Camera Love

Teagan loves the camera. When it comes out, she promptly poses. Big, bright eyes. Huge, gummy smile. Here are a few shots from a recent photo shoot with Jenn.

11 Months Old!

11 months sounds so "old"! Maybe it's because we have no more buffer months before the big O-N-E! Here are the girls in their new "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" shirts!

• Both girls are walking with their little Fisher Price walker. Quinn is far better than Teagan right now, but that's mainly because she has no fear. Quinn will also walk if you hold her hands. They can easily pull themselves up on the walker and get moving. Quinn flies across the floor now.

• When standing holding onto something, they will do "no hands" -- they will let go and stand unassisted for a few seconds. 

• We've started a music class and the girls are loving it! It is an extremely well organized class and they've clearly researched what babies love and keeps their attention. The girls love it when the instruments come out and are very focused when the teachers are singing.

• On the food front, they've tried egg yolks and tried meat (organic ground turkey) once. Eggs have become a staple in their diet, just like they are in mine. They weren't huge fans of hard-boiled egg yolks but honestly, I couldn't blame them. They are chalky. They love them scrambled. 

• They babble constantly. I wouldn't say that they have any actual words yet but I would imagine that they're close. New sounds are always coming out of them!

• The girls LOVE their furry brothers. They are constantly mauling them and Riley and Finn happily let them. We are working on the word "gentle" because they can be pretty rough with the dogs. Sometimes they'll pull Riley's hair so hard that the poor guy will start crying. He would never even think to nip them. 

Mom & Thing 2

A happy Thing 1! 

When it comes to food, Quinn means business. There was
no prying this peach from her hands. 

Thing 1 and Thing 2 meet at the chair

The Littlest Bully That Ever Was

This is the face of the spoon thief. Do not be fooled by this adorable, pint-sized 10-month old. Less than 2 minutes before this photo was taken, Teagan was holding both of those spoons.

Quinn has become quite the little bully in recent weeks. It doesn't matter what her sister is playing with, she wants it. She will do anything to get it and almost always wins. She has also been known to hit Teagan when things do not go her way. 

I let them play on their own every day, but I'm always close by. They almost always play close to each other and usually interact quite a bit. I'll often find them under the table giggling at one another. Sometimes one will do something that the other finds hilarious and then do it repeatedly. But, sometimes I look over to see Quinn grabbing a toy from Teagan's hands, which usually results in tears. Most recently, Teagan has started crying when Quinn gets close to her. I don't think Quinn is intentionally trying to hurt her, but I think that that's how Teagan sees it. 

I do my best to find a happy medium between stepping in and letting them settle it on their own. I don't want to always be coming to Teagan's rescue, but at the same time, I don't want Quinn to think that taking something from her sister is ok. I doubt she understands when I tell her that she can't take the toy that Teagan was playing with, but I figure it's worth starting these lessons early. Teagan can also be a bit of a drama queen. She can really turn it on. I've gotten pretty good at discerning her cries. 

Quinn is almost always the smallest of her playmates. Other moms will tell their children to be careful when playing around little Miss Q. I laugh because she'll play tug-o-war with baby twice her size and often win. She's incredibly strong for such a little thing. She's also very determined. 

How do you deal with battles over toys or your child hitting others?