carter is totally into art and drawing and writing (his version) now. often i can find him lying on his belly, pad on the floor in front of him, talking to himself, drawing away...this is so great. not only that, but he is suddenly interested in drawing THINGS. not just random colors/designs--this corresponded to a sudden increase in small motor skills a few months ago, and the satisfaction of being able to control his pencil/pen/crayon. the gender difference is amazing. this was all ava wanted to do from the time she was about 2.5 years on, and it just was not on carter's radar until recently.

there are other subtle changes in him too that make me pause and look at him differently--he is growing more into a kid, and probably more than i realize. there is just a more mature way of perceiving the world, and he certainly has some strong opinions, as well as personal likes and dislikes. his niche in the world has been so eclipsed by ava for so long that it is nice to see him becoming his own self. my favorite is that he likes his long hair. "i like it CURLY!" he will yell if anyone threatens to cut it.

that and he is very snuggly lately.

i managed to earn some points towards all natural mother of the year this afternoon--we made homemade jello--to rave reviews i might add. i called it raspberry apple, but really i used raspberry tea and apple juice--but if the kids had known it was tea they probably would not have eaten it. it is RIDICULOUSLY easy to make. so ridiculously easy, the fact that JELL-O even exists is amazing--talk about the biggest ruse ever--"you must buy this product or you cannot have jello." HA! the only difference is that you have to boil juice and not just water. ooooooohhhhh...but i remained duped for years--that box of gelatin sat in our cupboard for a very long time before today. talk about marketing genius on the part of jello.

however, our efforts to make pudding a few months ago did make me long for that little almost square box....definitely not as simple.