Toy train

First, here is a short video of something I've been trying to get on video for a while. We play lots of games with opposites, and one Carter likes is happy/sad. He'll say "Happy!" and we all make a happy face, and then he'll say "sad", and we all make sad faces. It's hard to get this on video, and this isn't the best video of it. I didn't get a shot of his super-cute pouty sad face.



He also does up/down, fast/slow, and stop/go. It's fun! :-D

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know that Carter loves anything with wheels. We were at IKEA the other day and they had a train table there, with IKEA-priced sets of train track and trains. Carter likes playing on train tables, so I decided to get him some track and trains. I think I spent a total of $35 on all of this stuff, and he loves it!





It's funny that before the last couple of days, he had no interest in rolling trains on the track. He would actually break the track apart if it got in his way. But now, he's all about rolling the trains on the track.



He's still getting used to the hand-eye coordination it takes to do this, and when the trains derail he gets really frustrated. He also gets upset when the trains won't connect (because he has the magnets backwards), and we're still trying to get him to just turn the car around and try again. After a couple of days, he's finally starting to say "uh-oh" when his train derails, rather than freaking out immediately. He's so impatient with himself, poor kid!

You also hear him say a lot of new train-related words in there. At least, you hear me translating. It's funny how your own child's language is completely clear to you, but not so much to everyone else!

Speaking of language, he's starting to put together words every now and then. He'll say phrases like "up, up in the sky", "ready to go", "how 'bout ___", and so on. He'll occasionally put together two words to make a sort of sentence like, "Daddy back" (when Doug leaves the room and he wants him to come back) or "video watch" or "no poop" (when I'm changing a wet diaper). He's also finally started putting "more" in front of things he wants more of, instead of just saying and signing more. That's really helpful, as you might imagine.

He also talks in his sleep, and some of these phrases pop up in the middle of the night too. A few nights ago he said "more cookie", which cracked me up. He also lifted up his arms and said, "up", then dropped them again, sound asleep. So funny!

He's also starting to use some numbers, and can count to three. (Though not on command. LOL, Carter doesn't do anything on command!) He will count socks and shoes when you put them on, saying, "one... two". He can also identify some colors, yellow, green, purple, and blue for sure. It's so weird to hear him say "Yellow!" and see that he is indeed pointing at something yellow. It's so amazing to watch him soak up the world! I know everyone's kids do it, but it's still so amazing.

Another funny story from the last week: He doesn't really know what squirrels are, though he knows a lot of other animals. So when he sees a squirrel in a tree, it's a monkey. He will be looking out the window and will say, "Monkey! Ooh-ooh-ooh!" But if the squirrel is on the ground, it's a bunny -- they do hop like bunnies. I love it! Poor kid's going to be disappointed when he finally realizes there aren't any monkeys in the trees behind our house. ;-)