Well hello there, double digits! I know I say this every month, but seriously, how is our sweet little boy already almost to his 1st birthday???
Did I mention that the sock monkey pics are next to impossible???
This past month has definitely been one of MAJOR changes in the Peters' household. For one, Carson is now CRAWLING...EVERYWHERE! The first week (right at 9 months), he only really crawled if you were enticing him with a toy. The second week, he started venturing out on his own every now and then, but not too far. And now, oh my goodness... he is all over the place and into everything!!! He pulls up on everything...his crib, the Pack 'N Play (which is now a life saver!), end tables, chairs, entertainment center, the ottoman. You name it, he's pulling up on it. I do love being greeted in the morning with a happy child, just bouncing up and down while standing at the crib railing, just waiting for his Mommy or Daddy to come get him. What a fantastic way to start the day!
In addition to crawling and pulling up, Carson has also started standing on his own in short intervals. The other day, I was sitting at the computer in the living room just watching Carson discover an empty Boogy wipes container sitting on the couch. He stood up to grab it, and I thought he was leaning against the couch while he was playing with it with both hands. I walked over there and nope, he was standing there all by himself, not leaning on anything! This post is not quite on the 10-month mark exactly, and just over the last week, he's really added to the amount of time he can stand on his own. I catch him testing himself, especially in his crib. He'll carefully let go and then have this focused look on his face until he falls back on that sweet little padded booty.
Carson also has the "one foot in front of the other" thing down and will walk all over the house as long as you're standing over him holding his hands. I definitely don't see the walking thing too far off in our future, or at least it doesn't seem too far off. We'll see though. I know we were so eager for Carson to start crawling since it seemed he was a little late, but now that he is, I see why people told me not to get in a hurry and wish these things. I think crawling is supposed to be very good for brain development too, so definitely don't want to rush out of that!It's definitely a lot harder (and fun) now that he's mobile. He will be sitting in the middle of the living room reading and then I turn my head for 2 seconds and he's standing up at the TV. How are they so quick?!?!
Food-wise, Carson's diet has become much more interesting this month. He now eats a lot of real solid foods, not just baby purees. We've been cutting up a lot of our food for him and he's been loving it. He still loves all the purees and oatmeal (the kid LOVES oatmeal), but some of his new favorite big people foods include scrambled eggs, steak/fajita meal/venison, chicken & gravy, pork roast & rice, any kind of beans, grits, pancakes, fried fish, Greek yogurt with preserves, and green beans.
Drink-wise, we are officially done with breastfeeding, not breast milk, just breastfeeding. It's a little hard to write that even though he probably hasn't nursed at all in almost 4 months. We really were done quite a while ago, I just don't think I wanted to tell myself that I would probably never nurse my baby again. Breastfeeding was a wonderful experience, and I was so fortunate to not have any issues. After those first teeth came in, we were pretty much done. Even before that, towards the end of my maternity leave, he was already losing interest. At 6 months, he maybe only nursed in the morning and at night. I still pump and the original plan was to keep on doing that until he's a year old. My initial goal was 6 months, so once we hit that, I said I'd go to a year, give or take. We'll see. It's definitely becoming a chore now. A lot of time for not a lot of milk. Working at home has definitely made it easier though. Also, we have a designated "Wellness Room" at work for nursing mothers, prayer, meditation, etc., so it's not that big of a deal, but I certainly might have been less inclined to try to go all the way to one year if I had to do all that every day. Carson has also made significant progress in the sippy cup arena. He's finally figured out he has to tip the cup in order for something to come out. What finally seemed to make the big difference was adding ice. That was Wanda's idea, and it worked. He didn't seem to care for just cool water, he likes it COLD! He doesn't drink milk or formula out of it, just water.
Sleep-wise, not too much has changed. We still do his dinner around 7, followed by his bath (still in the sink). He likes to read a few books before his bottle- Goodnight Moon, the Sesame Street night time one, Rocky Mountain Babies, and several prayers from his children's prayer book. He usually gets mad when you finish reading. Did I mention he LOVES books?!? He's still going to sleep usually around 8:00 pm (definitely between 7:30-8:30pm). I have noticed that if we miss that window, it is NOT a good thing. I am adamant on sticking to our bed time routine. Carson does not function well if he doesn't get to bed at his normal time. He doesn't quite go down as easily as he used to. Some nights he's out, but others I have had to go all Supernanny on him and lay him back down without talking to him. Two or three times at the most though, and then he gives in. He still must have his bear to snuggle with. He usually sleeps until 6:30 or 7. He'll stay in his crib though and play happily for up to 30 minutes though, which is nice for Mommy & Daddy. Any extra sleep time is a good thing! However, just this past week, he's been sleeping until 7 to even as late as 8!!! Go Carson!!!
Nap-wise, this child still isn't on an exact schedule. I've tried, but he just seems to change daily. Most days though, I'd say we try to start the morning nap wind-down around 10:00 and then start the afternoon wind-down around 2:00/3:00. The length totally varies, but historically it's been 30 minutes to an hour. Lately though, we've seen 45 minutes to an hour & a half! All this exercise must finally be wearing him out...thank goodness!!!
Carson seems to have digressed a little in the talking department. He'll just get fixed on one sound and say it for a while and then we don't hear it again for a while. He hasn't said "Da Da" in a while. I also realized I hadn't heard "Ma-Ma" in a while, so I started saying it a lot and he started saying it some again. He usually just likes rambling with his "G" sounds. He's also been using "N" and "H" sounds. We laugh because his little language sounds very Asian sometimes. I know that he recognizes certain words - "ba" (bottle), ball, dog, duck, his name, hi. I know he recognizes the people in the pictures in his room. His favorite picture is one of Da Da, Papi, and PaPa.
Carson LOVES to wave! He LOVES to "wave at the baby" in the mirror. He also likes to give kisses to the baby.
He still LOVES to be outside and still LOVES his doggies! He loves to crawl on Shooter...pretty sure Shooter isn't as amused. He loves to watch the dogs wrestle and play fetch. Doggie tails are always funny too!
Other stats, etc:
Carson now had EIGHT teeth...yep, EIGHT!
Favorite toys: Anything he's not supposed to be playing with, balls, BOOKS, blocks.
