Carter is definitely his father's son. He's very logical just like Bryan is. For example: Bryan thought that Carter may have Leukemia a few days before he was diagnosed based on a few different things. When I asked him why he didn't tell me he thought it could be cancer he shrugged his shoulders and said, "You're a mom. You would have freaked out and I thought it was a long shot. I'm not medically trained to diagnose something like that anyways. And you had an appointment for a few days later. What would have been the point of telling you?" Hmmm. Typical Bryan. Me? I would have screamed from the rooftops, "My son is tired and has two very small red dots on his neck!! IT MUST BE CANCER!" :) Wouldn't have been too productive. Carter is like Bryan like that. He's quite logical. When he was explained the process and road that lie ahead of him he shrugged his little 5 year old shoulders and said, "Well, it doesn't sound fun but if this is what needs to happen to make my blood healthy then I guess that's ok." Seriously? You're FIVE! Shouldn't you, oh I don't know, freak out that the next three years of your life will be filled with shots, puking, hair loss, and tons of other yuckies you won't enjoy instead of chasing girls around the playground, playing sports, and digging tunnels in the snow? So weird to me, this thing they call logical thinking. I'm just FAR too girl to be that rational.
Bryan and Carter are both thinkers as well. You can just tell, looking at them, that the wheels are turning. They are processing something that has been said to decide whether or not they believe it.
They are also both very into sciencey stuff. Carter thinks weather is cool... so does Bryan. They both think the human body is cool. Once, about a year ago, they had a conversation about white blood cells at the dinner table. Carter could not have been over 4 at the time. Seriously? White blood cells? So odd.
When people started shaving their heads Carter quickly turned to his hero, Daddy, to see if he was going to join in the fun. Bryan LOVES having a shaved head. But, he looks young (he IS young). He has people constantly asking him how old he is. (As he's shoving a huge needle into their mouths...) So, he was a little hesitant. He sells treatments all day long to his patients. They need to trust him. He doesn't have any wrinkles. No facial hair. Not a lick of gray hair. He thought if he shaved his head he would look too yound making it a little more difficult for patients to take him seriously. And, afterall, the livelihood of our family depends on him raking in the big bucks. :)
After much deliberation, he decided, "Who cares if people don't take me seriously for a few weeks. I'll let me facial hair grow a little to compensate. Shaving my head to support my little man will be something he will remember forever." Could not agree more. I was feeling that way inside but tried hard not to voice my opinion because I didn't want to make him feel bad. (It didn't affect his work at all, by the way... probably becaue he looks so stinking HOT with a shaved head!) I must admit, while he was on the fence about it, I think there was one thing that pushed him over the edge. Ben, Bryan's super amazing younger brother, played the "I'll do it if you do it" card. Worked like a charm. When I told Bryan that Ben was on board if Bryan went for it, he got this look in his eyes... you know, the look an older brother gets when he sees a wonderful opportunity to tease a younger sibling? Now that they're all grown up, Ben is the one and only sibling that doesn't end up on the receiving end of Bryan's taunting. But, I faulter from my point.
The shaving if the heads is just one more thing that Bryan and Carter have in common right now... although Bryan's is already on it's way back (he's got TONS of hair) while Carter's is just getting thinner and thinner. I love this picture of the two of them.
