Walking and Other Stuff

Carson took his first step back in November, about a week after his first birthday. Since then he’s really just taken 5 or so steps at a time, and usually has to have some smiling face and a pair of open arms at the other end of his trek to make it worth his while. He’s always been quite proud of himself when he stands up on his own and while walking to his destination. This past weekend he made some big improvements. I think this was thanks to being in the company of his cousins, Beckett and Lane. Lane is a few weeks younger than Carson and has been walking very well for months now. Maybe he experienced some pressure over the weekend, or maybe it was just his time, but he has been walking as much or more often than crawling for the past 2 days. I’m still a little surprised when I look up and he’s walking across the living room.

Here’s a little walking (and falling) video with a nice farewell from Carson at the end.

Carson has a little shelf of his books next to the big bookcase in our hallway. Last night while I was finishing dinner, he started pulling books off the shelf and handing them to Ben to read. They sat there on the floor and read Goodnight Moon a few times, then Carson put his fingers in his mouth signaling he was ready for bed. It was precious.

He’s starting to say “buh-bye” when someone leaves and even as I’m ending a conversation on the phone. He says “ni-ni” when we head to his room at night for bed. He jabbers all the time…and I have no clue what he is saying.

Another adorable little development is his ability to “bark” and “moo” when he sees dogs or cows in a book, on the TV or when he sees the dog or cow toys he has. It’s amazing to me how he’s made that connection, but I’m a little worried that when he starts pre-school and his teacher asks what the animal is, he will say “BARK BARK!” or “MOOO!” instead of dog or cow, and then I’ll get a call home…

The only really hard thing we have going on is Carson throwing fits when he doesn’t get his way. But I throw those fits internally (and sometimes not entirely internally) when I don’t get my way, too. Starting a new phase is always a learning process so I’m going to get on my research and book reading for behavior. I don’t want one of those 5 year olds who hits me in the face and throws his head to the floor in the middle of the grocery store…but now that I’ve said that, I might just have one. I’m going to have to start thinking a lot more about how I’m going to handle a kid who is really starting to express himself, both the good and the bad.

And for your enjoyment, a few random phone pics from the past couple of weeks. Has anyone else noticed that our child doesn’t ever really smile in pictures? He does smile, really he does, just hardly ever for a picture.