Carter Lately

It's hard to believe, but Carter is rapidly approaching 4 years old! I haven't written about him much lately, so I just wanted to talk about him for a few minutes, and document what he's up to right now, at almost 4 years old!

He has always been really loving towards his sister, but lately, I've noticed him being especially sweet with her, in ways that would have previously been really hard for him. One day in the car, he was snacking on some pretzels, and I gave them to him with one condition - that he share with Ella. (I knew she'd fuss if she couldn't have any). He agreed, and after a few minutes, Carter said to me, "Mommy, I have one more pretzel, and I'm going to give it to Ella." How sweet is that? :)

Also, one night last month we met my parents for dinner, and they took Ella home with them. Eric, Carter, and I were headed home in our car. We were about 10 minutes into the ride, and Carter had been really quiet. Then he said, "Mommy, I miss Ella." I responded with something like, "It's okay, you'll see her tomorrow, she just went to spend one night at Nana's house." His response was, "Awwww, I hope she's okay!" He was so worried that she would be scared without us around, and was genuinely so concerned about his sister for the next 20 hours or so. Adorable, and truly a show of love for his baby sis. :)

Loving on his sis :)

He is becoming more independent, and that is definitely helping me out!! Some examples are fully dressing himself in the morning, brushing his own teeth (with supervision), using the bathroom, cleaning himself up, and washing his hands all without help. And I have to say, it's really nice to have him do these things on his own regularly now.

He plays really well with his little friends one on one. Especially Mason. We have a new friend in our neighborhood, Carson, that he plays really well with at the park, too. In the past, I had noticed that playing in a group was a challenge a lot of the time. His regular group of buddies frequently would have a hard time sharing, taking turns, including everyone, tattling on one another, etc.... we could always count on a few melt downs. But that also has seemed to get better recently. They actually all play in a big group in peace a lot of the time now, so that is nice!!

He is writing his name totally on his own. We made Christmas cards for his friends, and he was thrilled to sit down and sign his name on each of them, over and over.

He really loves school and his teachers, and seems to be doing just wonderfully there. I always get rave reviews from them each and every day. Also, apparently he has a girlfriend in his class. He told me about her recently. His teachers say that they both have similar temperaments so maybe that's why he's crushing on her?! Cute, but makes me kinda sad too.

Speaking of school, he is learning so much more about the bible and relating that to his everyday life. I love that he comes home telling me about bible stories or bible characters. He seems very excited to learn about those things, and I give his school and his teachers so much credit for cultivating that in him at this young age.

So handsome!

His biggest interests right now are anything pirate related (still loves Jake!) and superheros. He loves to play games like Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, his Jake and the Neverland Pirates Challenge Game, Go Fish, Uno, and puzzles! He also loves to go in his room and play independently from his sister, and frequently asks us to "go away!" when he's in that mode.

Overall, age 3 has been fun, but definitely tough. Fun because he is so smart, loving, and funny, and makes us laugh constantly! And tough because, obviously, it's age 3!! But also because Carter has had several things (mainly his baby sister and our move) that were major adjustments for him, and therefore were challenges we all faced as a family which we all had to work through and learn together. I'm happy to say that I feel that we've turned a corner with him, and some of the changes I've seen in him lately make me believe we are on the right track to a less dramatic and challenging age 4. :) 

Love you, my big almost 4 year old!!