9 Months

Not wanting to cooperate.

Really not wanting to cooperate.

Here is Carter's 9 month update (and late as usual).  I can't believe how quickly this little boy changes.  I love his personality he is developing.  Carter makes us laugh and keeps us on our toes on a daily basis.  He is constantly changing.  In fact,  he has changed so much between now and when went in for his 9 month check up.

9 month Stats:
weight: 17 lb 4 oz
height: 27 3/4 in
head: 46 1/2 cm

As always I had a million questions for his pediatrician, but overall Carter is growing and developing into a healthy little boy.  He also had a finger prick blood test to check iron levels, which was slightly low and got one shot.  He was a champ!  Always a few tears right afterwards but he calms down quickly.

Here is what Carter is up to at 9 months:

Food:  Carter enjoys his food.  He is now eating 3 meals a day.  We're pretty proud of the kid because he seems to really enjoy his fruits AND veggies.  He is not very good at feeding himself.  In fact he will only feed himself puffs or crackers.  We will place chucks of food on his tray but he doesn't seem to care to eat those pieces by himself.  Not sure if it's too difficult for him to pick up or that he doesn't like getting his hands dirty, but we will keep trying.  As mentioned, he loves munching on puffs and would eat them all day if we allowed him to.  He also enjoys peaches, bananas, applesauce, prunes, pears, blueberries, oranges, apricot, peas, green beans, various kinds of squash, sweet potato, and broccoli.  He has recently had yogurt and seems to enjoy that as well.  We have had a couple of small scares that goes along with eating solids.  Carter tends to swallow his small bite size pieces instead of gumming and chewing them.  Needless to say he makes this mama a tad nervous because he has had some "choking" incidents.

Sleeping:  Well sleeping was getting ugly for awhile but I'm hoping and praying that we are onto something.   This past week Carter started to consistently sleep through the night and take naps.  His morning nap continues to be the longer one.  As I type this update I pray that I did not just jinx myself.  I really don't mind waking up at 5:30/6:00 in the morning when I get to sleep through the night too.

Activities:  The fun part of the update!  Well we have a crawler!  An army crawler that is.  In the last couple of weeks  Carter has finally figured out how to pull his body along the ground.  Hoping that he learns to crawl on all fours because he gave himself some good rug burns tonight.  I really didn't think he would even get to this point because he loves standing.  Everyone thought he would go straight to walking.  By the way he crawls to all the stuff he has no business touching.  He favorite new "toy" is daddy's stereo equipment.  In addition to crawling he is also pulling himself up onto things.  He can pull himself up in his crib so we have now lowered it down.  Also, he can pull himself up onto his music table from a laying down position.  He is starting to go from lying on his belly to a sitting position.  As mentioned, Carter loves standing.  He will walk with us when we hold his hands.  His other new trick is that he will walk around his music table.  One time is not good enough.  No Carter will walk and walk around it until we decide it's enough.

Talking:  Carter continues to babble and make sounds like "ba", "ga", "da", and "ma".  When he eats he will make the "mmmmm" sound to let us know how yummy his food tastes.  He will now wave "bye bye" or "hi".  If you ask for a kiss he will plant an open mouth one on your cheek.  Carter is starting the mimicking stage.  If we blow raspberries or stick our tongue out at him he will repeat his back.  Carter loves songs and music.  His favorite songs are "3 little monkeys jumping on the bed" (and he will bounce and jump), "the noble duke of york", "the wheels on the bus", "twinkle twinkle", and the "the itsy bitsy spider".

We are loving our little boy and this stage!