Carter, Carter's progress, HUNTER, CARTER & CHLOE CARTER: MONTH 7-8 PROGRESS 5 April 2013

 

Happy 8 month Birthday, Carter!

 

Good grief, Sunshine Bear (aka Carter) in his 7th-to-8th month is active! I’m not sure if he’s more or less active than the average kid, but he is BY FAR crazier than Hunter… who was (and largely still is) the most docile kid I know. I’m so surprised at how both our children can have such different personalities.

Incredibly, Carter is almost exactly 1/4 my weight. He’s a baby wombat. He’s on the 100th percentile for weight and also on the upper end for height. I’m not worried this time round though, as Hunter was exactly the same pre-walking days, and look at him now – a skinny lil thing at 2 years old.

Now that Carter can commando-crawl, he Can’t. Stop. Moving. Unfortunately, this also leads to lots of fiascos, like falling off the bed (oops) and constantly getting himself wedged under the TV cabinet or coffee table.

He’s still not as super-smiley with strangers as he was before, but at least he doesn’t dish out the DEATHSTARES.

He’s generally very easy going when it comes to going out, and is happy to sit in his stroller by himself with little/no attention.. since Hunter commands our attention all the time. I guess this is what second-born children learn to deal with.

His only pet hate is when we step out of sight. Screams like a banshee in protest!!! He’s actually very melodramatic about anything he gets upset about (generally if he’s hungry, or tired). The banshee screams make shopkeepers run out of their shops to see what happened, and I’ve had randoms ask me if he fell, or I hurt him, or something. I have never met a baby that gets quite so angry, so quickly, and so loudly!

His non-stop talking/babbling kind of gives me a headache, because it’s LOUD and, well, non-stop! He can go on and on and on, especially in the car. Just babbling about nothing in particular, only to get attention or something.

Stay-away-from-me-stranger face VS Hello-I-know-you face

 

Smiley pants

 

Month07_mummycarter
Love Carter’s “Oh yeah? Taking yet another photo of me? Go on then.” expression

 

  • EATING – Dropped down to breastfeeding 4x/day. The 5th feed (at noon) is now FORMULA! Finally! He was horrified and disgusted and accusing at the start, but now takes to it just fine. I wanted to do it to give him the extra iron, and so I have peace of mind that he can take to the bottle should I fall sick etc. And hooboy does he loves his SOLIDS (at dinnertime). He’s onto a huge list of various purees now. Gobbles up around 3oz a sitting and finishes it within 5 minutes then demands for more. It’s hilarious watching him eat, cos he looks like a little bird – face tilted up, mouth wide open, arms flapping away in eagerness! He will get really pissed off when he spots us eating and there’s nothing for him. Hilarious and I hope it stays this way. I want a child that LOVES to eat, please! (Note: at this same age, and you can click on the link at the bottom of this post to read in full, Hunter was basically rejecting all solids).
Happy to use a bottle now!

 

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

 

The perils of sitting on Mummy’s lap whilst she’s eating pancakes with cream..

 

  • SLEEPING – He still does 2-3 naps a day, either in his cot, or car seat, or out in his stroller, with no issues. Something I love about both my kids is that they’re not constrained by nap times, which I now realise is a pretty good benefit. On the downside, he’s suddenly really struggling with his pacifier.. as in, he frequently wakes up at around 5AM looking for it! Yet, he doesn’t use it the entire night. Just wants it at 5AM. What is up with that??? It’s driving us insane. I know this is a minor problem since he otherwise sleeps solidly, but it drives me nuts having to wake up at 5AM to stuff the damn thing in his mouth 🙁
Chilling out post-nap in his stroller whilst I have a coffee

 

One little monkey, jumping on the bed…

 

  • PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – Will go from sitting to a commando crawl, like a speed demon. Like Hunter, he doesn’t get up fully on hands and knees to crawl, but rather rocks away. Is that a precursor to actual crawling? Hunter went straight to walking but maybe Carter will crawl properly soon, who knows. His weight is a bit of a barrier for him, because he’s just so… gigantic. He loves to stand holding onto something, but is not cruising properly yet. Lunges for objects (mainly food) with sniper accuracy, even small lil things like buttons.
Crawling pose. Good form!

 

“Heh. Look at ME!”

 

Scooting around our bedroom floor

 

Splashing away. He loves the pool!

 

So this is what standing up is like!

 

The two boys are such good mates. I think Hunter is one of Carter’s favourite people in the world – the big sloppy grins and excited arm flaps are just so adorable to see when he spots Hunter! Hunter hasn’t shown much jealousy since Carter’s birth, I guess it’s because he was so young then he doesn’t know life any differently! But he does express frustration from time to time.. which comes out in him pretending he’s going in for a kiss with Carter, but gives him a swift and sneaky bite instead! Gah.

Morning music play time in Hunter’s cot

 

Just the two of us, in this big world

 

Me and my two boys, just hanging out

 

Happy 8 months, my baby wombat! Your “I love mummy” special smiles melt my heart.. usually performed straight after a screaming episode when I just wanna wring your neck 😉 You are just so fat and round and squishy and squashy and cuddly!!! I could eat you all up.

A (rare) photo of all of us, taken on Easter Sunday after church

 

Hee hee

 

A quiet moment

 

Compare with Hunter at Month 7-8 here.

 

PREVIOUS PROGRESS:

 

Let’s Chat!




Let's Chat!

I did formula + bottle both at the same time, for the first time. He HATED it and pretty much rejected the entire feed.

2nd time – reluctantly sucked half of it

3rd time – reluctantly drank all

And after that he got used to it and is now ok with it. I basically did it cold turkey!

I didn’t pump in place of the feed.. cos I hate pumping. I was engorged for about 2 weeks then it was ok.

Well using the pacifier has its downsides… Carter will sometimes wake randomly at night and we have to get up and stuff it back in so he’ll sleep again. Grrr!

pinkelle commented on Beverly’s adventures!:

Thanks Bev! Any tips on how you got Carter to take to the formula. I’m really scared of my baby rejecting formula!

How did dropping 1 feed in the day affect your supply though? Do you pump during that time or just leave it?

We haven’t succeded with sleep training yet! Sigh 🙁 Maybe because he doesn’t use the pacifier. Hope we’ll get there soon!

Hi Bev, may I check wat brand/bottle is Carter taking to now? I’m oso bfeeding my girl and trying to find a bottle tat she will adapts to…;) Thxs in adv! 😉

Hi nicky, he was using the small-sized Comotomo and loved it, but then the teat (slow flow) got too slow for him. I’ve just bought the larger-size Comotomo now with the Medium flow teat and am about to transition him. I love these bottles though, they’re easy to clean and very soft!

Your boys are both so adorable. I love how even at this age, they show such different personalities and how expressive Carter’s little face is.

Sending you and the family lots of love!

Hi do you mind sharing the formula you started Carter on? Am planning to transition my breastfed baby and not sure what to start with. How did you also train your babies to sleep on their own through the night? Mine won’t move to his own cot 🙁 did you latch them to sleep or pop them off awake? Thanks!!

He’s on Nan HA! It’s what I used with Hunter and I really like it. It’s iron fortified, which is good as breastfed babies don’t get as much iron after 6 months of age.. so I like having this as a supplement.

My kids have slept in their own cot since birth, and never in our bed! I just place them in whilst they’re drowsy and have them drift off by themselves (though recently Carter has been yelling away for his pacifier, grrrr). I think it’s hard to move to their own cot if they’re not used to it.. maybe try putting the cot RIGHT NEXT to you and slowlyyyy moving it further and further away?

Thanks Bev! Any tips on how you got Carter to take to the formula. I’m really scared of my baby rejecting formula!

How did dropping 1 feed in the day affect your supply though? Do you pump during that time or just leave it?

We haven’t succeded with sleep training yet! Sigh 🙁 Maybe because he doesn’t use the pacifier. Hope we’ll get there soon!

I did formula + bottle both at the same time, for the first time. He HATED it and pretty much rejected the entire feed.

2nd time – reluctantly sucked half of it

3rd time – reluctantly drank all

And after that he got used to it and is now ok with it. I basically did it cold turkey!

I didn’t pump in place of the feed.. cos I hate pumping. I was engorged for about 2 weeks then it was ok.

Well using the pacifier has its downsides… Carter will sometimes wake randomly at night and we have to get up and stuff it back in so he’ll sleep again. Grrr!

Both boys are just gorgeous! When my nephew first started crawling he was commando crawling, when he started crawling the more “common” way I always remember saying to my sister “he’s crawling normally”, and her replying rather indignantly “commando is a legitimate style of crawling Stefanie!” 🙂

HAHA! Well, she does have a point 😉 It just looks a little doofy when theyre doing it.

Carter likes going backwards, which is even more silly looking!

“constantly getting himself wedged under the TV cabinet or coffee table.” – I laughed at this.

I was reading carter and hunter’s progress and realise Ethan is just like hunter. He fusses alot when we try feeding him his cereals. Even yummy apple and carrot purée doesn’t interest him 🙁 Similarly, the only time Ethan enjoys eating is when i give him cold grapes and apple. I am longing for this day to see Ethan enjoy his meals. Hopefully it’s sooner than later.

Oh noooo! I hope he grows out of it and isn’t like Hunter, because Hunter really gives us a headache at mealtimes. Sigh. He can survive on fresh air and sunshine, I’m sure.

He is sooooooo cute! I have to say ur post is reassuring as Seb is at the 75 th percentile for weight and I was kinda worried lol

i was worried when Hunter was so heavy when he was 8 months too.. but now he’s so slim! They really do thin out once they start walking 🙂