A Year With Carter (and Happy Birthday Mckay)

Happy Birthday Mckay! You haven't changed much over the past year, so you're still a handsome devil!

Carter turned four on the 14th, and he was willing advanced his age, which was a surprise. Last year he turned "two again," so I wasn't sure what to expect. He thought that he got two days of birthday since it was Mckay's on Friday, which made for a lot of fun. Mostly though, it's been fun to think back over that past year and realize how hilarious Carter is. Enjoy:

Aug 17, 2009 -- We just finished Carter's 3 yr. old doctor check-up. He was very disappointed that the nurse wouldn't give him a shot and kept begging for "just one."

Aug 24 -- In the past 2 1/2 hours Carter has gone potty in the toilet 8 times and once in his underwear. I'm going to need to buy more treats.

Aug 25 --Potty training is over. Carter informed me that he doesn't want to go potty in the toilet and he wants to wear a diaper. Maybe in a few months.

Nov 17 -- I found Carter with a cup full of syrup. He said he wanted to drink that instead of juice.

Nov 23 --Carter threw a cat (Forrest Gump) over the balcony in the living room at my parent's home yesterday. It took a lot of self control, but no one died laughing until after Mckay had spanked Carter and taken him out to the car. Why does that cat still let Carter touch him!?!

Jan 28 --We were leaving the school this morning when Carter climbed into Sammy's stroller. He refused to get out when I was being nice, so I started getting mad, which didn't work either. I tried pulling him out of the stroller, but he is huge, and he was holding on with his feet. A teacher came along and volunteered to help, so she held Carter while I worked on his feet. An aid happened upon us and started pulling on the stroller. The three of us finally prevailed over my stubborn three year old.

Feb 7 -- Seven days of potty training and I think we're going to make it! No accidents today, Tuesday, or Wednesday. We're going to forget about Thursday and remember that we had company all day and playing is too much fun.

Feb 10 -- We took Carter to the ER last night because he couldn't breathe. It was so scary! It turned out to just be croup, but he needed epinephrine and steroids to get things under control again. I think it was worth the million dollar bill we'll be getting in a few weeks.

Feb 26 -- Because of Carter, if anyone is planning on joining my family for a meal, you ought to be advised of our newest family rule: You must be wearing underwear to join to family for a meal; no nakedness at the table. You have been warned.

Mar 2 --I was playing Uno with Carter, who's kind of new to the game. When he was down to one card I prompted him asking, "What do you yell when you only have one card?" He thought and then yelled, "I need more cards!!"

Mar 4 -- Carter locked my mom and me in his room (the doorknob has been turned around) and I had to call my neighbor/home teacher to let us out. The text message read: Are you home? I'm locked in my house and need help getting out.

Mar 20 -- When I tried to get Carter out of the tub this morning he told me he couldn't get out until he had flexed his muscles. Is that a Carter thing or a guy thing?

Mar 25 -- Carter wanted to go potty outside, but I told him we do that inside. The next thing I know he's standing just inside the door, peeing on the patio! I guess I need to be more specific next time. At least it wasn't the living room floor!

Apr 14 -- Carter just massacred one of Sammy's shirts and one of his jackets with a pair of children scissors! Whatever happened to making kid scissors dull?

Apr 19 --We've been talking a lot about death since Grandpa Bangerter passed away, but Carter still doesn't get it. Yesterday he asked when Grandpa got shot and today he asked if he drown in a river.May 19 --A couple funnies from Carter lately:He saw a guy (a very short guy) covered in tattoos and asked "Does that mean he's really good at basketball?"

In the bathtub he was putting bubbles on his chin so he would look like Santa, but when he called me in he said "Look, now I'm like Jes -, um, Santa!"

May 31 -- Carter got a bloody nose at the Bangerter breakfast this morning. I asked what happened and he said, "I punched myself in the face." And then he showed me.

Jun 20 -- Carter asked me if he was a bad guy or an Indian. Since he was naked I said that he was an Indian. "No," he replied. "I'm Humpty Dumpty." Huh?

Jun 28 -- We were driving past Target on Saturday when Carter told us to stop. He said he wanted to go by a thing to chop down trees. "You want an ax?" questioned Mckay. "Yeah, I need an ax," said Carter. After some serious thinking we decided that Carter isn't ready to own an ax, plus I don't know that Target is the best place to get one.

A couple other fun things :

• He says "Puddle up!" instead of huddle up.
  
• R2D2 is RT2T
  
• Carter was playing with a see and say toy but he though it was a clock. He came running up to me and said, "It's duck o'clock!"
  
• Carter insists that we call his bike a motorcycle, and tells everyone that he can ride a motorcycle.
  
• Because Carter fights the bad guys with his shirt off, he is usually not wearing a shirt. You never know when you may be called in to fight the bad guys!

I should laugh a lot more, because through all the messes and aggravation, Carter is a fun, cute, HILARIOUS kid. He's absolutely sweet and definitely loves his mom. I am very lucky to have him and, contrary to what I said the other night, will miss him very much when he's gone on a mission for two years. Our house is definitely empty when Carter isn't running around.

I love you, Bud! Have fun being four!