Ice Cream!

A visit to Binny and Grampy's house wouldn't be complete without some ice cream! This was Oliver's first time eating out of the container!

Merry Christmas!

These are actually some pictures from an early Christmas we had with Jim and Cynthia in Seattle last Sunday. I'll post actual pictures from Christmas day in the next few days or so, when I gather the pictures from everyone's cameras.

Jim and Cynthia made this stocking for Oliver. It was stuffed with raisins, tangerines, and sweet potato chip, some of his favorite things!

Maple Tree

Nick planted Oliver's maple tree yesterday. We put it in our front yard, centered on our porch and stairs, so we'll be able to enjoy it often. Aunt Shannon gave Oliver the tree last year just after he was born so we can watch it grow with him! Here are some comparison pictures:

Oliver: at 13 months, and at 3 weeks

The maple tree last October, and now planted in the ground in our front yard

Video: Oliver - Month 14

Oprah-fied!

You can click here to make your own :)

Oliver - Month 14

Oliver is 14 months and 1 week today. He is such a toddler! I can't believe how much he as grown since his birthday, and how independent he has become. At the park he can now climb up to the slide on the play structure and slide down, all by himself. He loves to help Nick downstairs, by collecting small screws and other choking hazards and handing them to Nick when he needs them. He has really impressed us by having several days in a row with ZERO potty accidents :) He continues to learn more signs, and has well over 30 now. He can point to several body parts too. He is really into looking in the mirror if he is wearing something unusual, like a hat or headband. He likes to have us put them on him, then he'll walk in his room to the mirror to see what it looks like! He loves to put shoes on, his feet and ours. Sometimes he'll even pick up our feet and try to put them in the shoe himself. He walks several blocks to the park and back with me, without wandering into the street or other people's driveways every few steps. I also have been letting him watch (gasp!) a few short educational videos on YouTube, like this and this. He's really cute and will climb into my chair every morning, signing "music" and hoping to watch them. I've been trying to plan more activities out of the house for him, because he needs run around. We've been hanging out at the Children's Museum, community centers, playgrounds, parks and shopping centers (with play structures, fountains, and toy stores), and try to go somewhere each day. It also seems that he has been spending too much time with Jim Baer lately because if there is wine on the table at dinner, he will sign for a drink, and point at the wine glass!

A new yoga move

Posing in his sweater

Being goofy!

Best buddies

sitting on the step together

he loves uncle Evan!

and wonders when he'll come visit again?

my matching boys

wearing Daddy's glasses

signing "thank you" for the new hat he received from aunt Nancy

can I play with the camera?

he's all smiles :)

trying on Mommy's tennis shoe!

and Daddy's shoes!

camping at the Children's Museum

about to get into some more trouble

New Floors

Nick and Oliver (mostly Nick) have been working really hard on putting a new floor in our room downstairs. A lot of work went into leveling it since it had a pretty steep slope. But many sheets of plywood and bags of leveling compound later, we now have a beautiful bamboo floor! I'll take a finished picture as soon as we finish building the Ikea furniture we purchased for the room. Oliver just loves to go downstairs and help daddy. One of the first thing he does when he wakes up is to walk over to the baby gate at the top of the stairs and sign "down".

Going for a pair of scissors. He has a knack for finding the most dangerous items in a room!

He thinks we are supposed to wear bike helmets downstairs!

Yes, he's holding an X-Acto knife, but it's closed. And he's wearing a helmet, that makes it safe, right?

Elf Dance

Here's this year's Elf Dance :) You may have to click here to watch it.

Red Chair from Grandma

He loves it!

Oliver's First Painting

A birthday, Santa, reindeer and a plum tree

My wonderful husband turns 30 today! Happy Birthday Nick! We actually celebrated yesterday since we will only see each other in passing today, as he comes home from work, and I leave to teach. Oliver helped Nick open his presents, and he especially enjoyed this one, from Binny:

We had a busy day yesterday, aside from celebrating Nick's birthday. In the morning we went to visit Santa and the reindeer at Swanson's Nursery. As you can see from the pictures, Oliver loved the reindeer (so much that we couldn't get him to turn away from them for a picture), but Santa, not so much.

 

Later, Nick picked up the plum tree that we pre-ordered from the city of Seattle. They had  a free tree program a few months ago, and we signed up to get a delicious fruit-bearing plum tree for our backyard.

Latkes

I made these carrot latkes the other night for Chanukah, and they were so good, I made them again tonight. I had a coupon for a free five pound bag of carrots, so this recipe is a good way to make a dent in the bag.
Here's the recipe:

 

Carrot Scallion Latkes
3 cups shredded carrots
3 scallions, finely chopped
3 eggs, whisked
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
½ teaspoon coconut flour
olive oil for frying

1. In a large bowl combine carrots, scallions and eggs
2. Stir salt and coconut flour into carrot mixture
3. In a large skillet heat oil
4. Scoop large tablespoonfuls of batter onto skillet
5. Fry patties on each side over medium heat until browned and crispy
6. Transfer latkes to a paper towel lined plate
7. Repeat process until all of the batter is used up
8. Serve with applesauce and sour cream (or yogurt)

Oliver's Signing

Here are some of the signs that Oliver knows at 13 1/2 months. He knows at least 25 now, and he's becoming such a good communicator!