He loves being around people, and has no fear of strangers. Which is cute now, while he's in a stroller or shopping cart and can't just walk away with some one, but I do hope he learns some caution as he gets older.
Carsten's two greatest loves are balls and trains. On Wednesday on our way out of the dollar store I gave each of the boys a quarter to get a bouncy ball. He has not put it down for three days. He sleeps with it and we have to pry it out of his hand to eat meals. He has brought it to church, Menards, Target and everywhere else he's gone. He even woke up at three in the morning one night crying for his ball because he couldn't find it. And trains are his other big favorite. He calls them choo-choos and he loves them. Today he came and led me into his room pointing to his closet and saying, "Mommy, choo-choo." When I asked if he wanted me to get his trains out he just started laughing. So cute.
Over Christmas we had our Little People nativity scene out and Carsten's favorite part was the donkey. He loved walking the little donkey around and saying, "Hee-haw." And he also was constantly pretending to be a donkey. He would randomly get down on the floor and start hee-hawing all the time and it was adorable. Sometime since we put all of our Christmas stuff away, he has switched monkeys and donkeys in his head. So now he hee-haws all the time but he's being a monkey. Anytime he sees a picture of a monkey or hears about a monkey, he immediately starts saying, "Hee-haw, hee-haw." I really don't know how it happened because he used to make actual monkey noises. But I love it. It's my favorite. :-)
Carsten and Tyler are so different. But Carsten wants to do everything his brother does. Everything. If Tyler rolls his sleeves up, Carsten needs his sleeves rolled up, if Tyler wears a hooded sweatshirt, Carsten needs a hooded sweatshirt. If Tyler does anything at all, Carsten does it too. This can be good and bad. He learned to eat with a fork and spoon when he was 10 months old because that's how Tyler ate. He's been drinking out of a regular cup since November, because that's what Tyler does. Tyler has decided to potty train Carsten, and Carsten is totally up for it. Because he does anything Tyler tells him to. The problem: he wants to learn standing up because that's what he sees Tyler do. And Carsten also insists on wearing underwear - there are a lot of days around here where he is running around with underwear on over his pants. Here are a few of the other good things about a one year old who wants to be a three year old. We started a job chart for Tyler recently and there is an allowance linked to some of his chores. Carsten insists on doing all the same chores as Tyler. He clears his dishes at the table (at least the ones I let him take), he puts his dirty laundry in the basket, he helps put his clean clothes away in his dresser, sets the table, and is usually pretty good about cleaning up toys. Because if Tyler does it, Carsten does it. It's really cute. And helpful. Oh, and he doesn't know Tyler gets money, so he does it all for free. :-) Sorry, Carsten, you can get money too, when you're actually three.
He is also (surprise) a climber! Just like his big brother. I wonder where he learned it from. :-) It's frightening actually. Anyway, at the end of November he climbed out of his crib. It was pretty funny when it happened. And like so many other things he tries, a little frightening. Tyler had run into his room to say good morning when he woke up and he climbed right into his crib. They were talking and giggling and it was adorable. So I ran out of the room for 15 seconds to grab my camera and when I came back he was hanging upside down out of his crib and Tyler was holding him by his feet! No, I did not take a picture, even though the camera was in my hand. :-) I just grabbed him as fast as I possibly could before he landed on his head. I did put him back in the crib though, to see if it was him who climbed up or if he had some help from his brother. But he immediately tried to get out again head first. He tried several times, and every time it was head first.We were so thankful he didn't fall and get hurt. And we were glad it was a Saturday because Carl was home and could convert the crib to a toddler bed before nap time. We were amazed at how great he did! He slept in that bed for two months and he never once got out of his bed. If he dropped something, he cried and called for us to come and get it. He was such a little champ. I didn't think kids like that were real. Tyler's transition to a toddler bed was the exact opposite of that every day. Forever. So I was expecting the worst. And I was very, very, very pleasantly surprised. Now he has moved into Tyler's room and it's a bit of a different story, but it was a good two month run before the big move.
Excited about his big boy bed!
