Can You Say Whale?

Can You Say Whale? Well Carter can! It's more of a prolonged whaaaaaale with a very high crescendo in the middle. At almost 14 months Carter is a little parrot that will attempt to repeat all sorts of words... some with more success than others.

Here is a list of my boys vocabulary:
whale (of course we already covered that one)
thank you
big boy
poo poo ( yes I was responsible for that one)
choo-choo
up
more (mo)
please (peas)
duck
puppy (puuuuuuupeee)
train (trains are his favorite)
treat (as in I want to give Oscar a treat)
finger (he said that for the first time this morning)
mama and dada (the old favorites)
uh - oh (that was the first one)
and there are several others I can't recall.

Where does he learn all of these words? From reading books of course!

What happens if you take his book away from him when he is in deep thought? He comes after you and he attacks your vulnerable areas! Cover your noses around this boy! His fingernails are like little razors. This was the second time he bloodied my nose.

Mom and Dad get a night in the mountains!

Susan and I lined up the grandparents to watch Carter and planned a weekend getaway to the mountains months ago with our good friends

Josh and Roxanne and Kevin and Jamie

We headed up the mountain from 200 ft to 7,000 ft. A driving rain in the valley and a 7,000 ft snowline left us wondering if we would be greeted with a slushy mess or with a fresh white blanket of snow. As you can see below we were very happy to have lots of fresh snowball material.


A West African favorite, Chicken Yassa, was on the menu for the evening and a good time was had by all.

Carter and Daddy Have The Day Off!

What do boys do when they have the day off.... they go outside to play of course. The Central Valley's "winter" makes that very possible considering it's 70 degrees and sunny outside and it feels like May in Pennsylvania (no offense to the Pennsylvanians).

Carter and I headed off to Hensley lake this morning which is about 45 minutes north of town. The foothills are a lush green and the scenery was spectacular. Daddy brought Carter's stroller so he could play the nine hole disc golf course there. What I didn't realize was that the course was built for mountain goats. After trying to push Carter up the steep grade over uneven damp terrain to the first hole I abandoned the whole idea of the stroller. I found a safe place to stash the stroller and I spend the next hour being Carter's pack mule around the course.

Carter enjoyed pulling the discs out of the bag and putting them back in the bag again, and again, and again. He was happy as long as he got to hold at least one disc while I was carrying him. He tends to prefer the bright blue discs to the other ones.

After Daddy got to play it was Carter's turn. We ate lunch right next to a monstrous playground with three huge slides. Having lunch there wasn't the best ideas as Mr. Squirmy Wormy kept trying to wriggle out of my hands and climb up to the top. After he finished his lunch we had a blast climbing up and down and zipping down the slides.

Now that was a fun Monday morning. Thank you Dr. King for all that you did for the people then and all that you continue to do for us now.

Carter's Lip Post Stitches

Daddy took Carter to the doctor on Monday to get his stitches out after 6 days. Carter began complaining vehemently as soon as he was laid out on the table. It took the doctor all of about 3 minutes to remove the 4 stitches. She commented that he was healing very well and rather quickly.





Here are some pictures from family dinner night at Bopa and Cha-Cha's. Jett and Finley made some sugar cookies and everybody was there!

DOWN GOES CARTER!!!

Just at the beginning of lunch my phone rings. At the other end of the line is Leah (where Carter goes for daycare) with a balling Carter in the background. 10 minutes later I'm in my car on my way to get him to rush him to the urgent care. When I arrive he is walking around undaunted by the 1/4 inch wide gash in his upper lip. Leah show's me the scene of the accident: a playtent that migrated too close to either the fireplace or the lamp. The inside of the playtent looks like a CSI scene with blood splatter thrown across one of the walls.

I grab his stuff and whisk him out the door. Thankfully the urgent care wasn't very busy and they got him in after only about 15 minutes. 15 minutes that he spent perfectly contently sitting on my lap playing with a sheep. The only time he fussed was when I tried to put ice on his lip. I was in such a rush to get the paperwork done that I wrote down his birthday was 12/5/08 (which would make him 4 weeks old) and the his pediatrician was Susan's OBGYN.

They admitted us and we held him down as they nummed him up and laced his lip up with 4 stitches. He definitely did not appreciate being held down. I think that he was more upset at that than he was with the doctor pulling a fishhook through his lip and making artistic knots with the suchers. 10 minutes after the stitching he was asleep in the car on the way home.

We need to go back to get the stitches out in a week. We are crossing our fingers that there is no permanent scarring. Only time will tell. Boys will be boys and the will fall down and go boom. That is what I always say and I still believe it although I didn't realize how much of the trauma I would share when he falls down and goes BOOM!

He's a trooper, he's in good spirits, and a busted up lift can't keep that boy down!

My Boy Can Fish!

Okay... so here is the story. I know that all parents think that their child is a "genius" and they dote all over their supposed future mensa club president. Let me tell you here that I am no exception and I know that my son, Carter Lawrence Gladding, is truly a genius. The difference between me and those other parents..... proof! I offer here concrete irrefutable proof that the my boy is firing on all cylinders. The proof comes by the way of fish.

Notice the older kids trying their luck at the fishing game.




Watch as Carter does some initial reconnissaince and surveys the scene.



After taking in all of the stimuls he needed he makes his move... watch carefully as he:

Chooses his tool: a yellow plastic fishing pole.
Test's the integrity of the fishing pole: He bends it to ensure that the fish won't break the line and get away.
Sets his feet in preparation: Notice the third world stance.



Makes his move: He thrusts his right knee forward, firmly plants his left hand, and... well..... he fishes! The boy fishes! All of this happened in a fraction of a minute. Genius I tell you GENIUS!



What's that you say... A question left unanswered? Did he catch a fish you ask?

To that question there is only one answer: A purist fishes for the sport not the glory.

Elsa Mazursky Has Arrived!

On December 30th Susan, Carter and I were fortunate enough (thanks Aleene) to procure a car for the day so we could make the 2 hour drive to Greenbelt to see the Mazursky 4 (Sara, Errol, Elsa, and Dalasi). They were doing remarkably well for having a 6 day old and if you see Elsa be sure to call her "petite" instead of "little or tiny". All are healthy and happy. Welcome to the world Elsa and enjoy the laughs you'll have with those two for parents!




Robbie showed up with his son Mason. This was a real treat because I haven't seen Rob since Doug's wedding several years ago.



Mason was kind enough to bring along his trains and track so that he could play with Carter. Although I'm not entirely sure that he wanted to share his trains with Carter but he did a good job listening to daddy. Here's a telling picture.... notice the body language.

The Wick's Wedding

While we were back in PA over the holidays Susan's great friend Summer tied the knot to one Brandon Wick. The Wicks were married in Carlisle at the Old Ribbon Mill. The location was stunning and the families put in hours and hours of blood, sweat, and tears into making it look perfect.


Before the weddding Susan dutifully filled the role of the last minute pedicurist (is that even a word?).



The food was great and the dessert's were rich and tasty!



The dancefloor teemed with characters such as these as the dancefloor heated up. The facial expressions tell the story!


We retired early from the wedding being that it was our 3rd night in a row that we were out past Carter's bedtime. That's a new record since he was born... the old record was one so I guess that we smashed it. As we pulled into the grandparents and were settling in Susan got a call from the bride reminding her that it would be nice if her and her brandnew husband could have their roomkeyback for their honeymoon suite. So I jumped back into the car and returned their room key that Susan had mistakenly left in her purse. Why did Susan forget it.... It must have been the rich desserts and the raucous dancing. Happy Wedding Summer and Brandon!

More Holidays in Pennsylvania

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa's house meant opening presents in the basement. Carter LOVED crawling up the stairs. I MEAN THAT'S ALL HE WANTED TO DO. The only issue was that he would get up to the top and try and walk back down them. This required a constant spotter for the daring young acrobat.



We took a walk around the Boiling Springs Lake with Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a cute picture of Susan, Aleene, and Carter.


Carter had a chance to get to know the rest of the family. This is Carter cracking up at Susan's cousin Dave.


For New Years Eve the family got together at Susan's Uncle Brian and Aunt Elizabeth's House. Carter made it until 10:30.... not quite midnight but pretty good for a one year old that has no idea why he wasn't asleep hours ago.



On New Years Day we went over to Susan's sister Tracy's in-laws PJ and Gene's House for a traditional Pork and Sauerkraut dinner. It was the best! Especially the red cabbage and the custard dessert. After the feast Susan had story time with the munchkins.



Two days later we were back on a plane from DC to Salt Lake which was a repeat of the flight over. Carter did not sleep but he was as happy as a clam. Unfortunately we spent 2 hours on the tarmac in Salt Lake City because of snow and de-icing. Carter was a trooper as both mommy and daddy freaked out in succession. Thankfully both of us took turns being the calm voice of reason. We landed back in Fresno 2 hours late but we've never been happier to be back.

Holidays 2008

Carter Susan and I spent Christmas and New Years back in the Mt. Holly Springs/Boiling Springs area of Central Pennsylvania. We spent almost 2 weeks at grandma and grandpas being either really spoiled (Carter) or being really lazy (Susan and Gavin). It was some well deserved downtime for the parents and some needed Cartertime for the grandparents.









We spent Christmas Eve at Susan's sister Tracy's house with all of "the family". Carter partied hard and stayed up really late.



More to come!