Ruby and Charlotte - 11 months

Ruby and Charlotte turned 11 months about three weeks ago.  Good thing I am publishing this before they turn one in a week and a half!  Here is what I had written down for them for month 11...

Charlotte is our climber.  If there are pillows on the floor that Henry has piled up, she races over and starts climbing them too.  Laundry basket near by?  She's inside it.

Both girls are standing on their own.  They do it for 5-10 seconds long sometimes!  Ruby does it all day long but Charlotte only does it every now and then. 
 

Still no teeth.  A little bit more hair is growing in.  It kind of looks dark.
 

They want to go outside to play so terribly bad.  Henry runs in and out the back door all the time and I am always reminding him to close the sliding door behind him.  The girls make a bee line for the back door anytime he opens it and leaves it open.  They cry when we close the door and do not let them out there.  Sometimes the door is cracked only enough for one baby to go out and they will crawl on top of each other to try to both get through the door at the same time.  It's a little nerve wracking to find a baby a few inches from the edge of the patio.  (The drop off is only a few inches but still...they could get hurt and/or eat a mouth full of mulch.)

I see you Ruby.  She is trying to get the crumbs out of Hank's snack bowl.

They love to tackle each other and any of us that happen to lounge on the floor while they play.
 

They sometimes act afraid of Hank.  He's can be rough with them rough with them and I think they are a little freaked out when he comes barreling past them.  They think he's coming for them and they cringe!
 

Ruby is fascinated with Ellie.  She shrieks when she sees her and then gets excited and starts to follow her around.  Charlotte is interested in her but doesn't try to follow her as much.

Ruby is sleeping tons better.  Now Charlotte has been waking up crying at night more often than Ruby.  Sometimes it seems like they are crying because they can't find their pacifier or it has fallen out of the crib.  I have declared that we are getting rid of the pacis quite a few times this month but then I cave when I see how much they love them.  They still use their pacis that have the bear and elephants attached to them so in a sense the pacis are their lovies.  This month we have started getting them to sleep with lovies in hopes that we can get rid of the pacis easier when the time comes.  They go down for naps and bed time so easy.  I kiss them, zip them up in sleep sacks, give them their pacis and leave.  Even with both of them sleeping in the same room in cribs just a foot away from each other, they are very good at going to sleep.  When one of them cries it kinda throws me off because I am not used to them needing me to help them get to sleep.

Hi beautiful!  Thank you Charlotte for the smile right as I was taking your picture!  I know you normally like to play it real cool when I have the camera around.

They both really enjoy music and it is so cute the way they both start bopping in unison when music is playing. 

Both girls can wave "hi" and give high fives.  If you say "hi" to them they both throw one of their hands in the air and start smiling really big! 

I realize that I clap a lot with Henry to cheer him on for things that he does.  The girls have picked up on it and when I talk in a happy voice with them they start clapping a lot.  It's pretty cute.

Playing together/dueling to see who gets the piece of track.

Ruby - all smug because she won and Char crawled away.

 

Charlotte says they are hungry and she is going to make something for them to eat.

 When they are hungry they crawl into the kitchen and start pulling out baby food from the pantry.

They started eating chicken and turkey this month.  They can eat a lot of foods without me having to mash them so we are getting closer and closer to them being able to eat a lot of table foods.  it makes meal time so much easier.  I actually dread dinner time around here.  Hank is usually running circles around me while I prep dinner and then the girls start crying because they are hungry.  No matter how early I try to get a jump on dinner prep they all melt down anyway.  It's like everyone is trained to go bonkers the minute I step in the kitchen no matter what time of day it is or if they all just had a snack a few minutes ago.  The girls love finger foods so much.  They devour anything I put on their tray.  Ruby has been killing me lately because she sometimes decides to put her face directly on her high chair tray and just suck up the food on the tray.  No fingers needed.  Char just looks at her and luckily doesn't copy her.
They eat a lot of O's, tofu, nectarines, black beans, cottage cheese, and peas as far as finger foods go.  I have even started giving them tiny pieces of cooked chicken.  I have learned to cut up a lot of food before I put any on their trays because they eat it all so fast that they get impatient with me if I turn to chop more food.

I stopped tracking their feedings this month.  It seems like I could have done that ages ago but my brain gets all jumbled up so to help it I like to do things methodically sometimes and this was one of them.  I used to write it all down in this little notebook.  That exact pen sat on our dresser for 11 months!  Weird, I know.

Ruby's scrunchy face

Char's happy face

They really dislike diaper changes and getting dressed.  They also really dislike how long it takes me to respond to their cries sometimes.  That is one of the very tough parts about having twins plus a toddler.  Someone is always odd man out around here and it pains me when I can't respond to their needs in a timely fashion.

They love crawling together with Hank down the hallways, pushing chairs around the house, playing with new diapers (which seem to always be strewn all over the house either from them or Hank), watching Hank play with trains, rolling cars around, and balls of any kind.  

I cannot wait until they are old enough for play strollers, dolls and baby beds!  Patiently waiting.

This month has flown by!  Every day we are thankful for them!  Such blessings.

-a