11 Months

Ocean may be a little guy, but he's got a big personality :) He's such a funny little boy. When we call his name as he's crawling around, he giggles and crawls faster towards whatever taboo location (bathroom, stairs, etc) is closest. He knows he's not supposed to go near them, but always tries anyway.

He's started sticking out his tongue when he's hungry. This is helpful in determining what a particular fussy bout means. The funny part is that it's not just a little bit of his tongue, it's the whole thing.

His scar is improving, though there's still a ways to go. I rub my scar-reducing salve on it several times a day and between that and his resilient baby skin the scar is fading.

Ocean's second bottom tooth came in about two weeks after the first one. His top teeth haven't erupted yet, but three of them are close.

if you look closely at his upper gum you can see his two teeth that are coming in

His hair is getting shaggy, but it's not as bad as River's was. It seems to be getting lighter: the ends are darker then his roots, which gives his hair an interesting look. In some light it almost looks  like a very light strawberry blonde. Or is it more of a sandy blonde? We have one more month until his first haircut, and I'm curious to see how blonde he looks afterwards.

I still can't decide if Ocean's eyes are light brown or hazel. They seem to change color a bit, so I think they're hazel. But if that's the case, it's a different hazel than what Sunshine and Mr M share.

I put the boys in the shopping cart and River immediately put his arm around Ocean so I could take a picture of them :) You can see their eye colors pretty well here.

Ocean loves eating. He still nurses an average of three times a day, but he is a solid believer in food that he can shove in his mouth. I'm a firm believer in letting babies feed themselves, but I will be glad when he stops making such a mess.

He loves water in whatever form he can get it: bath, spray park, kitchen sink, etc.

I forgot his suit in the car and it was too far away to easily get, so he enjoyed the splash park in his t-shirt and diaper

We went strawberry picking and Ocean had to hang out in the stroller- I don't like doing a lot of bending over with him strapped to me. He did pretty well, though he didn't hesitate to let us know when he was done and ready to go. Luckily that coincided with when we filled our box.

River can be a bit rough with Ocean sometimes (he's only two and a half, after all), but he can also be super sweet. At those times they're the cutest little buddies. Ocean thinks River is funny- random things River does will set Ocean laughing.

River reached down to hold Ocean's hand while we were on a hike and Ocean giggled the whole time they held hands- too cute!

Ocean is a handsome little dude.

That personality I mentioned earlier can be seen here. Love the expression on his face. He's such a funny little kiddo and really loves playing with cars and pushing them around. If he can't find a car to push around, he'll push bowls, food storage containers, whatever he can reach.

He's becoming more intentional with his actions: when I put him in his booster chair to eat he reaches down and pulls up the center bar that supports his tray, when I buckle him into his car seat he always reaches up to grab his blankie (we keep one in the car for calming purposes), he waves at people, and he's started clapping.

He's also becoming much more adventuresome. I heard him fussing a few days ago and found him stuck in the table behind the couch. He'd climbed in on the other end and then couldn't get out on this end because the toy bin was in the way.

he was getting pretty upset about the whole thing, which you can tell because his head is turning red

This month he had roseola. He had a fever for a couple days, but was otherwise fine, and then a couple days later the rash showed up. That was the point when I figured out what was going on. I remember Sunshine having it when she was about 2 years old, but I don't think River has had it.  Ocean might have shared it with River, but I'm not certain. River had a few days of fever, but I never saw the rash.

Ocean is standing for longer periods, and is getting braver and letting go of things and trying to take a step. He can stand on his own for a few seconds before he loses his balance and plops down.

This picture cracks me up. I was just about finished taking his 11 month pictures (which he wasn't super cooperative for) and I sat him up to try to get a picture of his shaggy hair. I ended up with this expression: he's not impressed and he's ready to be done.

One more month until he's a year old- time has gone by so quickly.