Photos at 11 months

Just a few recent photos...

Giving his mom a hug.

Trashing his bookshelf.

Learning to rock.

A Room of One's Own

"Welcome to my house!"

We recently refinished a room downstairs that will become Oliver's bedroom. It used to be our bedroom and originally contained the entryway to the stairs. After we remodeled the upstairs and redirected the stairway, it became our entertainment room (meaning we watched TV there). Finally, we finished a bunch of plaster work to repair things that happened with the remodel, fixed the old windows, and repainted. For now, its a good a place to keep Oliver's toys and give him room to play. Eventually he'll sleep there.

A big play rug sits in the middle of the room. Jenny picked out some colorful collapsible toy bins which he enjoys emptying over and over again. The bins and his books are kept on a deep sturdy bookshelf against the wall. Our futon makes an ideal spot for relaxed parental supervision and is a perfect height for Oliver to cruise along.

The picture above is his toy walker. He surprised us last week when he pulled up onto it and just cruised across the room. It was the most like walking independently that we'd seen him do. Once he reaches a wall, he can't really turn around without some help. He can, however, crawl around and mount the thing backwards so he can push back in the direction he started, but it's a little more difficult to use that way.

A few posts ago, we showed Oliver's gummy smile with a note that we're still waiting for front teeth. In the last couple weeks, his left front tooth has broken out and grown to about 1/3 it's full length. It's pretty cute to see some top tooth in his smile. I'll try to get a good photo once it really shows.


And in our "Adventures in Solid Food" series, here's a vampiric picture of a bad case of ravioli tomato sauce face.

Yesterday at the nearby park.

The Physics of Throwing a Ball

OK, Oliver is obsessed with his ball. It used to be one of the dog's tennis balls. When he started playing with it, we decided that we should wash it and let him have it. Within a short time, Oliver started throwing it and I grabbed the camera. His technique here is pretty rough -- he might throw it at his own face, send it straight down, or manage to launch it directly behind himself. But he's having fun, and in the days since I took this video, he's tossing it with a little more style.

Abbie is still adjusting to this, but really, there is one more person in the house to throw a ball for her, so there's an upside. She just chases it very short distances.

-Keith

Cruising

1. Crawl across room

2. Climb up table

3. Grab plastic spoon

4. Crawl back across room with spoon in one hand

5. Climb up other table / chair / leg

6. Show spoon to whoever is looking. Beat spoon on table if necessary.

7. Repeat over and over again until objects are all over the room.

This is Oliver's routine right now. He's all over the place. He's crawling very fast (he pushes with both legs now). He'll climb anything to stand up and get at stuff, and now every object within 2 1/2 feet of the ground is fair game. Is is made of paper? Great! Does it have buttons? Even better. He drops things just to watch them fall then laughs in delight when Mom or Dad pick them up for him. He's blabbering (lots of "Da-da-da-da..." and "Mamamamama...") and making little chimp sounds. Also, he likes to blow raspberries all the time.

A couple days ago, he has standing up while I was holding onto him. I let go momentarily and he stayed where he was, balanced. It was probably a count of 5 before he realized he was unsupported and crumpled to the ground.

Right now, he's taking a break from pulling all his books off the shelf to read a little Winnie the Pooh, upside down.

Oliver likes music too. We sometimes catching him bopping up and down to music. He likes bang on his tiny piano or slap the front of my guitars
-Keith

Still waiting for front teeth!