Carter is 9 Months!

Carter is 9 months old today! I feel like the 9 month mark is when we really start to count down to his first birthday! He is getting very close to a toddler and is not so much an infant any more. Here are some of the latest things he is up to.

• Carter is very good at crawling. Now he loves to pull himself up on everything. He loves to stand at the sofa, coffee table, Abbie’s kitchen, chairs, etc. He walks along while holding on. He has started to reach out and walk from one thing to the next. He still has to be holding on. He is not walking on his own yet. I have no idea when he will be. It could be a few weeks or months, I just can’t tell. He is very proud of himself though! Abbie has learned quickly how high she has to put things so that he can’t reach them. He frequently grabs her cup of pretzels or milk off the table.
• Carter is still doing well with his bottles. I am going to try to start eliminating one of his bottle feedings so that we are down to three a day. I am just waiting for his 9 month check-up to see how he is gaining weight. He is still mostly eating baby food. However, he is very good about putting food in his mouth now and eats Cheerios, puffs, bananas, ground turkey, steamed sweet potatoes, etc. on his own. I think we are going to start to increase table food and add yogurt this month!
• Carter is still sleeping through the night, from about 7:15 to 7:00 the next morning. He is usually happy to play in his bed until 7:30 or so, and will sometimes fall back asleep. He is taking two, one hour naps a day. Sometimes his naps are only 30 minutes and sometimes they are an hour and a half. I think his teething has something to do with his short naps.
• Carter is getting his two front teeth! They are just about to poke through his gums. I think they are really bothering him. Poor guy! I hope they come in soon for all our sakes!
• Carter has been having allergy issues…or what we think is allergy issues. He recently had two ear infections back to back. I just happened to take him in for other things both times he was diagnosed. He never ran a fever and still was sleeping okay so I had no idea. I am not used to dealing with ear infections as Abbie still has not ever had one. I think he had a lot of congestion from allergies, a cold, teething, or all three. It was so bad that our pedi actually sent us to an allergy specialist. Well, 45 minutes into my conversation with the allergist I decided I did not want to do testing and that we would just deal with it the best we could. Since then, we have been using baby Simply Saline at every diaper change to try and flush out his nose. We also put him on Zyrtec. Since then he has had no issues! It has been wonderful! His permanent “cold” is finally gone. I am curious to see what the pedi has to say about it when we go back for his 9 month check up on Monday.
• Carter is doing so well at swimming and Gymboree (pics of both are coming)! We both really enjoy our time just the two of us. He loves to splash us both for the entire 30 minutes of our lesson. He has no fear of swimming and just dives under water to swim to me. He loves Gymboree now that he can crawl everywhere and pull up on all the equipment. He loves to climb through tunnels and bubble time.
• Carter has started to babble. He doesn’t “talk” nearly as much as Abbie did as a baby. Maybe it is just the difference between girls and boys. He has started to say “da-da” over and over. He does not yet associate it with Steve. I keep working on the “ma-ma” sound! I am so excited to hear what his first word will be. I think that may be a little while away though.
• Carter is very ticklish! He cracks up laughing when I tickle his belly. I just love it!

We love you Carter! We are looking forward to all of your first holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas) and your first birthday!