Over a year...

I've decided, in an attempt to force myself to keep posting pictures of my child at a somewhat regular rate, to continue giving you monthly updates, even though he's already past the "year" marker. I think we can continue to explain his age in months for now, don't you? So, the following pictures are from Oliver's 12th month (which ended on Friday, by the way).

My one-year-old boy started off the year mischievously. He began by climbing into the armoire in the dining room...

That doesn't sound so bad, does it? But the real deviousness began when we had a babysitter. After a diaper change, the babysitter went to find a new pair of pants for Oli, while he crawled away... With new pants in hand, babysitter set out to finish dressing Oliver who, by that point, had disappeared. When Oliver was nowhere to be found, and as the panic began to set in, a small giggle was heard from the armoire. Oliver had not only crawled in, he had shut the door and found it HILARIOUS that the poor babysitter almost had a heart attack due to his disappearance. Quite the little devil!

The he continued a few days later by diving headfirst off the curb and into the gravel. Sporting his war wounds...

Which were still visible several days later:

That same day, I caught one of my favorite Oliver expressions. As he crawls toward you, ready to dive into your lap, he makes the most hilarious faces. Though the focus isn't great, I had to share them with you:

In other news, Oliver is still not walking officially, though he walks with his car all day long, around and around and around the apartment (forgive his partially dressed condition):

He still eats like his legs are hollow; he is obsessed with ricecakes; he drinks his real milk from cups... He's almost not a baby anymore! But I did manage to catch his photo right after he got his one-year shots (see his little bandaid!); I gave the poor little guy a bottle in his old chair... He almost seemed like a baby still. :)

He also loves his little pals. Though he's kind of an observer and is often happy to play alone (if there are new and interesting things to examine), he is really enjoying spending time with friends. Oscar spent the whole afternoon with us one day, and these two were precious!

I know that there are a million challenges that come with twins, but I have to admit that I saw some of the benefits today (there are NO secret messages in this comment, by the way!) as these two really entertained each other. If they weren't playing together, they were simply watching each other:

And we had the privilege of hosting another playgroup this month, too. At first, I thought our attempt to photograph all four boys was hopeless:

This expression on Oliver's face cracked me up!

But we did actually have some miraculous success, too...

Four one-ish year old boys smiling all at once! Are they precious or what?!?!

And, to embarrass my child someday, I leave you with possibly the most awkward picture of Oliver yet... When Hailey was visiting (more on that to come soon), she managed to capture this:

No matter how awkward, we love him!!!