The Zorio Family: Carter: 18 Months

Our sweet Carter is 18 months old!! I waited to post this until after his 18 month checkup so I could include his height and weight stats! So, at 1 and a half Carter weighs 26 pounds, and he is 32 inches tall. (For fun, at this age Dawson was 27 pounds and 32.5 inches tall!)
At 18 months, one of Carter's new found loves is CLIMBING! It makes me so nervous! He climbs on everything. He climbs on the kitchen table, coffee table, Dawson's bed, chairs, couches, you name it. When I see him on something dangerous, I have to slowly walk toward him (instead of running like I want to) because he starts laughing and getting silly because he's proud of his accomplishment, which makes me even more afraid he will fall. (I looked back at Dawson's 18 month update after writing Carter's, and I had written very similar things about climbing for Dawson at this age too.)
Carter is becoming less picky (he still refuses to eat any sort of pasta-even mac n cheese), but he's broadening his pallet lately! Finally, he has gotten two more teeth! Just in the past couple of weeks his 5th and 6th teeth popped through the gums! I love his sweet little smile right now!

In addition to climbing, at this age Carter also loves:
-singing (he knows an impressive amount of words to various songs now!) His favorites right now are Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star; The Ants Go Marching; Baa Baa Black Sheep.
-dancing-If it has a beat or music can be heard anywhere, Carter will hear it and start dancing. He usually starts by bouncing up and down bending his knees, adds in a side to side movement, and the motion of twisting one arm back and forth bent at the elbow. It's adorable, and I love to watch him dance!
-talking!-Carter is constantly talking, constantly! He learns many new words each day! There is no way I could write down all the words he says now. A couple of weeks at the soccer game, Carter was being held (against his will), and yelled perfectly clear, "I want down!" This was the beginning of him starting to put words together, and he keeps impressing us with his ability to do this!
-play-Carter loves to play any game with his brother, but his favorite thing to do with Dawson is run and wrestle! Carter's favorite toys right now are Weebles (we just got them out of the attic, so they're new to Carter and he loves them! I love to hear him say, "Weeble! Weeble!"), other favorite toys include books, color wonder markers (he says, "mark mark! mark mark! when he wants to color with these!), the toy leaf blower, weed eater, mower, and ride on construction equipment are the current favorites. I also must add that Carter is really good about entertaining himself for about 5 minutes in the playroom by himself. He's never really had to do this because he's always had Dawson, but when Dawson's at school and I need to change Nora Kate or make Carter's lunch, I have noticed that Carter doesn't mind to do this for a short period of time (about 5 minutes). It is WONDERFUL!!! I think having had a child first who did not (and still doesn't often) entertain himself, it makes me notice and appreciate it!
-his brother-Carter loves his brother. He constantly looks to see what Dawson is doing or saying, and then usually copies it (this can be good or bad!). He had about two weeks where Carter cried every time we would leave Dawson at school (am I that boring to Carter?! haha), but he seems to be over it again for now. That's how attached he is to Dawson though. As long as Dawson is with him, he doesn't have separation anxiety from me or John.
-lawn mowers- Carter loves lawn mowers and says, "Lawn mow!" He can hear one from a mile away! He asks to ride John's all the time, and he looks so happy to ride with his Daddy.
-outside-Carter loves playing outside in general, and a recent favorite is playing sand! John had the wonderful idea to bring the sand table and sand box on our patio, and it's GREAT! Now the boys can play it in all the time!
-to laugh!-Carter really does love to laugh! He's such a ham, and he will do anything to make us laugh too! He's constantly making silly faces, doing silly little dances, walking backward, or doing anything he thinks is silly then looking at us to see if it made us laugh. Then he breaks out laughing.
-to hug!

From this age, I want to remember how sweet my little boy is-always hugging and snuggling, how silly he loves to be, how much he loves and copies his big brother and how gentle and loving he is toward his little sister. He amazes us with how much he is learning and his ever increasing vocabulary! Carter, thank you for always keeping us smiling and laughing!

On to the pictures!