A Letter to Carter at 9 Months

I can't believe it's been a whole month since the last letter we wrote you.  I swear when I'm working the weeks and months fly by so much faster.  I wish I could pause time and slow it down, but mostly just in the evenings and on the weekends!  You are such a sweet baby.  It's ridiculous how often people comment on how calm you are.  We've been hearing it for 9 months now, but it never gets old.  You are an absolute doll.

You still aren't crawling which kind of surprises me, but also kind of doesn't.  You don't show interest in crawling at all.  You prefer to roll or scoot everywhere you go.  Anytime you are on your tummy you immediately roll over to your back.  The only times I get excited thinking you might crawl are when you want to get something and can't quite get there by rolling.  Then you get frustrated and fuss a little bit and I think, okay here we go!  But then you just give up and go after something else.  It's really the only time your easy going nature is a problem.

Even though you aren't crawling you are more mobile.  You scoot around while sitting up without toppling over which I find very impressive!  When I'm sitting on the floor by you, you climb into my lap.  It's so sweet.  The cutest is when I'm sitting behind you and you don't know it.  When you whip around and find me behind you, you reach for me, grab on, and pull yourself into my lap.  You also like to pull up on stuff.  You get up to your knees and bounce around.  You also love standing.  If I go to put you down to sit on the floor you stick your legs straight out because you want to stand.  

Possibly the cutest thing you are up to now is reaching up to be held.  You love being held and are all about it.  When you see someone and want up, you stretch your arms up into the air.  It's adorable and impossible to say no to.  I had you in the Jumperoo one day while I vacuumed (so you could play on the floor without ingesting animal hair).  Daddy came by holding you and said, "I walked by and he reached up for me to pick him up and I couldn't resist."  It was so sweet and so true!  Your face is impossible to resist!

Another adorable thing you've picked up this month is clapping.  You started off clapping when I would say yay and clap at you.  Now you are a clapping fiend.  You clap while playing, you clap while riding in the car, you clap while riding in the stoller, you clap on the changing table, you clap in the bathtub.  You get the idea, you clap anywhere and everywhere.  You are to clapping as Sam I Am is to eating green eggs and ham.  You would do it here or there, you would do it anywhere.  The funniest for me was one morning as your daddy was leaving for work.  When he said goodbye you started clapping.  I laughed that you were clapping because he was leaving, but we all know you were clapping because you were excited to see him.  Every evening when he gets home I say, yay daddy!  And you smile and clap.  It's so sweet.

Your favorite game right now is "Where is Carter?"  I'll lay a blanket across your face and ask where you are, you pull it off and have the biggest grin on your face when I excitedly exclaim "There he is!"  I'll also put a blanket over my head and ask you where mommy is.  You'll pull it off and laugh when you see me.  We've tried it with Harper, but she runs away.  She's not a fan of having blankets thrown on her, I guess too many laughs at her expense when she was younger.

That game is how I got such sweet smiles from you for pictures!

Your coordination is getting much better.  You have the pincer grasp down and are able to feed yourself.  The only problem is that you think feeding yourself takes too long and you would rather have me feed you.  If I'm sitting at the table by you, you fuss and want me to feed you.  If I go in the kitchen where you can see me, but I'm not right there, you eat just fine.  But then when you're eating something messy with a spoon like yogurt, cereal, or cottage cheese you suddenly decide you must feed yourself and constantly reach for the spoon.  I usually let you have the spoon, you spill food all over making a mess, and then you allow me to finish feeding you.

You still aren't interested in sippy cups, but can drink out of a straw really well.  We were at a restaurant and I got a smoothie made with strawberries, bananas, peaches, water, and ice.  You kept reaching for it, so I gave you the straw not really expecting you to be able to drink any of it.  We were shocked when we saw the smoothie slowly making it's way up the straw and into your mouth.  Once you got the hang of it, you went to town.  Then I started worrying you'd give yourself a brain freeze!  We should probably get your sippy cups out more.  If you can drink through a straw on your own, you should be able to use a sippy cup.  We just haven't tried one in a while.

Sleeping has been a bit all over the place this month.  You were getting up once per night and then went to sleeping through the night for a week.  Then you got sick and that got all out of whack.  You went back to sleeping through the night for a week.  Then you must've started teething or something because you were back to waking up at night again.  You still just have 2 bottom teeth, so I'm sure more are on the way soon.

You used to just suck your thumb when you were tired but this month you are all about that thumb.  I think it might be somewhat due to teething because you alternate between sucking it and chewing on it.  At your doctor's appointment he suggested we start saving a little bit of money each month toward orthodontia for you later in life.  I guess the way you suck your thumb causes the most problem with teeth.  You little turkey!

Napping at daycare is all over the place like it always has been.  You usually take two 30 minute naps, but sometimes have one longer one.  At home on the weekends you take 2 good naps.  You are usually awake for 2 hours, nap for an hour or 2, are awake for 3-4 hours, and take another 30 minute to hour nap.  We still start your bedtime routine between 7 and 7:30 and you are asleep by 8 or 8:30.  

Meals have changed this month.  You still eat rice cereal or oatmeal cereal in the morning for breakfast after you nurse.  At lunchtime you have 4 ounces of a fruit or vegetable puree which is followed by a bottle at daycare or nursing at home.  At daycare you get a snack with the other kids around 3:00 of rice cereal and puffs.  For dinner you eat cut up chunks of food with a side of yogurt or cottage cheese.  The new things you’ve had this month are mango, apricot, asparagus, cottage cheese, chicken, tofu, plain whole milk yogurt, cantaloupe, and eggplant.  So you’ve had apples, avocados, rice cereal, bananas, pears, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, apricots, mangos, nectarines, peaches, plums, prunes, carrots, peas, zucchini, chicken, tofu, plain whole milk yogurt, Cheerio's, cantaloupe, grapes, kiwi, asparagus, eggplant, and cottage cheese.  Whew, that's a lot! 

Last month you didn't have a well baby appointment so your dad and I weighed and measured you.  We measured you at 30 ½ inches long which must've been wrong because at your doctor's appointment this month you were 28.8 inches long.  I wasn't sure how accurate last month's measurement was because daddy measured you while I was giving you a bath...  That puts you at the 67th percentile for height.  You weighed in at 18 pounds, 14 ounces which puts you at the 24th percentile which amazes me because you seem so chunky!  You've been right around the 45th percentile since you were 3 months old, so I guess you are slimming down a bit now.

Your head circumference is 46.5 cm which puts you at the 81st percentile.  I was cracking up because your daddy has a very large head to the point that he struggles to find hats in stores that fit.  When I was pregnant I was a bit worried about your head size, but you were around the 50th percentile when they checked.  When you were born your head circumference was in the 5th percentile and has steadily grown since.  To the 9th percentile at one month, 22nd percentile at 4 months, 56th percentile at 6 months, and now to the 81st percentile.  I'm interested to see what you're at when we go in for your 12 month appointment!  You're just growing such a big brain in there!

Right now you are wearing mostly 9 month and 12 month clothes.  The length of 12 month jammies fit better, but they are made for a slimmer, more mobile baby.  I have a hard time getting them to zip over your big ol' chubby thighs!  You have some 18 month jammies that fit really well, the foot area is just too big.  I swear your feet are super small for your size.  We saw a 4 month old a few weeks ago and his feet were bigger than yours!  Our favorite outfit this month was your plaid overalls with your blue polo from Aunt Judy and Uncle Mike.  We also loved your jean shorts from Grandma and Grandpa.  You are still wearing size 3 diapers.  We've haven't done as well with cloth diapers on weeknights and weekends this month.  It's been super busy!

Every month I love you more and more.  My phone is so full of pictures and videos (basically all of you with a few of daddy, Harper, and Skippy thrown in) that there isn't enough space to save any more.  I've been going through and deleting pictures to make more room.  As I've gone back through I've enjoyed looking at pictures and watching videos of you from a newborn all the way to now.  I was watching one video where I was so excited you had your eyes open and were looking around.  Daddy came in while I was taping and excitedly exclaimed, "His eyes are open!"  It was so cute.  As much fun as you were then and as much as I loved you, you are so much more fun now!  You crack me up with all your talking and moving and bouncing.  You are the sweetest baby I've ever known and I love you so much it hurts!  I can't believe another month has gone by.  Before we know it we will be celebrating your first birthday.  I love you so much, little man!

Now on to daddy:

Everyday you grow more independent and just want to do everything for yourself. Watching you feed yourself is a lot of fun. You get better every day at getting the food into your mouth with less and less on the floor and your lap. Good for you, not so good for Harper who is always patiently waiting for and droppings. I am sure that it will not be long before you learn to give her food off your plate so she will survive!

Lately I have been working on remodeling the bathroom at nights and your mom brings you in to say goodnight. I love it because as soon as you seem me, you start cracking up and giggling. The fact that you react like that when you see me warms my heart.

No crawling yet but you love to stand whenever you get the chance. Some times it's hard to get you down because you stick your legs out and try so hard to stand. Bouncing is also another favorite although sometimes you bounce so hard that you lose your balance and fall over.

Soon you will be walking and all over and we cannot wait. It will be so much fun! These upcoming holidays will also be a blast because you are so interested in everything around you. I am sure all of the lights, paper, boxes and family will have you very very excited.

Whatcha still doin here?  That's the end!

*This post is late.*