Sometime this summer (sorry, we don’t remember the exact date), Braden and Carson decided to play school. Here’s an excerpt of the dialogue:

BRADEN: I’m the teacher, and you’re the student.

CARSON: What’s your name?

BRADEN: You can call me Mr. B.

CARSON: Okay Mr. B, what are we going to learn today?

BRADEN: We’re going to do some math. What’s 6 plus 7?

CARSON: Can I use my fingers?

BRADEN: Yes.

CARSON: (After using his fingers) 13.

BRADEN: That’s right.

Journal playing, talking

Here are some examples of funny or cute things that Carson has said in the past few months:

• Braden typically asks us what he should wear before going to school (e.g. short-sleeve shirt vs. long-sleeve shirt). This morning as he headed up the stairs and declared he was changing, Carson said: “Long sleeves.”
• Once Brian was singing “Home Sweet Home” by Motley Crue and got to this part: “I’m on my way, just set me free …” and Carson chimed in “home sweet poop” (he likes to replace words with “poop” to be funny). It was stunning that he had learned the lyrics from Brian singing it!
• Braden still doesn’t like to go to the basement by himself. He asked Carson to come with him as he went to retrieve something. Carson stayed at the top of the stairs and said, “chee chee chee ha ha ha.” This is in reference to the “Friday the 13th” movie sounds Brian makes when he’s trying to scare the kids.
• While Kristin was participating in a run this year, Brian told the kids that “mommy was in a race.” Carson responded, “A race? Oooh, I hope she wins a medal.”
• Brian noticed that one of the two chairs in Carson’s room was no longer there and asked Carson where it was. He said matter-of-factly, “It’s in Braden’s room so he has somewhere to sit.”
• While reading about raptors in a dinosaur book, Carson cited that “raptors can run up to 30 miles per hour.” Brian asked Carson how he knew that, and Carson replied that his friend Sam told him at school.

Journal talking

Over Christmas break, we somewhat successfully migrated Carson to underwear. He’s willing to pee on the potty, but he still prefers to poop in diapers (or unfortunately, his underwear). The good news is that because he’s “potty-trained,” we were able to move him into the toddler class at preschool (the same class that Braden was in).

Drop-off has been getting progressively easier. Brian and Carson look for the snail in the fish tank every morning, then hug each other goodbye. Carson is one of the youngest in his class; some of his classmates were Braden’s classmates.

***

Carson is talking so much more now–his sentences are so cute. However, it’s a struggle sometimes to hear him, because he has begun whispering for some reason. And usually he responds to yes/no questions by nodding or shaking his head.

***

Now that Carson’s using the day bed, he often comes into our room in the middle of the night to sleep in our bed. Occasionally he’ll go into Braden’s room and bug his older brother. Carson still sleeps like a baby: on his stomach, with his legs tucked in, sometimes sucking his thumb.

***

We submitted Carson’s photo to Ch. 3 for the “Look Who’s 3” segment. He did like seeing himself on TV.

Journal birthday, preschool, talking

Video talking

Carson and Braden have always had completely opposite levels of thirst. At meals, for example, Braden may have a sip of his beverage while Carson will have two glasses.

The other day, Carson chugged two cups of milk in front of Kristin, who remarked, “wow,  you must be really thirsty.”

Carson replied, “I am thirsty.” That was stunning, as his ability to make sentences and use pronouns is more advanced than Braden’s ability at the same age.

***

Carson has regressed in terms of drop-offs at preschool. Since early March, he often clings to Brian’s leg, and the teachers have to pull him off and hold him so that Brian can leave. Carson will make a face like he’s about to cry, and a few times he has. Fortunately, he gets over it quickly.

***

Braden was excited for his Easter egg hunt. We hid eggs in the living room and in parts of the backyard for him. Carson’s eggs were much easier to spot; we hid them in the dining room and the deck.

***

It’s been a few months now, but Carson is permanently out of high chairs, much earlier than when Braden stopped using them. It can be difficult at restaurants, as sometimes Carson will get up to walk around, plus he’s a little short to eat over the table.

***

The boys often fight over the same toys. Any particular toy isn’t popular until the other is playing with it. Braden is getting better at sharing, but Carson is not.

Journal holidays, preschool, talking

Brian spotted a big, fat rabbit living under a tree between our backyard and the neighbor’s yard. The other day, Brian showed the kids the rabbit, telling them that the rabbit was eating food. Carson repeated it, saying “rabbit eat food.” We guess that is technically his first sentence, as he probably did understand every word he said.

Otherwise, Carson’s vocabulary continues to grow, and he’s quick to repeat anything he hears. He knows to say “more please,” he says he “Thomas” when he wants to watch Thomas the Train and he says “choo choo” to watch The Wiggles (the opening song has the lyrics, “choo choo chug-a-chug-a”). The latter is reminiscent of Braden saying “bow wow” to watch a different Wiggles DVD (that opening song had “bow wow” in the lyrics).

For some reason, Carson’s pronunciation of “no” has turned into “not.” We’re not sure how this happened.

***

As expected, Braden loved Christmas more than Carson, even helping his brother open his presents. The kids helped Kristin decorate the Christmas tree, and Carson only periodically tried to remove a few ornaments in the month of December.

We think the most popular gift was a foot-powered (like the Flintstones) car with roof for Carson. Both he and Braden battle over who gets to ride it.

To make room in our playroom, Kristin packed up most of the infant toys, as well as some of Braden’s toys (that formerly belonged to Brian, much to his dismay). Brian also had packed up some infant toys after removing the gate that we used for a playpen for Carson.

For a while, Carson did play throughout the playroom once the gate was put away, but now he primarily plays with his toy cars on the staircase. He started doing this one day a few weeks back, and he hasn’t stopped. We have to be careful when we talk down the stairs and not trip on any of the cars.

Journal holidays, playroom, talking

We took Braden and Carson to see their second ever movie at a theater on Sunday. If you recall, their first movie was an IMAX film about the space shuttle, which we watched at Kennedy Space Center last November.

This time around, we saw the 10 a.m. matinee of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.” Of course, Braden enjoyed it, along with all the candy and soda he consumed. Carson did well for the first hour or so eating popcorn and candy and drinking tons of soda. However, for the final half-hour, he walked around the aisles, but at least he was within arm’s length of our seats.

***

Carson’s breakfast habits have changed. He doesn’t like Multigrain Cheerios anymore, often electing to eat Ritz Crackers or something else. He also doesn’t like sitting in his high chair at breakfast time, preferring to sit with Braden in the living room and watch TV.

Speaking of Ritz, it’s funny to see Carson hold onto a stack of crackers (sometimes other things like Wheat Thins) for hours, eating one every now and then. He’ll play, watch TV and move about all while holding onto the crackers. He’ll even move the crackers to his other hand when he needs to free up that hand.

***

Carson certainly knows the word “no” now. For example, as he’s coming down the stairs, if we try to help him, he’ll yell “no!”

Journal going out, talking

Carson screams all the time, and it’s always at the top of his lungs. Although Braden usually plays nicely with Carson, sometimes Braden takes away Carson’s toys, and Carson then lets out a piercing scream.

Other times Carson gets clingy to one person, and if another person tries to hold him, he screams.

Carson also has begun kicking and screaming when his clothes or diaper are changed. Braden did the same thing at the same age of18 months, so we know we have a while to go with Carson.

***

Carson is still not speaking but at least he’s beginning to repeat a lot of words. It’s cute when Braden tries to teach him to talk. At least Carson usually understands what you’re saying to him.

***

Whenever Carson realizes we’re about to go somewhere, he runs to the door to get his shoes. He also will hand you your shoes. He still kicks his shoes off in the car but at least not as often now.

Journal talking

Here’s a video of Carson “speaking” (more like squawking) last month:

Video talking

Braden has really improved on the Angry Birds game. He’s better at controlling the direction of the bird, and he knows which birds change when you tap them mid-flight.

He plays it wherever he can–our tablet, Kristin’s iPhone, Kristin’s dad’s iPad, Brian’s iPod touch, etc. Brian recently gave Braden his old cellphone to play to Angry Birds, but that didn’t stop him from still asking for the other devices.

Speaking of the tablet, Braden is getting more adept at using it. We’ve already mentioned he can unlock it, but to see him move apps, add shortcuts, load YouTube, etc., is quite the sight.

***

We can’t get Braden to stay in his room all night. Several months ago, he began coming into our room when he woke up in the middle of the night. We initially let him do it, but unfortunately it became a habit. Now if he comes in the middle of the night, we take him back to his room, much to his disappointment. Otherwise, if it’s close to time to wake up, we let him stay.

It’s harder to put Braden to sleep, too. He wants us to stay in the room until he falls asleep, but we simply don’t have the patience for it.

***

Poor Kristin. Like Brian, she had to deal with an accident in the bathtub. It started with Braden passing some gas, then he had some diarrhea. He said, “Mommy, mommy, look!”

***

We’re amused when Braden repeats things in a list. For example, we may say, “Braden, do you want any milk?” He’ll respond, “No, I don’t want any milk.” We’ll try again with, “How some juice or water?” He’ll then say, “No, I don’t want any milk. I don’t want any juice. I don’t want any water.”

***

We finally got Braden to wear his new shoes, which we bought a couple of months ago. His Converse shoes were getting a bit tight, and these new shoes are so much easier for us to put on him.

Journal bath, sleep, talking, video games