9 Months!

Went to his 9 month check up and Carter is right on track! Here are the stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 14 ounces (25%)
Height:29 inches (85%)
Head Circumference: 17 3/4 inches (40%)

We love our little guy more each day and he is developing his own little unique personality more and more. Last night he wanted a toy and we tried to get him to crawl to it and the boy threw himself on his back, started kicking his legs, and screaming--I told Caleb "what will the tantrums be like when he's 2?" :).

In usual fashion...

EAT:
Bye bye purees and hello table foods! LOVE this! We pretty much mash or dice up whatever we're eating and that's what Carter eats. He typically gets 2 meals (breakfast and dinner)/day with 3-4 bottles. I would say 1-3 days/week he gets a "lunch" meal. I try to make sure at each "meal" he gets a protein, fruit/veggie, dairy, and grain. His favorite foods are yogurt, pears, carrots,apples, sweet potatoes, peaches, and pasta--can you tell most of this is sweet? I think he's got a sweet tooth like his mama :).  He's definitely getting more picky about his veggies and meats--he will eat them, but will grunt many times as his way of saying he's not such a huge fan. He eats them anyway :). The only way I can get him to eat cottage cheese is if I "hide" it in with his fruit and oatmeal in the mornings---and even then, if he gets too much of the texture he gags.    He gets all bottles of breastmilk during the day and then will nurse right before bedtime. He sure loves puffs and cheerios and those are always "go to" options during fussy periods or to buy time anywhere and everywhere.

SLEEP:
Sleeps 7:30-6:45 like clockwork every night. Knock on wood that teething has not affected sleeping...yet :). A couple of times in the past month he's woken up fussy about 2-3 hours into bedtime but just a little patting in bed and he's fine. He still will nap pretty well from 8:30-10 and then 1-?. I say question mark because I REALLY want it to be 1-3, but he typically will wake up anywhere from 2-2:30. I try to make him stay in his bed until 3, and most of the time he's fine with that--will just roll around, kick on his mobile, and play with his blanket pretty content until I come to get him. He really NEEDS an evening power nap but really fights it which leaves Mommy with Mr. Fusspot from 5-6:30 until Daddy comes for relief :).

PLAY:
My goodness, I think he's taken play to a whole new level this month. Banging, manipulating, reaching for toys....so fun! However, he's not very content to just sit and play. He likes to stand--which means, he needs your hands to pull himself up. Now standing isn't good enough--he likes to stand and hold onto furniture ie: coffee table, walker, couch, etc. His absolute favorite thing is to walk holding onto your fingers. He's started to pull himself to standing on certain things (ie: people, ball toy from Nana's house) and blog friends....the boy started to .....crawl. Yes. I thought it would never happen and always told Caleb that he'll go straight to walking but I guess all that Daddy crawling boot camp worked because yesterday he started army crawling. Don't get me wrong, if something is far away he'll either a) roll or b) scream so loud so someone will go get what he wants but if an object is within 12 inches, he's started to crawl to get it. In the talking department he has developed this high pitched scream that I really really hope is a *small* phase. I love him and many times it's a happy scream, but it's one of those where your face just grimaces when you hear it because the frequency just pierces your ears. He'll do it to get attention, when he's frustrated, and when he's happy--just his new way of expressing himself, so you better believe we are really working on signing as another means of expression :). Recently he's really into singing and will stop whatever he's doing, stare, and smile so big if you're singing--his all time favorite is "itsy bitsy spider". He's also just recently gotten to where he'll sit and attend to books for 2-3 minutes before wanting to eat them. 4 mornings/week I run and push Carter in the stroller and he doesn't seem to hate it, doesn't seem to love it, just looks around but it wears.him.out. It's funny but I can almost always guarantee at 1.5-2 hour nap after our morning run. Carter loves his Daddy and gets so excited when he gets home. He can be very fussy and as soon as Caleb walks in the door he will grin so big and flip the switch to happiness. He seems to warm up more to men it seems, we'll see if that lasts.

Health:
Asthma is very well under control. We're doing 2 puffs of Flovent from an inhaler (bye bye nebulizer 20 minute breathing treatments!) 2x/day and haven't had to use albuterol at all this past month! Woo hoo! He's got his 2 upper teeth coming in...with a big 'ol gap in between, thank you genetics :).

Here are 9 month pics, it definitely shows his little curious personality because the piece of paper is now a toy...

Love you little man! Can't believe you've been in this world the same amount of time you were in my belly :).