A few things about Oliver

I had a post back in December titled “A few of O’s favorite things.”  Over the past eight months he has changed so much.  Here are a few milestones we have reached as he gets ready to turn 1-year old on August 8^th as well as a few of his current favorite things.

He is walking and talking.  Oliver has been “cruising” and taking a couple steps at a time since mid-July, but really got independent with his walking this weekend (July 19-20). 

  

I posted about his first couple words, but since then he has been expanding his vocabulary (mama, dada, hot, cat, no-no, water (wa-wa), ball (bawh), se-se (see), bottle (ba-ba), nigh-nigh, among others).  He also tries to repeat words daily. He found his pointer finger in mid-July and since then he has been communicating so much, lots of se-se.  What has really blown me away is his understanding of the world around him.  When we read books and I ask him to identify one thing in a complex photo, he surprises me at how many things he can find (e.g., the sun in the sky, a ladybug in the grass, a fish in the water, a car, a flower, or a bird in the sky).  He can identify most of my facial features when asked and knows his familiar people both in person and in photographs. 

It seems like for months I’d try to get him to do something, and now he will suddenly do it as if he has always had the skill.  For example, he surprised me by putting shapes in the shape sorter the other day.  He likes to brush his own teeth before bed and will try to brush my teeth, feed me, and comb my hair.

A few of O's favorite things:

People.  He loves to meet new people.  While he will “people watch”, he prefers to be interacting with people.  Wherever we go (park, plane, work, grocery store, church, etc.) he is smiling and trying to make friends with anyone within his visual range.  He seems to have his dad’s easy natured personality, which I love.  I hope as he gets older, he continues to be friendly and charming.

Anything with wheels.  Toy cars, his walker, desk chairs, strollers, our laundry hamper, you name it.  If it has wheels he will turn it and twist it in every possible way as he investigates its movement; I am amazed that he has not run over fingers or toes in the process.

Yellow Bus.  I have mentioned the bus in a previous post.  This is still his absolute favorite toy. He likes to push it, lift it up on things, put things in it, carry it with him, spin the wheels on it, etc.  Now that he is walking, he will even carry his bus with him as he takes steps on his own.  He takes his bus with him everywhere.

To Dance.  If you say, “Oliver, do you want to dance?”  He will start bouncing right way.  If he is playing or reading books in the middle of he room by himself and you turn on the music, he will start to bounce to the beat while he continues to do whatever it was he was doing.  As Sheryl says, “he has rhythm for a white boy.”  He enjoys dancing around with me or bouncing on his own.  Either way, the kid loves music and to dance.

Getting the back of his neck and head rubbed.  If he is at all sleepy, this trick will put him in a total snuggle coma.  He loves to sit and read books while I rub the back of his head/neck.  He will gradually lean in and eventually lay his head on my lap or leg while we read--so sweet.

Books.  He loves to read them on his own and to be read to.  O likes to start his day at the bookshelf in his room, pulling out books and reading them one-by-one.  He is still reading mostly board books on his own, but he can be trusted with and enjoys reading story books with paper pages.  It is just that they are usually pretty big and he will often cut his own face when turning the pages by himself because he does not have enough arm-span.  Depending on his mood he will sit through a favorite full story (like Pout, Pout Fish or Lama, Lama), or other times he will flip through and stop only at his favorite pages to look at the pictures and point at things while sometimes copying sounds and/or have you read the page to him.  For his favorite characters, he will give the book page a kiss.

Backpack.  Daddy uses his backpack much more than the stroller, and Oliver prefers it too.  I think because he is eye level with everyone and feels more engaged.  When Oliver is tired and Joe cannot get him to nap, he puts O in the backpack and does housework—Oliver will fall asleep fully upright in the pack.

Cats.  Oliver still enjoys watching them, but now chases them as well.  To Milo’s credit, he has been slapped in the face, had fists of his fur grabbed, and his tail pulled, but exercises great patience and restraint.  That being said, he has started to learn to keep a more cautious distance.  Oliver has also gotten caught in Milo’s path and sustained a couple minor scratches—so I would say they are even.  Jax has always kept a much larger distance and continues to avoid direct contact with Oliver.  As a result, Oliver LOVES Jax and wants to pet him even more than Milo.  Another of O's favorite games is to wave the feather cat toy and get the cats to play with him (this is a highly supervised game).

My Necklaces.  I usually wear a necklace and often a long chain of some kind to work.  In the morning before I leave for work, O likes to sit in my lap and play with my necklace for a few minutes. He pulls and manipulates them, but he is usually pretty gentile and just likes to feel the shapes and textures. 

Mama’s Milk.  He still enjoys nursing.  At about 8-9 months my milk started significantly decreasing.  However, I have continued to supplement his daytime bottle by pumping at work and Oliver nurses in the morning when he wakes up and before bed at night.  On the weekends he also usually nurses before his mid-morning nap.  He still prefers me to the bottle when given the choice (even though I know he is not getting much milk from me) and when he is sick or really tired he will pull at my shirt seeking the comfort.  We have started decreasing the amount of bottle he gets since his appetite for solid food has really picked up and he is using his sippy-cup some during the day.  I am sure he would easily transition to just the bottle feedings if I stopped offering him the breast.  But, we both seem to still enjoy the time together and I know it will end soon.  So for now, we will continue our nursing ritual a little longer.

Food.  O is a good eater.  He likes a variety of foods.  His only real dislikes are fruits that are tart and he is not a big fan of ground turkey.  Some of his favorites are squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli and bananas.  He has nine teeth fully in, and has been working on at least one more the past week, so he does great with his chewing and eating a variety of textures.

Family.  Oliver loves his visits with family.  He recognizes Nana, Grandma, Grandpa, Sheila, Kate and Claire on FaceTime and so when they come to visit, it is such a thrill for him.  He has had wonderful visits full of giggles and fun the past few months.  It is a joy to see him enjoy his family so much.

Planes, Trains, Boats and Automobiles

We flew to the Pacific Northwest for our first family vacation with Oliver (July 11-17).  We enjoyed the cooler West Coast weather while hanging out at a beach house on the Straits of Juan De Fuca that we rented with our friends.  We all have little boys who were born just barely within 1-year of each other (September 2010, January 2011 and August 2011).  Oliver is the youngest.  Our trip included a metro to and from the airport, the plane ride to and from Seattle, a ferry ride to and from the Olympic peninsula, and travel time in the car.  Oliver was happy and enthusiastic for the whole trip, with the exception of car travel (to my surprise he was amazing on the long plane rides).  He was fine if I rode in the backseat with him (slightly less so if I sang songs to him and rubbed his head from the front seat), but he did not like being in the back of the car (without a mirror like we have in the car at home) by himself.  After we figured this out and I acquiesced to his request, the drive was much more enjoyable for everyone.  Oliver made friends with everyone he met along the way and seemed to soak it all in.

The rental was right on the beach and it was a nice big house for everyone to be very comfortable. The views from the front and back side of the house included the Olympic Mountain Range, wetlands, the Straits of Juan De Fuca, Dungeness Spit and Lighthouse with Victoria B.C. in the distance, Mount Baker, the San Juan Islands and Whidbey Island.  Although we did not have the best weather during our stay, we had a couple afternoons with clear views and the lightening storms were amazing to watch over the water.  Because of the weather and a cold that got passed around to each family, we only did one afternoon of hiking along the Dungeness Spit.  It was a beautiful day and Oliver got his first views of the ocean and mountains.  I have to say the best part of the vacation was spending several days with my two favorite boys.  The next best part was hanging out with our good friends and breathing the fresh air.

On the ferry:

The Lavender Farm ("Purple Haze") that we stopped at on our drive to the rental (best part was all of the lavender flavored ice cream at the farm (e.g., lavender white chocolate and lavender peppermint-yum!): 

Views from the Rental:

Short Hike to Dungeness Spit (note the unplanned matching dad/son hats) and our walk along the Spit:

 Oliver's great view during bath time each evening in the kitchen sink:

Playing on the beach at the rental (I thought Oliver would think the water was too cold, but he LOVED it):

Our last night after driving back to Amy and Byron's, I realized we did not have any pictures of all three kids.  It was late, Oliver had already eaten (still mostly on DC time) and was very ready for bed.  As a result, all I could get were these pictures where my usually happy smiley little boy, was not so happy or smiley.  I love the expression on Arlo's face in the second picture (after Wyatt had spilled his dinner and Oliver hit his breaking point), "I am exercising patience, but could someone please deal with these children so I can finish my dinner!":

07/08/12 – Eleven months old

While this post is a little late, the photos are from the day Oliver turned 11-months old.  The pictures show him in action with his yellow bus, which is by far his absolute favorite toy.  He carries it with him everywhere.  He also has a green recycle truck from the same toy maker (not pictured) that he will play with along side his bus, but the bus has a far superior ranking.  Although he is now very close to walking entirely on his own, I suspect he would be walking already if not for the need to lug that bus around with him everywhere!

What could possibly go wrong ?

So much to say

For several weeks, Oliver has been saying what sounds like “mama”, “dada”, and “cat”.  While the “words” sometimes seemed to be directed to us, he also often used them during his random babbles.  Since his use was not consistent, we were not convinced that he was really using his first words.  The past couple weeks he seemed to be using them to refer to us more and more, like in the morning when he would see one of us, but still we were not convinced.  

On Saturday (June 30, 2012), Oliver made it clear that he was ready to talk.  Saturday morning Oliver and I drove to a new mommy & baby yoga class for babies who crawl (we both loved the class!)  Afterward, we walked to get a coffee and breakfast at a nearby café.  On our way back to the car, we passed a woman who complimented Oliver’s newsboy cap (my favorite hat).  About three blocks later, I realized it was gone.  Since I knew exactly when he had it last, I decided to retrace our steps to see if we could find it even though it had already started heating up to nearly 100 degrees.  I apologized to Oliver for keeping him outside because it was so hot.  No luck finding the hat.  After we got back in the car, I decided to park closer to where we lost it and do one last walk through.  I continued to tell Oliver it was hot, but we would just take a quick look.  It was so hot!  Still no luck, so we headed back to the car and into the car seat.  I was helping Oliver get water from a water bottle and was saying it is so hot buddy, the water is good for you.  Then he looked up at me and as clear as day says “HOT” (mouth wide open, in almost a whisper).  Holy Crap, the kid can talk.  Of course, I asked him to repeat, which he did “HOT”.  The word has become part of his vocabulary, if you ask him if he is hot, he will tell you “hot.”  Joe has been enjoying getting him to parrot “hot” along with one of his other words “mama”.

In addition to “hot”, “dada”, “mama”, and “cat”.  Oliver said one other word this weekend.  When I say no, no to him he usually smiles at me and sometimes shakes his head no, no.  This weekend Milo was doing something and I said no, no.  Oliver looked at the cat and said “no, no”. 

There you have it, Oliver speaks.