Eleven Months

Emil and Colin are almost a year old!  How is that even possible?!  Last weekend we left all the kids with Brian's parents while we went on an anniversary trip to Vail, Colorado.  (More on that later.)  That's why the delay in reporting on the 11th month of the babies' lives.

You know how babies are busy every minute they're awake?  I still haven't figured out how to get anything done with these two on the job all the time.  This first photo illustrates my ridiculous furniture arrangement in the kitchen (chair in front of the garbage cupboard and bench in front of the frying pan and casserole dishes, the oven, and the drawers with glass stuff in them) as well as the so-cute-you-can't-stand-it haircuts the boys got last week.  Colin has bedhead, but no more mullet!  You can also see that both of them prefer standing to sitting while they're in destroy mode.

Emil and Colin both like to ride the lids and overturned plastic bowls around the wood floor.  By "ride" I mean they are on their knees pushing it around.  The other day Colin went around the island in the kitchen pushing the red bowl.  Tradition!  What is it with kids and running around in circles?  You can also see that Emil likes to keep an eye on what Colin is playing with.  Colin is a trend-setter, see.  Whatever he is playing with is clearly the coolest toy in the room and Emil will need to come get it in a minute.

In an attempt to get them into better light, I went into the front room.  Colin followed me first.  He is a lover!  Right now he weighs 18 lbs 9 oz.  He was really sick last week with croup, which was very sad.  Colin lost his voice and he really really likes his voice.  Fortunately for all, he's finally on the mend.  Now we see his happy face most of the time again.  Colin will randomly walk between couches and chairs (especially on the carpet) instead of crawling.  When he sees someone sitting on the floor, or even laying down, he'll come over and use them as a step stool to get to the couch or table or whatever.  He even stood on Emil's face one time to get a better view of a chair.  That's partly Emil's fault because he likes to take breathers...

True, he does this more when he's not feeling well (Bridget was sick first, then Colin, then Emil), but Emil likes to put his head down.  If I'm on the floor crawling toward him, he'll start crawling faster and then very gently give me a head butt.  Lately Emil has been "playing" by getting our attention, then turning and crawling fast in the other direction as if he wants to be chased.  It's irresistible.  He's taken a few unassisted steps, but he definitely crawls more.  His weight at the doctor's on Friday was 23 lbs 6 oz.

Part of our routine for the last month has been to watch the kids go to school from the front room window, then I'll play the piano for a little while.  Emil likes to come over and try to catch my hands while I'm playing.  Colin crawls under my feet and pops his head up, then his hands are on the keyboard.  So many things they do remind me of puppies. 

SQUIRREL!!