Michael is 11 months old! This last month has been a big one for him - he's getting 2 more teeth in AND he started walking! As of this week, it seems that his crawling days are officially over and walking is the preferred mode of transportation. He has started to show a strong attachment to some of his favorite toys and his blankie. He loves to be read to, although he doesn't care for staying still during the stories! :) Michael is a snuggler - he's always up for crawling in our laps and cuddling up in a big hug. Hannah is thrilled about that - she loves to love on her brother and us singing "if you're happy and you know it, hug your brother" has turned into a fun game (and a great picture!). Michael also likes to mimic Mommy and Daddy - making clucking noises, shaking his head, sticking his tongue out. . . . and he does all of them with a big grin on his face. Michael and Daddy have a new game going with Michael's nuk. . . . Michael thinks it should go into Daddy's mouth, but Daddy doesn't agree! :)
A local photographer, Kerri Holleman, took these great shots of the kids at the park. Hannah wasn't convinced she wanted to participate, which is why we only have the one picture of them together, but Kerri did a great job of snapping pictures while chasing Hannah!! :)
Our sunny weather is gone and we've been looking for ways to have some indoor fun the last couple of weeks. We've played with play-do, colored pictures, read stories, put together puzzles, refused to share toys, taken snacks away from each other, thrown tantrums, and. . . . . . well, you get the idea. There's only so much fun a toddler and preschooler can have inside without driving each other, and their parents, completely crazy! And so, our quest to go on indoor outings began :)
One of our stops last week was the Jump Around Fun Zone, where Hannah could bounce off the walls (literally) and Michael could practice his walking .
We've also made some trips to the mall to use the indoor play area there. Hannah has decided that her favorite game there is tag, which she now instigates with any little kid she meets. Michael loves the slide, but prefers to climb up the front (a habit we discourage, much to his dismay).
And now, a shot of Michael after being dressed up by Hannah ;) Because real men wear feather boas!
I have to apologize - - Most of you know that Michael has been pretty close to walking for a few months now, and we had every intention of announcing when he started walking. . . . . but it was such a process, that by the time I realized he was officially a "walker", he had actually been walking for almost a month! After taking those first few steps, Michael decided that crawling was still the faster way to go. It took a a few weeks of him walking "part-time", but now he seems to prefer it to crawling.
This year for halloween Hannah was super excited about dressing up as Tinkerbell (of course). We found a cute monkey suit for Michael :)
Hannah had fun painting a couple of pumpkins to decorate the front steps with.
She was not so excited about actually carving pumpkins, and absolutely refused to stick her hands into the gooey guts :)
Our finished pumpkins - Mommy and Daddy had fun carving!!
We had a fun party with some of Hannah and Micheal's friends. The kids dressed up, did crafts, ate a yummy lunch, and then we attempted to get that coveted group shot. . . . . please note that there is no group shot :) I was able to take a lot of cute pictures of individual kids, but somehow missed one that had all of them in it (without screaming or pouting). Overall, the kids had a great time!!
Hannah was SOOOO excited to go trick-or-treating! She couldn't be bothered with sitting for a picture, just grabbed her bucket and said "c'mon, Mom!" :) We went to houses up and down our short street and Hannah did a good job of knocking and saying "trick-or-treat".
Michael is 10 months old and growing up fast! He's not quite walking yet, but he can stand on his own, take 4-5 steps unassisted, and cruises around the house with his push toy almost as fast as he crawls. Our little monkey loves to climb and needs to be watched every second - - his favorite spots to stand and bounce on are Hannah's wooden chair and the baby bouncer. He is done with jarred baby food and has moved on to eating table food - Michael thinks it's fabulous that he can eat what we are eating for dinner! :) His favorite noise to make this week appears to be a roaring lion, although playing the "shrieking game" back and forth with Hannah is a close second! His other big accomplishment this month was joining Hannah in the big bath tub - they loved playing together in the water, and he did surprisingly well at sitting still long enough to be washed! He still loves his ducky tub, but it's become something to climb in while on dry land rather than in the tub.
