celebrating days of birth

Today we got to celebrate dual birthdays {sort of}. It's my dad's birthday and Will's 11 month birthday. {hence the "sort of." Not sure that 11 months specifically counts as a birthday.} It was a fun day!

We started by making Duke a card.

I wanted a cute picture of Will holding it. He had other ideas.

We also celebrated this afternoon by hanging out with Duke and Mimi, but I forgot to bring my camera. Although there is no photographic evidence, we had a very fun time. Happy birthday, Dad!! We love you!

Of course, we also did our monthly photo shoot with the bear. These photo shoots get more difficult each month as Will gets more curious and mobile.

Growing so fast!

Soooo happy!

However, Will was much more interested in playing here...

and here...

and at rock band...

And of course, he found some time for simultaneous reading/piano playing.

Here are a few things I want to remember about Will at 11 months:

• He is into everything! I find new cabinets and drawers to baby-proof all the time. His favorite "no no" items are the cat's bowls, the trash cans, and my stack of cookbooks.
• Favorite new activities this month: opening the drawers in his bedroom and pulling out all of his clothes, and putting them back in; and opening/closing any cabinets that aren't locked.

Exhibit A - opening

Closing. You get the picture.

• Will has gotten quite vocal in the last month, and his favorite thing to say is "da da." He has a very cute way of dropping the last "ah" and yelling something that sounds like a very well enunciated DAD. He says it at home, in the car, and anywhere we go. Sometimes it sounds like he's looking for his dad in Lowes, Target, etc. He also says several other syllables and will even combine them sometimes. A new development in the past couple of days - whenever Will is excited or happy, he says "da da." And when he is mad, sad, or distressed, he says wails "ma ma ma." Hmmm....

Here he is saying "DA DA DA" this afternoon:

• Sleeping has gotten back to normal for the most part {yay!}, although he was up a LOT last night. Maybe those top teeth are finally about to come in? And knock on wood, napping seems to be improving. Typically he takes a short nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. Although he certainly keeps me on my toes by switching up when the long nap occurs, and of course, sometimes not ever taking a long one!
• This month, Will has started walking around by pushing his little musical push toy {actually Ben's toy - thanks Ben!}. He gets sooo excited when he realizes he's walking, and it's very cute. I need to get a video of this.
• Will is still a great eater. He seems to like pretty much everything he's had so far, and we found out on New Years that he LOVES black-eyed peas. I think he's going to be very lucky in 2011 considering the amount he ate.

Happy 11 month birthday, sweet boy.

I can't believe we are one month away from your REAL birthday!