Another Month Older!

Oh, Carsten. He is such a sweet little joy. He is cute and hilarious and so much fun! He is determined, persistent and on the move. This has been another busy month for him. He wants to walk and is getting very close. He loves pushing the big dump truck and the walker all around the house. Steering is sometimes an issue - he hits lots of walls. But he is so proud that he can do it by himself. My favorite thing is how much he loves Tyler and doing anything he's doing. A few days ago Tyler was sitting in his chair at lunch making faces and sounds and Carsten repeated every single thing he did. It was adorable. They also chase each other around the kitchen giggling. Tyler crawls in front, and Carsten follows him around and around the island. So cute. They are very sweet together. Carsten has learned to play catch too. Sort of. :-) Some one throws the ball to him, he picks it up, hands it back and claps for himself. And he's so excited about it every time!

At nine months Carsten is 17 lbs. 10 oz. (20th percentile), and he is 28 3/4 inches tall (75th percentile). With the way he eats, I have no idea how he doesn't weigh more. I think I've said this before, but he is this sweet, happy baby all day long until food is involved and then he is Mr. Feisty. Seriously. He is yelling between bites and frantically signing more. He has also started grabbing or knocking the spoon out of my hand so food is splattering everywhere. But he loves feeding himself. So he is now starting to eat mostly real (non-pureed) food. He's much happier that way!

Carsten's favorite things are usually whatever Tyler is playing with. He loves the ball pool, the kitchen toys (specifically the corn on the cob, strawberry and chicken drumstick), Little People and drums. We have another little drummer boy in our house. He also loves to sing. He can actually sing the tune to the Wheels on the Bus and Angels We Have Heard on High, and does it almost anytime he hears some one else doing it.

He likes/needs to sleep with two pacifiers. I don't know what it is about pacifiers at our house. First of all, one is never enough. Tyler liked to sleep with three. Carsten needs to sleep with two. And second of all, I'm pretty sure they evaporate. I can't even tell you how many pacifiers I have bought. It's ridiculous. And Carsten will not go to sleep without two. He just won't. In fact for both of his naps today he has screamed and cried while we scoured the house looking for one more. And the second we found one, he smiled and was happy as could be. How does some one so small get so opinionated? It's hilarious watching his little personality come out more and more.

Here's my smiley little man. :-)

He's a charmer. His most endearing little trick is giving kisses. He's been doing this for a few weeks now and it's the best. If you ask him for a kiss, you might want to wrap a raincoat around your face first. Because you will get wet. Very, very wet. But it's so cute, you won't care one bit. Ok, well since you aren't his mom, maybe you will. But we love it around here. We ask him for kisses all the time. And he immediately responds by opening his mouth as wide as he possibly can and attacking our faces. It's completely adorable. I'm telling you, that cute little smile and those big blue eyes are going to mean big trouble for this mama someday. He has me totally wrapped around his little finger and he always will. :-)