A Sunday at the Park

Joe had to work so Oliver and I got to spend some extra time—just the two of us—together his weekend.  After a difficult couple of weeks at work, today was just what I needed.

I love this little boy.  He was such a trooper for the whole day even though I tried to cram a weeks worth of mommy and me time into one day and he is teething again.  He was patient, sweet, and wonderful. 

We woke up, ate and got ready for church.  However, Oliver passed out and slept too late for us to make the 9:30 service.  When he woke up, we changed and walked to the DuPont Circle farmer's market.  Then we walked to a nearby bakery for a latte and pastry.  Oliver and I found a nice spot in the shade in DuPont Circle and spent a couple hours reading, walking and playing in the grass, looking at the ducks in the fountain, eating, napping, and people watching.

 Next stop, the bookstore.  Afterward, we stopped at the little city park that Oliver goes to with Sheryl pretty regularly.  She has told me stories about how much he loves going on the swing.  This week she said that another woman at the park told her she had never seen a baby giggle so much while swinging.  People often ask her if he has ever been on a swing before.  I got to push him on the swing for the first time.  I learned something new that I love about Oliver, he really does enjoy the swing like it is his first time, every time.  It was non-stop giggles for the full ride.

We stopped at Whole Foods and then got home where he promptly ate and feel asleep.  The rest of the evening was the usual, play/read, eat, bath, and bed routine. 

Oliver started essentially crawling about a week ago.  He does not lift his belly so it is more an army crawl, but he is fast.  He also figured out how to sit himself up a couple days ago.  He pulls himself to standing in his crib.  Yes, it has gotten very scary, very fast.  Tonight, I was blending up some mango and eggplant for his meals this week when he “crawled” from his toys on the living room mat (where I can watch him from the kitchen) into the kitchen with me.  After picking up the cat bowls and quickly wiping down the floor, I let him stay with me in the kitchen.  He made a move toward an extension cord in he corner.  I said “Oliver”, and he turned right around (spun on his belly) and looked up at me; smiled and went back toward the cord.  I said “Oliver, no-no”  He spun around again and smiled.  One more time, except this time he looked at me and shook his head no-no (did not say it) and crawled away from the cord.  We did this routine 2X tonight.  I have to admit, I was totally impressed that he (1) so clearly knew his name and (2) understood “no, no.”

I wish I could have more days just like today, but I also know I am so lucky to get every one of these wonderful days with this amazing little baby boy. 

What a Zoo

Two weekends ago we had the most beautiful weather.  It seemed like the perfect day to head to the zoo.  Being practical, I figured Oliver would have a short amount of attention and only be interested in a few things.  My plan was to see the elephants (hard to miss) and turtles.  And maybe see some big cats if we had the time and interest.  I’ll keep this short by saying, elephant exhibit was closed and the line to the reptile house was at least an hour long.  The place was a zoo!  Obviously, heading to the zoo on a beautiful Saturday afternoon is not the best idea if you want to avoid the crowds.  More disappointing was the number of grumpy parents and crying kids.  So after a Metro trip to the zoo, we quickly surmised that this was not the relaxing afternoon we had in mind.  We found an empty park bench where Oliver had some milk and took a nap while Joe and I did some people watching.  I wanted to leave the zoo, but I had no desire to get back on the Metro.  So we decided to walk home.  It is about 3 miles and it turned out to be so much better than the zoo.  The walk was filled with lots of trees and flowers to stop and see—we literally stopped and smelled the roses. 

Oliver had his zoo hat on and was a total trooper for the day’s adventures.  As for the zoo, I think we will save the elephants and turtles for an overcast Wednesday.

You know you are working too much when...

you come home to find:

The explanation:
Oliver had a diaper blow out and after the clean-up, he decided he did not want to put his clothes back on and all he wanted to do was look at his planets book.  So after holding him still for the diaper and just one sock, Joe gave up and let him have his book.  Enter Bonnie, home from work to find the scene shown in these photos.

4/8/12 -- Eight months old

It is now eight months and some change as I get around to finishing this post.  For Oliver's photo at eight months, I will incorporate our Easter post by reference herein in its entirety.  But, I will keep the rambling thought below that I started writing at the end of the day he turned eight months... 

"At eight months, I find myself more and more often thinking that I need to savor certain things because we won't be able to do them much longer. Rocking Oliver to sleep before bed is one example. His usual bed routine wraps up around 9:00 pm. Most nights he nurses and/or gets a bottle and then falls asleep in Joe or my arms. Depending on how tired he is, it can take anywhere between 5-25 minutes for him to fall asleep. But, I have had a few nights now where it has taken me about an hour to put him in his crib--not because he didn't fall asleep, but because I just wanted to hold him close a little longer. He is growing into a little boy so fast, and I know he will be too big to put him to bed this way very soon. I just want to enjoy him being my baby for a little longer."

Just a little longer.

Happy Easter Weekend!

After running some errands, we spent a few hours on Saturday in Alexandria, including loading up on a bunch of great books from “Hooray for Books!” We had lunch on King Street at a crab shack and then did a little shopping at the "Pink and Brown" baby boutique. On Easter Sunday, we got ready for church only to have Oliver fall asleep for what we thought would be a short nap, but turned out to be a pretty long one. So rather than wake him, we skipped church and went to brunch. Oliver opened his “Easter basket”, which was a toy shopping bag filled with stuffed veggies and fruits as well as a couple of board books about fruits and vegetables and a Peter Rabbit touch and feel book. Oliver even got to try coloring an egg. Later in the day Oliver and Daddy took a walk to the park to play in the grass. It was a low-key, but happy first Easter.

Today is also Oliver’s 8-months old day, but there will be a separate post for that milestone coming soon.