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.

That Mysterious Place

Oliver is just about 4 months old. He just had a check-up this morning and is by all accounts a happy healthy baby. In fact, he was all smiles and giggles until his vaccinations, and he returned to a good mood shortly after those.

I thought I'd go into some physical detail about the back of his head – an area he will rarely see for himself, and then only with the help of hair stylists and paparazzi photos.

A: Blond hair coming in! Both Jenny and I were blond babies and the doctor agrees that Oliver seems to be shaping up to be a Blondie too. At least while he's young.

B: "Stork Bites" or vascular birth marks. I've read that those on the back of the neck may not go away with age, but they're usually covered with hair. Maybe Oliver will decide to shave his head some day and show these off.

C: The Tail. This little patch of hair was originally a bit longer than the rest and it has grown the most as he's gotten older. With a little time and effort, this could be a great little mullet.

D: The Bald Spot. This is from laying against the car seat, sleeping, or lying on his play mat. Now that he is holding up his head and developing the strength to sit up on his own, this should disappear. If it doesn't, we'll just have to work on a life-long "comb up" technique to use that tail below for additional cover.

E: The "Faux Hawk". He woke up with this one morning and we thought it was funny. Now I can't help but encourage the look with a little spit and finger combing.
-Keith

An Unexpected Visitor

In this video, Oliver gets a visit that neither of us expected. His reaction is pretty funny.

Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?

I'm constantly amazed at how hi-tech baby toys are. We went shopping a few days ago. Jenny has had her eye out for a certain traditional wooden children's toy -- the kind that's been around for centuries. We had to search it out among aisles and aisles of plastic multi-colored gadgets that blink, vibrate, & play music or animal sounds. We already have several such toys in our house, but the cranky luddite in me always rises when I'm confronted by so much gadgetry. The greatest minds in human history did not hear classical music from their stuffed animals! Lights did not flash on their playmats! Their chairs did not vibrate! Brilliant children once grew up without a single AA battery!

So I had mixed feelings about the lovely stuffed lamb that Oliver's grandmother gave him. It’s about his size and comes with 4 buttons on the back that play synthesizer versions of the following sounds: a heartbeat, whale song, rain falling, and ocean waves crashing (ironically, it makes no lamb sounds). We tried turning it on and setting in on Oliver's lap. He didn't mind, but the thing seemed to smother him, and I thought the whale song sounded a little creepy so the lamb went back on the shelf.

Flash forward to last weekend, where Jenny and I were still contending with our most prolonged parenting dilemma yet -- sleep. You see, from the day he came home from the hospital, we've been practicing the “family bed” plan, with Oliver asleep between the two of us. We're not thrashers, and it was a good way to feel he was safe and close -- not to mention it made frequently feeding him easier those first months. But getting him to sleep has always involved us rocking and bouncing him, and most often, he's ended up asleep ON TOP of one of us, and we'd do our best to sleep beneath him, feeling more and more like letters beneath an ever heavier paperweight.

As time went on, it became clear that none of us was sleeping well and we made the decision to finally move him to the crib. We really expected it to involve a lot of fussing and thrashing, but it didn't. It seems Oliver needed his space, too. We got him to sleep and gently placed him in the crib, in a sleep positioner (which we call “the taco") that keeps him comfortably on his side. And to lull him to sleep, we brought in the lamb, whose gentle synth heartbeat lulled the baby to sleep. It worked surprisingly well!

We're not close to sleeping through the night yet, but this is another step forward for all of us. Thank you, little lamb.

Oliver's giggle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLZNYSsgN_E

This is an experiment with posting video via Youtube.

1-2-3-4 Flip! Better than your average turtle

Last Friday we reached a big milestone; Oliver turned himself over, from his belly to his back.

For most of my life, my reaction to such news from others was to think, "Ummm... So what?" but as we watch each stage of our child's development, this is a biggie. Tummy time has not been his favorite; at most, we'd get 5 minutes of him squirming on his stomach before screaming in rage and frustration. But recently, he's shown the neck strength to pull up his head and look around. He's made it up on one elbow and turned in a half-circle. All this gave him the confidence to keep working on it.

I felt him getting closer and closer and starting videotaping his progress. When he finally got there, he paused for a long time on his side, thinking about where to shift his weight.

This is the first step in a new chapter of having to watch him closer. No longer can we just sit him down and expect him to stay in the same place. This is why the baby seats and changing pad all have restraining belts. Oliver will soon be on the go!
-Keith

Three months old and time for daddy day care

It's been a few weeks since we updated this blog. Mainly we've been in a busy transition. Between the time Jenny returned to work and the time I'm taking off from work, we've had Jenny's mom staying with us and showering Oliver with tons of attention. Today is the first day of my 5 weeks leave, and with Kim here for a few more days, I'm going to take advantage and get a few things done (like update our blog!).

Oliver is growing quickly, both in size and development. We haven't had him on a scale since December, but I'm guessing that he has doubled his birth weight or more. He now spends a lot of time babbling, and a couple times a day we can get a really great giggle out of him by blowing raspberries on his neck or stomach. Sometimes he just laughs when we laugh (see photo above). For a couple weeks there, he was obsessed with blowing spit bubbles (see photo below), but I guess he got tired of that.

He is readily grabbing at toys we dangle in front of him. That started at the beginning of this month when he used a two-handed claw approach to just pinch together whatever was in front of him. Now he's articulating his fingers and grasping. Still leading with his left hand, too. Another thing: when he gets excited he kicks his legs a lot. So when he's propped in his bouncy chair, it looks a lot like he's dancing.

More updates to come!
-Keith