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!

Whistler and Vancouver, B.C.

Here are some photos from our trip to British Columbia last weekend. We spent a couple days in Whistler and a couple days in Vancouver. Whistler will host the 2010 Winter Olympics, so we posed with some Olympic props they'd set up. The Gold, Silver, and Bronze metals on the finalist boxes were spray-painted CDs.

In Vancouver, we trekked around Stanley Park and visited Granville Island, where we found a little food booth that serves meat pies. The weather was warm, but cloudy off and on, and rainy once. At Granville Island Children's Market, which is just a collection of toy stores, we bought Oliver a big bag of plastic fish. We rarely buy him toys, because right now, he'll spent an hour playing with a big vinyl label we cut off an IKEA carpet. On the drive home, we got another 2 hours of play out of repeatedly stuffing his fish in an empty tissue box so he could pull them out.

More Adventures in Solid Food

Funny, this photo looks like a nice collaboration between Oliver and Jenny to hold up the sign, when in fact it was a spirited tug-of-war between Oliver and his mom for a piece of paper he desperately wanted to wrinkle, chew on, ball-up, and throw on the floor. He has a thing for paper.

He is eating a variety of things now. Except for a few potential allergens or extra spicy foods, Oliver gets tiny bites of pretty much whatever we eat. A lot of it ends up on the floor, or on his shirt, or in his hair. But enough gets in his mouth that he is developing clear preferences and dislikes. What a surprise to discover that he likes sucking on dill pickles. -Keith

Learning to Clap

Visit to Fortuna Rodeo!

The weekend before last, we all went to Jenny's hometown of Fortuna, CA to visit her folks. Oliver did all right in the car, but we realized that for long trips, we need to station a parent in the backseat for entertainment. Fortuna has a yearly rodeo, and we got to see kids chase chickens, rabbits, and geese, a parade through downtown, and ATV riding competitions. Oliver's grandma got to show him off. She waved him at people passing by in the parade, calling out, "Look, it's my grandson!" Jenny and I found him a nice cowboy hat to fit the occasion.

Swingset

Oliver is much better after a really bad last week. He had a temperature as high as 104.4 and we were fighting it for about 5 days. He developed a bad ear infection, and was just not a happy camper. Once he got antibiotics, he cleared up in no time. He is now tearing around the office (on elbows and knees), pulling books off shelves, and jabbering loudly about something. His second tooth is just now coming up alongside the other one on the bottom. So he gets cranky about that sometimes. But he's a mathematically impossible 110%. Here are pictures from the park yesterday. The hat came off!

A Funny & Bouncy Moment

Creeper Crawler

Here are Oliver's first attempts at crawling. This was last week, and he's since refined his technique somewhat. He has no problem moving where he needs to on the ground, and he's discovered that pulling books off the bookshelf is pretty fun, too!

Also, about the same day he figured out locomotion, he showed signs of his first tooth! Jutting up from the front bottom gum, it has since grown a bit longer and sharper. This has led to some fussy discomfort, but mostly just lots of drool -- add that to the crawling, and you get slime trails across the carpet. -Keith

Adventures in Solid Food

Oliver loves to eat! He never seems to get full. I keep expecting him to explode but it hasn’t happened yet. He’s a little skeptical of things that are green. Spinach isn’t his favorite food, but he manages to get it down. He just doesn’t eat it with the same enthusiasm as his oatmeal. Here is his typical day:

Morning

• Nurse


• Breakfast: oatmeal with fruit. Today the fruit was apple and blueberry. Tomorrow will be Mom’s peach and mango combo
  

During the day at school

• Bottle


• Lunch: one container of vegetables (green beans, peas, broccoli -- you can see why he is suspect of anything green -- carrots, squash or sweet potatoes) and one container of fruit (pears, apples, peaches, etc.)


• Bottle


• Bottle
  

Evening

• Nurse


• Vegetables/meat combo (tonight was turkey, vegetable and barley) and steamed broccoli
  Usually a little fruit for dessert but not tonight


• Evening snack/education in self-feeding: Cheerios

Although he has yet to show a single tooth, he’s finally figured out how to chew. Now we just have to work on chewing with our mouth closed. It’s just that he’s so proud and having so much fun! - Jenny

Aquaman!

Oliver has been taking swimming lessons since the beginning of the month. I use the term lessons, but it amounts to him just hanging out in the water with either me or his dad. He enjoys it a little more each time we go. The first couple of lessons his dad helped him get acclimated to the pool. Oliver enjoyed bouncing up and down. As you have noticed from previous blog entries, Oliver is obsessed with Nemo. Imagine our good fortune when we discovered a Nemo toy in the toy bin. That made pool time even more fun. This last time we worked on floating and not touching the bottom of the pool. He did pretty well but didn’t enjoy floating on his back. I guess we’ll work on that next time. - Jenny

Visiting Sophia Part 2

Yesterday, we visited our neighbors, Neil and Sarah, and their daughter Sophia. If you remember from our December 2 post, they were in our birthing class, and Sophia was born just three days before Oliver. Unfortunately, they're moving soon, so we wanted another chance to compare notes and let the little ones check each other out. It's funny how much they look and sound distinctly like a little girl and a little boy.

Sophia is adorable. On her turf, she was much more confident about checking out Oliver. They had a really cute little moment of slobbering on each other.

Oliver became momentarily overwhelmed by the five adults (two taking pictures), three dogs, and kissy little girl. He was gently comforted by the little hostess.

Family Trip to the Beach

Here are some pictures from our trip to the beach last weekend. Oliver got to taste the sand and feel the breeze in his face. Abbie, as always, got to swim after her ball in Hawk Creek. We used to take pictures of that, but the little boy gets all the camera time these days.

Six Months Old Today

Oliver is six months old today. It's hard to believe it's been half a year! We can see him changing from a baby to a little boy already. He's eating solid food twice a day. We still get a kick out of seeing when the food has made it's full "journey" (I'm sure that will get old soon).

We're using the Baby Bjorn (front carrier) less and favoring the backpack. It's just more comfortable as he gets bigger. I can't see him when he's behind me, but I can hear when he's having a good time, and he hangs onto my hair and ears when he's really excited.

Developmentally, he's getting much better at manipulating things with his hands. He'll take his pacifier out of his mouth and play with it for a while before popping it back in. He's more and more interested in turning the pages of books at reading time. And of course we're still wrestling for spoon control during dinner; when he has something small in his hand, his instinct it to wave it around and bang it against things. Sometimes he loses his grip and stuff (like a spoonful of pureed carrots) goes flying.

His babbling includes more varied consonant sounds and lots of little squeaks. He's always experimenting. He's always easy to make giggle. For some reason, the sounds "meow meow" and "woof woof" really crack him up. A couple nights ago we read "Old McDonald Had a Farm" and when we got to Old McDonald's dog and the "woof woof here and a woof woof there" part, he just looked up at me and started laughing.

He's wiggling around in our arms now, using his front arms for support. He can sit up for long periods of time without toppling over. He's still the youngest boy in his daycare class and the bigger babies are all crawling now, so during time on the big mat, they play "all pile on Oliver," but he doesn't seem to mind. Daycare has been going very well for him. He likes the caretakers there and interacts with the other babies. The downside is that we're in the typical daycare cycle of colds and stuff. We'll have a healthy week, then a sick week. Oliver brings these bugs home and gives them to me and Jenny. He seems to handle them better than we do. I'm still trying to shake off the last cold. We just keep reminding ourselves of all that valuable immunity he's building up!

Oliver's First Bite

Oliver had his first solid food this last weekend. Mashed bananas! He really seems to like eating. We've been letting him play with a baby spoon recently (see earlier post) which has proved both good and bad. The good is that he's used to having the spoon in his mouth and adding some food to it was the next natural step. The bad was that he's also used to controlling the spoon himself, so now that his parents are trying to line up the choo-choo train for the tunnel, he reaches out to do it himself. He gets his chubby little hand around the spoon and stuffs it in his face. We also moved on to rice cereal, which he also enjoys. We're beginning to understand how a few spoonfuls can end up everywhere - in his hair, in his ears, on his feet, on the wall, all over our clothes. Fun stuff! -Keith

Spoonman

We have a booster seat now and we're planning to introduce a little solid food to Oliver in a couple weeks. For now, we set him at the table with us as we eat. He gets to play with his spoon.

The pets can't resist a soft place to lay down on a rainy day. They usually stay just out of reach of his groping hands. But his reach is getting longer and he's managed to grab them a couple times. Fortunately, they don't seem to mind.

Camerawork by Oliver

This video might make you dizzy.

Oliver was talking to himself in the mirror so I grabbed our little digital camera and started making an up-close video. While it was recording, he grabbed the camera out of my hand and started waving it around and chewing on it.

An Upright Citizen

Five months old!

Oliver is sitting up more and more, but he's still prone to toppling over. The good thing is that no matter how he lands, he's able to wiggle into a new position that works for him and play time is lasting longer and longer. Jenny has been spreading out a blanket and a "C"-shaped pillow we originally got for feeding him. Now it's a useful cushion. We can set him in it and he can sit up and play with toys or with his feet. As we bustle about in the mornings and evenings, we set him down and he'll watch us. He also keeps a close eye on the dog and cats. They don't seem to mind that his "petting" involves clutching a clump of their fur for as long as he can hang on. They'll like him even more when he starts dropping food on the floor. -Keith

What's that you're saying?

Oliver is feeling much better now. He spent about a week and a half showing some signs of being sick. I guess we'll just have to get used to it. He's doing well in daycare and making plenty of slobber buddies. He saw his old friend Sophia briefly this week and we have plans to go visit there for an afternoon so those two can check each other out.

Oliver is chatting a lot. Sometimes even when he's eating or sleeping. We don't understand him yet, but it's fun listening to him anyway. He also recently discovered his feet.

Finally, he has a new little trick of turning the pages of books. We've been reading to him since the beginning (earlier actually)and each time, he participates just a little bit more. Sometimes, he has more fun turning the pages than looking at them.

Oliver's Sick Day

It was bound to happen sooner or later but we were really hoping for later. Oliver came down with his first cold Thursday night. Oliver loves to give and by the end of day Friday Keith was sick too. Oliver seemed to get a bit worse Sunday evening so I took today off to take him to the doctor. Luckily it is still just a cold and nothing more serious. We had a quiet day with lots of naps and hugs. The video is of Oliver playing on his activity mat today. Despite the coughing, wheezing and snot, he is still smiling and laughing as usual. -Jenny

Walking in Dinosaur PJs

Starting Daycare

Tomorrow Oliver begins full time daycare at a great facility in Vancouver. Jenny and I really enjoyed our extended time home with him. We intend to keep updating this blog regularly, but this seems a good time to clear house and share a bunch of recent photos.


Oliver LOVES to stand up. Each time you pull him up, he has this huge smile -- mouth open, eyes twinkling, and watch out for the drool!

Our friend Tony, who works at Pixar, got Oliver this HUGE stuffed Nemo from the movie, Finding Nemo. It has enormous eyes and Oliver is transfixed by it. Once he sees it, he won't take his eyes off it until either he or Nemo leave the room.

While I was typing an email to Jenny one day, Oliver decided to try typing too. I gave him control of the keyboard. Here is what he wrote to him mom:

c”
’”

C

Cc
‘v
Xxx z

This is Oliver's daycare. He visited a few times recently to get used to the place. Can you spot him here? Hint: As the youngest in the class, he's the guy who looks like he'll pretty much stay where you put him - for now.

Just a cute photo.