Liam:
Liam has the cutest smile. His smile doesn't go up in the corners, it's just a straight line all the way across his face. When he is really excited, he will open his mouth up wide like a fish. He is a quirky kid. Whenever he comes across something new, his first response is always to raise it high above his head and then cover his face with it.
Liam continues to use rolling as his main way to get around and he is really good at it. He added army crawling a little before he was 10 months and he also just started being able to get into a sitting position on his own. He also loves to do the yoga position "downward dog". Liam is very gentle and sweet. He loves to rest his head on his mom or dad (or brother) whenever he can. He can always be counted on to cuddle when he is first waking up. He gets through the night by cuddling his little stuffed bunny blanket.
Liam is a very calm kid in general, but he does have a stubborn side. I've had a hard time getting him to sit up because he just doesn't like sitting–he's good at it, but he'd just rather roll around on the floor. If he doesn't want to do something there is really no making him. When Liam does his "I don't feel like eating a bottle right now" routine, Ryan will try lots of sneaky ways of getting it in his mouth without him noticing. It makes Liam more and more frustrated until Ryan gives up, then Liam will look at him as if to say, "Hey, you're giving up? Where'd my bottle go?", and then drink his bottle happily.
Liam had a hard time getting his third and fourth tooth right before he turned ten months. He was a wreck for a few weeks. I took him and Reece to the fabric store and everyone in the store kept stopping me to say how the boys were such opposites. Reece was smiling and flirting with all the old ladies and Liam was scowling. He would cry and whine all the time and the only thing that would make him content was to watch the cartoon "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas".
The boys LOVE the grinch. It is their all time favorite thing to watch. They love tv in general, but the grinch will hold their attention all the way up until the part where the grinch learns the true meaning of Christmas. They do not like that part. I think they are much more entertained by that mean sneaky grinch.
They also like "The Foot Book". I think they are big Dr. Seuss fans. Liam has always loved toys and around 8 months he turned into a real toy thief. After the boys have woken up I will go into their room and pretty often Liam will have both of the little stuffed blanky animals in his crib.
Awww...
Reality...
Don't worry Reece is no innocent victim...
Reece:
Reece doesn't understand personal space and is usually trying to rub Liam's eyes or climb on top of his neck.
Reece is very charming and has been really pleasant lately. He seems so be happy 99% of the time. He even got 4 more teeth at 8 months and none of them seemed to cause him the pain or grumpiness that the first two did. He started getting himself into a sitting position unassisted at around 9 months. He also started army crawling at 9 months and got really fast at it. He gets his knees up really high for army crawling. He now can regular crawl about 5 feet but he still gets on his elbows and knees for long distance crawling. When I am getting ready in the morning he will spot me from the living room and crawl all the way down the hall to come visit me. When he finally makes it he will pound on my feet and sing. He likes to crawl over to wherever I may be sitting. I'm not sure if it's because he likes me or because I am fun to climb on. Reece is not very cuddly so he won't stay in my arms very long. He started pulling himself up on furniture and windowsills and people at about 9 and a half months.
I like the awkward pre-toddler phase they are at right now. Reece has the cutest little mullet going on and I just can't bring myself to cut it off. He also has really fat feet.
So far Liam might be an introvert and Reece might be an extrovert. Liam can play quietly by himself for long periods, while Reece needs to be the center of attention. When we're with new people, Liam will continue to do his own thing. Reece will crawl over to meet everyone and sit in their laps. I started training the boys to hold their own bottles at around 5 months. It took them until 8 months to master drinking an entire bottle without assistance. Of course now I'm back to helping them again because they are having trouble focusing. Any small distraction will have them dropping their bottles and rolling over to investigate.
At 9 months I started sitting the boys down to eat 3 times a day, though they were not yet very interested in food. Reece would eat two bites and be done and then Liam would have a little more. At nine and a half months the boys developed a better appetite. Reece started to pick food up with his hands and by 10 months he was pretty good at it. Liam loves to eat but he has a hard time putting food in his mouth on his own. He would prefer to sit without eating over having to put food in his own mouth so I always end up helping him out.
Both boys have long attention spans. I have been reading them books before they go to bed or nap since they were 6 months old and we can get through about 3 board books each time. Our favorites are "The Going to Bed Book", "Goodnight Moon", "Tractor Book" and "The Foot Book." Neither boy has said any words yet, but they babble lots. Liam makes more sounds but his voice is a little quieter. Reece likes to scream and yell, but not about being sad. He is just a loud kid. In the morning or after naps I hear them babbling back and forth and as they wake up. They get louder and more restless sounding and that's how I know they're ready to get out of bed. I taught both boys to shake their head when I shake my head and say "noooo". Their other trick is to wiggle their fingers across their lips to make a funny sound, when I do it first. The other day I was showing someone that trick and Reece leaned over and instead of doing the action to himself he leaned up and did it to me. It was very cute.
Reece and Liam love bath time. They get enormous smiles when they figure out that they're about to get into the tub. We started bathing them together because they have more fun that way. They sit and splash like mad and get Ryan and I sopping wet. Reece spends most of the time trying to shove his head underwater or to pull himself up on the side of the tub. Liam tries to collect all the floating toys on his side of the tub while Reece is distracted. When we take them out and wrap them in big towels they get chattery teeth and pruney toes.
I spend a lot of time playing baby/cat referee. Orange and the boys are very interested in each other. Orange likes to sit a few feet away from the boys, and the boys like to crawl over to him and pull his tail. I am constantly trying to get either a cat or a baby to leave the other alone.
Reece and Liam got an activity table toy with lots of lights and music and toys on it. Their favorite part is the boring 'book' in the middle, with a single plastic page you can turn back and forth. I don't think that part is even supposed to be a toy (it's the way you change from vocabulary to music mode), but both boys love to flip it back and forth, back and forth, like it's the greatest toy in the world.
The boys has to have some routine blood tests done. Reece sat very calmly while they took his blood. He was very interested in the nurses and making new friends. They even had to poke him a second time and take blood from his finger as well as his arm, but he wasn't phased. Liam was very sad when his turn came (even a little before his turn, actually). Even the grinch took a few minutes to calm him down afterwards.
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