Carson learned how to crawl last Wednesday. He’s not great at it, and he stops a lot before he reaches his destination, but he’s definitely moving on his own now.
Braden likes to say, “Carson, how did you get over THERE?” the way we do. Sometimes he’ll pick him up and bring/drag him back to his starting position. Super cute.
Carson is so close to crawling. He can go from a sitting position to on his belly and vice-versa. We’ve put objects in front of him that he reaches for but ultimately gives up on.
It’s interesting to watch him try, though. He’ll tuck in one of his legs like he’s about to push off on it, but then he doesn’t and usually goes back into a sitting position.
Once he does learn to crawl, we’ll have to un-retire all of our gates that we haven’t used in a while. Not sure how Braden is going to take to that.
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We did end up having six-month portraits taken of Carson. We dressed him up in one outfit that Braden wore just to see how alike the two are. Verdict: they’re brothers but definitely distinguishable. In the other set of photos, he’s wearing green overalls.
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We’re concerned how little fluids Braden drinks each day. We’ve previously mentioned that he no longer drinks soy milk. At breakfast, he usually has about a sip of water. Sometimes at lunch he’ll drink a little more, especially if it’s a juice box. At dinner, he’ll have another sip of water unless we treat him to some decaf soda. Before bed, he’ll have one more sip of water.
We have gotten Braden to drink chocolate milk, but he has a love-hate relationship with it, like he does with most foods. This means that some weeks he’ll love something, others he’ll hate it. It’s frustrating for us!
Braden really enjoys standing. For example, his favorite spot is the window, where he’ll grab onto the ledge and pull himself to a standing position. He does this easily with any object (stairs, coffee table, etc.). Some times he’ll let go just to see if he can stand without any aid (and he will for a few seconds!). As a result, Braden’s arms and legs are getting pretty strong. We’re certain he’ll be walking soon.
Braden’s only difficulty is sitting down again. He usually just lets go and falls on his butt, which is obviously padded by his diaper.
With Braden so mobile, we’ve really been trying hard to baby-proof the house. Brian installed gates to the stairs and cabinet locks, while Kristin has installed socket protectors everywhere.
Braden also likes chasing and being chased. If the latter, he’ll stop to make sure you’re still coming after him. With all the crawling, he’s starting to get some rug burn on the top of his feet. We would put socks on him, but with our wood floors, it would too slippery for him to continue trying to stand.
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Braden’s front two teeth are coming in. That makes six visible teeth in his mouth. Now instead of just baby food, we’re giving him other foods like bananas, cereal and other non-mushy foods.
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As previously reported, Braden can say “Hi dad” and “da-da.” He just added “ma-ma” the other day, much to Kristin’s happiness. Still no luck in getting him to say, “May I help you with some more chores, father?”
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Happy 9-month birthday, Braden!
Okay, Braden is officially crawling, and he is fast. We cannot take our eyes off of him for even a second, as he’ll race across the room in no time. He’s also really enjoying standing; Braden likes it when you hold his hands to help balance him as he stands up on his own. We’re sure he’ll be walking in no time.
We have more room in the living room now, as we bought new furniture. We have just a couch and chair now, and they’re both smaller than their predecessors. Without a love seat, we have clear access to the window, which gives Braden some more room to play. Brian is trying to figure out a fencing system so we can keep him toward the window area (instead of by the TV-related equipment and the stairs).
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Some day Braden is going to kill us for writing this, but he gets pretty constipated every now and then. In fact, you can see his face turn red as he tries to push (unsuccessfully). Poor guy, he seems to be in so much discomfort. We’ve been adding more Gerber prunes to his diet to help him.
We are constantly amazed with the new skills Braden learns. One day Kristin’s sister was babysitting, and when she went to check on Braden in his crib, he was sitting up. We both soon witnessed how he gets up on his own: first he rolls to his stomach, then he walks his hands toward himself until he is upright.
Braden’s crawling has improved, too. Instead of dragging his legs with him (like an accident victim), he can now move his right leg as well. He’s actually pretty fast, so we really have to keep a close eye on him. Unfortunately, the gates we bought don’t fit our stair system (in fact, we don’t think any gates will fit), so we’re not sure what to do. Once we get our new furniture, we’ll create an enclosed play area for him, and hopefully that will help.
We once said that we thought Braden would walk before crawling–well, he was close. Braden can now stand if he rests his hands against something. For example, he can stand facing the couch. He seems to enjoy it!
Lastly, Braden can shake hands and give high-fives.
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We are now feeding Braden two meals of solid foods each day. The hard part is knowing when to stop–he seems like he could eat indefinitely. When we went to dinner at Fitzgerald’s, we fed Braden almost the entire time we were there!
See for yourself in Episode 9 of “Brian and Kristin Plus One” on the video page. This just happened about a week ago!