It’s hard to believe that Carson will be 2.5 years in just a few months. Wow! Lately it seems like he’s grown up so much, right into this adorable little boy. Here’s some things we’ve noticed (and loved) about Carson lately:

• The way he matter-of-factly says “Okay. I do that.” Example: “Carson, do you want to bring your milk and come sit at the table?” “Okay. I do that.”
• The way he “asks” for permission sometimes by narrating what he does as he’s doing it: “I eat a blue M&M now.”
• The way he says “I have an idea” a lot of times and follows up with things like “We play Legos.” Except he pronounces it more like “I have [dramatic pause] un ine-dee-uh.”
• The way he loves to watch airplane videos and read airplane books – but we’re not talking the kiddy kinds. He’s more into the raw footage/photograph deal. He has a book of military planes, and he loves to just look at and talk about the pictures. And the videos he watches are just ones we found on Youtube, often with just plain footage and no talking/music, of various planes taking off or landing – or, his other favorites, refueling mid-flight or dropping fire retardant (that’s a long-standing favorite).
• His favorite food for breakfast (or lunch) is probably chocolate granola. At least it’s granola…right? He always requests it on a plate dry. He’ll pick out the chocolate pieces and eat them first, then dump the granola into a bowl of milk and finish it off with a spoon. Super cute.
• The way he’s gotten more into giving hugs and wanting to be held and cuddled lately
• The way he says “That be silly” or “That silly” if anything funny happens or is about to happen.
• The way he basically pronounces Annelise’s name “Aah-uh-nay,” and he talks to her a lot (mostly reiterating/redirecting orders to her, but still)
• The way he’ll request one or the other of us to sing songs or read books to him sometimes. Like I’ll read him books one night for bedtime, and then he’ll ask if Daddy can come in and put him down. It’s nice to be requested. :)
• Sometimes after dinner, when he knows bedtime is imminent, he’ll ask for “a little little two more minutes” to play. Actually, he more like states it: “I almost done, then I play for a little little two more minutes.” He’s still got to learn about the whole asking permission thing. ;)
• The way he’s still learning to talk. When he asks questions, he’ll ask them like, “What deodorant is?” When he really wants to do something, he’ll whine, “Carson want to really hold that toy.”
• The way he listens to conversations and agrees with everything we say: “Yeah. Uh-huh. Carson do that too. Carson like that too.” It’s pretty funny, especially when we’re talking about things like calling insurance companies for quotes on homeowner’s insurance or something. :)
• He’s very obedient and helps clean up, get things, and is just a good boy. He’s also getting more independent. A common phrase is “Carson do it by Carson self.”
• He sings a lot, sometimes made-up songs with nonsense words but also his favorites, over and over (right now it’s “Rain, rain, go away,” no matter what the weather’s like)

We love you, Carson!

So a few days ago, it was Annelise’s nap time and I had promised Carson I’d play with him, just me and him. I suggested Legos or airplanes, but he went to our game/craft closet.

“Play with something in here?”

Back when I was a mom of one and had more time, I once browsed Pinterest for some motherhood ideas and came across sensory bins. It seemed a like a fun idea, so Carson and I got into them for a bit, making simple bins of beans and rocks and spoons and cups and occasional toys (but nothing near as elaborate as this blogger’s). Anyway, since Annelise was born, we’ve kind of shelved the sensory bins – too many small pieces for her to put in her mouth.

But that morning Annelise was asleep, so I said, sure, why not get out a sensory bin? Carson used to love those things! So I pulled out an old one with dry beans and pasta and some cups and rocks. We had a great time playing – I forgot how much fun he had: pouring dry beans into cups, sorting out all the white ones, hiding stones and finding them again.

We played with the bin a few more times over the next few days, and once we were playing with it and Annelise happened to wake up from her nap early. Carson was having a good time, and I thought, well, maybe I’ll try it. So I brought Annelise in so they could both play.

Bad idea. Annelise wanted to put everything in her mouth. Usually I can help her learn not to put something (like leaves) in her mouth if I’m sitting right next to her, but this time, no luck. She especially liked the big pretty stones. I basically sat with my hand cupped over her open slobbery mouth while she pounded her fist, clutched around a choking hazard, against my hand again and again.

But when I pulled her out of the room, she threw a fit! I felt kind of bad that she had to miss out on our sensory bin fun, so that quickly led us to our choking-hazard-free sensory bin…or, Cheerio snack fest. ;) That’s what you can do if you stocked up on 20 boxes of on-sale Cheerios 1.5 years ago that are starting to go stale.

Today I got to go outside and play in the backyard. It was the first time I really got to play out there. Mom let me crawl around, and I looooved it. I loved crawling through the grass and picking up leaves. I pulled up on the slide and watched Carson slide down. Mom even slid me down a couple of times! I didn’t like when it was time to come in. Let’s go play outside again soon, Mom!

“It Daddy’s birthday. I help Mommy make a cake. I wanna blow out candles. Help Dada blow out candles. Daddy cake has sprinkles and M&Ms. I wanna eat a blue one. I wanna open presents … I open this one?”