Eleven Months (and a few days...)

A few days late, but here is the "official" 11-month picture:And a few pictures just fooling around in pajamas:

Ari is "so big!"

We spent the past couple of days catching up on sleep and getting back into our daily routine. Today was a beautiful day-- 62 degrees, which is warmer than it was our whole time in San Diego! We took advantage of the chance to get outside for a walk before Aunt Lori came over to visit, when we all went grocery shopping. This evening, we went to the Arking home for a special Shabbat dinner in their new house. As always, the room was bursting with the energy of five kids:
At 11 months, what are Alex and Ari doing? Alex is very close to walking, cruising around the house at warp speed. He crawls up stairs in a matter of seconds. He can stand on his own in his new, sturdy shoes, and loves to dance to music, especially "All That Jazz" from Chicago. He says "Daddy" and seems to know how to use it in context. He's said "Mama" a couple of times, as well, but not nearly as often as he says "Daddy". He can show you where his ears and hands are, and also does "so big" and claps to the song "If You're Happy and You Know It." He eats everything in sight, including things that aren't technically edible, but his favorite foods are yogurt and bananas. And as we've mentioned before, he loves dogs and says something like "Daw" every time he sees one.

Ari crawls all over the place, although not as quickly as Alex. She pulls herself up to a standing position, and can also stand in her shoes, but doesn't quite cruise around yet. That's OK-- Mommy needs one relatively still child to keep her from running in two directions. Ari can show you where to put her socks and shoes (she'll hold out her feet) and is working on saying "shoe" (she says "sh, sh"). She also does "so big" and loves music and story time. Ari is our picky eater. She doesn't much care for vegetables unless they are sweet (hmmm...maybe inherited her sense of taste from Mommy?) and clearly demonstrates her distaste by spitting out the food, waving her hands in front of her, pushing the spoon away, and/or shaking her head "no." She loves Cheerios and most fruit.

It's hard to believe that in four short weeks, Alex and Ari will be one year old. Time certainly flies when you're having fun!