Here's Daniel at 11 months. I'm sneaking this one in under the wire--no more convenient excuses (moving, homework, etc.) for missing birthday posts. He is improving his upright movement, though I still wouldn't say he's truly walking. He definitely realizes he's much faster on all fours so after putting in some effort on his feet he generally drops to his knees and speeds toward his goal. Generally, this is the two steps from our living room to front hall. He has learned to turn himself around to go down on his belly and takes every opportunity to practice/show off. To my great amusement, he sometimes turns himself more than 90 degrees and ends up backing up parallel to the stairs. He gets quite mad when he realizes he is not progressing as intended.

Another fun new skill is bringing us books to read. It is interesting to see him grab a book and then attempt to carry it while crawling toward us. Often he ends up with a knee on the book and then can't figure out why he can't move forward while holding it in his hand. Once he arrives at a seated parent, we take the book while he turns around to plop himself in a waiting lap. It's very fun. He seems mildly aware of the "reading" aspect of this adventure, but is much more interested in the "page turning" aspect.

Another "Daniel-ism" we find amusing is that if he's in his high chair and we walk away, even for just a moment (say, to get a paper towel to clean up his latest meal mess) he twists himself around to watch from the opening in the back of his high chair. The rest of the time in the high chair is not so fun these days. He is strongly resisting any attempts at spoon feeding, and "strongly" includes swatting at the spoon as it approaches, arching his back, turning his face away and grunting unappreciatively. However, he is not yet skilled enough at self feeding that we feel confident that enough is going in his mouth, as opposed to down his shirt, into the chair or on the floor. I guess he won't starve. I just need to recall those early finger foods from Edward's first year and stock up.

Here's a museum photo I forgot to post last time. I think it's still worthy, even out of context.

And in case we don't get around to an actual Christmas card this year, here's an appropriate shot that John captured in the process of getting the monthly birthday shot above. We love the expressions on their faces and if you look in the background you'll see Will's memory tree, lit once again this year. Our boys.