Rainy Day

Children's Museum

We went to the Children's Museum with Our friends Jess and Tessa today. It's the perfect place for cold weather days in Seattle. There were so many activities and we only got to a couple of them during the two hours we where there. Oliver had a blast and loved that he could walk anywhere and get into everything!

In the construction room! He loved getting into all the things he's not allowed to play with in Nick's construction stuff at home.

Driving the Metro bus! Tessa is his passenger.

Another Haircut

We took Oliver for his much needed second hair cut today at an organic childrens salon nearby. They had an awesome toy room in the back, so Oliver had fun playing with a toy vacuum cleaner while we waited. When it was his turn, he wasn't too happy to have scissors near his head and luckily I packed a fruit leather to help keep him still.

Taken yesterday, his hair is just about in his eyes

What a life. . . eating, talking on a phone, and getting a hair cut all at the same time!

All while sitting on a whale's back.

All finished! (with the hair cut)

Such a cutie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are a few pictures from our celebration:

Snow for Breakfast

He turned down blueberry pancakes in favor of snow :)

Video: Oliver - Month 13

It's a little late, but here's a bunch of clips from last month.

Oliver's First Snow!

Oliver and Penny were both quite excited when they woke up to snow this morning! After Oliver watched Penny play outside, we headed out for our own fun. He was happy until he fell and got both hands covered in snow. It's cold!

Brrrr!

Brrrr! It's getting cold up here! Here's our three day forecast:

Telephone

Flashback to 6th grade

We had a great time at dinner tonight with Kaila, husband Mike, and dog Zartan. Kaila and I went to elementary and junior high school together, and haven’t seen each other since. It turns out they moved to Seattle about the same time we did. We had so much fun catching up! Both of our husbands are engineers at Boeing, so they had plenty to talk about, too. And Zartan and Oliver spent the evening taking turns chasing each other around the house.

6th grade graduation party

Many years later

Scoot 'n Zoom

Oliver's new ride-on toy from Binny & Grampy. Even the packaging is fun to play with! He signs "thank you" at the very end.

Jumping!

Jacket

Oliver received this jacket from his Aunt Shannon as a baby gift and it fits him perfectly now just in time for the cold weather!

Penny just can't resist tasting it!

Not so keen on hoods yet

Going for a ride in the stroller. He has a slight obsession with umbrella strollers right now and wants to be it all the time if we leave it indoors.

13 Month Update

I can’t believe it’s almost Thanksgiving! Another month has sped by once again. I still don’t have my new computer up and running completely so blog posts will still be a bit slow until I do.
Not a whole lot to report on this month since I just did his 12 month update. I think Oliver went through a growth spurt because suddenly his 12 month pants are too short. He signs like crazy, and has a few new ones: shoes, hat, help and mama. His verbal words include “Mih” for milk, “Mama” and “Dah” for Dog. His favorite activity of the month is hand washing. I can’t walk by a sink or turn on water without him wanting to stick his hands in it. He also learned how to ride the zip line at our neighborhood park by himself. I stand very close by in case he lets go, but he has been really good at holding on tight while he’s on it. Here are some pictures from the past month (the first two are actually from the month before, but I forgot to post them).

swimming with Grandma and Daddy

group photo

trying on new shoes from Tracy! thank you!

what is THAT around your neck??? (my underwear)

hanging out on Penny, she's such a god sport!

enjoying the sun

the fountain at Seattle Center

I'm an explorer!

munchin' away while Mommy cooks

Sleeping

I took this picture of Oliver napping yesterday. He fell asleep with his pumpkin hat on that Nick’s aunt Nancy made him last year. We’ve made some big strides with sleep lately. Until two weeks ago, Oliver would only go to sleep nursing, being worn in a carrier (we use our Ergo most of the time) or in the car. Then we decided to have Nick start putting him to sleep. He started by rocking him to sleep, and then laying him in his crib. That worked really well and Oliver only fussed when I left the room. A few days ago we decided to see what would happen if Nick just laid Oliver in his crib to fall asleep, and to our amazement, he actually went to sleep! We had no idea our son knew how to put himself to sleep. And yesterday he actually started pointing to his crib when he was ready for bed. So tonight our bedtime routine was like this: I ask Oliver if he needs to potty, and he signs potty and walks into the bathroom ahead of me. We then go into his room to read books and change. Then he walks over to the rocking chair and signs milk, when he is done nursing he points to his crib and I lay him down. Nick comes in until he falls asleep. So easy! And no crying involved He still wakes up several times a night to nurse, so he’s not the best sleeper, but this is a huge improvement for us.

Oliver's 12 Month Update - a little bit late

We cannot believe we have a 1 year old now! This past year has been the best! And it has flown by at an amazing pace. We are enjoying life with Oliver so much, and every day he is learning many new things which makes it so exciting. This past month has been a big one for him! At his 12 month doctor's appointment he was 21lbs, 9 oz, and 29 1/2 in. His walking is turning to running and he has mastered going down stairs quickly, getting off of couches and beds, and opening and closing all doors, drawers and cupboards within his reach. He knows how to put dishes in the dish washer and to wash his hands after eating. He also loves to put chapstick on my lips (it's a good thing I don't wear lipstick)! His communication as also improved immensely. He now knows at least 16 signs (ball, phone, daddy, finished, eat, water, milk, dog, book, more, up, down, please, thank you, cheese and potty)! I think he knows more than that, but those are the ones I can decipher right now. You can see what the signs look like on this American Sign Language (ASL) website. His signing makes it so easy to understand him, especially since he doesn't have many recognizable words yet. He has even starting to do compound signs, such as more food, more please, water please, etc. We were in a pet store last month and he started slapping his leg frantically (the sign for "dog") because there were so many dogs in the store. It was so cute! He also waves goodbye, can point to his head and feet, and he loves to give kisses and hugs if you ask for one. Of course he loves to kiss and hug Penny the most!

Opening an early birthday present with Daddy

Lots of concentration

Trying on pjs that Grandma made him. He still have some growing room!

He loves playing with carrots

He took them right out of the grocery bags

And carried them over to the stairs

Trying on his new fireman hat!

The wooden stick in his hand is a ducky push toy from Julina!

His favorite thing to do, hanging out with Penny.

So happy

And so handsome