11 months

I say this every time I update on the boys.  Or really pretty much every post in general.  Where did the last year go?  Here we are, 11 months, planning the first birthday party, preparing for walkers, little talkers, eaters, and down right ornery stinkers.

Best picture ever.  Look at those buns!

Sam and Will both have a look now that they throw us just before they are about to touch something they know they shouldn't.  Sam has it down pat.  Will is working on his a little, but I think Will is so smart he just knows sometimes that he shouldn't even tip us off with the look, so he just moves on to getting himself into something he shouldn't.  Like pulling up on a bar stool and pushing it slowly around the kitchen (holding my breath for fear of the stool coming over on him).  Sam is also pulling up and walking with support very slowly.  I think it will only be a matter of months before we have two experienced walkers.  Which I am honestly okay with.  Lillian started taking steps alone at 11 1/2 months, so I doubt in two weeks they'll be that advanced.  I'm holding out hope for no walking until around 14 months.

Both boys are talking a little, the usual... Dada, baba, ta ta ta.  No Mama yet, which is always the case right?  They aren't really associating their words with things yet, except for maybe Dada.  We've had a few of those jump out when Daddy walks in the door from work or at nap time.  And speaking of naps, the little guy, William, has started to catch up with his brother.  We've had a pretty good run of 45 minute morning naps and hour and a half afternoon naps.  Here and there we get a short one, but I knew all along this little guy needed more sleep and had to learn how to get it.  I think he's finally there (though not today of course).

William

Both boys are decent eaters, but very different.  Sam wants to be fed his icky soft baby food from a spoon.  Will wants to eat any table food small and soft enough to gum and large enough to pinch in his little left hand.  This kid really will eat anything I put in front of him.  Thank God.  I hope Sam catches on soon, but the only way I can get him to eat a vegetable right now is to spoon feed the puree.  Its like he already knows the green and orange things on the tray are veggies, like he and his sister are having private conversations about a vegetable boycott.  Somehow this is inbred in my children.  Lilli would eat a piece of rigatoni with red sauce and peas.  She'd chew up a noodle with a pea hidden inside and spit out the pea - whole.  We have discovered a few things Sam will pick up and eat like he's never eaten before - pizza and grilled cheese.  I suppose the apple doesn't fall far...

Will is showing signs of being a lefty, much like his sister did this young.  He sucks his left thumb and eats with his left hand.  Sam also eats with his left hand, but sucks his right thumb.  I know its way too early to tell, but I think it would be the coolest thing in the world if I had three left handed kids.  They all three got their Daddy's coloring, so I can only hope they might get this from me.  John would not be too disappointed with left handed or ambidextrous sons because it might mean good things for them and their future baseball careers.

Samuel

We haven't been to the doctor in two months so I decided to weigh them today in my non-scientific way.  I got on the scale and then got on with each of them.  I can't believe it but I think Will is about 20 pounds and Sam about 21 pounds.  If you picked them up, you would think Will is a feather.  He is so slight and Sam is so thick they seem about 5 pounds different.  All along its been only about a pound so I suppose 20 and 21 pounds is probably about right.

Lillian's first pool visit, 11 months

The boys both seem tiny to John and I both when we think about Lillian at the same age.  But I think we just didn't know any different with her.  And she's always seemed a little older and wiser than her years, so maybe we just have a skewed memory of her size as well.  I know at one year she was only 20 pounds.  So I looked back at some pictures and was reminded of some things we went through when she was 11 months.  We moved into this house, it was her first summer pool visit, and we discovered her allergy to Penicillin.

Amoxicillin allergy rash.  Scary times.

She doesn't look ornery at all.

Looking back at the pictures, she doesn't seem that big.  Especially in comparison to this beautiful little girl that she is becoming now.  She is so sweet and funny when she wants to be.  She's becoming quite shy and reserved around other kids, but we see an entirely different side of her at home.  One that often involves some screaming, crying, and time out - and its not always just her doing the screaming and crying.  She will be 3 years old two months from today (the 25th is a big day around here ) and it shows.  She wants to be independent, but she wants NOTHING to do with the toilet.  She wants anything and everything to be hers and most conversations are all about Lilli.  3 is a very self-centered age, we've discovered.  But also one where the words flow almost like ours and her little shiny, sweet personality brings us back down to earth and reminds us why 3 is also a really fun age.

So next month and the one after will be a big ones in this house.  The boys turn 1 on May 25th.  The girl turns 3 on June 25th.  And my husband enters the last year of his 30's on July 4th.  People tell us all the time how quickly the time goes when the kids are little and to just enjoy it.  I try on a daily basis to just enjoy it - some days are easier than others - and I can't believe my boys are almost 1 and that little tiny P-nut of mine is almost 3 big years.