Bike Parade and Time-out

Here in San Antonio, in mid-April, the city pretty much comes to a screeching halt to celebrate Fiesta. Businesses close and San Antonians party! At Jackson's school they had a fiesta bike parade. The kiddos got to parade around the parking lot on the locomotive of their choice and then dance to the Bunny Hop and The Mexican Hat Dance. It was very cute and Jackson loved riding his bike around...especially wearing the helmet we bought him the day before the parade. He loves that helmet so much that he asks to sleep with it! We don't let him, of course. Still, pretty funny. Here are some pictures of the Fiesta Bike Parade and a short video if him doing the bunny hop with his classmates.

On another note, we have pulled out the good ole' pak-n-play to begin time-outs with Carter. As I recall, this is about the age we started with Jackson, too. He has been throwing and hitting and I just don't want it to get out of control. There is no way I could get him to actually sit in a time-out chair like Jackson does, so the pak-n-play will have to be punishment until he can restrain himself long enough to sit still in a chair. If any of you have not tried this, I really recommend it for those little ones that need to be taught right from wrong and are too little for the time-out chair. I had great results with Jackson and others that I suggested this to seem to have had success with their little ones as well. Anywho, we started it a couple of days ago and I must say, I have yet to see results other than the fact that we have taught Carter to say "I'm sorry" after he gets out of time-out. Hopefully the hitting and throwing will slow down after he gets the jist of the whole time-out thing. Jackson gets great satisfaction out of this new-found punishment for Carter. It's like he is saying "Finally, he is getting in trouble for being bad!" For the longest time we just had to tell Jackson that "He's a baby...he doesn't know." Well, to a 3 year old I'm sure that just sounds a lot like "blah blah blah blah". Of course, now whenever Carter does something wrong, I constantly hear "put him in time-out!" Yes, thank you Jackson. Gotta love it.

Here are just a couple of random pictures and a video of the boys playing with a rope. You can see Carter's tantrum and then just as quickly as he melted down, he was right back up giggling and playing again. So goes life with a toddler!

Carter and Kacie watching big brother, Jackson, and big sister, Camryn, at the Bike Parade.

The boys playing with a rope in our living room.

My BRILLIANT 17-month old

Since Jackson didn't really start talking until he was 2, the fact that Carter knows around 20 words already really impresses me! Don't get me wrong, I know it's probably because Jackson never STOPS talking that Carter has picked it up, but still...I think I have bragging rights :-) Here's a video of Carter saying some of his words. Sorry it's rotated. I have no idea why it did that. I know I didn't tape it that way. Oh well, just tilt your head to the right :-)

A few other words he says are uh-oh, tractor (tacter), cracker (cacker), eyes, shoes (soos), crocs (without the "r"--I don't think I need to translate that one), cookie, and night-night (ni-ni). Plus, I love his voice so all the words just sound so cute. It's also funny when he wants my attention he starts out with "Mommy!" like he's calling for me. No doubt he got that from big brother.

The boys are still getting along great. They do have their moments and I know there will be many more in the future, but they really do adore each other. The other day we were at the park and some of Jackson's friends were hovering around Carter. I guess Jackson didn't like it and he came over and put his arm around Carter and said "Don't be mean to him. He's my brother." It was so darling. They also entertain each other in the car. Apparently, Carter is one of the funniest things Jackson has ever seen when he makes a spitting noise or chews on his croc...gross, I know. But, to hear Jackson laughing so hard he can barely breathe, I'll risk a little dirt in the mouth. We frequently hear Jackson saying "Come on Carter, let's go in my room" or "Let's chase" which usually results in a bruised forehead on at least one of the boys. Like I said, they do have their moments--sharing isn't going too well in our house right now. Carter is sooo not into it and everything is HIS. Jackson also didn't hit this stage until much later, but I assume that just comes with the territory of having an older sibling to fight over toys with. Jackson had the good life for almost 2 1/2 years. I bet that was a rude awakening! Here are a few more pictures of the boys. Carter is being his monkey little self and Jackson is just being himself--all boy!

Kids say the darndest things.....

Jackson has been keeping us in stitches as of late. He says the funniest things and the best part about it is that he doesn't know it's funny so he doesn't laugh...which makes it even funnier! Here are a couple of examples:

To set the scene: Carter is very BRAVE and doesn't seem to posess fear of any kind (this bothers me a bit as I imagine a life of bloody noses, stitches, and accidents of all sorts....ugh!) He is constantly climbing things and running with his eyes closed (yes, I said closed), wrestling with Jackson, doing somersaults, standing on tables...you get the idea. Well, me and the boys were playing the other day and Carter was being his usual dare-devil self and I was watching Jackson just stand there and look at him with this weird/kind of annoyed look on his face. Then, he turns to me and says, "That guy is crazy." I think I laughed for a good 5 minutes.

Another funny happened yesterday when he was playing with David. The conversation went something like this:
D: Jackson, do you know what language we speak?
J: What?
D: Do you know what English and Spanish are?
J: No
D: Those are languages. People speak different ways. What language do you speak?
J: Dog

Again, David and I laughed for a good while.

There are so many more and I could post forever, but my littlest man just woke from his nap. More later!

A Special Prayer Request

Some of you may have heard about the 14 year-old Lubbock boy, Brandon Byrd, that died in a dirt-bike accident over the weekend. Well, that boy was Patsy and Allen's grandson (my aunt and uncle). They were at the site of the accident when it happened. It has hit the whole city pretty hard and my aunt and uncle are absolutely devestated as are the immediate family members. He had a sister who was 16 months younger than him. I honestly can't quit thinking about it as it's just so tragic. I know he's in a better place...it's the grievng family that he left behind that I feel so deeply for.

Please keep my aunt and uncle (Patsy and Allen) in your prayers as well as their family. They really need it right now.

Here is a link: http://www.mem.com/Story.aspx?ID=2374420