Crawling

I have realized lately that I have more pictures of Theo than Beckett. I briefly felt bad about that, til I realized that there are two good reasons, not including favoritism, for the disparity: 1) Beckett has learned that the camera produces an orange light before it flashes, so he has learned to close his eyes when he sees the light; and 2) he is faster than Theo, which means that just as I'm positioning the camera, he's scooted right away.

Speaking of which, today when I got home I was walking around with my boys (each holding one hand, walking around the house together), when Beck came to the staircase. After about 30 seconds of trying just to reach the mail on the third step up, he put his knees on the first step, then pulled himself up to standing, then put his knees on the second step, and pulled himself to standing. So apparently now we can climb stairs up in here.

Eleven Months Old!

Yesterday the boys turned eleven months old. Hard to believe! So quick developmental update:

Theo: military crawls (belly on floor, arms dragging the rest of his body forward); also pivots quickly and likes to test his standing ability; cruises along furniture, walls, from place to place; loves sweet potatoes and anything Mama is eating. He loves to shake his head but hasn't really figured out what that means, yet. But he sure does love to smile and laugh while shaking his head no. Loves to pull himself to standing in the bathtub, which is the only real NO in our house so far; especially loves to do so after I have pulled him down multiple times already, while looking me square in the eye and smiling. Slaps his head with his hand and laughs if I say "Oh my goodness!" Grunts a lot, especially after I've said something I think he'll like (as in, "hah, lady, you think that's so special? You bore me.") Points at ball when asked "where is the ball?" A favorite game is collecting several of an item on one side of him, then picking them up and throwing them on the other side. Back and forth, with both hands grabbing and throwing objects.

Beckett: loves to walk and would do it all day if he could; not so into eating these days--has to be coaxed into most meals because it means momentarily abandoning eating; cruises well between furniture, walls, etc. Last week sometime I was nursing Theo and Beckett was across the room and I realized he wanted to nurse, too. We had a huge box leftover from our new toy storage shelf and I pushed it with my foot across the room so it bridged the gap between us. Beck happily cruised right along the box over to me and put up his hands to be picked up! He's the reason we have to use the gate at the top of the stairs now. He loves cheese and most things Mama's eating. He often watches while Theo is misbehaving, then looks at me like, oh Mama, Theo's trouble! Loves to wave, mostly to nothing, and says "hi" or "hey" a lot. Says something that sounds a lot like "cat" whenever a cat enters the room. It also sounds a lot like "dah" which is what he calls lots of things, as in "that." Has been found standing in his crib several mornings now.

 Theo and Beckett playing with their friend Aria, Stacey's five month old daughter. She did a great job sitting up, and the boys did a mostly good job not shoving her around.

 Theo showing off his skills with the walker. Though his favorite walker trick is to let go with his hands and bring them up above his head, testing out his standing!

 Snack attack!

I. AM. NUMBER. ONE.

Chores chores chores

When it's laundry day around the House of Lovebo, it's serious. Because I do a load of laundry nearly every day, it doesn't often get out of control. But this is after I think two full days of doing no clothes laundry, plus doing sheets and mattress pads and towels, plus washing some new clothes, et al. The boys helped sort (by sort I mean roll around in the dirties, and pick each one up and put it in another spot).

I'm also constantly moving furniture and things around adjusting to how the boys are growing and developing. Beck is fully crawling now and just today pulled down two floor lamps and slammed his fingers in a dresser drawer. We're behind in the baby-proofing and trying to catch up. New developments in the downstairs playroom: no furniture except the changing table/dresser, garbage pail, and diaper pail. That creates a large open space for walking on the padded tiles and throwing toys all over the room.

Beginning of Learning to Share

The battles over toys have begun in earnest. Theo often wants the same toy that Beckett is playing with. Even when Theo gets that toy and Beck starts playing with something else, Theo then wants the new toy. He's THAT kid. The walker is an especially hot commodity, particularly when there are not willing grandparents or friends over to share the load and walk with fingers with the other one. Theo often wins the battles over toys because he is more focused and persistent, whereas Beck often just lets it go. Sometimes he is not happy about having to let go, though.

Jalen with Theo and Beckett

Jalen is Mark and Mindy's second oldest child, and he is great with the babies. Here he is helping to entertain them after mealtime.