Hey Keaton Carter,
This month was full of Ready SET Go! You would say 'Set' with the cutest little low voice. The same voice that says 'Cookie' in a way that makes you think of a melty chocolately perfect cookie. You love saying words in twos, 'WaWa,' 'Ball Ball,' and 'Tickle Tickle'... You will talk some serious gibberish sometimes, which usually ends in you stomping off muttering 'Wickie Wickie' - I wish I knew what you were saying.
One thing that is really clear is how much you love your family. You give real kisses with cute closed lips and a real mwah sound. When you aren't giving us an earful of baby babble, you are usually trying to imitate us. You liked to try to copy my cough or sneeze when I was sick this month. You looked out for me. You learned how to blow your own nose loudly into a Kleenex (better than I can). If anyone in the house is putting on their shoes and getting ready to go, you want to put your shoes on to and join in the fun. You also still love wandering around as the one shoe wonder stomping around with one shoe.
You now like calling your brother AE or AD and you are working on getting is closer to Aiden. You insist on using a fork over a spoon just like your brother. You both will sit in the back seat with a flap book each while we drive around town. You love to get that dancing arm out when there is a song you like on the radio. You are so excited to dance in the car with your brother.
The mischief maker in you came to visit a bit this month. You started playing and hiding in the curtains (even when not prompted by your brother). The most disconcerting is when you climb up on everything usually trying to get to the window sill or the tippy top of the perilous edge of whatever it is you've managed to slink up onto... Oh, my, that smile of pride when you got up on the couch on your own the first time was almost worth it. Then after a short cuddle, you try to jump around on the bouncy cushions... I think you've managed to learn that couches are for sitting now, but I must have repeated that 500 times this month.
You enjoy 'cleaning' with the broom which is really dragging the broom around until it bashes into something and you can't push it farther. Then you get mad but not nearly as mad as if I try to take it away to clean it up a bit because playing with a dirty broom is so much more fun. You also take playing with the kiddie laptop very seriously. You will set it up on your 'desk' and there is lotsa stomping and pacing in between careful tapping and mumbling.
We trimmed your baby curls this month.... and by trim I mean the lady at Cartoon Cuts hacked them all off and stuck them in an envelope to make me feel better. She was genuinely nice, but I have her as a villain in my mind because she didn't even hesitate as I asked whether we could save some of the curls - meaning save some of the length... Ug, every time I see an old shot of that messy crazy professor hair that I just loved, I think that I'm never cutting it again!
The screamy guy phase is sorta becoming a long phase. You are now screamy when you are mad more often than when you are excited. The frustrated screamer is sometimes being told that he isn't allowed to jump on his brother in the bath, or crinkle up the pages of his book. You will sometimes get feisty when trying to sit on a chair as it backs up and pushes away from you. Although, I've seen that you can float mid air in a squat as the chair tumbles away.
You like to tell us animal noises. My favorite is the bunnies go hop hop hop. I think it's fun when you call for your the dancing gorilla toy by running around going "aaa, uh, aah!" You saw the neighborhood fox out the window, ran and grabbed your stuffed fox and held it up against the window saying "See?!" "Uh oh" is also now in full effect, especially when you intentionally drops something. Your little voice asking for "Cheese, Pease!" is my favorite.
Singing into the toy reverb microphone and the unplugged mike for the Wii Singit is one of your favorite things. You will find a bunch of toys and try to see if they will do the same thing that fun microphone will. When it won't you keep digging through the box looking for the one that will make your voice funny. If something isn't quite right you say "boke, ix!" and when I help you fix whatever is broken, you will respond with "Tada!"
You used to be a little scared of the vacuum with a big preference for the broom, since you could be the dust pan helper. Now you clap to the vacuum roar. You seem like you are cheering on your brother as he cleans with the little dust buster handheld vacuum. You even want to swipe it across the floor yourself. Best purchase ever - family cleanup time!
Aiden thinks your favorite dance move is an original. He will yell out, "do the baby bounce!" and we all bend our knees and drop our 'bottoms' with our dancing arm in the air. I call your right arm your dancing arm because it is always grooving first when a good song comes on the radio in the car or when your brother busts out the 'youtubey' music videos on the play room computer.
Whenever we meet your buddies at the playground you run up for hugs, and then you do this shy guy face when you back away. The face seems to say that you meant to play it cool but you were too excited to see them. You are a good year younger than most of them, but in some cases you would never know because you're a pretty tall guy. You really want to hang with the big kids, your brother being the ultimate big kid. You want to do everything he does, including wanting to use the potty before bath and successfully getting a dribble in every so often. Trying to copy your brother, the zurbert monster, you usually end up just pressing your slobbery teeth against my arm. You even took your first bounce in a bouncey house where your tongue wagged around even more than your feet.
You are pretty good at not putting things in your mouth anymore, so we can let you check out Aiden's cool toys like the hex bugs that bounce all around. You like holding those vibrating bugs up to your ear and cheeks especially when you had your sinusy respiratory virus. You were such a big boy sitting on my lap in the hospital bed while we waited for the doctor and even getting an xray to check your chest for pneumonia.
We tried out a Mandarin class recommended by your neighborhood buddies. You stuck with it, but you were immediately bummed that your brother wasn't there. You kept going to the door yelling Aeeee?! The teacher managed to keep your attention, but I'm not sure you really liked it all that much. You were mostly just interested in cuddling up against me and trying to nurse. You did get the idea that wasn't going to happen, but I think your little gums are welcoming new teeth and that sure must hurt.
You love slides! You were especially smiley down the water slides at the waterpark this month. You were even excited when I biffed it at the end of the slide and we both dunked under water. I guess those swim lessons that taught you to go underwater were valuable because you held your breath. You can ride slides all by yourself at Mobu, on our little slide in the basement, and even Aiden's school with the steep slide. During the start of school last year you were all curled up in your Moby against my chest, and this year you were sliding and stomping all around. You were even pulling up and chair with your own work right across from your brother. You sure are going to miss him when he goes to school in the mornings.
You are genuinely feeding yourself now and you can even poke your favorite strawberries with a fork. You are a fruit lover one hundred percent. You will gobble down just about anything if you're hungry and you seem to like just about any texture. The only thing you aren't game for lately is anything that resembles baby food, no purees period, no applesauce even! Your favorite seems to be noodles and the messier the better.
All of our names ended in 'y' this month. Mommmy and Daddy are so cute in your little voice. The tired mommy cry could melt anyone. It's so sweet and sad at the same time. I like to call out to you with your full name because it sometimes makes you giggle out of the blue. In addition to using eee sounds all the time, you like to make a growly low noise. All puppets like to growl at each other lately. We're ready for another month full of new noises, plenty of squeals, and even some growling... And we'll see if you like pumpkin treats as much as the rest of us.
Love, Mommeee
