Christmas with Carter

I wasn't sure what to expect with Carter this year.  I knew he was far to young to understand the true reason for this glorious holiday, but I thought he could possibly get a little excited about the piles of presents.

I already feel a tad bad for the kid.  I would HATE to have my birthday so close to Christmas!  While I was shopping, I kept thinking, "Well, his birthday is only a few weeks away..."  I was trying to justify keeping the number of presents to a reasonable amount instead of going over-the-top crazy.  Perhaps we'll celebrate his half-birthday or Baptism birthday instead?!?!

Back to Christmas...he was such a cutie.   I'm sure I've mentioned that he is all about me lately :)   So while opening a gift, he sat on my lap, pulled out tissue paper one piece at a time (took a few seconds to play with each piece), and finally found his way to the gift.  

It only took about two presents for him to completely lose interest in the unwrapping part.  Now that all the presents are unwrapped, he adores them!  Except for the bathtub bubble blower.  That thing scares him to death! 

Because of the excess of toys, Travis and I are in desperate need of a shed and a few more storage spaces.

As a mother, I have a hard time not comparing him to other kids.  Of course I think he is the greatest-but I also see that a lot of the children in his daycare room are eating much more "adult" foods.  Feeding him pieces of food, no matter how small they are, makes me jittery.  My mind starts going a million miles an hour thinking of him choking.  Needless to say, this is something I need to work through.  With Christmas, came the the opportunity to let go and allow him to try lots of new flavors and textures.  In the past week, we have conquered (and liked) scrambled egg yolks, avocados, toast with jelly, Cheerios, mashed potatoes, rice, and spaghetti noodles.  Life will be great when I can finally fix Carter a plate of whatever we are having for dinner and I think that day is almost here!

Carter is a ham-at least at home.  I am beginning to see his shy side though, especially when we are visiting other people's homes.  All day at home he will yell, and laugh, and play catch with himself, and dance, and jump on the bed, and wrestle....we have a great time together.  The second we walk into someone else's home, he sits quietly on their lap or on the floor, looks around, and scrunches his shoulders up to his chin.  Where in the world do kids learn to do these things?  After awhile he makes himself right at home, but it amazes me how differently he behaves.

In the midst of the hustle and bustle of each holiday, I find myself thinking so much about Carter's birthmother.  I knew that Thanksgiving was tough on her.  I figured that Christmas would be even harder.  I don't know how she does it.  She is such a strong, caring person.  We know that she loves Carter as much as we do.  On Christmas Eve, I thought it would be the perfect time to tell him his complete story.  After all, Christmas is about the journey of a family and a baby.  This is a tradition I hope to continue for as long as he'll listen to me ramble. My prayer for Carter is that he grows up knowing that he is loved. By us. By our families. By her. By her family.  And by God.  That's a lot of love for one cute little guy.