11 Months & GDKQT

David spent the past 2 weekends with his grandparents and doodles and my cousin Karen (Grandparent, Doodle and Karen Quality Time (GDKQT!)). And we celebrated 11 months in between! 

First up, a visit from Nana, Grandpa, Truman & Brady. David got lots of story time and floor-playroom time during the visit. We realized after David went up for his nap that the dogs managed to stay fairly calm & not engage in any horseplay the whole time David was crawling with them on the floor - amazing! :)

Josh and David also got to spend some DD(daddy-david)QT together (daycare in-service day...). Here are the 2 shots I got from their day of shenanigans :) 

Sweet-potato face! 

Selfie in the nursery :)

The next weekend, we went to LBI to visit my cousin Karen, Bob, and Mom-mom & Pop-pop. Franklin had an upset stomach, so it was just me & David (MDQT!). We got to hang out with Wilbur & Stanley, the original doodles :) David decided home base for the weekend would be Stanley's dog bed. Luckily, Stanley didn't seem to mind the company (& the ball thrower!)..

Everybody wanted to chase the ball!

David did a lot of exploring, looking and listening to all the sounds of the seashore. 

Looking out at the jet skis & seagulls with pop-pop

Enjoying the cool breezes with mom-mom

Staring up at the cool ceiling fan with pop-pop

And of course David got some real good DKQT with Karen :) 

Karen let him borrow her walker too!

& one final shot with mom-mom (he looks SO BIG here!) :)

Back on the homestead, David got a little cold, so we got to play hooky on Monday - yep, another day of just MDQT :) Here are some shots of my cutie :)

Still no walking unassisted, but man does he tear around in his walker!

LOVES playing hide and seek in his playhut :)

And last but not least, here is our 11m photo shoot! 

Trying out some new kicks!

Striking a pose..

PS, David started sleeping on a nap-mat at daycare! He seems to be doing really well with it, averaging at least 2hr naps on the mat (on the floor!)! Here's a shot of it - custom made on Etsy. Soft as can be - wish they made adult ones! :)

Walking (assisted), Signing and Sipping!

On August 18th, after a visit with our big-kid friends Ben, Taishi, and Sienna, David decided to take his first legit (assisted) steps! We held David's hands as he walked around the couch, the kitchen, and the dining room, kicking toys on the ground like a professional soccer player! He discovered that walking the walker was a fun new trick (we never got much use out of it so glad it's coming in handy now!) and Franklin joins in the fun by walking in between your legs to take a closer look (haven't gotten a pic of this yet but we will!). 

The same week, David's top 2 teeth came through, he graduated to a big-boy carseat, figured out how to sign "more" (only when he really wants more of something, like spiral pasta or watermelon, his current favorites), point to words/pictures as you read, and how to hold and sip from his sippy cup! And this week he conquered climbing up an entire flight of stairs! It's been a busy couple of weeks around here... here are some pics to prove it :)

The boys :)

David is a big fan of the wagon.. but only when it's moving!

First time meeting Kohji!! 

It's impossible to get 4 kids in a pic - forget about having them all look :)

Big boy convertible car seat!

Chipmunk :)

Professional soccer player :) Going for a walk with Laura.

Walking the walker

Hanging with Franklin...

Bath time silliness..

Empty cabinets = great hiding place :)

no bath tonight, Franklin...

And oh, the fascinating fridge!

10 Months!

David celebrated his 10m week with his cousin Cole and girlfriend Alicia!! It's been a long time since we got Alicia and David together, and they did not disappoint. These blonde-haired, blue-eyed babes are both the sweetest kids on the planet (Cole is too of course!) - it was so fun watching them explore everything, chase each other around the coffee table, wear pink flip-flops, etc. :) Here are some shots from our visit at Aunt Lauren & Uncle Sean's:

Hi Alicia!

Mamas & babies

Papas & babies (and hands-in-the-mouth!)

Brady Bunch shot :)

Cousins! Hard to believe Cole is 4m younger.. he's practically the same size!

These two love to hold hands :) 

I couldn't resist... sorry David!

Crawl-chase around the table :)

David & Cole :)

Back at home, David re-familiarized himself with his long-lost play mat (Cole borrowed it for a few months) :)

Ah memories! The mat looks so small!

At 10 months, David continues to develop his sweet, funny and loving personality :) We weaned from breastfeeding this month, and he is doing great - I was worried about being able to soothe him on those nights when he just needs a little extra help falling asleep, but he likes snuggling with me and sipping his bottle just as much if not more than nursing :) David's also taken a liking to getting his feet massaged during his last bottle of the night. And staring up at his starry ceiling listening to our Lullabie station on Pandora. 

David still loves the classic, itsy bitsy spider, but also gets a kick out of wheels on the bus (I sing it any time he's cranky in the car and he settles right down!), twinkle twinkle, and ABCs. He can couch-walk (hold on to the couch and walk the perimeter), and he crawls over to you and stands up just holding onto your pant leg. He's not trying to stand too much on his own just yet - he's a speed-crawler, so doesn't have too much motivation to give walking a go :) 

David likes mac & cheese and a plain old slice of bread, in addition to waffles, hardboiled eggs, and broccoli! He has taken to doing things just to make us laugh - including raspberries (slobber EVERYWHERE), shoving as many puffs into his mouth as possible, then smiling and cackling at himself while he opens his mouth and lets mushy puffs fall out. 

David loves crawling behind chairs / couches / etc. and sneaking up on you too - anything for a laugh :)

This was at midnight... he got a 2nd wind and decided he wanted to goof-off for an hour :) 

He's really into putting things away - toys in the bins, bath toys in the cup, you name it. He is growing attached to stuffed animals (one of the 2 elephants he got as gifts as a baby, yaya and sheila (both named after the givers :)), and his A&A blankies. And he loves a bumpy ride in the stroller with Franklin leading the way.

Bath time clean-up :)

And last but not least, here are our 10m pics!

Splish splash

July 27: David started swim lessons at the Y! His first attempt was pretty good too - he spent the majority of the time staring at the other kids in the pool, so was so distracted that he didn't seem to mind being in the pool at all :) His biggest feat was trying to blow bubbles in the water!

Blub blub blub

Chillin' by the gator after class

His 2nd week he had a great time on the 'boat', loved eating the rubber duckies, and every week after lessons are over, absolutely loves hanging out with the alligator :)

Surfing on the 'boat'!

August 3: We got to meet up with Ben and a new friend Brady at the park last Sunday. David rode in a wagon for the first time with his besty, Ben, and watched all the kids play on the awesome jungle gym, dreaming of the day when he gets to run around like a crazy little person too :) Can't wait!

You're not my mommy??

My boys

Besty's!

Practicing his presidential wave :) 

The whole crew - beautiful day!

As you can tell from the pics, David's not a huge fan of hats, or sunglasses. Neither stays on his head for longer than 3 minutes before getting tossed! Here's our attempt at getting him a 'cool' big boy hat to try and trick him into wearing one. This one lasted 4 minutes :)

When we're not swimming and hanging with friends, David spends lots of time crawling and standing and playing jungle gym up and over daddy in the playroom. We also like to hide in the Thomas tent, play catch with a mini basketball & baseball (he's got a great arm!) & torture Franklin in the process, play & dance with Elmo, have fun hitting every button on our 'door' toy, and sometimes play til we're so tired that David rolls onto his back on one of his big animal mats and just stares up at the 'sky' sleepily :) 

David being his goofy self :)