The Salsky Update: 11 months!

Seriously, this is going by way too fast.

outtakes!

Development & Play

Wow, where do I start? I feel like Benji and Zachary are finally acting like brothers... not just like 2 babies growing up side by side. They are interacting more--smiling, laughing at one another, tackling each other, mimicking each other. Benji is picking up on skills that Zachary has already attained, and I'm loving it. We get so exciting thinking about how these brothers will grow up to be best friends...and how they will help one another and support one another. You can see it even now... for example, how Benji has learned to clap things in his hands by watching Zachary do it in front of him. Keep it up, boys!

There is so much babble and baby talk happening, it seems like they are trying to talk. Zachary, especially, loves to just talk talk talk. First thing in the morning, as soon as I pull out his binky, he has lots to say. Usually he just tells me about his dreams and how he slept ;) Benji is talking, too. They both say "mama" and "dada". Not too sure if "mama" is necessarily assigned to Me, but we're pretty sure they know who "dada" is. Even today, about 5 minutes after Andy left for the day, Zachary turned towards the garage door, waved, and said "dada". Excuse me?! My heart melted.

We have officially outgrown our exersaucers. I really haven't put them in there in months, except for the other weekend, when we hosted a baby shower in our backyard and I needed to keep the boys contained as I ran around hosting. For now, they are on our porch outside, which opens up a ton of more space in the family room. The boys are into balls now, as well as clapping blocks together, dumping blocks out, pushing the walker, and cruising. Benji loves to cruise around with a block or something in his hand, balance it on top of a surface, and then cruise somewhere else. Really funny.

Zachary has stood on his own for a max of 45 seconds. No steps yet, and he doesn't always want to stand. Benji has stood for a few seconds, too, but he doesn't seem into it, either. I guess they will walk when they want. Don't think it will happen before they turn one!

Eating

The boys eat pretty much every meal with finger foods. Sometimes (if I'm not in the mood to clean up a mess or if we're out) they will still get purees, but pretty much every meal they feed themselves. I can't believe it! Something I've been making a lot is a "pancake" made with 2 eggs, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 banana mashed, and 1/4 tsp baking powder. So it's pretty eggy. I add cinnamon or apple pie spice. They LOVE it. They also LOVE blueberries. Zachary eats them faster than I can put more on his tray. Their poop is purple! Benji loves Cheerios. Another fave is avacado and cheese stick (in little pieces). They also have had Annie's mac n cheese, chicken breast, deli turkey, toast and jam, black beans, strawberries, peas, corn...

We're working on mastering the sippy cup so they can get off of the bottle easily in a month or so. They do ok with the straw cup. I've only given them water, but soon we'll try with formula. They still get 4 bottles/day, about 24-28 oz depending on the day.

Sleeping

Sound the hallelujah chorus--we are sleeping through the night!!! Wahoo! Miracle! Raise the roof! Party time! Ok ok. Benji was the late one to the game, but now he's into it. We still have some nights where he cries a little bit here and there, but nothing major. Zachary is our sleeping champ. He will sleep through even when Benji cries. Bedtime is 7, and wake up time is 7. Loving it. Now I'm wondering when I won't feel tired again. (In 18 years probably)

Naps are still great, too. They have solid morning naps from 9:15-10:30/45 and great afternoon naps 1:45/2 - 3:30/4.

I'm totally in love with these silly, sweet, joyful, funny little boys!!!

Highlights from Month 10:

Playing together.
The favorite toy is typically the one the other brother is playing with.

The boys got their first haircuts!

They were SO good and so deliciously cute in the little capes.

Just give Benji puffs, and he'll do whatever you want.

Me and my sweet Benji.

Check out how long Zachary's hair had gotten!

Aww, my sweet big boy.

Auntie Care came in town for her birthday on March 14th! We had a great day... we went back to the salon to fix Benji's hair (I didn't do a as good job directing his hair cut as Andy did Zachary's...), went out to lunch, and walked to our favorite park to go on the swings. So glad she came out!