eleven months of colin

Eleven months aleady!

You might notice that Colin finally got his first haircut! They used a combination of clippers and scissors, and he sat very still right until the end! I love how it turned out. He and Mae both desperately needed it!

Colin spends all his time exploring. He is just so BUSY all the time! He enjoys throwing a ball, dumping bins of toys, and poking Bitty Baby in the eye. He could chat for hours with the baby on the side of the diaper box. He loves being outside: going for walks, pushing his walker up and down the sidewalk, and crawling around the front yard. He scurries over in grunty excitement as soon as he hears the Velcro sound of me putting on the baby carrier. While we walk, he sticks out his middle fingers like little probes and tries to touch all the trees, bushes, and signs we pass. He's interested in exploring playgrounds now, and had his first encounter with swings. He sits still and expressionless in the swing but cries as soon as we try to take him out. So... I guess that means he likes it?

A fourth tooth (upper left) emerged at the beginning of the month, and we got a bit of a break from drooling and most of the spit up issues for a little while after that. I have a feeling more teeth are coming, since he's back to being a drool monster most of the time. Check out those cute little bottom teefers. (We need to be careful about our baby-talk. I'm pretty sure Mae now thinks the plural of teeth is actually "teefers".)

We've introduced a lot more solid foods this month. We gave day care the green light to offer solid foods after we'd introduced a good variety at home. I figured they'd start out small with Cheerios or something, but he came home the first day with a report stating, "Lunch: Hamburger. Ate: All." He loves lots of foods including strawberries, cucumber, chicken, salmon, and anything crunchy. He eagerly eats soft/slimy foods like pasta, but they often immediately pop back out onto his bib. Dan caught him just as he was about to eat a cicada last week. When we scold him (like when he tries to eat the potting soil from my houseplants) he melts into the saddest of cries. Life is so unfair when you're a baby.

Colin learned to love the beach during his first visit to the ocean this month! On the first day, he screamed bloody murder the second I dipped his toes in the surf. He cried and cried when I tried to set him in the sand. By the end of the week, he was digging his toes into the beach and cramming sand into his mouth like it was cotton candy. (Still not a fan of the waves, though.)

Happy eleven months, bud! We can’t wait to celebrate your first birthday next month!