Carter is only a month away from celebrating his first birthday. It seemed like for a few months there he didn't seem that much different from month to month. This month, it seems that he is changing day to day, hour to hour. Last month, he was dragging himself forward, but now he's actually getting himself somewhere. Just tonight he went from the living room into the kitchen while I was making dinner, and this afternoon he tried to pull himself up to standing on the entertainment center. He's also scooting himself around while he's sitting, and figured out that he could open cabinets and pull things out of them. He's driving Maggie crazy! Where Carter found his voice last week, people are starting to listen this month. He lets everyone know what he wants by pointing with his hand to things like food, water and toys, and he has a different sound for different circumstances. He's said something resembling mamama for me, and dadada for Bryan. I think I've heard him say hi and bye, but I certainly wouldn't count any of that as a first word. Carter is still his friendly self, but so long as people keep their distance. He's actually started crying a couple of times when people got a little too close. He's developing his sense of humor. A couple of times, he laughed when I laughed about making a mistake or dropping something. He still thinks Maggie is the best thing since sliced bread, but he will push her away or squeal for help if he isn't in the mood for her antics. However, he loves rough play and his latest favorite is when you pretend drop him. This month, Carter graduated from his pop-out infant seat to a convertible seat (still rear-facing, of course). Now when he falls asleep in the car, which seems like more often lately, I can't get him out without waking him up. It took Maggie awhile to be able to make the transition from the car to the bed, too, so I didn't really expect much different from Carter. He is sleeping more soundly for longer with more consistent times of the day. Whenever we go somewhere, Carter has started to notice where we are and who we are seeing. As soon as we pull up to our destination, he starts to look around, squeal, and kick his legs until I get him out of his car seat so that he can see where we ended up. The other day we went somewhere without Maggie, and since he didn't have her to entertain him, he looked out the window the entire ride. I've always felt guilty about the things that I was able to do with Maggie as a first child that I haven't been able to do as much with Carter. One of those things is reading to him. Whenever I read a book to Maggie, I try to include Carter, but of course she dominates the session. This past week, I made an effort to have a dedicated reading session with Carter before bed. Before, by the time we got the diaper changed and jammies on, he was ready to go to sleep. Lately I've noticed that he is interested in knowing the name of everything. He'll look at something, then look at me and even sometimes grab my mouth, expecting me to tell him what it is. It was time to try the bedtime books again. Sure enough, even as fussy as he might be leading up to bedtime, he will still listen, look, and touch a couple of books before I nurse him to sleep. His favorite right now is the Pat the Bunny book. He loves that there's something to interact with on every page.

$50 / 240 TJS -- Rear-facing infant car seat American Graco brand. Includes car base (into which the seat itself is snapped in and out for convenience), cold weather cover, (covers baby's legs), pillow/head support inserts for newborns, removable canopy. $50 / 240 TJS (cost $120 new)