Carter is Seven

Our funny, caring, kind, considerate, fun-loving, energetic, brown-eyed, strong, sweet Carter turned SEVEN Saturday!  It's hard to believe yet another year has passed and that Carter's another year older, he has continued to amaze us this year!  Carter has a great personality.  He's very caring and outgoing and he really enjoys being around others and having friends!  He loves "knowing" people-like when he can point out friends or teachers that I don't know when we are out shopping, and he always makes sure to say hello.  He loves this.  He has always been very much a people person, and I hoped that making him change schools (let alone states, houses, etc) after finishing his kindergarten year, wouldn't make him less comfortable with himself, shy, or nervous-and I shouldn't have worried at all.  Carter has seemed to absolutely love knowing more about his school than me, learning his way around his (really) big school, and experiencing all the newness and just figuring it out.  He quickly made friends on his soccer team, basketball team, in his class, and most recently in our neighborhood.  Last year on Carter's birthday weekend was when we told the kids we were moving from Tennessee to Alabama, so I have many thoughts and memories about this tied to thinking about Carter's birthday.  Carter likes his new school as we are nearing the end of first grade, and as I said he's made lots of new friends there.  I love visiting him at school and seeing him interact with his friends.  He's so confident.  Love it.
Carter also has a very sensitive personality.  He's always concerned about other's feelings, and he is so, so thoughtful. The same little toddler who used to run in the kitchen and kiss me while yelling, "I just came in here to kiss you!" has turned into this sweet seven year old boy, who still gives me unsolicited hugs and kisses!  
Carter is very smart.  He has a "math brain," and it seems that anything relating to numbers clicks with him almost instantly still.  In kindergarten at the end of the school year his teacher gave him the "math magician" award because "his brain works like magic solving math problems, and I think he is still living up to this award.  Now at the end of first grade he knows almost all of his times tables.  We haven't done 12's yet and our 8's need some brushing up on, but he's just a first grader!  He has learned fractions recently as well.  He has also gotten to be a great reader.  Lately he's been really into the I Survived Book Series.  He read almost every single Magic Treehouse book over the summer and the first half of the school year, and I think the few that are left that he's not read, he has somewhat gotten burnt out on reading.  He also loved reading the My Weird School books, but he plows through those so quickly now, that, while he finds them hilarious, they're too easy.  When I ask him what he likes best about school he always says math and science.  His first grade year has had a lot of interesting science units at school, and this has regularly been a favorite part of his day (second to gym of course).  He does well in spelling at school also, and has loved having a challenge word each week on his spelling tests.  The challenge words are really hard and he has loved learning how to spell these words-words like personification, onomatopoeia, evaporation, and this past week's word was ootheca (to be honest, I don't think I had ever in my life heard this word, which thrilled Carter to be able to teach me that an ootheca is the egg sac of a praying mantis -yuck!)  He loves a good challenge though, and these words have been fun for him to learn.
Carter is still very competitive.  This can be with his siblings or in a sport.  He played fall soccer and then basketball, and he did really well in both.  Over the past several weeks, I have been teaching the kids to play tennis in our neighborhood.  Carter immediately loved this game and now wants to practice every day after school.  
Other "favorites" of Carter at this age include fishing, playing his tablet that he got for Christmas, playing checkers, playing war (the card game), playing 10 thousand, and riding his scooter.  He loves looking forward to things even that are way off...for example we have a beach trip planned in the fall and a trip to Washington, DC planned this summer, and he likes to keep a running count down of days until these trips on the chalkboard in his room.  (also on the chalkboard is a count down to Dawson's birthday, and there was one until his birthday until today)...but he loves the countdown.
Carter seems to be one solid muscle.  He's strong and fast and just a solid muscle!  Carter is very polite without me reminding him.  I was recently proud of him after hearing him thank the ladies that organized our neighborhood egg hunt-love his good manners.  Don't get me wrong though, he can tell some gross boy jokes though about bathroom humor with the best of them-which gets his siblings in stitches, but, in general, he seems to save that for his siblings at home.  
Carter still doesn't like cheese-unless it's in pizza, and it must honestly taste  bad to him because he can detect it in the smallest quantity.  He is a good eater otherwise though.  He still prefers meats and veggies separate as compared to pot pies or casseroles or bakes, but he will eat whatever I make, but he loves a steak or burger.  He's always been a meat kinda guy.
Carter is a wonderful middle child.  He is a good little brother to Dawson, and he still looks up to Dawson so much.  He's also a good fellow middle with Nora Kate.  These two have a special relationship that I just can't describe.  I always tell John that I hope they stay this close because, although these two can drive each other nuts at times, they just seem to be so alike or compatible most of the time.  When Carter and Nora Kate were back together full time for spring break they had a blast.  Carter is a good big brother to Clayton too.  Nora Kate has always taken on the role of little mama to Clayton, and Dawson has always wanted to help him and teach him things, but Carter seems to have taken on the role of Clayton's personal comedian.  He likes to make Clayton laugh-and Clayton having a similar personality loves this and tries to make Carter laugh right back! SO cute.
Carter, we absolutely cannot believe that the little 7 pounds 13 ounce bundle of joy that was several days late and then took at 32 hour labor to bring into this world is now SEVEN years old!  We love our sweet, brown-eyed, affectionate Carter so much! I can't wait to see what being seven has in store for you!  
Happy number 7 sweet Carter!

Here is Carter before his 7th birthday party!

I love this sweet boy so much! This was right before he lost his two front teeth!

He has been really into Rocket and Space this year, and he wanted an outerspace birthday party.  Here he is on a recent visit to the Rocket Center as an astronaut!