The Zorio Family: Carter: 8 Month Update

Our little baby is 8 months old today! Unbelievable! His little personality is definitely starting to shine even more than before. At eight months old one of his newest developments is dancing! If he hears a repetitive sound like Dawson tapping on the table, if we sing, or if there is music playing Carter starts moving side to side doing his little dance moves. It's adorable, and we can't get enough of it! Dawson was/is a dancer too, and I remember him dancing to the dishwasher and the washing machine! :)

At eight months Carter is SO close to crawling! He gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth wanting to go somewhere but not quiet knowing what to do next. He's good at getting where he wants to go by lunging from his all fours position and rolling and stretching, but he's not officially crawling yet. (I told Carter he could wait until we took the Christmas decorations down to begin crawling, and so far he's obeying my wish.)

He loves to play in the playroom with big brother! He has a bin full of baby toys, but if Dawson gives him a tractor he pushes it back and forth and ignores the baby toys. He does the same thing for a train. He also loves it when he can get a piece of Dawson's train track to hold (much to his brother's dismay since it usually disrupts the railroad Dawson has built).

Carter continues to be a good eater! He now eats breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a little cereal before bed. Some of the foods he has tried so far include chicken, turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, spaghetti squash, acorn squash, zucchini, yellow squash, butternut squash, avocado, banana, watermelon, apples, pears, green beans, carrots, peas, mangoes, papayas, cantaloupe, blueberries, kiwi, puffs, and Cheerios. (I know there are a few I've forgotten, but this covers most of the things he's tried.) I have prepped asparagus, cauliflower, broccoli, and beef for him to try in the next couple of weeks. So far so good with all the foods he's tried. He will eat pretty much anything we give him! He still nurses too, and, in fact, the last couple of times we have attempted giving him a bottle he has not been interested, much to our dismay since bottles allow for dates! :) Dawson stopped taking the bottle too, but thankfully Carter is getting better at drinking water out of a sippy cup.

He had a couple of run-ins with dairy (unfortunately twice within the same week!), and he's definitely still allergic! :( We're still hopeful that he will outgrow this before his first birthday though! One of the items that he had a reaction to were puffs that said they were "processed in a facility where they also process milk"-not even on the same equipment, but he still had a reaction! So we were a little surprised by that!

Carter, Carter, Carter...if only you would start sleeping a little better! For about the 1st week and a half of your 8th month you were doing GREAT-only getting up about two times a night. Then it all went downhill! Last night, for example, Carter was up SIX times! I have tried to let him cry it out, but he just cries, cries, and cries (I'm not used to hearing this happy baby cry!). Usually, I just end up giving in and going in to feed him after which he will go back to sleep.

Even though Carter isn't a wonderful sleeper at night, I am so thankful that he still takes a nap at the same time as big brother in the afternoons! He takes a morning nap too which gives me a little one on one time with Dawson, but that 1 hour that their naps overlap (sometimes more) in the afternoon allows me to get SO much done, and then I'm caught up and ready to play again!

We're also thankful for what a happy baby Carter is! He is laughing and grinning all the time! No one can make him smile as much as Dawson can, but Carter loves to look around with a grin on his face waiting for attention (he doesn't have to wait long!)

Another very exciting development in his eight month is that Carter started signing his first sign! We taught Dawson to sign a few baby basics like "more," "done," etc, and it was SO nice to know what he was wanting and crying for so we decided to do the same with Carter. Dawson has loved showing Carter the signs. On Nov. 20 (so when Carter was 7 months 7 days) he did his first sign! He was sitting in his highchair and had finished all his puffs, and he started signing "more!" We were all so excited and praised him! He had a big grin like he knew he had done something great!

In other communication developments, Carter has quickly learned what the phrase "no mouth" means as we say this any time he tries to put one of Dawson's toys or a non-toy in his mouth. He isn't always happy to hear this (sometimes he makes a little whine and shakes his head "no," but he knows what it means and he takes the toy out! He's getting better about not even trying to put Dawson's trains in his mouth because he has been told so many times! :) Carter will imitate a lot of sounds after we make them. He regularly says Dada, Mama, Bubu (brother), Hiiii, and Byyyye and will sometimes to a little wave along with bye. When Dawson talks Carter intently takes in every word, so we are interested to see what words he begins learning next. John Deere? Outside? Gummies? (probably Dawson's three most commonly spoken words! hah)

Carter did not have an 8 month check-up (we go back at 9 months), so I don't have any official stats this month. I do know that he is getting more and more solid! :) He's getting much heavier to hold and to carry in the Moby.

We continue to love our sweet baby Carter more and more each day! Here are some pictures of our cuties!