Carter's Explorations

Sorry for no post lately. I have been spending all of Carters waking hours following him around, saying "no, no", keeping him from pulling furniture on top of him and getting him *unstuck* from the small spaces he managed to get himself into. I am completely flabbergasted at how FAST he is growing up. I feel like not to long ago I was wishing for him to crawl and now we almost have a walking toddler who will be turning one in 6 days! I look at how big he looks in the crib and can't believe a year has gone by. He is turning into such a little man with an ornery personality. He has started to make a lot of faces that Chad and I make and letting us know he wants some independence. I feel like a lot has changed for him. We have gone to mostly table foods now. I have been struggling with healthy things to give him but he is doing great and handling most foods we give him. Unfortunately he is at the stage where he likes to rub the food in his hair, eyes and floor. He has also spent the last few weeks exploring the entire house. He can pull up on almost anything and cruse around. He has now learned to fall forward and catch himself with his arms and I think he has perfected falling on his bottom. He has the occasional trip or misstep that leads to a loud fall but he is doing better. One of his favorite places is playing under the table. He loves to move around the chairs and push them out. He even took a book under there the other day and was *reading*. He also took off the child safety latch we have on the cupboard under the sink. We tried to do a real simple one, but he has proven to us that it won't work. He is also standing for 30 seconds or more by himself. He even took a step with each foot before falling down. He might actually be walking soon. I caught some pretty funny photos of all of his travels this past week. Enjoy! (click on the picture below to see more pictures)

Summer days