Oliver is 8 months old today. That's only 4 months away from a year. Let me go cry for a second...Ok, I pulled it together. On to bragging about my sweet boy.
Oliver is a super crawler and a really happy guy. Madeline still gets the most laughs out of him. But, to be fair, she does spend a majority of her day trying to get laughs out of him.
And this makes Madeline laugh a lot. I guess there is a lot of laughter in our house right now. He loves to carry things in his mouth around the house like a dog.
He cruises all over the place. He can also stand up in the middle of the floor all by himself now and will stand there for a long time. If he sees something he wants, he will bend down to get it and stand right back up. He still hasn't taken his first step though. So, it looks like it will be in his 8th month, just like Madeline. Although, I am waiting for it any day now.
Just because it's cute, embarrassing and slightly inappropriate.
His sleeping is so-so. I believe I said he was sleeping through the night in his 7 month post. But, not really. He did it for a few nights and then went back to waking up once a night. This past week, he has been much better. He will usually go down around 8:30-9pm and sleep until about 6-7am. Sometimes he sleeps later. Sometimes he will nurse and go back to sleep for a couple hours. Who knows. He's just a little unpredictable right now. He takes 2 naps during the day. Usually a 2 hour nap in the morning if we are home. If we are out, he will catch whatever sleep he can in his carseat or sling. Then he takes a good 3 hour nap in the afternoon. He still drinks a bottle and rocks to sleep. I love it! If he wakes up in the night we can usually just give him his paci. But, sometimes he just wants to be snuggled and will fall back to sleep as soon as I pick him up.
Oliver wants to keep up with the big kids. And he isn't too worried about staying close by me. He will crawl off without a single look back. He is still getting into everything. It is his life mission to pull out the night light as soon as he sees it. He also loves cords, tags and paper. He gets pretty upset when you take away something he is playing with (like car keys) or is not allowed to play with something he wants (like the computer).
He is eating pretty well. He drinks 4 7-8oz bottles a day. And then eats solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He will eat pureed food with cereal. His favorites seem to be peas, sweet potatoes, pears and banana/mangos. But, he will rarely turn down real food. He eats cheerios, green beans, peas, strawberries, blueberries, corn, bread, crackers, bananas and gerber puffs. He has gotten very good at getting the food in his mouth. He still can't figure out how to tip his cup or bottle up though. It would be nice if he could hold his bottle, especially in the car.
He still loves playing with his big sister. He loves laughing at her and climbing all over her. She usually thinks it's great.
They are becoming the best of friends.
A few other things:
~He has his top two teeth in. So, he has 4 now. We can hear him grinding them and it sounds horrible. It seems to be slowing down though. Phew!
~He has waved bye-bye a few times.
Here are a couple of videos of little Ollie boy.
He loves splashing in the tub and doesn't mind getting wet at all.
He is pretty good at pushing his walker around even though he looks like an old man in a nursing home.
We are so proud of our little blue-eyed towhead. He brings so much joy and laughter to our home. We love you Oliver!
We have been trying to explore all the fun things here in Montgomery County this summer. So, on Monday, we headed to Cabin John Park, which is rumored to have a really cool train. (Actually it isn't rumored, it is pretty clearly stated online.) But, we didn't know that it would also have this really cool, but somewhat disturbing pig that talked to you and asked for your trash.
After being somewhat traumatized by Porky (me, not Madeline), we bought our $1.75 tickets and waited for the next ride.
Madeline was very excited!
And Andrew had the day off from work for the holiday weekend. We love it when daddy can join us on our adventures!
Weeeeee! (Just getting ready for the rides at the beach.)
High five!
All was well and good until mommy decided to climb over the seats to get some shots from the front. My foot may have accidentally knocked someone in the head.
We're starting to pull it back together here.
Oliver had enough of the drama.
When the train ride was over, Oliver continued his nap in the stroller while we headed to the playground.
There was fun stuff for everyone!
Isn't he handsome? Did you notice the goatee? Or the absence of one? I think I'm getting a little more used to it now. I love him either way though.
Daddy and Madeline ended the day by conquering the mountain (of mulch).
While we were getting gas on Monday, Andrew started washing the windows. Madeline asked me, "Why is daddy shaving the windows?"
During a ride down 270, we saw a car on a tow truck and Madeline, of course, asked, "Why is the car on the truck?" We explained that it was probably broken. She again asked, "why?". We talked about how everything breaks and that is why we need to store our treasures in heaven. She worriedly replied, "I don't want to store my stones in heaven." (She likes to collect rocks while she is riding her bike outside and calls them her treasures.)
During bath time a while back, I got water in Madeline’s ear while rinsing her hair.She squirmed and said in a somewhat panicked voice, “There’s water in there, I can’t breath!”
Oliver enjoyed the fireworks. We figured he would since he likes to be so loud himself. And Madeline of course loved them.
Madeline brought "Baby" and "Madeline" with her. I asked her if they got scared during the fireworks. She said, "No, Madeline really liked them and Baby laughed through the whole thing."
After the fireworks were all done, we walked back to our car and what should have taken 5, maybe 10, minutes to get home, took an hour. We'll have to figure out a better parking plan next year.
