Carter - 4 Years

Dear Carter,

Today you are four. I know I sound cliche, but the time has just flown by. I still think of you as my baby but you are far, far from it.

It's been a big year for you. You are likely not going to remember all of the places that we have visited in the last year of your life. Bruges, Strasbourg, Prague, Nuremberg, Berlin, Lake Constance, Neuschwanstein Castle, Ravensberger Spieleland, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv.

You passed your German proficiency exam at school and you took swimming lessons. You traded in your toddler bed for your big boy bed. You became toilet trained. You still have very little interest in writing or coloring, or crafts in general. But you do seem to have an aptitude for math related things and you love sorting and organizing your Legos. Some of your favorite toys are still Lightning McQueen, but you have also expanded to Bob the Builder and all things Lego related. You are obsessed with Berenstain Bears books and Richard Scarry books.

One of the favorite things for me is watching you and Daddy do Legos together and watch Star Wars. The two of you have become best buddies this year.

For the better part of the year you had an orange baseball cap attached to your head. You loved it because it had the Ford logo on it. You actually think that Mommy and Daddy working at Ford is really cool and you've asked to come to work with us. You want to come see all the Fords in the parking lot.

You are an extremely picky eater and really only have a handful of things that you eat. If you had your choice, you could eat cream cheese and crackers and yogurt for almost every meal. Your other stand-bys are black bean burritos, chicken nuggets, and fish sticks. After numerous trips to Ikea, you started eating hot dogs. You have been making great progress in the last month with trying new foods. A surprising new hit with you is meatloaf. Daddy is doing a great job of getting you to try new vegetables...cucumbers and bell peppers are your latest. Of course there are some kids' standards that you refuse to eat like macaroni & cheese and peanut butter & jelly.

Sometimes you say the funniest things (see Penis Store here and Baby Store here). In fact just the other day, you had another great one:

Me - Carter would you like some more cereal.

Carter - No thanks. I have to get dressed. I have a really busy day.

Some of my favorite sayings you have are: "You are frustrating me," "Who put that there?," "Who did that?," or "I have a good idea."

You are growing so big but you are still small enough for me to snuggle. Soon I think that you will not put up with me so much. You are still very affectionate and love to hug and kiss us. One day this will stop and it will break my heart.

This morning you were already talking about your 5th birthday. Oh, I wish you would just slow down this whole growing up business.

Sometimes I Really Hate Flying

Why do the fat people have to sit next to me on the plane?

I'm not a skinny person. In fact, I am far, far from it. BUT, I fit into my airplane seat without infringing on anyone else's space. Unfortunately for me, I can't say that about the lady who sat next to me on the plane yesterday. For four hours, I had her leg fat oozing under the arm rest and touching my leg. I didn't realize it at first, but then I noticed that my leg was really warm. When I looked, it was because our legs were touching.

To make matters worse, she hogged our shared armrest. Not only did she not ever give me the opportunity to use it, but her arm was significantly wider than the arm rest and much of it spilled over into my space. Poor Carter, I was leaning over into his space the entire time so as to minimize the amount of me touching the stranger sitting next to me.

Now, I've got nothing against fat people (many people would even put me into that category) and I'm sure they are extremely uncomfortable flying in the teeny tiny seats on airplanes. But I cannot stand being in physical contact with a stranger. Especially constant contact for 4 hours.

I definitely have some degree of claustrophobia. It's not so much induced by lack of space but rather lack of PERSONAL space. In college, I would zip myself into my suitcase just to show that I could do it (OK, so I'm strange...this should not be new news to you) and this confined space did not bother me because it was only me. BUT, put me in a crowd or have someone stand behind me really closely and I start to lose it. I find myself having to consciously think about my breathing, taking big, slow breaths and thinking calm thoughts.

I'm sure you all have travel horror stories. Send them to me...I would love to hear (read) them. Maybe if enough people submit stories, I will pick a "winner." Of course, since this is not a sponsored blog, you will win nothing more than my deepest sympathy (empathy?).

See if you can top this one: I once flew from Vegas to Detroit where I had to sit next to a huge sweaty man. This man smelled as if he had been up all night at a casino drinking and smoking. He was sweating profusely and was so fat he needed a seat belt extender. AND, get this!, he was "reading" a dirty magazine. So gross.

Now top that.

I'm Going to be Featured!!

I just found out today that I'm going to be featured on Mod Podge Rocks on September 15. I guess technically my Ikea stool makeover (found here) is going to be featured.

I am so excited!!!

Random Stuff

Dinner time is one of the most difficult times of day for me. Lately it's like Carter has meal time induced ADD. He won't sit still, in fact he won't even stay in his chair. He is distracted by every little thing. OK, so I know that he's only 4 (or very nearly) and this is probably normal but it's driving me crazy.

I am always finished with my dinner well before Carter and it is seriously painful for me to have to sit at the table and wait while he finishes. But we have to stay with him and encourage him to stay seated and eat.

We've tried to explain to him that he is cutting into his play time before bedtime and that doesn't seem to sink in. Any suggestions?

******************

I am looking for some book recommendations. Has anyone read something good lately? I just finished my Daniel Silva book and am in need of something new. And, please, no Twilight suggestions.

When you finish a book, do you ever miss the characters? Sometimes I find myself wondering what they are up to today, as if they are real people.

******************

I am in serious kitty cat withdrawal (if you couldn't tell from yesterday's post). We were so busy traveling the first couple of months after Corky died that we weren't home enough to miss him. It was actually good for us. The last couple of weekends have been rainy, hang out at home kind of weekends and that's when I notice how empty is seems here without a cat to snuggle. Carter is getting frustrated with me. I keep hugging him onto my lap and rubbing his back and all he wants to do is play or watch a movie in peace.

Certified Pre-Owned Cats

I have to give the Michigan Humane Society (MHS) some credit for a great advertising campaign. It's a common problem in most animal shelters, people would rather adopt baby kittens (or puppies, bunnies, etc) than older cats. In fact, in the world of pet shelters, any animal over 4 months old is considered old and tough find adoption families. So the MHS came up with a clever ad campaign. Check out this article at The Consumerist.

Corky was 7 months old when I adopted him from the Humane Society of Huron Valley (HVHS)in Ann Arbor. He was considered a "mature" cat and thus had a maximum stay of 8 weeks at the Humane Society. Unfortunately, because of the sheer number of pets being dropped off, the HVHS couldn't afford to keep dogs or cats for longer than 8 weeks. If 2 months have passed and the pets haven't been adopted, they are put to sleep.

Corky was the best cat EVER! If you are thinking of adopting a cat, please consider a "certified pre-owned" cat.