It's the great pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

No, wait, that's just Carter's head.


Today Carter had his 9 month well check. Everything is going great. He isn't crawling on his hands and knees yet, he is still content to just slither along. As a result of this he is also not really pulling up. He TRIES to pull up, but when you are on your stomach and not on your knees it makes it a little harder. I am working with him but I think he may just be a kid who never officially crawls. Doctor says this is perfectly normal. He also got the H1N1 vaccine. I was on the fence with this one but eventually decided to go with it. He had three shots altogether and he didn't take it very well. There was lots of alligator tears and hyperventilating and ended with his crying himself to sleep in the car. So so sad.

Yesterday I had a doctors appointment and the nurse commented on Carter's head. She told me when her son was little he ALSO had a huge head and she wondered how he could keep it perfectly balanced on his tiny little body. I smiled and thought, is his head really that big? It seems the perfect amount of roundness to me. My brother and dad keep insisting that his head is huge also. Maybe they are seeing something I'm not?

Apparently so.

STATS:
Weight: 18.5 25%
Height: 27.5 inches 25%
Head: 45 3/4 cm 50-75%

I guess everyone was right, his head is big, it must because he is so smart.

9 months baby!

Dear Carter,

Today you are 39 weeks old. It is your 9 month birthday. I cooked you in my belly for 39 weeks. I can't believe you have been living outside for the same amount of time. You are so big now. I remember those first milestones. You smiled socially at 6 weeks, rolled over at 10. You ate solids and rolled onto your belly at 6 months. Now you are pulling up, crawling, have your first teeth and are beginning to talk! You have done so much and it's only been 9 months! What a 9 months it has been. I look at little kids running around in parks and think, I can't wait to run around with you, and at the same time, I want to keep you in your babyhood and cuddle you and kiss you and not have you run away. You are my perfect baby boy. Happy 9 months. Please, don't grow up so fast.

Love,

Mama

Carter's first word, and I have a witness!

Either Carter turned into a smarty pants over night or I haven't been paying attention! Kate came over today to hang out with us. She was in the kitchen and asked if she could eat half of a banana and Carter goes..."nana?". Kate starts freaking out asking me if I heard that. Um, hear what? So she goes up to him and shows him the banana and asks him what it is. After a while he says "nana". Um, apparently my kid talks but I never noticed. He has also started doing the sign for "all done". Oh, and today at lunch when we strolled by a bunch of people on our way to the bathroom, he waved at them and said "bye-bye". Are you kidding me? HE CAN SAY BYE BYE? I don't know what happened but today, my kid woke up SMART!

Family Fun

My parents came to Austin to visit their THREE grandkids last weekend. We always have a blast when they are here. Now that they have THREE gandkids I expect to see them no less than every 6 weeks.



Lucy seems to have taken a big interest in Carter all of a sudden. I think it's because he is so animated and giggly and squirmy. She came over for a few hours on Saturday to hang out with us. She loved wresting on the bed with Carter. She was pretty rough but it didn't phase him. He's a tough kid.



Check out these funny videos:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9g7_O2EHIs



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2TwKg8VRuE



(Seriously, the embedding is REFUSING to work tonight. YOU try it.)





Click on this link to see Carter's October adventures so far

How do you torture your baby?

You make them wear their Halloween costume of course!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6grgHvzMMdA



(I would love to embed this video for you but it's refusing to work tonight)



Since Carter makes the sounds of a little monster, it seemed fitting to dress him as one for his first Halloween. Actually, truth be told I bought it for him today because it was on SALE at Babies R Us. It was slim pickings but I think he pulls off the monster look better than any kid out there!

Fly Away

Carter is on the verge of crawling. In the past few days it seems like he has really been testing his ability to move from point A to point B. He has been sleeping on his knees for weeks, in child's pose. Sometimes I would even catch him on all fours in his SLEEP rocking back and forth but he would never try to do it during daylight hours. It's like he didn't know he could do it. Today he finally started to move! He tries every once in a while to get in the crawl position but it seems like his best mode of transportation is to sort of slither along. He pushes off with his right foot and sticks his left foot in the air to propel himself forward. It's so cute to watch. He is also trying to pull up on things. Today he successfully pulled up on me. We have an over-the-door towel hanger that we draped over his crib to see if he would use it to pull up and he did a chin-up right away. It's amazing how much he moves. Diaper changes are the real challenge. It takes the both of us to hold him down. How does an 8 month old have so much strength of roll over with two adults trying to pin him down?? It's a mystery to me. He made so much success in one day. What will he be doing by Halloween??