Carson 4 1/2 year update

I honestly can’t believe that this giant boy body living in my house is Carson! Somehow he has turned into a big kid without me knowing it. Luckily he isn’t too big for Mommy snuggles and unlimited Mommy time yet. Carson is a very fun person to be around. He is always ready for a good time and wants everyone to join in. He loves doing any type of crafts. After a year and a half of pre-school he finally enjoys coloring, whoohoo! Fine motor (like coloring) is hard for Carson, but he has mastered how to hold a pencil correctly now and has built up some strength and control in his hands. He still prefers his left hand, but will switch back and forth. His occupational therapist says he still isn’t either-handed.

Carson is a little learning sponge right now. He loves to count and does it all day. He can count very high (if all the numbers don’t have to be in order.) =) He can recognize the letters in his name and a few other letters. We are going to start working on all his letters and letter sounds this summer. Because his birthday is in November he misses the kindergarten cut-off (not that we would have sent him anyway). He will be in a transitional kindergarten class next year, which I think will be great for him. I have loved his pre-school for the last year and a half, especially the full-time, in-class speech therapist and he could have stayed there another year, but it was time to move on. I didn’t want him to be the oldest one in that class. I want him to be with typical speaking peers for the peer modeling. The 34 4 and 5-yr-olds with one teacher part scares me a little, but what can you do?

Two words to describe Carson are ACTIVE and SOCIAL. He likes to ride his scooter, bike, swim, play on the playground, wrestle and especially likes to do these things with friends. He loves to go to friends’ homes and have friends come over and play at his house. He can buckle his own seat belt now and if FINALLY accident free 100% of the time during the day and no pull-ups at night.

Carson is SO EXCITED about the new baby. For a least a year before I was even pregnant he’d been asking when “we” were going to have a baby. You’ve never met a 4-yr-old boy who loves babies as much as this one. If there is a baby at a store we have to stop what we are doing and go say hi. He loves to hold babies and make them laugh.

His latest obsession (and I say obsession because he has this type of personality) is gardening. This spring we have planted A LOT of various fruit and vegetable seeds and seedlings in our back yard. He loves to plant seeds and watch them grow. Just lately we've be able to pick a few fruits and vegetables from his plants. He loves to check on them daily and water and fertilize. He is the most excited about our pumpkins. Wish us luck that we'll have a few decent sized ones come October! 

He is a very rough and tumble boy, but also sweet and sensitive little spirit. Carson has quite the sense of humor and like most boys his age he thinks any and all potty talk is hilarious. Luke has joined in on the quest for constant potty humor and they crack each other up all day. His favorite shows right now are Scooby Doo (the ones that aren’t too scary) and Curious George. He is tall enough to go on some of the big roller coasters at Six Flags and LOVES IT! After being tucked in every night he has to take his blanket, pillow and teddy and fall a sleep in the hall. (Apparently there are no monsters in the hall.) He also makes me stay upstairs until he's a sleep. Fun for me...

Current “Carson’isms” off the top of my head

• Completely out of the blue: “Mom, girls talk too much”
• The day after I told him I was pregnant: “Mom can my friends come over today and look at your tummy?”
• When talking about when boys get really big and go to college: (Tears streaming down the face) “I don’t ever want to leave you. I want to live here forever and take care of our baby.”