Carson Anthony: 21 Months

I can't believe my handsome little guy is already 21 months!  I have started secretly pinning 2nd birthday ideas on Pinterest even though I'm in denial that my baby will be 2 in a few months!  I'm a planner by nature but I figure I should probably get a head start on planning since I'll have a newborn as well!  :) 

A pic from our Valentine's photo shoot :)

He loves the pockets in his snow pants!

 

What Carson Loves Right Now: 
-Carson loves letters!  He has really enjoyed playing with his magnetic letters on the dishwasher lately and he also loves his LeapFrog Letter Factory Phonics.  He has a few other letter toys like the VTech Alphabet Apple and Leap Frog Phonics Radio.  He also loves when we sing the ABC's and he now sings along.  He always waits for me to pause and then says a letter.  Usually he'll sing these letters: "G...K...P...T...V...X...Z".  I recently found a copy of the LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD on our local buy/sell/trade board and he loves watching it!  He loves yelling out letters that he recognizes which makes my teacher heart happy.  :)
-Carson also is really into basketball.  He loves playing with his hoop and he also has started bringing us the TV remote and asking for "buh-ball".  It's really cute and Nick LOVES that Carson already loves to watch sports with him.  :)
-Carson is still really into books.  We read TONS of bedtime stories every night and his favorite lately has been Goodnight Moon.  He likes when I read slowly and he'll say the last word of the page.  He also really enjoyed his special Valentine's books that we had out this past month!  He now has THREE big brother books and he loves listening to those stories, too.
-Carson's favorite foods are still the same: peanut butter sandwiches, chicken nuggets, cheese (but NOT shredded, he won't touch that!), and Annie's mac'n'cheese.  He still likes applesauce but isn't obsessed with it anymore.  Sometimes he'll even give me the pouch before it's gone and say "done!"  He's still really into "cookies" (Annie's bunny grahams) and usually gets some each evening after dinner.  He has started drinking water from a big boy cup (see below) and he LOVES it!  He still uses his Playtex straw sippies and Contigo water bottle, but sometimes he'll ask for "buh-buh-cup" (big boy cup).  It's pretty cute and I love that it doesn't leak! 

Sassy Grow Up Cup (picture is a link!)

Carson also loves his puzzles!  

We started Carson's second round of swimming lessons!

What I Love Right Now: I still love to hear Carson call me "Mama".  It melts my heart EVERY time.  Many mornings when I go into his room to get him he'll point and say "Mama!" and then point to himself and say "Cah-gah!" (his version of his name, haha).  It's been really cold here in Ohio and when we would run errands I started telling him "brrr, it's cold...snuggle Mommy!"  Now anytime we get out of the car he nuzzles his head into my shoulder and says "brrr!"  Love, love, love!  I also love that he still takes my hand and leads me to wherever he wants to be.  He has also started taking my finger while we read books and making ME point to things while he verbally labels them.  Teamwork! :)  He also has started asking for specific songs at bedtime "row row" (Row Row Row Your Boat) and "star" (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star).  He's quite the bargainer and always asks for more songs! 

Carson loves having afternoon snack in his chair!

Some of our Biggest Struggles: We're still working on the bedtime routine.  He is so used to having Mommy there that he hates if I leave the room.  My mom babysat one night and he was fine, but if he knows I'm home, he's not happy if I'm not in there!  Nick and I have been doing the routine together and Carson seems to really enjoy it.  Eventually the goal will be for Nick to do it without me some nights but I love doing it so I haven't tried to sneak out yet.  He loves when we sing together too.  :)  

Exciting Milestones & Physical Changes: Carson started using a trainer "big boy cup".  I think he thinks he's pretty cool and I think it's pretty cute.  So far we're just doing water in there and still giving milk in a straw sippy.  He also got a potty seat!  We aren't actively potty training but he started showing a real interest and telling us before he would poo so we decided to just get a seat that fits on the regular toilet so he can get used to it.  I also got a few potty books (because I love an excuse to buy books) and he loves listening to those while hanging out on the pot.

Carson also went to his first movie this past month!  We went to a morning "Mommy and Me" screening of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.  I was shocked at how well he did!  We made it through the entire movie and he really enjoyed pointing out things he recognized and laughing at the silly characters (he especially loved the talking pickles)!  He sat on my lap because he didn't weigh enough to keep the movie seat from flipping back up!  He LOVED the popcorn and probably would have had the whole box to himself if I would have let him.  :)

As far as speech Carson has added many new words and also frequently puts words together into sentences now!  He says things like "Wawa gone", "bye-bye Dada", "Hi Grammy", "light on", etc.  I love watching him be able to verbally communicate his wants, needs, and feelings!

21 Month Word List:

• "all gone"/"gone" (always with upturned hands and a shrug)
• "up" 
• "Ma"/"Mama"
• "Dada" and "Daddy" 
• "duh" (dog)
• "bird"
• "book"
• "ball"
• "vroom vroom"
• "duck"
• "wawa" (water)
• "shoooos" (shoes)
• "puh" (pillow)
• "tuh" (truck)
• "trsssh" (trash)
• "mm-bah" (apple)  Not sure where he got that pronunciation!
• "yea"
• "boo!" (are you surprised he learned this around Halloween?!)
• "whoa!"
• "cah" (car...with a Bostonian accent, haha!) 
• "Ho Ho" (he loves Santa in books but not in real life!)
• "bah-beh" (baby)
• "cook" (cookie)
• "pay" (please)
• "daank-dee" (Thank You)
• bum (always said as a 2-syllable word: "bum-muh" and points to his bum each time)
• "puh" (pillow) Carson has been saying this for a long time but I forgot to put it on the list!
• "brrr!" whenever we talk about something cold
• "caw" (clock) - He uses this word for watch too.  :)
• moon
• "/k/" (yuck)
• "paw" (potty)
• Hi
• Bye-bye
• Pa/PaPa (Grandpa)
• "buh-ball" (Basketball/Football)
• "Cah-dah" (Carson) - it's so cute he finally learned his name!
• "co" (coat) - sometimes he says "co-uh"
• "wee-wee" (while pointing to his boy parts...gosh, I'm so proud!)
• "coo" (cool)
• bubble
• tree
• on (sounds like "on-uh")
• off
• cup
• chair
• light
• goofball
• color
• ice cream 
• done (he says this a lot while pushing things away from him, haha Mr. Attitude!)
• "Guy-yeh" (Grammy)
• Chip
• Dixie
• cream (referring to lotion/toothpaste/diaper cream, etc.)
• puff
• uh-oh ("ooh-oh")
• flower ("faw-bah")
• fire ("fi-buh")
• heart
• star ("stoo-rah")
• socks
• banana ("beh-lah")
• heart ("hut")
• airplane ("up-duh")
• train ("choo" or "tain")
• fire truck ("fie-tuh")
• phone ("fo")

Animal Sounds (15): Cow, Elephant, Pig, Fish, Duck (although it doesn't sound like a quack...more like "duck! duck! duck!"), Sheep, Chicken (which really sounds like he's clearing his throat for some odd reason!), Snake, Dog ("bow-wow!"), Owl, Cat (sort of sounds like he's saying "awww" in a high pitched voice, haha!), Monkey ("ha-ha!"), Lion/Tiger ("rah!"), Goat, Horse

**As of 21 months, Carson can also say a lot of the animal names (cow, pig, chicken, dog, cat, etc.)


Body Parts He Can Identify (24): Head, Hair, Ears, Eyes, Nose, Cheeks, Mouth, Tongue, Hands, Fingers, Feet, Toes, Tummy, Belly Button, Knees (he usually thinks I say "sneeze" so he'll give me a fake sneeze and giggle!), Shoulders, Bum, Wee-Wee, Legs, Arms, Chin, Neck, Elbows, Teeth

Playing with Chip & Dixie :)

He loves trucks!

Things We're Looking Forward To: At the end of the month we'll be closing on our new house!  I can't wait to see what Carson thinks of our new home.  It will be fun to watch him explore his new environment.  I'm really looking forward to starting our new gymnastics class next week, too!