Two

Carson's two now.  I don't know how since he was just born.

I was actually a little surprised at how much him turning two bothered me.  I was sad for a couple weeks leading up to it, and then that Friday night - the last night he went to bed as a one-year-old - I was a mess.  Thankfully, Carson still lets me rock him at night.  I don't rock him to sleep, but it is long enough to say our prayers and for one song and a few hugs.  And on that night as we did our normal routine, there were tears involved.  I won't try to hide it and I won't be ashamed of it.  It was a special time for me and for us, and I'll probably do the exact same thing until he's 18.

I think two was harder than one because, by the time we made it through 12 months, I was honestly just relieved we actually made it...all alive and (fairly) well.  But as two approached, every day I felt the "days are long but the years are short" hanging over my head.  I knew he wouldn't go to bed a one-year-old and then wake up 6 feet tall with a beard (in the words of my husband).  But I also knew that turning two meant no more baby.  He's officially a toddler; his age told in years and not months, and it was the first and last time I would get to "feel all the feels" of what this represented.

(That's probably another reason this birthday was harder.  I knew know Carson is my first and our last, so everything that he goes through is a first and a last experience for me.  Not to mention, because of this, the "mom-guilt" is intensified, and I think of all the times I did not do all the things with him as a newborn that I should have done and yada yada yada.  All you mamas know what I mean.)

Carson is so fun right now.  You know, when he's not laid out on the floor screaming or hitting his hands on his knees out of anger while he yells "no" loud enough for the Pope to hear. 

He is loving and affectionate when he wants to be.  And really, it is a pretty good bit.  From an early age, we could tell he was going to wear his heart on his sleeve, and were we ever right.  He is tender-hearted and does not like to be reprimanded or for you to raise your voice.  You'd think that would be incentive for him not do something to be in trouble, but we're just waiting on that to click in his little head.  If I ever ask for a hug or a kiss, he never hesitates to come running.  I know one day that will NOT be the case, so I'm soaking it all in while it lasts. 

Of course in the last year, but really in the last several months, he has learned so much and somehow, became a little person instead of a baby.  His words aren't always the clearest, but they're clear enough.  Trust me, though - if it's not clear enough, he will be certain you figure out what he wants. 

He knows to throw napkins and tissue in the trash after he "blows his nose" (work in progress).  He knows to put empty cups and dirty dishes in the sink.  He helps load and unload the dishwasher (non-breakables, of course); he helps load the washing machine and then the dryer; he helps put up his clothes (the ones I don't care if they get unfolded or not); and he also knows to pick up his toys. 

He can remember where anything is, and if you ask him, he'll go straight to it.  It may be something I haven't seen all day, and he knows it's still in our bed from that morning when he was watching cartoons.  Or he knows it's underneath the couch where it rolled a couple of days ago.

He loves tractors and anything outside.  He's loved anything
outside since he was born though.  (Really!!  When he was just weeks old and would be screaming after we had exhausted every possibility, we could take him outside and he was almost immediately quiet.)  He has recently developed a love for drawing, mostly with markers so that's interesting.  They're washable though (learned that the hard way when he graffiti-ed our brand new white sheets), and what's a little marker on his hands?

This summer he got pretty good at swimming.  Yes, with floaties.  He went from not wanting you to let him go at the beginning of the summer to jumping off the diving board and sliding down the slide at the end of it.  He knows to swim to the steps after he jumps, and he knows to use his legs and arms to get there.  He's been able to maneuver a couple of times floating on his back as well, but that only lasted a little while.  He must not have liked it.

And it wouldn't really be a post "All About Carson" if I didn't include that the boy is obsessed with Frozen.  OB.SESSED.  When we went on vacation, it played all the way there and all the way back.  We were Frozen-ed out.  He's starting to (finally) drift away from it, but I am not kidding when I say this has lasted for a good three months.  There's only so much letting it go one can handle!  But hey - whatever keeps him happy on a road trip is A-OK with me!

We kept Carson's party small this year.  I really didn't want big to-do about it because I knew it would be chaotic anyway. 

 

 

 

Can you tell he had a blast?

 

In the second picture, he was just mad that we had taken him away from his brand new ride-on tractor to eat cake and sing happy birthday.  Cake before presents.  Lesson learned.

 

The first one is just typical Carson.  My mom just said "let me get y'alls picture" and that was the result.  The norm.

 

P.S.  You'll be glad to know that Carson did not, in fact, wake up a 6-ft-tall bearded man.  He's still the same sweet, affectionate, ill-tempered, impatient little boy he's always been.  And we love him more today than the day he turned two.