You say tomato...

Carter mixes up the words for "potato" and "tomato." He knows the difference between them, but will usually call them both a tomato until we correct him. I think it's easier for him to pronounce "tomato" so he just uses that one most often. Because when he says "potato", he really enunciates it slowly. "Poe. Tay. Toe."

Last week we went on a field trip to see Toy Story 3 on Ice and I was listening to him tell my mom all about it on the phone. When he said, "And we saw the tomato heads..." I couldn't stop laughing.

Busy busy busy!

We’ve been jamming our weekends full of fun, but leaving little time for me to blog at all.  My poor food blog is also severely neglected.

A few weeks ago we met up with our friends and their little boys at Cox Farms to enjoy the FREE preview weekend.  The weather was a little warm but we still had a fabulous time.  Carter even went on one of the big slides all by himself.  He especially loved the hayride, as he’s still talking about it a few weeks later.

The next weekend, Dulles Airport was holding their annual Plane Pull.  Again, another FREE event.  Gotta love ‘em.  And, again, the weather was HOT.  But we survived and Carter enjoyed it for the most part.  He got a little crabby when we took him away from the hobby train area, but he liked seeing all the airplanes everywhere.  His favorite part was something we can do anytime we want, though.  He loved just watching the planes land.  It made his day.

The next day we took Carter to a parking garage down the street to ride his bike, since it was pretty hot outside in the sun.  His school participated in the St. Jude’s Trike-a-Thon a few weeks ago, and something clicked for him, and he finally figured out how to pedal.  He’s completely obsessed with riding his bike now.  He even insisted on wearing his bike helmet into a restaurant last weekend.  LOL

 

And finally we come to this past weekend.  My middle brother and his family came into town, as did my grandparents, because my oldest brother got married.  I adore his new wife and consider her a friend, as well as a sister.  The wedding was at 1:00 p.m., which is Carter’s naptime, so he was crabby as expected for most of the beginning of the celebration, but once the band started up, he was rocking out.  Shaking his booty like Beyonce.

   

Of course, as soon as we were on our way home, he fell asleep in the middle of talking to us.  He said, “I don’t want to go home” and as the word “home” came out of his mouth, his eyes were closed and he was immediately asleep. 

My new sister-in-law is so beautiful, isn’t she?  She looks so happy.  And uncomfortable having everyone staring at her.  But it was a great, casual, intimate wedding.  We had a wonderful time and my brother couldn’t have picked a better partner.

This coming weekend will be the best one yet…ROAD TRIP!

My Baby Can Read!

My mother has always claimed that I was reading at 2 1/2 years old. I always thought she was exaggerating, but sort of was proud of that regardless. I remember in elementary school, I used to sneak out of my bed at night to read by nightlight. I LOVED reading as a kid. I still enjoy it, but really don't find the time for it anymore. Of course I find time to watch Gossip Girl and 90210 though.

Carter has known his letters and the sounds they make for a while now, but only recently did we start working on putting them together into words. He watches Super Why! a lot, and has learned quite a bit of phonics from that show, so I thought maybe it was time to see what he really could do. Boy was I surprised!

He has flashcards with pictures of items/animals/whatever on them, so we started with that. I'd hide the picture (as best I could) with my hand, and have him sound out the word. Sometimes he'd get it but sometimes he would say something like, "R-A-B-B-I-T"..."Bunny Rabbit" because he knew what the picture under my hand was. So I took out his Magnadoodle and wrote the word "cat" on it. That little munchkin took his pointer finger to each letter, said the sound they make a few times in a row, and then shouted "Cat!" I was shocked. So I tried another word. He did it again with "dog." My heart swelled with pride.

Last night I brought home a new book to read (for 56 cents at the consignment store!). We sat down and I had him read all the three-letter words. He got them all. Sit, pig, cat, dog. All of 'em. He was a pro.

I talked to his teacher today about it and she said she's going to do more work with him on reading and letter and sound recognition. A new group of kids that just turned two just joined his class, so now he's one of the few almost-three-year-olds, so I was a little concerned that he wouldn't be challenged as much, but I trust Ms. Dorothea and I know she's going to help him succeed.

A friend of mine told me over the weekend that parents who read early tend to have children who read early. I don't know if it's true or not, but it sure is in our house. I couldn't be more proud of him!

Cool Tricks!

First, watch this:



Then, watch this:

Gross Habits

Carter started biting his fingernails pretty much immediately after he started school in January.  I hate how short they are but if there’s even a tiny bit of white, he needs to gnaw it off.  And I can’t cut it off because it’s such a tiny sliver.  We’ve tried putting the nasty nail polish but it didn’t do anything.  He didn’t even notice.  We remind him not to bite when we see him doing it, but now it seems he just does it when he goes to bed.  I rarely catch him doing it anymore.

Another gross habit he has is licking pillows.  He lays on a pillow to watch tv, sucking his thumb, and every few minutes, turns his head and licks the pillow.  Then he sticks his thumb back in his mouth and rubs the wet spot with his other fingers.  I have no idea why he does it.  He doesn’t do it as much anymore as he did a few months ago, but I still catch him every once in a while.  A few times, I told him to stop licking and he would spit a tiny bit and rub that part instead.  I *think* we’ve nipped that one in the bud.

He picks his toenails.  Especially his big toes.  He basically peels the toenail in layers.  I keep them short but he picks and picks until he eventually gets some sort of satisfaction from it. 

I’ve recently caught him picking his eye boogers, and then putting his finger in his mouth.  Gross.  Regular boogers he presents to me so I can wipe them with a tissue, but eye boogers go in his mouth for some reason.

I don’t know what to do to stop this bad habits.  Is mine the only gross kid out there?  Please tell me I’m not alone.  What does your kid do that grosses you out?

Update 8/8/2011: 

He no longer licks pillows and points out his dry pillow at least once or twice a week. 

Also he's cut back on the nail-biting too, as long as I keep them short.  As soon as they grow just a little bit he bites them down.  But we make a big fuss over him if he grows his "whites" and he gets really proud of himself if he doesn't bite them.

He doesn't pick his toenails much anymore either.  Occassionally I have to remind him to leave his toes alone, but it's pretty rare these days.

The eye boogers are sort of a non-issue anymore, also.  And when he gets a regular booger, he has learned to let us know and we'll get him a tissue.  I'm still working on the whole don't-pick-your-nose thing.  He's three...what can I say?

What we’ve been doing

This, right here, is part of the reason for the silence of the past weeks.  We had grand plans to install new laminate flooring but after 8 hours of trying to lay them, Chris and my brother and SIL realized that our concrete was not level enough and they wouldn’t ever click in right.

After much drama and negotiation and waiting waiting waiting, we finally were able to secure a concrete guy to come in and level our business out.  He finally came last week and we spent over a week at Chris’ parents’ house waiting for the concrete to dry, and allowing Chris time to lay the floors.  Yes, theoretically we could have gone home once the concrete was dry, but this is what our bedroom looked like:

And this is what Carter’s room looked like. Yes, that’s a couch on his bed.  LOL

We had to remove EVERYTHING from our living room and dining room, in order to allow the concrete guy to do his thing.  And there was no point in moving the stuff out of our rooms until the floor was down.  So we got to hang out with family for a week, and it was actually pretty great.  Carter and I shared a bed and he slept pretty well, the meals we got were amazing, and my commute to work was mostly through farmland.  Not bad, but I couldn’t wait to get back home and get this house straightened out.

We’ve now been home for two days and made some good progress.  The excess furniture is now out of our bedroom, and back where it belongs.  There are a bunch of boxes and such that we still need to go through and decide what to do with, but I’m hoping to have that all done by the end of the week.

A preliminary photo, before we moved the stuff back in.  My husband is a rock star.

WonderPets theme song

Just a little something to whet your whistle and satisfy your need for cuteness until we're back full time. Right now we're staying at Chris' parents' house but we'll be back home soon and once we get settled I plan to blog a lot more.

Summer Vacation

Let's consider this break in blogging a summer vacation. We'll be back soon!

Hacked

My SIL, Sarah's, Gmail account has been hacked, and she can't post on her blog anymore. So, for those of you that read it, that's why there aren't going to be any new entries on there.

And, for anyone that was concerned, she is NOT in the UK, and she is NOT desperate for money (although if you'd like to donate any of your extra cash, and I'm sure she and Brian would be willing to accept).

Dentist

Carter had a dentist appointment this morning and he did so great! We talked about it for about a week ahead of time, and read a few books about going to the dentist, and he knew what to expect. I knew he needed to be prepared for what was going to happen. He tends to freak out when something happens too quickly that he's unprepared for (like, for instance, last year when the hygienist just came at him with the brushing tool, without even showing it to him first). So, up until the minute we walked in the door, he knew what was going to happen. And, thankfully, it all happened like I said it would. Except for the fish on the walls of the waiting room. They redecorated since I was there last.

Anyway, he did really well. Yes, he cried, and he was scared at points, but I didn't have to hold him down and he wasn't in hysterics. He knew he wanted to cover his ears when they used the polishing brush because I had told him it might be loud. So as soon as the hygienist pulled it out, and I told him what it was, he said he wanted to cover his ears. I told him that was okay to do and that seemed to be a comfort to him, that he had a little bit of control over what was happening.

He got a clean bill of health. He has all 20 teeth, no cavities, and no ill effects (yet) from sucking his thumb.

The past few weekends have been chock full of fun stuff and I haven't been able to find the time, or the energy, quite frankly, to blog. We've had outdoor puppet shows, picnics with friends, birthday parties, sprayground playdates, etc. keeping us busy the past few weeks. This weekend, however, was our first weekend where we really didn't do anything. And, surprisingly, Carter just rolled with it. I thought he might get antsy but he was fine just going to the garden and the grocery store today, and spending the rest of the hot, muggy day inside with us old folks.

Our garden is coming along really nicely. The only bummer is that what we thought was going to be Japanese eggplant, is actually ANOTHER tomato plant. But Monica said she has an eggplant ready to rock for us, so I may pick that up from her this week if I can.

A few updated pics of our little slice of farm.





Our herb garden. The huge ones are chocolate mint, and regular mint. I trimmed them down just after I took this picture. Smelled so good cutting it! The basil in the back is now trimmed back quite a bit too. We grabbed a bunch to make pesto for dinner tonight, along with some rosemary for focaccia.

Carter and Chris getting water from the rain barrel.



As for the little man, he's doing amazing. He's in underwear full time except for sleeping. However, he still demands a diaper for making Number Two. He's done it 2 or 3 times but pretty much refuses the majority of the time. I'm not worried though...seems that's a normal part of the process.

He's really enjoying school and learning so much and having tons of fun. I just watched a video we took of him from November and it's unbelievable how much more of a "big kid" he is now. He's learning so quickly. I taught him how to spell "bus" using sign letters in the 15 minutes it took us to go to school the other morning. Sometimes he switches the "u" and the "s" but more often than not, he gets it right.




He's hilariously funny, too. Last night we were at Safeway getting ice cream, and he kept yelling out, "Wow! That's a low price!" I'm still laughing about it.



That's about it over here. Chris is still doing amazing in school. He's a rock star, what can I say.

Fruit of our labor

We finally have something producing in our garden!



Our plants are all growing beautifully, especially since we bought plant food (duh, didn't think to do that), and now we finally have a tomato. Woot!

Potty Training Update

I'm amazed at how quickly and easily Carter transitioned into using the potty. He's had very few accidents and has gotten really good at telling us when he needs to go. He's also gone in restaurant bathrooms, which to me was a big worry. We bought the Potette Plus and it allows him to use the big toilets in public places without being scared of falling in.

He asks for a diaper when he has to poop, and gets very upset if I press him about pooping on the potty. He'll get there eventually, I suppose. He had an accident at school yesterday but what I think happened is that he went to toot but poop came out with it. He'd had some slight diarrhea so that's why I think that happened. But he tells us to put a diaper on him, and as soon as he's done pooping, he has us clean him and put his underwear back on.

Such a rock star, that kid.

A story for his wedding day

This past weekend we were at my in-laws' house (Chris' parents) hanging out. It was time for Carter to change from his pull-up that he wore for the drive over into his underwear. He pulled off his pull-up and danced around proudly yelling, "Look at my penis!"

Then, the other night we were video chatting with my mom and, again, changing him. This time from underwear into his overnight pull-ups. He shoved his crotch toward the webcam and said, "MomMom! Look at my penis!"

What can I say? He's proud.

Week of Changes

It's been a big week here in the Anderson household.

Carter's convertible crib/toddler bed was recalled so we decided to bite the bullet and get him a twin sized bed. He had a day or so of some transition stress, but he did pretty good after a few days. He's still a little weird about his comforter because he's used to just a throw blanket, but he's warming up to it. (Ha, see what I did there??)

Chris has been working hard and our garden is finally fully planted. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, and tons of herbs. Some of the peppers have holes all over the leaves, so I'm thinking we have a bug situation. Any organic suggestions out there?


And, finally, the biggest news of the week. Drumroll please....

Carter has started going on his potty! He's done a drop here, and a drop there in the past few months, but every time we asked if he wanted to go, he always said no. But yesterday, out of nowhere, he told us he wanted to go on his potty. Of course we obliged and he peed! We were so excited! He went about a hundred more times between yesterday and today, with only 2 accidents thus far. He loves wearing his new underwears and tells me every time we put them on, "You don't peepee in these, Mommy." He's resistant to wearing his diaper now, but I think he understands my explanation of why he has to wear one when he naps or goes to bed. He stopped fighting it so much once I explained that when he sleeps, he sometimes will forget to potty and he'll make a mess in his new underwear. I think that registered with him.

So, anyway, big exciting things happening here.

First School Pictures

When he came home from school that day, I asked him if he smiled big for his pictures. He said, "No, I put my lips together like this." and then pressed his lips together to show me. Figured the pics would be cute regardless. I was right.



I love the first one, where it looks like he's on the verge of tears. If I have a camera in my hand, he INSISTS I take a hundred pictures. But I guess if it's a stranger, he's a little more wary.

Great weekend!

We had such a great weekend! Chock full of fun and relaxation.


Saturday morning we met my friend and her family at the Reston Zoo. Her little boy just turned 3 and we were celebrating his birthday. Plus, she just had a baby a month ago and it gave me an opportunity to see her newest sweetheart. He is absolutely delicious. The zoo was really great. It's very small, yet really accessible. The monkeys were just feet away from us, and most of the animals weren't separated by chain-link fences, like at other zoos. We spent 2.5 hours there and the boys were still in great moods and we weren't exhausted and it was just really relaxing and enjoyable.

Later that afternoon, after naptime, we met up with my friend and her family again for a local moms' get-together at the House of Bounce. Carter was more interested in the water fountain rather than the bouncing, but he still had a great time. Plus, he got pink lemonade and pizza, which always makes for a happy boy.

Today, for Mother's Day, Chris' parents came over for brunch (my parents were in North Carolina for my cousin's wedding). We had Pioneer Woman's French Pastry Puffs, eggs, potatoes, (turkey) bacon, and fruit salad. So delicious!

After brunch and naptime (for both me AND Carter) we headed over to the garden to do the final setup. I laid out where I want everything and the plan is for Chris to go out there tomorrow and plant our stuff after his last exam. Chris' parents got me a boatload of herbs to put out there so our herb garden is going to be AWESOME. In addition to those, we have a ton of tomatoes (thanks, Monica!), summer squash, zucchini, japanese eggplant, hot peppers, and red and yellow sweet peppers. I can't wait to harvest all the goodness!

And now, to watch the season finale of The Amazing Race. Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

Jealous much?

Yes, I met Ree. Yes, I know you're jealous. We had a whole conversation and she's very, very awesome.

Sadly, the yumminess that is Marlboro Man was back at the ranch. Bummer.

Happy Anniversary!

To my wife, who I love without bounds,

Happy Anniversary! These past 4 years have been the best years of my life. We have had some ups and downs, but we have been able to rebound consistently with great results! You have sacrificed for me to go back to school and I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate you for that! Watching you grow as a mother has been one of the coolest things to watch! I can only hope that our relationship continues to grow at the same rate as it has until now! You are my life and I love you immensely!

r = 1 - sin(theta),

Chris

~Want to know what r = 1-Sin(theta) is; check it out here!

I'm not a good friend

I'm not a good friend. I know this about myself, yet I can't seem to do anything about it.

I have very few real friends. I have plenty of acquaintances, but not people I'm really close to. My best friend only lives a little over an hour away, yet I rarely talk to her on the phone or see her in person.

I try to make friends. I try to talk to other moms at the mall, or the playground, online, or wherever, but nothing really ever comes of it. And my friends that I do have, well, I have trouble maintaining those relationships. I don't call them on the phone because I feel like it would seem weird to call just to talk. I feel like I'd need something to say and I can never really think of any GOOD reason to interrupt their time spent with their family. I have two sisters-in-law that I really, really like. Yet I don't put forth the effort it takes to be close with them. I don't know why, really. They're both approachable and both go out of their way for me, yet for some reason I don't reciprocate. I'm lazy, or self-centered, or something, I suppose.

I made a New Years Resolution this year to be a better friend. Yet, I've done nothing so far to obtain that goal. I went to North Carolina for a weekend to see my friend Marty and I feel like that was a step in the right direction. Yet, that was weeks ago and I haven't called her since then. Haven't made a single effort to maintain that relationship. Why do I do that??? What is wrong with me? I've lost several friendships over the years because I felt that I was putting forth more effort than they were. Yet, there seems to be a recurring theme and just maybe I needed to take a step back and think that perhaps it was ME that was the problem.

And now that I realize that I have this problem, I have no excuse to not work on it.

Phase III COMPLETE

So after a few days of steady work and a lot of help from the family (wife, son, and my mom) we are finally finished with the AWESOMEST 20'x 20' Garden plot ever. Well we are done building it. I suppose now comes the hard stuff. It was great having everyone out there helping with the AWESOMEST 20'x20' Garden plot ever, and I want to thank everyone who chipped in.

Carter was HILARIOUS out there. When he was into it, he was really into it. My mom bought him some little fingerless gloves so he didn't get blisters while he was digging for worms.

Yesterday was the group cleanup day, so we all helped each other for about an hour or so, until the major things were cleaned up. Then we all broke off and worked on our own plots.

And we picked up a little home project for Carter too! This is his little 2 inch pot that we are trying to grow Chives in.


And thnaks again to my wife who went back out there to take the pictures of the AWESOMEST 20'x20' Garden Plot ever.

Potty Power!

Okay, it's not huge, but it's still exciting nonetheless. Carter peed in his potty for the first time tonight. It was about 6 drops. We're very proud.

Garden Phase II Complete

So after all the hard work and research (on pricing) to draw the schematic, I finally went and bought all the supplies for the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER. That's 12-8' landscape timbers, 10-2"x4"x8', 4-2"x4"x9', 3-3'x50' rolls chicken-wire, bow tine rake, and round point shovel (not pictured: lumber tie-ins, galvanized nails, 3" outdoor wood screws, 2-T-hinges, and bolt clasp for gate door). Thank you to the In-laws for the gift card to Home Depot, and to my wonderful wife for indulging my super OCDness in order to give me the AWESOMEST 20' x 20' Garden Plot EVER! And a minor shout out to the person we share the garden plot with for paying for half of this.

Phase III to begin this weekend...More pics to follow!

While we were gone...

Chris was busy sketching out his ideal garden plot. It's...um...detailed. My particular favorite part is the top and bottom of the chicken wire.

What happens when you travel alone with a two-year-old

This is what I found when I got out of the shower at our hotel in North Carolina (which, by the way, is beautiful and I'll post pics at a later time).

When funny goes too far

Last night, Carter was tooting in the tub because, well...because I encourage gross behavior. But this time, he tried too hard. And he squoze out more than he bargained for. And I can't stop laughing today thinking about the surprise on his face.

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

From our little leprechaun to yours.

Busy month!

Wow, March is a really busy month for us.

This weekend I get to see my friend D, who I haven't seen since I was first pregnant with Carter (like, eight WEEKS pregnant), my friend Heather who I haven't seen in probably, um, 8 years, and my BFF Heather (a different one) who I only get to see every few months. Gonna be a great weekend!

Then, next weekend, I'm headed down to Raleigh to see my dear friend, Marty. I got to meet her in person for the first time last year, but we've been friends for several years now and I'm so excited to see her again and smooch her two boys over and over. Plus, I'm looking forward to spending time in Raleigh again. I love that town.

The weekend after that, my grandparents are in town for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Carter video chats with them every once in a while, but that's not the same as them getting to kiss and hug on him in person. It keeps 'em young.

And THEN, the weekend after that is Chris' birthday and Easter.

Busy, busy days ahead of us! But they're filled with family and friends, and that's all that matters.

Sweater Update

A few people have asked how my sweater is coming along. So far, no MAJOR mishaps. Well, except for the part where I thought I had to knit for 41 inches and was about 20 inches in when I realized it was 14 inches, not 41. Um, oops. There are worse mistakes that can be made, I suppose. So I ripped out 6 inches and finished off the back. Here's a pic of the finished back. It looks really skinny because the sides are all curled in from the stockinette stitch (it tends to do that).



I'm now about 3/4 done the right front (or is it left front?). The pattern is super easy so far and I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

Thumbsucker

Carter used pacifiers as a baby. But once he turned one, he stopped using them with no issues. It just sort of happened. Then he started sucking his thumb, but only in the carseat or when he was laying down to go to sleep. He's started doing it more often recently. The moment he gets in the carseat he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he lays down to watch tv he sticks his thumb in his mouth, as soon as he gets in his bed he sticks his thumb in his mouth. I'm not TOO worried about it at this point but it does concern me a little because he always has raw skin and calluses on that thumb from sucking it. But his doctor said as long as the skin isn't breaking that it's okay and we don't need to worry about infection or anything. And his dentist isn't concerned at this point, either, about it impacting his teeth in any way. So, I've sort of ignored it and let him have his comfort. It's very cute and sweet to watch him lay on my pillow watching Monsters Inc. sucking his thumb and letting me stroke his hair.

Last night while he was sucking away, I asked him why he sucks his thumb. He looked at me, paused a moment, and said, "Because I love it!"

Can't argue with that.

That kid

Sometimes, he's THAT kid. The one from that movie Parenthood that walks around with a bucket on his head, banging into walls. And all I can do is laugh.

I have sick

Carter came home from school with a cough yesterday. When my mom and I went there on Monday for his Valentine's Day party I noticed the little girl sitting next to him coughing all over the place, so I wasn't surprised when he got it. I asked him if he had a cough, and he said, "No, I have sick." LOL

A little pic from this morning to brighten your day:

My First Sweater

A few days ago I started knitting my first sweater. It's also my first experience with cabling so I was nervous about how it would go, but I'm happy to report that so far it's going really well. Here are some pics of the first three days worth of knitting. If you're on Ravelry, you can find me as "amyradish" and follow my progress. If you're interested, that is.