Carter, the Dog

Most people that know me know that I love dogs. We have three, and I would love more. However, Steve has told me no more. So, Carter is around the dogs often. Now that he is mobile, the dogs stay behind a large baby gate in our bedroom when he is out and about in the living room. One of his favorite things to do is stand up holding on to the baby gate and shake it as hard as possible while yelling loudly. We think he is yelling at the dogs to come to him, or he just associates the dogs with yelling. We tend to yell at the dogs to be quiet a lot (great use of my dog training skills).

Today, Carter and I were playing around the living room. I gave him a new ball and bat to play with. They are both very soft. Well, to Steve's dismay, he shoved the bat out of the way to get to the ball. He proceeded to put the ball in his mouth, then crawl around with it in his mouth like a dog. He almost looks like he is growling in this picture.

I thought, maybe this is just a fluke. He would only do this once. Nope...after crawling around for about 30 seconds with this ball in his mouth like this, he sat down, took the ball out of his mouth, examined it, placed it back in his mouth and headed down the hallway.

This scenario went on for about five minutes until he decided to stand at the baby gate and yell at the dogs again. Do I love dogs so much that I have willed my child to act like one? He tries to bark like the dogs, he constantly eats like the dogs would like to, and now he is crawling around with objects in his mouth.

Later that afternoon, Carter was playing with Steve in the living room. See picture below...

This is a soft Michigan football that our friends Ryan and Kelly brought Carter back from Michigan. My son can't throw the ball, he has to carry it around in his mouth. This isn't looking like a promising future in football.

Are there any sports out there that require you to put the ball in your mouth and run? I guess it is time to do some research. And, start investing for future braces. Maybe Carter believes he is a dog. Maybe he has observed the dogs so much that he thinks it would be fun to be like them. Or, maybe he was a dog in a past life. All I know that it is darn cute, and we will continue to encourage this behavior for awhile. :)