You know what 11 months old means, right? It means we are now less than a month away from Cole's first birthday. 1 year old coming up. No longer a baby! Well ...he will be our baby for much much longer than he probably wants. By the way...here was Addie at 11 months...she's still our baby too!
We're still not sure when Cole is going to begin to officially walk on his own. He can cruise, though he doesn't like to do it all that much. For the last few weeks he has been able to come to standing in the middle of the room without any support. Until today the only video proof I had of that was Cole completely naked. And as much as I don't think we have a huge readership on this blog, I know it's not totally private so I didn't want Cole with all his manly-hood out in the world for all to see, but I finally got him (appropriately covered) standing today!
Does it get any cuter than this? Cole and Addie LOVE to hug each other. This is the stuff that melts my heart and makes all the challenges of having kids absolutely worth it.
Cole has more words now! The other day he was tired and as I was carrying him upstairs for nap he was rubbing his eyes and saying "nah nah" over and over until I realized he was saying "night night!" So cute! On Saturday I was out of the house and Steve was unsuccessful in getting him down for a nap while I was gone. The minute I walked through the door, he crawled towards the door and pulled up on the baby gate separating us screaming NAH NAH at the top of his lungs. I think he was tired :) He also says "Hello"--or rather "eeyuuuuhhh" but it's totally hello. What do you think?
We're just having so much fun around here. Cole does new things every single day!
Besides impersonating Homer Simpson perpetual 5 o' clock shadow...
He has words: Dada (guess who loves that?), more, and "uh-oh" This last one is his FAVORite. And boy, he knows how to use it. He's in his high chair and deliberately drops food over the side--uh oh. He's in his crib not wanting to nap and throws his paci out of the crib and all you hear is a succession of soft uh-ohs over the monitor :)
He climbs EVERYthing nowadays...stairs, dishwashers...
He hugs stuffed animals to his cheek with a big smile each time, I know, it's adorable, but I have yet to catch it on the camera.
He blows kisses and makes kissy noises when you ask for a kiss. He puts his hand or a toy up to his ear to pretend it's a phone when Addie's pretending to talk on a phone. He cleans his tray when I give him a paper towel. He tries to brush our hair with a hairbrush. He loves hats. He loves when we wear them--cracks him up. And he loves wearing them himself (except, of course, when it is meant for the actual purpose of keeping his head and ears warm in the cold weather).
He is SO into "cooking" in the play kitchen--he seriously can spend 20 minutes opening and closing cabinets and placing the food inside various doors.
And on to the big sister! Addie has started another round of ballet! She is with the same teacher and is the oldest and most experienced in the class, so of course, she is quite the star. Here she is patiently waiting for the class to start.
Addie has grown almost an entire inch since her birthday!! It was only 2.5 months ago! So that means she thinks she's 13, not 3... Addie's actually never herself these days...she's either baby Addie still in my belly (my pajama shirts are quite stretched out with this game), Cinderella (and then whomever is playing with her gets to be rest of the cast--"now you're the stepmother, now you're the fairy godmother, now you're the prince..."), "Katie" (we don't even know where she got that name), or--in this case--Fancy Nancy. I love this picture--just wish it didn't have my arm (in stretched out pj shirt noted above) We've had a bit of snow lately. This was just a little bit of snow in this picture but it was the perfect stickiness for Addie's first snowman! Or as she called it, snow girl. All of her dolls and stuffed animals and imaginary friends are girls, so why wouldn't her snowman (er...girl) be one as well? We got some more snow later that night and sadly lost our power :( Addie insisted we make snow ice cream (Cole LOVED it) and it was roughly 54 degrees F in the house when we ate it...brrr! Thankfully we were able to escape to Gaga's house for the night.
Speaking of Gaga's house...we got to spend some time there with Uncle Robby and Aunt Kati who were "in town" from Sydney Australia recently. Well, they came stateside to meet their new granddaughter, Bella and we were lucky enough to get them to visit us on the East Coast.
Cole was explaining something very meaningful to his great uncle. I snuck in a kiss ;) Cole snuck in an uncle snuggle and Addie (ahem...Snow White) snuck in a few stories from aunt Kati :) So I'll admit-- it's been a looooong winter--we don't get out as much as I want to and we are going a bit stir-crazy, especially when the electricity was out for 48 hours, but we're all still filled with love and happiness in the household....there's still February to plod through, but for now...we're all friends :)
Can anyone else believe that Cole is 10 months old already?? Double digits! When did that happen? That means in less than 2 months he will be ONE. A birthday. I'm not sure I'm ready for that!
So what is he doing these days? Well one thing he's famous for around this house is being a cuddle-bug. He will be crawling around the living room playing and then head over to your lap, crawl up, put his head on your shoulder for a quick hug, then crawl away. All together now "awwwww".... And he will put his head down on the floor, the couch, your lap, Addie's back, your legs, whatever, and the thing is he KNOWS he's cute because he'll look up sideways with his big eyes and giggle as he does it. One day last week Addie saw Cole do this and said "Oh Coley, you and your snuggles" which has become the catch phrase of the house lately. And this mommy eats it alll up.
He's pulling up and cruising. He has one chore--to turn off the light switch before we leave his room. He's obsessed with phones and remote controls and cries hysterically if he happens to get one and you take it away from him before he drools all over it. He LOVES talking on the phone--if you call and I put you on speaker phone he'll giggle and laugh. He sometimes contributes to songs. If you sing "Wheels on the bus" when you say "all through the town" he'll say "dahhhh" or something that sounds like "down" at the town part. And when singing Jingle Bells, I swear he contributes "heh heh heh" after "Laughing all the way." He's even started doing some sign language. We've seen him do "All done," "milk," and "water"--not consistently, but definitely when it gets him what he wants :)
And now for some pics:
I call this Cole's Abercrombie&Fitch pose--you know, when those Abercrombie models have extremely long strands of drool coming out of their otherwise adorable mouths. But come on, what a pose!
"Coley, did you take one of Addie's cookies?" Heh heh heh Cole gets into EVERYthing--he's so so curious and nothing is un-turned, no door unopened, no drawer remains filled and organized. Stevo's proud to say that Cole gets this from him... And dang that boy can eat. I know I'm going to keep posting about this because his appetite amazes me! There are few things that he will turn his nose up at and he seriously out-eats Addie on a daily basis. On the day I took this picture he ate approximately: 3 cubes/ounces of carrot puree, 1/2 cup of peas, 3/4 cup quinoa and 1/4 cup chicken--and that was when I stopped counting. Nomnomnom And no blog post is complete without an Addie update as well! Addie has become quite the helper in the kitchen ever since she got her new chef's hat and apron.
And despite this melancholy snowman (complete with frown and unintentional but ironically placed tear drop) Addie made in school, she had the first week all year when she didn't cry at all! Woohoo! It only took 5 months :) And they continue to fight like siblings over the sharing (or lack therof) of toys, but truly they couldn't love each other more. To say that we are in love with these kiddos is quite an understatement. Enamored is a better word.
UPDATE THE NEXT DAY: Cole decided to make his official first word (besides mama/dada and accidental repeating of things we've said in songs--like this is a word he said on his own and with correct meaning)...... wait for it....... MORE. Oh the irony---see photos of him eating above. My Hoover baby :)
Addie LOVES christmas music. We had to listen to it a LOT during the months of October, November, and December. The car radio was always set to the Christmas song channel and at home Addie always asked for "Christmas Pandora" (Pandora is internet radio and you can choose theme-based channels. It made me laugh when we were at the store and a Christmas song came on and Addie said "Hey, they have Christmas Pandora too!"). She knows the words to the songs better than I do sometimes and often corrects me when I get them wrong, but if she doesn't know them, she'll just make up the words herself "O, Holy night, the stars are brightly SHI-ning, on a speck of food we left for santa...." Speck of food? Wha?
Anyway, between all the songs, reading of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Bear Stays up for Christmas, Addie was excited, to say the least :) We bought the kiddos matching PJs (And some for cousin Julie, too, you'll see later down the post) and couldn't resist having a photo shoot one night after bath. As you can see, the kiddos hammed it up for us!
(fuzzy phone pic) We then packed the car up and the "Southern Silvestros" (as Uncle Douggo likes to call us) headed North to Doug, Alli, and Julie's house in New Jersey where Yaya and Poppy met us to celebrate the big day. Christmas Eve included a lovely pasta dinner and Addie setting out Cookies and Milk for the big guy (and a carrot for Rudolph). Yes, she's using her stocking as a glove. No, I don't know why.
No chimney to hang the stockings on with care, so we "hung" them on the back of the couch. Here is Addie posing for the photo shoot. Lest you think she's a master picture taker, lately, when you say "smile for the camera" her eyes immediately dart to the side and you have to BEG her to look at your forehead in order to get any eye contact. Let's just say, digital cameras are my friend. Matching PJs!! Plus cuddling with Uncle Douggo See video below to see Addie's morning story of how she found her stocking. I made her re-tell it, so it's dramatic, but not AS dramatic as the first round.
Time to open presents!!! We got some amazing stuff! Thanks to the WHOLE family. We are so lucky! Seriously AWESOME aprons that Great Aunt Robbie made for me and Addie! Cuddling with the g-p's Addie and Julie had matching holiday dresses so we plunked them down for a photo shoot.
Cole was plunked down towards the end. I think he was upset because he was still in his PJs and the girls all looked fancy. Don't you think? Again, I'm a terrible mom, because seeing him cry like this in the picture makes me laugh! Ah, that's better mom. NOW I look more presentable. RAWR. I gonna EAT choo. Playing in the baby cage with Julie.
All that playing and being a baby tiger tired our poor Bubba out. Actually, all the kids had colds (hooray for runny noses!) but we didn't know that Cole was getting sicker :( We spent two nights at Doug and Alli's then headed down to Yaya and Poppy's for two more nights. While there Cole got a bit worse and had some breathing problems. It's handy to have a pediatrician who can call in some medicine, huh? But what if you have 18 inches of snow? Yikes! Luckily, Poppy was a rockstar and cleared out the driveway and he and Steve braved the unplowed streets (before the main ones) to get the meds for the little man.
The rest of the weekend consisted of lots of fun and yee-hawing! And despite the snow, we made it home safe and sound (it hadn't snowed here, so no driveway to plow! Woot woot!) And I leave you with a few videos of the weekend. Enjoy!!
So yeah, a family blog is pretty much all about bragging, right? So I can feel free to scream from the rooftops (of this limited blog readership) that Addie has started to read! She can sound out short words! She started doing this a couple of weeks after she turned 3. She has this great DVD called the Leap Frog Letter Factory--it has little songs that tell you how the letters sound " A says "Ah" "B says "Buh" type thing. And here and there while reading we will sound out a word--like in "Where the Wild Things Are" the character Max has his name on the boat, so we'll point to it and say "Muh-Ah-Xs--MAX"--you get the idea. In the bathtub we have these letters that stick to the wall when wet and just recently she started just reading what we were writing!
Full disclosure: I had to bribe her with some chocolate to make these videos--she groans when I whip out the camera these days. :)
Here are some short videos:
Addie reading the word Mug
Addie reading the word "Tip"
This is how Addie learned to spell her name, with this little song
She had sounded out and read these words already, she isn't usually this fast.
