11 Month Annibirthery!

Russell is 11 months old today.

11 months.

I remember a year ago thinking that he was going to show up any day. Little did I know that I had one full month of misery pregnant joy left.

Russell is into everything. Everything. He is "all boy" in the sense that he is very physical and very inquisitive. He takes the hardest way any time he can and tries to get into any room that he isn't in at the time. His hearing is keen and if you open a door, anywhere in the house, he is hot on the trail to explore. 

He also is interested in looking under things, behind things, around things. One of his favorite games to play is peek-a-boo with Mae. The other day she was sitting on her chair in the dining room and we were in the bathroom. He would close the door and then open it and peek around at her and giggle and squeal. Then it happened the opposite way last night. She went in to wash her hands after dinner while he was still eating. They play very well together. But he is also content to play by himself. For example,  one morning Mae was still sleeping. He went into their room and woke her up. When he came crawling out he was quite proud of himself. So out she came. We started playing on the floor and asked him to join us. He just looked at us and went and did his own thing. Apparently people need to be attentive to him ... but not bother him too much.

While he is not walking yet it won't be long. Last night I put him down on the kitchen floor. In a standing position. It probably took him 8-10 seconds to realize that I wasn't holding on to him and he wasn't holding on to anything either. He then sank down and went about his business.

As he grows he becomes more interested in his sisters. And what they are really doing. The three of them can kind of play "together". They are really pretty gentle (most of the time). Just yesterday I looked into the living room and was amazed to see them just interacting. Makes my heart sing.

You may or may not notice by the pictures ... he is on the down hill side of a pretty horrendous case of pink eye. Etta had it about two weeks ago and I was kind of surprised on Saturday when he woke up from his nap with goopy eyes. I thought pink eye in a 5-year old was bad. It's a cake walk compared to pink eye in an 11-month old. But he has done very well and should be back to his natural good looks in a few days. But even through everything he maintains his laid back, happy personality. Smiles and giggles soon after the torture of eye cleaning and drops.

One more month to 1 year old.

Amazing.

Outfit courtesy of Aunt Molly for Christmas. Note the flamingo legs. Just like Mae at 11 months.

I think from this picture he looks to be about the same size as Etta at 11 months. Not quite as round of face and definitely more hair!

One more just because he is so cute!