Carter, Carter's progress, HUNTER, CARTER & CHLOE CARTER: MONTH 8-9 PROGRESS 5 May 2013

 

Happy 9 month Birthday, Carter!

Totally gonna win the Baby Model contest with that look…

 

Ummm I’m not sure what happened between Carter’s update last month and this month, but MAN, he’s suddenly gone through a massive growth spurt. He went from commando-crawling, to  ‘proper’ crawling, to pulling-to-standing, to cruising, to walking… (or at least trying to).

WHAT?!?!

No wonder he’s been particularly fussy the past few weeks at night!

He’s still pretty enormous, and it’s particularly obvious when he’s next to babies his age or older. People often ask if he’s around 1 year old and I guess it’s because he’s about that size. It’s a bit of a problem for me because I do struggle to carry him, and I can’t just hoist him onto my hip and walk around like people do with their babies.. because my arm doesn’t go around him all the way, and because he’s just too heavy.

He’s mostly back to his super-smiley self. He does wail if I suddenly step of out sight, but is generally alright and is ok with people carrying him. He LOVES LOVES LOVES his attention, and will do pretty much anything and everything to get some. Will wave like a World’s Greatest Politician when he’s in his stroller, to get people to come running over to play with him 😉

Most interestingly…. earlier this month, he stopped pooing in his diaper, and only in the potty. We’ve learned to read his cues, and he’s good at giving them to us.. and also because he tends to poo like clockwork every night after his dinner. Plus, he really likes sitting on his Big Boy potty and doing his poo, dishing out GREAT BIG SMILES in the process. His current success rate is 100% for the past 2 weeks (ie. not a single poo in his diaper). Except today, when we put him in his walker and no one was paying attention to him, so we didn’t notice his poo-cue. Oops. He will also do his pee in the potty if I pop him on it, but will also merrily do pees in his diaper.

Who knew someone could be this happy taking a dump?!

 

  • EATING – Still on breastfeeding 4x/day. I have no idea how to drop one more feed, because I don’t know how my boobs can tolerate it without exploding. On the downside, Carter can now only breastfeed in the bedroom when it’s quiet (and preferably dark). He goes nuts when I try to nurse him outside, fussing and kicking because he wants to look around instead 🙁
    He is AWESOME with solids, which I’m so delighted with! Eats about 3-4oz per meal, and now has breakfast as well as dinner. He absolutely adores his greens, and most of all spinach. He’s not terribly keen on fruit, but if I add pureed spinach to it, it becomes a winner! Odd. I’m also blending his food less, and doing more fork-mashed stuff or even cubes (with very soft food or fruits). He’s so greedy he doesn’t care.
Carter’s eating method: roll up sleeves, eat fistfuls of snacks with much gusto, then reach over and grab more from other kids’ bowls!

 

Carter, looking like a python about to strike for that bit of bread Hunter’s holding

 

  • SLEEPING – Babies his age should be doing around two 1-hour naps a day. Not Carter. He’s still intent on his 30min (to the dot!) naps… about two to three times a day. Sigh. At least he naps easily and will nap anywhere and everywhere.
    He needs to be physically held down at night so he’ll fall asleep. Because he’s gone through such a huge growth spurt this month, he’ll immediately stand up in his cot (even if he’s dead tired) and then wail cos he then doesn’t know what to do with himself. Doh! He will sleep just fine through the night.. but now frequently will wake at 5-6AM grunting away until we stuff the pacifier back in his mouth. I hate that thing! But I don’t know how to wean him off it because we’re scared he’ll wail (and he has a terrifically LOUD wail that will wake Hunter up for sure). I guess I take solace in the fact that he has never woken for milk since he was 2 months old, but having to get up for the pacifier is still really freakin’ annoying.
All sunshine smiles at bedtime

 

  • PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT – Crazy how in just two weeks, he went from only commando-crawling, to crawling on all fours -> pulling to stand -> cruising -> walking. The last one is a real problem. He absolutely cannot walk unassisted yet, but refuses to acknowledge this. So, he’ll pull himself up, cruise a bit, then simply….. LET GO AND WALK! This means that after one step, he does a massive faceplant onto the ground, and yells with anger. You’d think that he’d learn he can’t walk yet and stop doing this… but nope. He’ll do it again. And again. And again. So this means we need to watch him at all times, because we never know when he’ll just walk off. Plus, he will crawl to the edge of the bed/couch and… keep going. So different to Hunter, who was ultra careful with walking and crawling!!
    His favourite party trick(s) now is clapping and waving. Will keep doing so especially in the stroller, to get people around to come up to him and give him attention. It works a treat! And I’m very happy for that because then he’s kept occupied whilst I can look around in shops 😛
He loves the water! Will splash away with wild abandon, not caring if water goes on his face/eyes

 

Standing/cruising around.. moments before he simply just lets go and tries to walk by himself!

 

So delighted to be standing/walking

 

Nothing makes him happier than jumping up and down on a trampoline. Adrenalin junkie, this one.

Keeping himself amused by keeping other shoppers amused
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NJNitBTCzQ

 

I’ve gone on a bit of a rampage this month with my mission to dress both boys up in matchy-match clothes. I figure I’ve only got a very limited amount of time to do this, before they’re old enough to object and call me soooo embarrassing! This is, unfortunately, also an expensive mission.. because I have to buy double the clothing and it’s not like Carter’s can be re-used. So they only have a handful of sets of matchy-match stuff which I keep rotating. I find it sooo cute!!

Matching suspender outfits!

 

And.. ummm… also matching strollers 😛

 

One morning, I was in the kitchen and realised it was all VERY QUIET. Got nervous and went looking for the kids. Found both of them in our bedroom, like this! Hunter was slowly and carefully reading to Carter 🙂

 

They adore their bath time together

 

 

Happy 9 months, baby wombat! You may have truly epic banshee-screams, but your PICK ME UP NOW I LOVE YOU excited arm flaps and gigantic sunshine smiles make up for them. You’re my big squashy ball of cuddles and I already miss your baby-ness because you seem so much more independent now that you’re on the move. Just stay little!

 

 Taken a couple of weeks ago.. this never fails to make me smile
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccAQVP6r-p4

 

Compare with Hunter at Month 8-9 here.

 

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Let’s Chat!




Let's Chat!

Hi there! I’ve been wanting to introduce more vegetables (ESP spinach) to my 8mo baby girl but I don’t know how to prepare them! Do you just steam and purée? What other vegetables do you add? So far, I’ve tried the usual carrots, broccoli, peas and cauliflower..

I wrote a few of the purees I do in a comment above, if you are interested!

And I use a Philips avent steamer/blender to do it – super easy. I pretty much pop anything into it and steam/blend 🙂

Hi Bev, I have a 7mo baby and struggling to come up with different ideas for food for my baby. I’m always giving congee and veg and fruit purée. Can you share what you cook for Carter mostly?

If Carter is potty train now, what do you do when you are out? Does he still poo in his nappy or would ask for the potty?

I generally go a trio of veg/fruit when I make a puree. I always try to put a green veg (either baby spinach salad leaves, or broccoli) for iron and nutrients, and use something sweet as a ‘filler’ and to make it taste nice (either pumpkin or sweet potato). The 3rd one will be random – such as asparagus or cauliflower or zucchini.

Carter eats the puree straight, as I rarely put it in congee (which I feel is just rice so not as much nutrients).

For breakfast, I like doing blueberry/apple/spinach or mango/spinach type of purees. And sometimes, I’ll just fork-mash a banana with natural greek yogurt! He loves that.

Carter doesn’t often poo outside, think he holds it in. But if he can’t he’ll poo in his nappy then be pretty upset about it!

thanks beverly! will check out the plate sticka and the puku puku potty. you really make motherhood seem so enjoyable =) your two darlings are adorable! really enjoy reading your blog!

Aww thank you, it’s v nice of you. The kids can do my head in sometimes, but it’s still great having them 🙂

Hi! How adorable are your kids! A random question: do you have any helper at home? How do you manage handling both kids at all! I have one and another on the way. Can’t imagine!

No… but we are probably going to cave very soon. It’s too hard to handle all the little daily chores (washing dishes, laundry, etc) and keep an eye on both. My parents live near us though, so that’s a HUGE help, we are fortunate.

hey beverly,

where did you get the cute potty and suction bowls from? i have a pair of 15-month-old twin boys and no suction bowls seem to stay! my boys are not potty trained either so reading about carter is inspiring =)

Hello Beverly! May I know what strollers you are using for Hunter and Carter?

Stumbled upon your blog through Delphine’s. Because Hunter and Carter is so cute, i’m slowly reading all the entries in your blog everyday while nursing my baby!

hey bev!

have been “stalking” your blog from backintheday (!) but especially love reading about Carter and Hunter! 🙂 Even more so now that I’m in childcare and don’t have kids of my own 😛 It sounds like you’re doing a fab job as a SAHM, so keep it up! I wish some of the kids at kindy were toilet-trained by the time they’re 9 months of age! I know I want my kids to be toilet-trained by then! Will need tips from you then 🙂

xx

Aww thank you Trina! You must really like kids to work in childcare when you don’t have yourself, and man, you must have the patience of a SAINT!!! lol.

man, i NEED TO CARRY HIM -baby crazy mode on- haha! we need to meet soon so i can “cash in” on his smiley-ness. can’t believe i havent carried him yet! (thou my arms are gonna be sore but its worth it) 😛