Month 9 - Week 1

Carter had a great first week of being 9 months. He seems to happier the older he gets which is a lot of fun.

On the food front, he continues to enjoy exploring new things. He has gotten really good at eating with his hands. We try to give him bite sized pieces of whatever we are eating and he does really well with most things. He has 3 meals a day, 4 bottle and 2 snacks. He dropped his bottle right before bed this past week but is maxing out all his other bottle at 8 oz and get a sippy cup of water 4 times a day. He can definitely hold his own bottle but he still requires some help getting it tipped all the way back, especially when it gets low. He is getting better with the sippy cups but he still prefers to treat them like teethers than actually drink from themHe seems to have more fun when he is eating and has gotten good at raking his food into his hand and transferring it with his pincer grasp between hands and into his mouth. As his top right tooth has started coming in more, he now loves to chew on things with it. Luckily he usually picks food to munch on, but there are some teeth marks on the side of his crib that seem to grow in number each day.

He gets really proud of himself sometimes after he does a good job feeding.But watching dad make silly faces while eating really gets him going! He is such a fun baby. He loves laughing and playing games. Peek-a-boo and patty cake are his current favorites. He loves any toy that makes noise or let's him move and he adores watching his big sister puppies play. He also thinks tickle time with dad is the greatest thing ever!

Carter has also become quite the talker this week. "B" sounds are his current favorite and he seems to prefer to talk when there is something in his mouth. He also has really started to enjoy his books which is nice because we have quite the library (thanks to Grammie the school teacher). He picks out a few books each night and likes to turn the pages. I have started making up my own stores to go with the pictures because there is only so much rhyming a girl can take!

The end of the week marked a fun first for the Holden's. Carter brought home his first artwork from school. He made mom and dad two Valentine's Day cards. They go perfectly on our fridge! Time seems to be going by so quickly. Carter got invited to one of his classmates 1st birthday parties next weekend. It's crazy to think in 3 month's our little guy will be a whole year old!