint - lots and lots of paint.