Karter is Nine Months

Wow. Karter has hit the 9 month mark . . and since he came into this world a week later than nine months, I figure its only fair that I'm a week late on his 9 month post:) 

At 9 months Karter:

• is crawling all over the place. 
• is getting into plenty of trouble as a result - think stairs and fireplace just to mention a few!
• climbs up against EVERYTHING!!  This is mostly just fine.  But in bed it is a real nuisance.  If he doesn't want to sleep (which seems to be always), he will immediately stand up and then scream until rescued . . . and he is pretty persistent. (or I am pretty wimpy . . . or a combination of both?!)
• in the last few days has figured out how to get down from a standing position which is very helpful.  He has not attempted this "getting down thing" in his pack n play yet.
• always cries when I put him down for a nap.  Hmmmm.  I distinctly recall writing in his 8 month post that he NEVER cries when I put him down.  Figures.
• has never had worse sleep habits.
• loves coffee cups. He watches like a hawk when Jonathan and I drink our coffee and then loves to play with our cups when we are done. 
• gets himself stuck in awkward places quite often.  eg.  why climb around the table and chairs when it looks shorter to go straight through?!
• is rapidly expanding the list of foods he eats . . some of his favourites are cheese, fruit loops :0), cheerios, bananas and baby cereal. He also will eat any of the canned baby food in baby jars no problem.
• loves to "follow" me around and climb up on my legs - especially when I am cooking/making lunches.  It certainly slows down progress.
• loves the keyboard of the computer and it just happens to be perfectly reachable. This also slows down progress . . . and frustrates it sometimes too!
• plays shy - but not always.  He definitely really checks people out and once in a while will just start howling!!
• puts everything in his mouth!!  We are really trying to get after the kids to pick things up if they see them on the ground . . .b/c if they don't, Karter will.  I don't know how he sees some of the things we find in his mouth, but it seems like we are prying things out of his mouth rather often . . . which is also a bit of a difficult feat.
• doesn't play with his toys too often . . . too much other stuff to explore right now.
• grinds his teeth . . . not when he sleeps . . . when he is awake.
• refuses his soother at night rather often.  Grrrr.
• loves applejuice/water in a bottle . . . and took it no problem.  (seems to me it took a long time for my other kids to take a bottle)
• is getting more hair and it is still really blond.  He gets lots of comments on this lately.
• had a bout of sickness - high fever etc.  With the help of Tempra, he did reasonably well, but it was still really sad to see him so sad looking . . . but he was nice and cuddly.
• is so fun!!!  We love watching him learn and grow.

LOVE!!!