Halloween

Halloween is the most favorite time of the year for Jesse. He loves everything about it. Now he finally got to enjoy his first trick-or-treating experience as a daddy. Last year Carter missed out due to an untimely cold. So, this year we dressed him up in his cute little Chinaman outfit, gave him a plastic pumpkin, and took off after dinner.

Carter was so funny. All of these new experiences, like people opening their doors and putting out bowls and platters of candy just for the taking! He was so proud to be such a big boy that no matter how cold he was, he HAD to hold his own pumpkin, and walk himself to each door. I of course would ring the bell. Although, he did catch on after a few houses that he could knock on the door too. Then he had to make sure he put the candy in his pail himself. We had only lasted about a half hour trick-or-treating when we as parents decided it was too cold out for Carter. On our way to the car, I carried him. We tried to let him have one of us carry the pumpkin for him, but he wouldn't have it. That was his pail of goodies that he earned himself, and no one was going to take that away.

We drove to Jesse's oldest sister's apartment where we stayed for almost an hour. On our way there, we heard a wrapper crunching. When we got to the apartment we found Carter helping himself to one of the richest chocolate candies that was given out. Later, in the apartment Carter showed off his goodies to anyone who would watch. He would so proudly sign "pumpkin" and then point to his half filled pail.

Then we headed off to our lame ward party. Where Carter once more helped himself to more candy. Then it was home, where he found the candy bowl for the trick-or-treaters. So proud he was of his little pumpkin that he wanted to take it with him everywhere. Sadly, it was too heavy for him by the time we left the party. So, at home he followed who had the pumpkin. I pulled out his candy that he opened, and no sooner that he heard it, he ran to me. He didn't care much about talking to his grammy tonight. Tonight he wanted that candy he earned.

Aftermath: Carter ate a bon bon that was a dark chocolate filling wrapped in wafer dipped in chocolate, gummy lifesavers, some of my almond joy. Not too bad for a first timer.

Hiding

Yesterday, we were getting ready for church like we always do on Sundays. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Carter ate. We got ready. I put out Carter's outfit, so that Jesse could dress him while I did my hair and makeup. Carter's always the last to be dressed, because we are scared of him getting his clothes dirty.

So, Jesse got his clothes and called for Carter. The minute that Carter saw the clothes, he came running into the bathroom, pulled the shower curtain back and hid behind it. All you could see were these 2 little feet popping out next to the tub. Jesse came and pulled the curtain back, which led to the next part of the chase. How he knew how to hide there, we will never know. Kids are so clever.

Daddy Time

Last night was my first day/night on the job. We knew I was closing, which meant Jesse was going to take care of Carter all by himself for the night. It's not that Jesse's an unfit father who would burn the place down when it's the two of them left alone together. It's just that Carter has certain people who he lets take care of him. Pretty much only me, my mom and one of Jesse's older sisters is allowed to feed him. He's not a man's boy in any way. You can ask Jesse's brothers and father that one. He's also very smart in what he can get away with from each person he knows (like not eating at all when Jesse's mom and oldest sister try to feed him).

Well, hearing about last night made me very proud of my boys. Piston, the dog, of course did excellent. Jesse wasn't frustrated, and Carter was asleep and tucked in. I asked Jesse how things went. He told me Carter ate, and they played. He even told me that Carter signed his first prayer. Jesse was so excited for that. Jesse misses out on a lot of Carter firsts, mainly because Carter won't let him see. This little act of copying daddy made Jesse a happy man, which makes me a happy mommy.

Bath time

After we were done bribing him, Carter got his bath. He loves his baths, and what he does in them. He waited until it was bath time and his diaper was off to pee. He had a full half hour before to go in his diaper! Not only that, he went to the back edge of the tub, held onto the side, bent over and watched himself! He thought that was the funniest thing in the world!

I think we can start potty training now.

NOT EATING!!!

Tonight was so funny, because as usual, Carter didn't want to eat. Although that's not the funny part, it was what we had to do to get him to eat. We figured that since he loves chocolate we'd give him pudding for dessert. He didn't even eat half of a pudding cup when we had to bribe him. What did we bribe him with??? A BATH!!!!! We had to tell him, "If you want a bath tonight, you have to finish your pudding!" It was CHOCOLATE PUDDING!!!! What is wrong with this!?!?!

Laziness

Let me just start with " Carter, thine name be lazy!" He really is a great kid, who does do a lot of great things, but only when he wants to. I know that doesn't sound too different than that of most other kids, but he takes it to a whole new level. Carter's too lazy to eat. If he can't just swallow it, then forget it. If it's something like meat, he will chipmunk it for quite sometime (sometimes 20 min.) that he gets a huge cheek full then sick of eating!

Last night he took it over the top with us. We were over at a couple's who are our age and in the ward. We were having a small FHE there. Well, when we were getting ready to leave, we tried to get Carter to say 'thank you for the pie.' Well, he was sucking his fingers on his left hand. So, with the right hand he signed 'thank you.' We encouraged him to continue with 'pie.' Needless to say, he couldn't figure out how to sign with both hands while he was sucking some fingers. His solution: bring the right hand up to his left hand and sign with fingers still inserted! Not only does this bring a round of confusion to those interpretting (me & Jesse), but it also shows how lazy of a son we really have. Still many laughs were and are had at that.

Training

I was talking on the phone with my sister-in-law tonight, and we got on the subject of training dogs. I kind of veered off onto "while I'm training my dog, I'm training my child to train my dog. Which is great, because that means I'm training my child for chores that he will later have." I feel like a sneeky mom. :D But it's great having a boy who loves his dog and wants to help take him out to the bathroom and then feed him his meals and snacks, even if he's telling the dog dish to stay instead of the dog. It's the fact that he's learning!

Work!

YAY!!!! I'm a working mom! :/ I start my new job next week at the Bombay Company! It has some nice perks, like not being a customer complaint phone operator who sits on their butt all day long! Plus, employee discounts are great!

Punishment is a Learning Time

Carter, like most kids, has a hard time when he's told not to do something. Every child is different in their reactions to this simple command. Carter's reaction is usually to attack me in one way or another, like biting, hitting, pinching, etc. Well, I finally had enough of it today. So, I put him in his crib to cry it off and then closed the door behind me. It had been about a good minute or two when I was getting ready to go back and talk to him. He was still crying. As I started to take my first step towards the door, Jesse and I heard the crying start to get louder. We looked at each other and wonder why. Well, a second later out popped Carter, screaming. He climbed over his crib rails, fell onto all of the toys he threw next to the crib, and opened the partially cracked door to come running into my arms. He ended up with a few scratches and a really sore ego. This was the first time he has ever climbed out of his crib and hopefully his last.

Naked!

So, Carter was having a difficult time this morning trying to understand why he needed a diaper change, esp. since he had one only 2 1/2 hours earlier. Well, let's just say he looked like he had just gone swimming with that diaper on. Since he fought the entire diaper change, the diaper didn't look to pretty on him. As a matter of fact, it looked like it was on him only half way. Needless to say, he would not let me fix it. Less than an hour later, he came running into the bedroom diaper in hand and still fully tabbed. He literally walked right out of that diaper. The funniest part was that he knew he needed a new diaper on. So, he laid down and let me put a new on him.

Missing home

When I was filling out my applications, I had to look up my high school's address. Well, I got online and found the website. When I graduated, construction was just beggining on the school. It has been finished for quite some time now. It looks nothing like the school I attended. As a matter of fact, half of the teachers that are there weren't there when I left. I really miss my home. Jesse is "sort of jokingly but not really" upset about my family moving to L.A. Right now, I'm really upset because of the homesickness that I have. I miss the railroads everywhere, even though at the time I HATED them. I miss the extreme seasons, the comforting feel I got when I would fly in and see the Chicago skyscrapers and knew I was only a half hour away from home. There were those small town quirks, like knowing everyone (literally) in your school by name and them knowing you. I really miss the fairs and the thunder and lightning storms. I miss living in a town with a 7 square mile area, that has approx. 60 miles of streets (that's total). I just miss the familiarity of everything. It wasn't as bad as I thought. It's the people that made it bad, but then again it was other people who made it great and crazy fun! I can't wait to go back to visit my friends, and maybe see an aunt that I haven't seen in a LONG time!

Work History

Right now I'm filling out job applications, which all of ask for work history. Everytime it says start with current employer, I think to myself:

Employer: Carter Woodhouse Childcare, Inc.
Address: Where ever we land
Phone: He loves them
Supervisor: Carter J. Woodhouse
Position: Childcare Specialist
Salary: Hugs and Kisses
Dates of Employment: From: 2/05 To: Present
Duties and Training: On call nurse, chef, therapist, obedience trainer, playmate, protecter of monsters (or other bratty children) and bad dreams, cuddle specialist, waste management, swim director, pet trainer, seamstress, manual television blocker, damage control, interpreter, teacher, chauffer, banker, personal purchaser, clothing advisor, taste tester, gift giver, personal street crossing guard, stroller control, vitamin distribution, travel agent

That's where I'll end. I'm pretty sure I could continue with duties and training, but I've run out of what else there is to this job. As demanding as it looks, it's a pretty good job and worth the pay. Do you think other employers would buy that??? :D

Cleaning

I know, I've posted about this before, but it's so great that I have to keep telling it every time it happens. While watching the BYU-TCU game at my in-laws house, Carter had a bucket of toys to play with. He took the bucket behind the couch and started to pull out each toy one-by-one and playing with them individually. Maybe ten minutes later, I turned back around to see where he was, because I heard him running. What I saw was his toys back in the bucket with him running off to find something else to do.

Last night after dinner, he saw the broom in the kitchen and proceeded to sweep the floor. That led to chasing the dog that was in there, but went straight back to just sweeping until we decided to take it away.

This morning, after he was done drinking his milk and relaxing with me, he decided to play with the toys in a little dump truck. Not too much later, he ran up to me, grabbed his blanket and started to put each toy back into the truck. Then he ran out of the room, but still his toys were put away.

I love my little cleaner!

Detoxing

This past week Carter and I spent most of it with his cousins. As much as we love them, there's only so much one can handle, esp. if that one is an only child, a toddler and has a strict schedule, like Carter. We were with them all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday, then most of Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday. We were supposed to be with them today too, but things worked out that we didn't have to go. Poor Carter is used to having the house to himself with only where the dog is that he has to worry about. So, with all of in mind, you can only imagine what he was feeling like this week. His cousins are older and have so much more energy than he does, but he so desperately wants to be as big and rambunctious as them. It was so sad watching him try to have the same energy in such a small body. Because he needs so much sleep, and he didn't get a lot of it, he was so cranky that it weighed heavily on me and Jesse, at least when Jesse was around. The poor kids didn't know what was going on. With all of the bumps and bruises everyone endured, we all made it through the week in one piece. Now Carter and everyone can go back to their regular schedules. (Not that this week wasn't fun.)