He's a Maniac

Flashdance? - Watch This!

The Nature of Carson

The A-B's

"Our son is a deviant," said my husband earlier today as he told me of their adventures outside. "He waited until I wasn't looking to eat a shovel full of sand!" he explained, exasperatedly.

"He is NOT!" my motherly defense kicked in, even though as I held him he had started beating on my head with a stick he had picked up from the ground earlier. I flinched and defended him, and smiled like having my head serve as a drum was perfectly acceptable. And in the back of my mind a thought flickered and froze me in my tracks, "Am I going to be one of those moms!"

Everyone knows this mom. Everything her baby does is right or just misunderstood. He is always perfect to her and always dreaded by every teacher, coach, lifeguard, fellow classmate, and anyone who is forced to work with him. "He just has his own style," this mother explains to excuse rude and obnoxious behavior.

Yes, I know, he's only 1 and 1/2 years old, so I am jumping the gun here. He's too young to really, truly understand right from wrong. Even though he says "No, No, No" as he is breaking past barriers we put up for his safety around the fireplace and as he is sneakily grabbing a sharp knife from the dishwasher while I am emptying it, it doesn't mean he knows it's wrong or dangerous and is doing it anyway. He is just repeating what we have said. I would like to know at what age does this sense or "common sense" kick in? And how long will I have to tell him "No" for those situations we have deemed more harmful than the use of that word (No) before he has learned.

At the same time, I have many examples of how this kid is his own person and does his own thing, no matter what we say. The latest examples are that he made up his own word for pumpkins (mock-o's), and instead of saying his A-B-C's, he points to the letters and calls them the "A-B's". Also, it's not "Twinkle, Twinkle" little star, it's "Tickle, Tickle." He is so cute! And now I'm back to adoring mother mode. I can't help it. Maybe I can blame it on brain damage suffered from blows to the head. He is perfect to me. I just hope he continues to be nice to the outside world too.

our own little photo shoot

Who needs a photo booth?

Carson's First Math Lesson

I'm so cute, why do I need to know anything???

A neighbor recently commented to me, "Well, you're a teacher, so you should be able to teach your son really easily." I wasn't sure how to respond, and I thought of my first attempted math lesson.

I try to teach Carson how to count. I say one, and he says two, and that's as far as we get.

I try a different approach and ask Carson how old he is. I tell him, "You're one year old, Carson, O-N-E."

He looks me right in the eyes and almost defiantly says, "TWO!" And so it begins. We'll try again the next day.

Nature vs. Nurture

After neglecting this blog for a month, it feels like I have missed out on a whole year's worth of changes happening with our baby boy. So much changes in so little time, and I find myself wondering how much of Carson's advances are due to nature or due to nurture. This question concerns me even more because Carson is adopted, so I will attempt to make a list of things we can definitely take credit for as parents and things we cannot.

We cannot take credit for...

• his beautiful curls, except for the fact of leaving them uncut.


• the way he giggles, except for the fact that unknowingly we have taught him to giggle when he burps and proudly say "Burp", instead of ,"Excuse Me!"


• how much he likes to dance - I think he learned that at daycare.


• how adept he is at saying new words, except for the fact that he has learned to say, "Beer" and "sh_ _". It's all his daddy's fault, however, luckily, he only said them each once.


• how adorable his smile is on his angelic face, except I like to think that we have given him plenty of reasons to smile.


• how he learned to turn on the radio or a DVD, except for the fact that his daddy is the one to get him interested in "movies".


• how smart he is, except for the fact that we read to him and try to teach him new stuff every day - he learns what he wants to anyway (see "Carson's First Math Lesson").


• how charming he is, except for the fact that we find him charming and so hopefully are reinforcing good behavior (see bullet #2).

Look, he's my mirror image!

And the list could go on...but I guess the gyst of it all is this: Carson is his own person, and as parents we hope always that we are helping him develop and grow into the best person he can be. We have no preconceived notions of who he should be or who he is, except that he will be happy.

My Son the Rocket Scientist

This is Carson, wearing his grandpa's reading glasses.

It's a wonder every day to watch Carson and see how much that sponge-like brain soaks up. But I have discovered that he does much more than absorb information. He make connections that, I think, are just astounding for a 16 month old baby. Here are some examples.

• He picked up my swimming suit and walked around with it saying "Mommy's".
• When his daddy pointed to a picture of a lake, Carson looked at him and said "fish."
• One day I described to him what a rocket was because we saw a picture of a toy rocket in one of his books. The next day when he saw a video of fireworks, he said "rocket.
• One day I told him that the characters on a TV show were going to school, and he said "bus."
• If he finds a remote control, he says "TV."
• He often says, "Daddy at work" during the day.
• He can identify these things just by hearing them: airplane, tractor, and birds.
• When we ask him if he wants to dance, he says "dance" and goes over to the radio and turns it on.

I think there are more examples, but I can't remember them all right now. The funny thing is that I don't remember teaching him these things. I may have mentioned some of these things to him once or twice. I may be biased, but I think it's a sign that he is very intelligent, and if that's true, we are really going to have to be on our toes with this kid.

No matter how smart he is, he still sometimes gets things wrong, and sometimes it's really funny. For example, he thought Daddy's nipples were bugs. He also believes all the trees in our yard are apple trees.

There are also two new things he does that are just plain cute. He squats down and says "Dump!" (meaning "Jump!") and then he stands up fast. He created a new dance move where he lays one hand over the other and then makes a wave-like motion with his arms. He does it when we ask to see his "new move."

No matter what, this kid is just plain entertaining and wonderous!