I took Carter's 9 month pictures today. Rachel, my sister, was my "assistant." I wanted to get pictures of Carter and me together. Most of the "photo shoot" went well except for a few incidences. First, Carter hated getting his feet wet in the lake and he cried. I think the small waves (although they probably looked pretty big to him) scared him. Secondly, he choked on a leaf or small stick and spit up his whole bottle of formula. Thirdly, throughout the shoot he kept trying to stand up and he ended up tumbling out of his red bucket. This made him cry and it scared me. So, we decided to call it a day.
At 9 months old, Carter is still working on perfecting his "army soldier" crawl and he can move fairly quickly if given the opportunity. He wants to crawl, stand and walk like "the big boys," but he cannot figure out how to do it just yet. Carter is pulling up on objects that are no taller than his waist. He still refuses to drink from a sippy cup.
He is happy and babbles constantly even when nobody is in the room with him. He is a big talker - just like Daddy. (And Mommy too!) One of Wilson's favorite things to tell Carter is that he is a "FilAmGermSpan..." This list can go on because of our combined lineage. I think Wilson is very pleased that his son has such a mixed heritage.
Sometimes Carter "sings" along with me and Wilson while we're singing to him. We think this is very cute. Unfortunately, he's only done this a few times and I haven't been able to get it on video. I can't wait until he starts singing along more often. Some of my favorite songs to sing to Carter are "The B-I-B-L-E" "Jesus Loves The Little Children" "Only A Boy Named David" and "Heavenly Sunlight." Carter seems to really like it when I sing "Only A Boy Named David" and "Jesus Loves The Little Children." I used to sing these songs to him while he was still in my womb and I think he recognizes them and likes their familiarity. I remember several months ago signing "Only A Boy Named David" and he looked up at me with his big brown eyes and listened intently. He had an expression on his face that said, "Hey, that sounds so familiar. I like it!" There are many other songs that I sing, and more often than not I make up my own.
Carter gives kisses to me and Wilson. (His mouth is wide open as he slobbers all over our faces - very wet indeed!) I LOVE LOVE LOVE this. He's kind of like a cave man...he grabs the hair on both sides of my face and pulls me to his mouth. I say, "Ohhh! What a sweet boy!" and he says "Ohhh!" along with me while sustaining his mouth wide open kiss against my cheek or forehead. His deep voice reminds me of Tarzan or a cave man. There is nothing feminine about this little boy. He's definitely no pansy. Carter is 100% all boy.
