Emma

You are almost 11 months old. I can't believe it. You have really come a long way since St. Francis! Your social development is coming along amazingly. You wave and say "bye-bye." You clap your hands. That has to be the cutest thing I have ever seen. You also have recently started copying my sounds and gestures. I can tell that you are learning that everything has a name. I say the name of something and you look for it. "Mimi is here" gets you looking at the front door or out the window. You love all of your family and get very excited when you see a known visitor. Sometimes meeting new people is hard for you though. You don't miss a thing. I just know you will be a people person. You are very observant of everything people do. Sometimes if I make a strange and sudden sound, it upsets you very much. You cry like you're terrified if I growl during a story book or laugh very loudly, etc. You look so cute when you cry. I've said that since you were born. Someone once told me that I wouldn't think so when you got a little stronger and louder, but they were wrong. You are still the cutest little unhappy camper.
You pull up on the coffee table and walk around all the furniture. You also recently have discovered that you can stand all by yourself without holding on to anything! It amazes me to see your tiny frame standing there like a big girl. You can stand and clap, too. You hold it there for quite a while. Daddy has almost convinced you to take a few steps, but you still drop to crawl for now. I have seen you take one single step a few times, so I know it won't be long before my little girl is officially a toddler.
You are still a very good eater. We still introduce a new food every few days. You and Ethan are also no longer vegetarians. You have had chicken and turkey. You love it. A few more new additions to our menu are plum, black beans, red beans, oatmeal, mango, blueberries and honey dew. You tried watermelon, but you and brother both hated it. Surely you will change your mind on that before long. That's one of the best things about summer...besides swimming. You love swimming! You splish-splash all over the place. You're Momma's girl. Hopefully you can help me get Ethan to like it too. I hope to take you both out on Pappy's pontoon boat soon.
You have a lot of teeth now, girlfriend! All of a sudden, you have two top teeth, and the ones next to them are coming in now, too. The ones beside your bottom front teeth are also coming in. You have bitten me a few times, Miss Lynny Lou. I yelled out and tried to really frown and tell you how much it hurt. I think when Ethan gets more teeth in, you'll understand empathy a little more. ;)
You and brother had your first 4th of July at your Pawpaw James and Gramma Janis's house. You both had an awesome time and did great with meeting all the new people. The fireworks made you squeeze me tight, but you were mesmerized by the pretty color bursts in the sky.
Another first: you and Ethan stayed in the nursery at church by yourselves this week. You had so much fun with Cici! You are the only babies, so I know you were getting her full attention. I'm excited to take you back because you had such a good time and Mommy is able to go to church again by herself and pay more attention to the sermon. Win-win. :)
We are about to wrap up your first year and I am loving our new family life.
You are my favorite baby girl and I love you so much! I tell you every day how pretty and sweet my little Princess-Em is, and I really mean it, Shug! You're my angel!

Ethan

You will be 11 months old in 5 days. I can't believe how fast you are growing. You are like a little sponge, learning so much about how things work in your world. You have learned to build and take apart your stacking toy. You can also pull yourself up to standing on anything and walk around all the furniture. When we help you, you can even walk! You much prefer crawling because you have gotten so fast!
You love your bottle, baby. You're not as interested in your solid foods these days. I have to really encourage you to eat and really praise you big for taking good bites. Oh, but you were just introduced to cookies. So far, you get a little carried away with them. You wolf them down so fast that you gag and sometimes get choked up a little. I try to show you the chewing signal and tell you to be more careful.
You are getting more and more verbal. You are working on lots of letter sounds now and sometimes you just stand at the coffee table yelling and banging a toy to emphasize your point. Your daddy says you are working on your assertiveness with the complaint department.
Recently you discovered that you can turn the pages of a book all by yourself and you love it. You coo and coo while you're reading. Story time gets your full attention before bed. You can soothe yourself to sleep now. Mommy doesn't have to rock you until you're sound asleep anymore. You are getting more independent, but I still rock you long and hug you tight for your naps. I think this will be one of the things I miss the most when you get too big.
One funny thing: you love bath time, but you don't like your swimming pool at all. You cry and cry if I put you in there with Emma. On your second try, I eased you into the idea and you still hated it. I let the water stand all day, so it wouldn't be too cold. I let you sit beside the pool and get warm, so you might like being refreshed. This has been, after all, the hottest summer in record time. It has been over 110 degrees outside for weeks! I've never heard if it being that hot before. Oklahoma summer misery is usually barely over 100 if ever over 90. You see Emma enjoying herself, splish-splashin in there. I don't get it. I tried to get you interested by putting some cool toys in the pool, let you hold your hand under some dripping water. I almost had you. But as soon as I let it drip on your back, you started to wrinkle your face and cry. I thought you might get over it if I let you sit in there for a minute with Emma and all of your toys. You sat there on all fours shaking and crying hysterically until I got you out. How will I convince you that water is fun? We will try to go swimming again this weekend in our neighbor's big pool, The Pickles' House. I hope when I get in with you, you'll like it this time.
You are the cutest dancer ever. You have several cool moves, dude. All you need is a beat. You rock to the rhythm on all fours or shake your head like Stevie Wonder. All of the toys that sing songs or play music are big hits with you.
You have discovered that things are yours. At times you seem absorbed in figuring out how a particular toy works and mastering it. I have seen you take things from Emma while she is playing with them, but she doesn't cry...yet. I will be working out how to teach you to give Emma a toy that you are playing with. I know you can do it because you are the sweetest little boy in the world.
You have started leaning in for kisses from Mom and Dad and Emma, too. They are a little sloppy and open-mouthed, but we are all suckers for them. It makes Emma smile when you give her your lovins.
It's not uncommon for you to wake up at 5 am and start crying. I come get you because I don't want you to wake Emma...and you're Momma's baby. I lay you in bed next to me and you snuggle up and usually sleep for another hour or so. I think this may be a bad habit, but I just love it.
I'm looking forward to your first birthday party. We plan to keep it as simple as possible so you won't feel pressure and I'm looking into healthy alternative cake recipes, so you can chow down and not get sick. I promise, it will still be yummy. You're gonna love it!
Love,
Mom