Dear Oliver,
Happy 2nd Birthday!! We had a wonderful day celebrating your birthday. Grandma was visiting for the weekend, and we went to a pumpkin patch with her and daddy. You had so much fun. You and I rode a cow train, we took a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch, you played on tricycles and a jungle gym, and at the end you had your first pony ride. We were very proud of you for riding the pony because when we first arrived, you were so nervous that you wouldn’t even look at them.
Yesterday we celebrated with your friends. Bapa also flew up for the party. It was a train party and you and your friends wore overalls and engineer hats. The weather was gorgeous and you all got to play in the backyard. You also enjoyed blowing out your candles!
Oliver, your daddy and I are so proud of you. You are growing up to be such a wonderful little boy. You are a beautiful, lovable, brilliant sweet, kind and nurturing child. You brighten everyone’s day and never cease to surprise us with the smart and silly things you do.
A few of our friends have recently had their second babies (your brother will be here in about 9 weeks!) and you are amazing with them. You are so drawn to babies and want to hold them whenever they are around. You hop onto a chair or couch, bring pillows to support their head, and then you will sit and hold them so gently and patiently. You are so content just doing so, even while your friends are running around doing other things. I can’t wait to see you with your brother! You are also obsessed with your brother in my tummy right now. Whenever you see my tummy, you want to kiss him or blow raspberries. You also like to talk and sing to the baby.
A few fun facts about you right now:
• You are still breastfeeding, about twice per day, in the morning when you wake up and at night before you go to bed. 2 years was my goal, so we made it!
• You are talking more and more each day. You can count to 2, and tell everyone how old you are.
• With your stool in tow, you are capable of getting into just about everything and anything in our house. You love to help in the kitchen, especially with baking.
• You love kitties! Grandma taught you how to call her kitties last month when we were visiting, and now you like to walk around the neighborhood looking for kitties. You even named your little cat stuffed animal “Pete” after a book that you have.
• Trains, legos, baby dolls and books top your list of favorite toys. You love to have books read to you now, which we are very happy about. You also have gotten quite good at doing puzzles.
• Sleeping through the night is still rare for you. You tend to wake up most nights between 3:30-5 and come into our bed and snuggle with me. You are such a snuggler and I know it won’t last forever. I love our snuggling time.
• Pottying continues to go very well; you are about 99% reliable now.
• You have a huge appetite, just like a growing and active little boy should. Some days you can out-eat me! I feel like you are constantly eating! You also love to drink a lot of water. You love to eat crackers and bread, although we don’t buy them at home anymore. You still consume many berries, especially blueberries, and you also enjoy nuts and fruit for snacks.
• You recently discovered your piggy bank and enjoy putting found money inside.
Here is a picture of you and me after your pony ride, and with daddy and grandma on a hay ride!
We love you so much!
Love,
Mommy
June 16th, 2011 (your Great-Grampy’s birthday)
Dear Oliver,
It’s been a while since I’ve written to you. You have grown so much in the past 8 months (I’m starting to grow too-I’m pregnant with your little sibling). Every day you are more fun and you are learning so fast. You amaze your daddy and me.
You are turning into a sweet little boy, and everywhere we go, people comment on your sweet disposition. You cuddle with me by night and with daddy as soon as he gets home. You shower Penny with random kisses and hugs throughout the day.
We took you camping for the first time last weekend and you loved it! I think you would prefer to live in a tent It was really nice to spend time as a family.
A few of your favorite things right now:
• tractors! You love everything tractors and call every truck or heavy piece of machinery so
• musical instruments (especially guitars and violins). You love it when we play music with you
• popsicles, your food of choice lately. I’ve been making smoothies for you and freezing them in popsicle molds. You eat them while naked, first thing in the morning, and will munch on them all day. I even had to buy a second mold to keep up with you!
• Dogs, everything is “woof woof”
• Your daddy! You spend a good portion of the day pointing out daddy’s things or wanting to know where he is when he is at work
• Being outside, whether it’s playing in our backyard with your wheelbarrow and shovel, moving rocks around in our front yard, helping daddy with the yard work, or playing in the sandbox, you love it all!
• Books! For the first time in your life, you actually will sit down long enough for us to finish a book, and then you’ll demand that we read it three more times
• Jim Baer – he always tops your list of favorite people
You’re starting to talk more now, in addition to using your signs. In fact, you learn so many new words each week that we can’t keep track, but here are a few of our favorites:
Mommy + Daddy – MaDa
Hot Dog – Hot Woof Woof
Tessa or Rachel (your two girlfriends) – crackcrack (for cracker - they always have these cheesy bunny crackers that you love)
Cheese – chzzzz
Here is a picture of you at the Ballard Locks today. It was a sunny day and you ran all around with your friend Tessa. It’s a rare picture of you with a hat on, which you rarely keep on your head.
We love you so much!
Love, Mommy
October 1, 2010
Dear Oliver,
I have the sweetest boy ever! You just melt my heart! Here are just a few examples of the sweet things you did today:
Daddy worked late last night and didn’t get home until after you were asleep so you didn’t get to see him at all yesterday. This morning he slept in and as he was leaving for work, he gave you an extra big kiss goodbye because he missed you. You woke up a little bit so he hugged you goodbye. As he walked out of the room, you had a fit because you hadn’t seen him for a day. So Daddy came back in and lay with you in the bed and you both lay there, hugging each other, so sweetly. This time when he left you were content because you had your Daddy fix for the morning.
Later on we were in your bedroom playing when you went over to a book. I asked you to bring it to me, and you brought it over and then turned around and scooted into my lap so I could read it to you! For a boy that can hardly sit still for a page, this was extra special.
You also are starting to give kisses. I asked you to give Penny a kiss today and you walked over to her and stuck your mouth in her fur. At another point I was sitting on the ground putting my shoes on when you walked over, kissed me, and then continued on your way.
It’s these sweet little moments that make being a Mommy the best thing in the world.
I love you!
Love,
Mommy
Here’s a picture of us at the beach today (we went with your friend Tessa to celebrate her 1st birthday):
Dear Oliver,
You’re walking now! You took your first steps just a few days shy of turning 10 months old, and now you’ve been taking little steps around the house. I think you’re up to about 10 in a row. We’ve been using cell phones and Penny’s toys to entice you to walk to us.
Speaking of Penny, the two of you are getting along so well these days. Sometimes you’re a bit rough with her (when you slap her in the face), but she tolerates it, and you both clearly enjoy each other’s presence. Your face brightens up each time you see her, and she is always making you laugh. She helps you walk by providing balance when you need it and you love playing with her leash. Last night we were all on the bed with Daddy, and when you started laughing; Penny started to make a high pitched sound that mimicked you! It was so cute!
Today I also taught you to climb down the stairs. This is really important since the baby gate only fits on the third stair up, and you love to climb the stairs. If Daddy goes upstairs you’ll hang on to the gate, trying to shake it back and forth, until he comes down to say hi.
You adore your father. When he comes home from work each day, you crawl (and now sometimes walk) over to him as fast as you can. He swoops you up into his arms, and you won’t let him put you down for at least 20 minutes. If he tries, you get so upset.
You’ve just woken up so it’s time for me to get you from your crib and bring you to bed with us.
I love you!
Love,
Mommy
Here’s a sweet picture of you and Daddy a few days ago:
July 29, 2010
Dear Oliver,
You're asleep in our bed right now with Daddy. You slept for an hour and a half in your crib before waking up. I put you to sleep in our bed after that because you don’t like to sleep on your own. I don’t blame you, and I love sleeping with you cuddled up next to me every night. You sleep so well when you’re lying with me. I nurse you to sleep each night and you have never cried or fussed as you fall asleep.
I want to write you letters so later in life, you'll have an idea of what things were like when you were little. You won't remember being a baby, so this can be something tangible for you to look back on. I'm going to write about our days together - the ways you make me smile, your reasons for crying, places your dad and I take you, people you see and how much I admire you. Reading this now, you're (probably at least) ten or twelve years old. I can't even imagine what you look like or how you act, probably very different from the baby I spend my days with, my best friend, my sidekick. I'm going to miss this baby! Writing this brings tears to my eyes at the thought of you growing up so fast! I can’t believe it’s been 9 months already.
As a quick summary, you're 9 months old right now, and I never thought you'd get this old so quickly. I should get used to it, because you just won't stop growing! We went to your nine month check up last week. You weighed 19 lbs, 3 oz and were 28 inches long, putting you in the 50th percentile for height and weight. The doctor watched you pull yourself up on the bead toy you were playing with. You’ve been pulling yourself up to standing for almost three months now. You started crawling early at 7 months and now push around your walker all day long. It won’t be long before you’re running around. You also are in the process of getting six teeth. You make a lot of noise, babbles (baba, dada, mama, etc.) and monster growls (Daddy taught you this) and today you started a high pitch shrieking. You can roll your tongue just like Daddy, and you clap and wave a lot.
.
You loveeee to nurse, when you want to nurse you often sign milk. You definitely prefer to nurse over eating solid foods, although you do enjoy your food when you are in the mood. You don’t like to sleep on your own, and you don’t know how to put yourself to sleep yet. You’ve been sleeping with us since you were three months old. You still wake up several times at night to nurse. For naps, I either nurse you to sleep and put you in the swing, or you fall asleep in the Ergo or the stroller while we’re walking Penny.
You loveeee to nurse, when you want to nurse you often sign milk. You definitely prefer to nurse over eating solid foods, although you do enjoy your food when you are in the mood. You don’t like to sleep on your own, and you don’t know how to put yourself to sleep yet. You’ve been sleeping with us since you were three months old. You still wake up several times at night to nurse. For naps, I either nurse you to sleep and put you in the swing, or you fall asleep in the Ergo or the stroller while we’re walking Penny.
And you go to the bathroom in the toilet. Last month we bought you a toddler toilet seat for our toilet, and you do most of your poops and a lot of pees in there. You used to use a little potty, but as soon as you learned to stand and crawl, you now get out of it the second I put you on it. Sometimes you don’t like being on the toilet so we let you pee on a bush outside. We started elimination communication with you when you were five weeks old. It was a lot of work in the beginning because you peed so many times a day. But by three months, you were doing about half of your pees, and most of your poops in the potty. When you’re at home, we often don’t put diapers or training pants on you because you hate being on your back for us to put them on. It’s also easier to take you to the bathroom when you’re not wearing them.
You love Penny. She’s three now and she’s not always so sure of you. She was really jealous when you were born because she was our only “child”. I’m sure you’ll be jealous one day when we have a brother or sister for you, but it gets better. You giggle when Penny walks into your room, you think she’s chasing you and you climb into my arms and laugh. She licks your face, and you pull her hair and climb on her. She tolerates you pretty well now, and I always make sure to give her plenty of treats when you’re around.
I’ve been taking you to baby story time at the library for a while. This week while all the parents were singing a song and clapping, you started clapping along with us. You were the only baby doing it, and it was so cute!
Today you ate a juicy peach and made a huge mess. But you sure loved it! I couldn’t get you to eat much of anything else, but you devoured about half the peach. We also went to a picnic in the park because there was a concert at the park up the street. Your friends Tessa and Giada (and their parents) joined us. The weather has been beautiful here. You like being able to wear nothing but a T-shirt. You also wear an amber teething necklace all the time to help with teething pain.
I need to go to sleep so that I can get a few hours in before you wake up. I love you!
Here's a picture of what you look like today:
Here's a picture of what you look like today:
Love,
Mommy
June 16th, 2011 (your Great-Grampy’s birthday)
Dear Oliver,
It’s been a while since I’ve written to you. You have grown so much in the past 8 months (I’m starting to grow too-I’m pregnant with your little sibling). Every day you are more fun and you are learning so fast. You amaze your daddy and me.
You are turning into a sweet little boy, and everywhere we go, people comment on your sweet disposition. You cuddle with me by night and with daddy as soon as he gets home. You shower Penny with random kisses and hugs throughout the day.
We took you camping for the first time last weekend and you loved it! I think you would prefer to live in a tent J It was really nice to spend time as a family.
A few of your favorite things right now:
- tractors! You love everything tractors and call every truck or heavy piece of machinery so
- musical instruments (especially guitars and violins). You love it when we play music with you
- popsicles, your food of choice lately. I’ve been making smoothies for you and freezing them in popsicle molds. You eat them while naked, first thing in the morning, and will munch on them all day. I even had to buy a second mold to keep up with you!
- Dogs, everything is “woof woof”
- Your daddy! You spend a good portion of the day pointing out daddy’s things or wanting to know where he is when he is at work
- Being outside, whether it’s playing in our backyard with your wheelbarrow and shovel, moving rocks around in our front yard, helping daddy with the yard work, or playing in the sandbox, you love it all!
- Books! For the first time in your life, you actually will sit down long enough for us to finish a book, and then you’ll demand that we read it three more times J
- Jim Baer – he always tops your list of favorite people
You’re starting to talk more now, in addition to using your signs. In fact, you learn so many new words each week that we can’t keep track, but here are a few of our favorites:
Mommy + Daddy – MaDa
Hot Dog – Hot Woof Woof
Tessa or Rachel (your two girlfriends) – crackcrack (for cracker - they always have these cheesy bunny crackers that you love)
Cheese – chzzzz
Here is a picture of you at the Ballard Locks today. It was a sunny day and you ran all around with your friend Tessa. It’s a rare picture of you with a hat on, which you rarely keep on your head.
We love you so much!
Love, Mommy
