Pictures!

My mom and sister Jessica went to town last Friday to get some professional pictures of Keenan taken at the mall, so naturally they took Carter along and got some of her as well, which I really appreciated. Mom is saving the pictures she bought for a birthday present for Robert, but I got a sneak peek on the website. I copied my favorites and although the quality isn't great, you get the idea. She looked so CUTE! and SWEET! I've always been afraid to take her in to get her picture taken, thinking first she wouldn't let me fix her hair-which mostly she won't- and then would be grouchy and not smile during the pictures. Maybe it's a mother daughter thing, but she is always better behaved with anyone else. I try really hard not to let it hurt my feelings, and mostly it doesn't unless someone comments on how sweet Carter was until I showed up! (Thanks for the vote of confidence in my mothering skills, and for pointing that out. I feel better already...) Mom said Carter loved the whole thing, from posing to all the attention and was great all day. I have read several places that kids do have a tendency to be better behaved around other people because they are so comfortable and secure with mom. Not sure if some mom deperate for validation of her parenting wrote that, but hey I'll take what I can get as it does make me a little better. At any rate, these pictures really are so cute, that I really need to do this more often--or con Mom into taking her more often...

Today was the last day of SoccerTots. They were going to be in the St. Patricks Day parade, but since it snowed, I decided to skip it. I signed Carter up for an 8 week class this winter, but it wasn't as much fun as I had hoped for her. If we could get there a little early, she LOVED running around in the gym chasing all the soccer balls, playing keep away, and generally just running around. Then for the next hour, they had more organized activities and she did alright for the first 20-30 minutes then was tired and wanted to go home. The guy organizing the show was very nice, but his program was a little too mature for 2-3 year olds, IMHO. He was trying to get them to actually dribble the little soccer balls when many were just doing good to actually kick it. Sometimes he would try to get all 20+ toddlers to line up and go one at a time at an activity (you can imagine the commotion the parents had towards the end of the line tyring to get their kid to wait that long...) Some things were good though: we loved noodle tag, where you run around with those foam swimming noodles trying to whack each other. Anything with balloons was great, and the giant parachute was a big hit. I mostly just wanted to get Carter around other little kids since it really scares her right now. A room full of adults, not a problem, but through in 20 other monsters her size and she won't hardly get off my lap. She's come a long ways in getting more comfortable around lots of other little kids, but we decided not to sign up for another 8 weeks. It's almost spring so I think we are just going to start heading to the park and work on more pony rides. I'm hoping to get some swimming lessons in this summer since she LOVES to be in the water and is absolutely fearless. I'm just having issues with finding a maternity swimsuit. I generally don't like swimsuits in general, but a maternity one? I suppose as long as the locker room doesn't have any mirrors

When Carter got up this morning, the first thing she wanted to do was hold her bunny. So far the bunny has been a big hit, with Carter and Dad at least. I'm somewhat less enamored of the idea of house bunny since I'm now finding little bunny poop everywhere. We're working very hard on bunny etiquette with Carter: Don't poke her in the nose, Can't pull her tail, no wrapping bunny up in blankets, can't sit on bunny, no bunny can't take a bath with you, bunny would rather have bunny food than Coco Puffs, really.