Carter: 8 Months

I'll spare everyone the "I-can't-believe-he's-eight-months!" bit this month, but I can't deny I still feel that way. July 1st snuck up on me big time, so we're a bit late again this month. Shame on me :)

"Shame on you, mommy."

Let's see, what's the boy been up to? This month Carter traveled to Pennsylvania with Auntie Kim and I to visit our good friend, Deirdre, for lunch. He sat in the highchair at Panera and happily munched on a piece of Apple in his mesh feeder for the whole lunch. He also repeatedly threw his mesh feeder on the floor, at one point launching it so far that another customer kindly brought it back to our table. I overcame any germ issues I had that day after picking it up and returning it to him each time. Sure, it was probably dirty, but he was so happy!

Today, we went to visit my friend Melissa at her new house in Liverpool. Melissa has a puggle, Gordon, (who I happen to think is the cutest dog in the world) and we were a little worried about how Gordon and Carter would react to each other. Well, they LOVED one another. Gordon liked to lick Carter, and every time he did Carter would just crack up. He shared a snack of puffs with Gordon and talked to him quite a bit. I forgot my camera, or I'd have some super cute pictures to share but hopefully we'll see Melissa and Gordon again this summer, and I'll snap some photos then.

We also got a new big-boy car seat, a new big-boy tub, and all sorts of fun toys. We've really been enjoying watching Carter's reactions to new things... he's very expressive! See exhibit A here: such attitude!


Likes:

• Dogs & Cats. I think this probably pertains to all animals who would let Carter near them, but so far this is his only real experience.
• Food: Puffs, Mum-Mums, most purees (he now likes everything but peas and avocado).
• His sippy cup. He's really beginning to master this technique, and he gets super excited when he sees it.
• His new car seat. I really think he does... at least more than the old one. he fights and screams much less when we stuff him in there.
• Great Grandma. She must radiate some sort of happy baby energy. It's ridiculous how much he squeals and flaps when he sees her.
• Playing with anything forbidden: remote, cell phone, scissors... they have to be hidden at all times now.
  
• Broccoli! We gave it to him as finger food and he seemed to really like it!
  

Dislikes:

• Diaper changes. In fact at this point, we all hate them.
• Avocado. I mashed some up the other day and he gagged like there was no tomorrow.
• Cheese... and we almost sent him back for rejecting it. What member of our family doesn't like cheese?! To be fair, I introduced it at the same time as the avocado so maybe he was just turned off to everything at that point. But all I had to do was get it close to him -- close, not even touching -- and he gagged like crazy.
  
• Naptime. Oh, naps... SUCH a stressor right now. Maybe I'll write about that another time instead of getting all fired up about it here :)
• Sitting in any one place for too long... I think he'll be a lot happier once he's mobile. He's a very restless baby.

New Mommy Knowledge:

• Being afraid to take Carter out in public was silly. He's WAY better behaved and happier when we're out almost anywhere.