Feeling better, cute stuff

Carter is feeling a lot better. We did lots of nebulizer treatments over the weekend, and he's been on antibiotics for his ear since Friday. He's no longer wheezing at all and his cough is almost gone. He hasn't complained about his ear hurting since Sunday morning, and he's back to his old self, except that he still seems to tire out easily.

Here is a cute video I took on Saturday night. He's doing that adorable toddler thing where they flip through their books and "read" them, reciting some parts from memory and making other parts up based on the pictures. This is just so crazy cute, and I love it! Watch all the way to the end, because the ending is really special. ;-)



Carter felt well enough to go to Gymboree this morning, and since he'd been on antibiotics for a little over 3 days, I figured it was fine to go. He had a lot of fun, and participated more in the group activities than he often does. It's been amazing to watch how much he's grown and changed in the year since we've been going there. He was crawling when we started, and now he can climb up on all of the equipment by himself, even the ones involving ladders.

At the end of the class, the teacher brings out a special puppet (Gymbo the Clown) who leads us in a few songs and dances and then gives everyone a kiss goodbye. Carter loves getting kisses from Gymbo, and followed the teacher around after he got his, as if hoping for another one. When the puppet was put away, he turned to a little girl next to him, put his arms around her, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek! It was cute! The little girl's mom said she was worried Carter was going to hit her at first, but that thought never occurred to me, heh. He has only ever hit people (people being me, Doug, or Michelle) in situations when he was extremely upset or frustrated, and I knew that without even having to think about it. He's quite gentle with other kids, and I hope it stays that way for a while!

While I was writing this, I looked over to see him pointing the remote at the TV, pushing buttons, and saying "Nio hao, Kai-Lan". It's funny how he knows that this is how the remote works, even if he doesn't understand the system of channels! I think I've mentioned before how much he loves that show. When he gets frustrated with a toy, he's started doing the side-to-side dance they do on that show whenever a character is upset and needs to calm down. He even sings the song: "Side-to-side, side-to-side, calm, calm down". He also goes around pushing and pulling things and saying the Chinese words for "push" and "pull"!

The other thing that is always really interesting to see is that he so often treats us exactly as we treat him. He'll come up to me and brush hair out of my face and pucker his lips and say, "My sweet pea!" Or when I'm holding something he wants, he'll either bring me something to exchange it for or will gently try to pry it out of my hands while saying, "Thank you." He really closely models how the adults in his life behave toward other people. It makes me VERY conscious of how I am behaving toward him, you know?

Still raining here, but I'm glad we're not getting all the snow and ice some of y'all are getting!