11 months

We have 2 extremely mobile 11 month olds.  It is pretty amazing how quickly they learned to crawl once they got the hang of it.  On rare occasions, they will even do their mom a favor and crawl in the same direction. Their personalities are also starting to change and it is really fun to interact with both of them in such different ways.

I have no idea what their heights and weights are because we have gone 2.5 weeks without a single doctor's appointment for either of them!  This is a new record!  I think we went two weeks without a doctor's appointment once before around Christmas, but having 2.5 weeks off feels great.  We've had lots of time to play, go on walks, hang out with friends and enjoy Texas in the spring.  

Carter is our independent boy.  He loves to crawl and inspect anything that he probably shouldn't, including, but not limited to, outlets, cords, remotes, cell phones, coffee cups, metal objects which turn on the gas to a fireplace (what kind of horrible mother leaves those things laying out), his brother's diaper, etc.  He certainly knows the word "No" and will even occasionally listen when we say, but his typical response is to turn, look at us, give us a huge cheesy grin, and then proceed to do exactly what he wants to do.  He's got a little bit of a strong will already.  Although we have dreams that he has gained tons of weight, he's still pretty little and it is pretty amazing to watch a 15 pound baby crawl around.  Additionally, it is difficult to baby proof for spaces where a 15 pound baby can wedge himself.  He can pull himself up to his feet, but hasn't made much movement once he's up there.  He enjoys staring at himself in the glass door of the fireplace for hours and giggling about what a funny baby he is (I am only about 50% sure that he knows its him in the reflection, not another hilarious baby who bears a striking resemblance to himself).  He still only has two teeth, but the doctor believes his top teeth should be coming in soon.  He continues to believe he is simply too old for milk and prefers to eat all solids; even several bouts of extreme constipation and copious amounts of prunes cannot deter him from his stance that milk is for babies.  He likes to eat chicken, black beans, cheese, avocados (still probably his favorite), green beans, spinach, sweet potatoes, quinoa, brown rice, squash, peaches, pears, apples, yogurt, hummus, puffs, yogurt melts, and graham crackers.  He was not super excited about blueberries, strawberries or cherries, but I need to try and puree fresh ones rather than frozen.  

Anderson is our little snuggler.  He is happiest playing with a toy while in our laps, or laying over our legs.  Contact with an adult is pretty essential.  He is also crawling very quickly and pulled himself to his feet almost immediately after learning to crawl.  He is starting to inch his way along things while holding on and tries to take a few steps while holding on to an adult.  He may break the trend and learn how to walk before Carter.  He is very interested in climbing up the stairs, so we will be purchasing some baby gates in the very near future.  He typically does not get into too much other stuff that he isn't supposed to because he tends to look back at us for affirmation after about 2 minutes by himself.  He also loves to stare at himself for awhile and test out new facial expressions.  Anything involving the tongue being out is generally well received.  He will drink a decent amount of milk, although still nowhere near what he is supposed to drink.  He also has liked almost every food we have given him, including all the ones listed for Carter.  He also seemed to like the cherries.  

Overall, they are both doing great health-wise.  We had a mini-outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease, but luckily neither boy got the blisters too badly and neither got them in their mouth which is allegedly the most painful part.  Carter's blood work from the immunologist came back completely normal, so we are hoping we will not need to go back and see her.  We are getting excited for their first birthday and celebrating our two little guys!  

In honor of their dad being out in California for work this week, we decided to take the 11 month pictures in special outfits for him.  Here they are:

We started off so well, smiling and everything

And then of course the siren's song...the sign

And Carter steals it from Anderson (is this looking familiar?)

Anderson is contemplating stealing it back

But alas, whatever the thing is over his left shoulder proves to be more interesting

Then Mommy takes the sign while Anderson isn't watching; Carter is shocked that I would shut down his fun

Anderson looks skeptically at Carter, pretty sure he still has the sign and is just hiding it.  Carter is likely laughing diabolically inside and planning world domination

And then Anderson sees the sign on the floor, remembers he knows how to crawl and dive bombs for the floor, thus indicating the end of our photo ops, as I felt it was more important to catch him than to catch the entire moment on film.  Let me know if you need any other parenting advice, I am apparently full of wisdom.