Eleven Months Old!

Dear Jack and Ben,

It was hard to type the title of this post... because it means you are almost a year old. Yikes! Where has the time gone? I can't believe my babies are just about big boys now.

I almost started talking about how "chill" our last month has been, but then I realized that there was a major development in our family. We spent this past month looking for and buying a house. We won't close until March 30, but we cannot wait to spend the rest of our years with you in this place. Our Realtor, Libby, loved the two of you and I think she worked a little harder for us because of you. You are going to love the humongous rec room in the basement - it is going to be empty for a while and I can picture the two of you running around in circles in it.

Your schedule is pretty similar to the last few months. You wake up at 7:30 am, breastfeed, play, then eat breakfast. Your first nap is from 9:30-11:30, you breastfeed and then play for two hours, take your second nap from 1:30-3 and then breastfeed, eat dinner, play and then breastfeed again right before bed at 6 pm. Mommy wakes you up at 4:30 am to eat one more time, although you are probably old enough to not need to eat at this time.

You eat similar meals to last month. You can eat just about anything with your new teeth and Mommy is looking forward to you finally getting to sit down to dinner with her and Daddy and Aunt Naomi soon! You have tried raisins and grapes this month. You were not fans of the grapes (because of the texture?), but do like raisins!

Now that you have teeth, we bought you each your own toothbrush and some swallowable (fluorine-free) toothpaste. Ben's toothbrush is blue and Jack's is green. Twice a day (after breakfast and right before bed) we brush your teeth and gums to protect them from cavities. You both love getting your teeth brushed and open up your mouths right away.

We got you snack cups for bringing your Cheerios with us places. You are both not fans of sticking your hands in yet (even with Cheerios to tempt you!), but Jack figured out (and showed Ben) how to peel back one of the flaps to dump Cheerios out of the container. Hopefully with more practice you will "get" the point of the cups.

The two of you spend a good portion of the beginning of "naptime" chatting with each other and then wake up an hour or two later chattering some more. Because the bathroom is right next to your room, the shower wakes you up from naps now, so Mommy has to wait to get her showers until after you wake up. It's good that you can keep each other company for 10-15 minutes until she comes to get you!

Jack, you are 22 lbs. this month. You are definitely starting to thin out from all of your moving, especially in your face, although I still have problems finding pants to fit your waist. American companies apparently make pants for kids wearing disposables and not cloth. Mrs. Osborn gave me a pair of European jeans and they were perfect, so I guess I am just going to have to take a trip to Europe to find you some clothes... Hmm, wouldn't that be nice? You are still in 12/18 month shirts, 18 month pants (although more like 12 month in length), 18 month pajamas and 18 month onesies. You moved up to the brown-edged (large) cloth diaper this month.

Your hair got exponentially longer this month and Mommy had to give you your second haircut last Saturday. I think it turned out really well, even though I didn't have anyone to hold you down. You'll be pleased to know that I didn't cut you at all this time!

You sign please and all done, sometimes throwing the sign for milk into the equation. I haven't really tried to teach you anything else except "thank you," which I need to be more consistent about.

You haven't gotten any more teeth yet this month, although I can see the top two waiting underneath the surface. You have been teething pretty hard, though, especially during breakfast time, when you sometimes whine a lot, stick your hand in your mouth and rub your ears. Poor darling.

You figured out how to pull yourself up in your crib about two weeks ago, and since then that is all you want to do. You test out pulling up on everything in the living room and if there is something tricky (like the movable seat of the jumperoo), you work at it until you can pull yourself up. You started defying naptime by playing with the blinds behind your crib (and bending them up terribly), and when Mommy raised them, by opening the curtains and looking out the window. Mommy finally decided to defeat you by swapping your crib with Ben's, although I know that will only last so long before he starts pulling up, too. But you are currently napping decently... as long as you are laying down and don't have a hand on the crib rail by the time we get your room's door shut.

Your favorite words to babble are "Dah Dah," "Nah Nah," "yah yah" and "bah bah." I think you got confused by Mommy's calling Aunt Naomi "Nah Nah" and you call both her and me by that now.

You love to untie shoelaces now and if we leave our shoes out near the front door, you'll play with the laces for a while. You love to try to untie Daddy's shoes before he leaves in the morning.

You spend less time playing with toys now that you are busy being curious and finding new things to examine. You still love the wooden farm puzzle, but mostly just like to get into things that aren't toys.

You love to eat still and will generally try anything for a few bites before deciding whether you like it or not. You are really good at signing "all done" when you don't want any more of something. (And, unlike Ben, you actually mean it.)

You decided recently that Ben's crinkly nose was getting too much attention, so you started doing your own version. You tip your chin up in the air, squint your eyes, crinkle your nose, and smile this goofy smile that shows your two front teeth... It is too cute!

Ben, you are 19 lbs. this month. You are also getting quite a belly on you, and although 12 month pants are a bit long on you, they are generally too tight to button. You fit most 12 month shirts, but definitely are too little for 18 month shirts. You are still in 12 month pajamas and onesies, but are filling them out completely now, so I am sure you will be moving up a size in both soon. You are still in the red-edged (medium) cloth diaper.

Your hair was so long that Mommy finally had to cave and give you a haircut last Saturday. It was sticking out in chunks from your head and looked so silly. I did a great job on your hair, because you held still better than Jack, and you look like a grown up boy now. We still brush your bangs to the side like Daddy's and if we don't brush it after a bath, it will still do crazy things.

You actually sign for Mommy again, mostly to say "all done," although I do get a "please" every once in a while... especially when you are asking for more cheerios. I don't see you saying "thank you" anytime soon... but I'm sure that if I'm stubborn enough about it you will eventually sign it! You won't sign "drink," but you are good at communication when you want one, usually by reaching for it or looking around for it. I have started leaving your cup on your tray again because you don't throw it quite as often as you used to. You drink a lot more water that way, with sips between every bite!

You got your two top teeth this month. The first one (on the right) came early in January and the second one (on the left) came in the last week of January. They are big front teeth that you definitely inherited from Mommy - sorry!

You figured out crawling this month. Last month you were going backwards, then one day in the middle of January you started scooting forward and then two days later you had the whole crawling thing down pat. The hilarious thing about you is that you are just plain lazy. You will crawl only as far as you have to go to reach something, then flop down on your belly and stretch your arm as far as you can stretch it to reach what you are going for. If you struggle for a minute and still can't get it, you will then do one more hands-and-knees push toward the object before flopping down on your belly again to grab it. I can call Jack from across the room and get him to come to me, but you will look me in the eyes and rock back and forth complaining at me until I come to you. I am fairly certain that you could have started crawling over a month ago, like Jack, but you were too lazy to consider it. I'm sure you'll pull up on things, too... eventually.

Poor baby, you are horrible at going to sleep when you are overtired, which you always are after Jack keeps you up for 30-45 minutes at the beginning of every naptime. He falls right asleep when he is done playing, but you fuss for another 15-30 minutes before you can fall asleep.

You are shorter than Jack by probably two inches now. When I stand you up next to each other in a crib, the rail comes up to his chest, but comes up to your neck. I am hoping that you will catch up soon, but we'll see. I hope you didn't get Mommy's short genes, in addition to all her other genes.

You babble just as well as Jack now, which makes me laugh when I think of how I worried that you might be deaf or autistic just a few short months ago. You love chattering with him and your favorite words are "da da," "ma ma," "na na," "ya ya," and "ba ba."

Your favorite toys are the wooden farm puzzle, any stuff animal (although Mickey, Watson the raccoon and your teddy bear are high on your list), cars, pop up toys and anything you can hit with the toy hammer. You are just starting to be interested in things that are not toys, as evidenced by your playing with doorstops and piano pedals.

You are still a very picky eater and will lock your jaw and sign "all done" (often smacking whatever is on the spoon off of it) when you don't want to try something. You are very stubborn and will often refuse things you love, like peanut butter sandwich, if you are convinced it is something you don't want. You love, love, love Cheerios, though, and if Mommy even mentions them while you are eating anything else, you will refuse to eat any more of it.


We love you both so much and love spending every day watching you grow up.

Love,
Mommy