Smarty pants

Just wanted to share a few stories about Oliver because he's so smart and cute! It's amazing how their little brains work and how he remembers things already.

The other day Oliver and I were playing out on our porch with his cement mixer. We put blocks in the back of his cement mixer because #1 they don't roll like the balls that came with it, and #2 we can't seem to find the balls because of #1. So Oliver was pulling the lever down on the cement mixer but there was only one block in it. He saw another block by the door so he crawled over to the block, picked it up and showed it to me, then crawled back to the cement mixer with the block in his hand and put it in the back of the mixer. Now he pulled the green lever down again making it go around and around and he laughed and laughed because it works so much better with 2 blocks than 1.


Next story happened this morning when I was making his breakfast of oatmeal. I had set out some cheerios for him while we waited for the oatmeal and this is what he was doing.

He would pick up the cheerios from the middle of the tray and put them in the cup holder of his tray. I would take them back out and put them in the middle because he can't pick them out of the cup holder to eat them because he can't see them so they just end up on the floor. This went on for almost 5 minutes eating a cheerio every once in a while but mostly moving them to the cup holder and me putting them in the middle.

And one more story because he's so smart! Last night we ate supper at my parents for Grandparents Day today and Oliver was crawling around like usual. You can't contain him now, he's always on the move and watch out because he is fast. Anyway, my parents have a portable air conditioner like we do and we let him play with the remote at our house because he is always trying to get remotes, phones, calculators, etc (I think it's the buttons). So he crawled up to the air conditioner and grabbed the remote from it (it fits into the unit itself to when stored). He started playing with it and then tried putting it back in the slot but he wasn't quite tall enough to snap it back into its place.

1st Birthday Party

Oliver celebrated his first birthday on August 20th with family surrounding him. Oliver did well I thought for only having a 30 minute nap in the morning before the party and partying until 3:45 that afternoon. He especially enjoyed playing in his cake made by my friend Danielle. It was a truck cake with a pudding cool whip frosting and let me tell you as a girl who doesn't really like frosting, this is the way to go. It was so yummy, and I think Oliver thought so too. He dug straight into the cake when put in front of him. Timidly at first then squished his hand together into it. Once we removed the big cake and gave Oliver a slice of his own he didn't want anything to do with eating it just playing in it. Of course his hands go straight to his hair and head making everything orange, blue and black. He received his first bath in a sink after the cake. Good thing my mom brought extra towels and I another change of clothes. He screamed his head off though in the sink but once dried off and out back into the fun it was time to play again.

ONE YEAR OLD!

Oliver received many nice gifts from family and friends and we thank Ian, Makenna, Dillon, and Layton for helping as his present openers. I'm sure next year he'll be tearing into them himself.


My sister and her family gave Oliver a toolbench and he just loved the tools and nails that lit up when hit. It's still a big hit in our house for him. His cousins loved it too.



All the partying wore him out that he was asleep before we even got out of town in his new car seat.

Happy 1st Birthday

No. 1 today!

Today is Oliver's first birthday! It's hard to believe that it's been a year already since he was born. Shawn and I were reminiscing about it last night like it was yesterday. We're so proud of all he's accomplished and overcome this past year. Now he's crawling all over the place that we can't keep him; he sure has us running to catch him. Birthday party to come this weekend!

His measurements are 19 pounds 9 oz (7th percentile!!!) and 29 1/4 inches long (25th percentile). His head is in the 70th percentile.

He's on the move

So over the last few weeks Oliver has been hit or miss whether he wants to crawl or not. Well today he's decided that he can move around and that is what he prefers now. Yesterday he even pulled himself up onto his book shelf and then went head first into the shelf leaving a bruise in the middle of his forehead. He didn't seem to mind much after a few tears were shed because then he could play with the books he toppled over himself while falling. Here's Oliver trying to escape!



Look how cute he crawls. One leg curled under him. YUMMY BUBBLES!


And because I'm a proud momma, here's another video of him crawling today to get his bubbles.

SPAGHETTI!!

So anyone who has watched my son eat knows that he is a very talkative eater, always eating with his mouth open. Usually after each bite it will go something like this, "YUM." Now we tried spaghetti with Oliver and at first he would cringe and not like it. So, I went on to the fresh peaches that I cut up for him to eat instead. Then he started throwing a fit and sticking his hand in the spaghetti. So, I went back to the spaghetti and heard "YUM, YUM" after each bite again. He loved it so much he even started feeding himself it. His pincer grasp isn't perfect enough yet to just use his index and thumb to pick it up so he would take handfuls (hence he's stripped down to his diaper) and shove it in his mouth. Now since his mommy is a clean/germ freak mommy encouraged the use of the spoon instead which Oliver loved more so as a toy to move the food around on his plate. He then proceeded to throw pieces of it in the air off the spoon from waving it around. He got a good bath after that meal.

First haircut

I think he likes it!

Well we had to do something with Oliver's hair, it was so long in the front that it was down to his eyes. The comb-over wouldn't do anymore. So, I attempted to cut his hair. Much harder than I first thought because he's a squirmer. Shawn tried to hold his arms down so he couldn't push my hands out of the way but then he's so smart that he would shake his head side to side as if saying "NO". Well let's just say, it's no professional haircut but it will do for now. He's definitely got a army crew cut looking hair now since he still doesn't have much hair on the sides and in the back.
Look at those gorgeous blue eyes!!

Before the haircut Oliver helped me tip the green beans from my parents garden. I would tip them and put them on the plate then he would reach for them each time and pick them up. I don't think he liked the feel of them though because he would pick it up and throw it down right away. This went on over and over again. So CUTE! He's eating a lot of things out of Grandpa Dave and Grandma Sandy's garden now. He's had beets, beans and zucchini.


Oliver is also starting to pull himself up. He likes our hands mostly to assist him but he did use these rubbermaid boxes filled with his Dr. Seuss books that were Shawn's when he was little this time. He flipped through all the books and then would start hitting them for me to take one out. So we ended up reading a lot of books that day which is good because he loves books and there isn't much else to do when it is so hot outside.

Vacation

We started our vacation, well if you could call it that, (it was more so a vacation from work for me) on this past Saturday.

Don't forget me mom!

We went down to Davenport for my cousin's wedding. It was a hot day for a wedding but it turned out to be a beautiful day and ceremony. Oliver didn't even mind sitting outside. He had fun playing with the program and ripping it apart. Good thing I remembered his hat!

The reception was inside and so elegant. We had a wonderful dinner and then the dancing started. Oliver wasn't much for the dancing/music part, he was just plain tired by that time so he was fussy.

Here's Oliver and his cousins Ian and Annaliese with Grandpa Dave.

Here's Great Billie's 10 Great Grandkids!

After the wedding we spent the night and Grandpa and Grandma Doerscher's and had a tasty breakfast in the morning before heading for Omaha. Dad and Shawn went back to St. Olaf and Mom, Oliver and I followed my sister and her family back to Omaha to watch her kids for a few days. Since Colleen has the summers off of work, she needed someone to watch Ian and Annaliese for a few days so she could go to a conference.

It was great to see Oliver interact with his cousins. He had a chance to play with new and interesting toys and learn new things. He started scooting backwards on his tummy while out there and took more risks with getting from a seated position to leaning forward to get on all 4's to reach for things. Tummy time also went better, I think because he had better distractions in his cousins than at home with me jumping around and doing crazy things so he won't fuss.

They had fun playing with the ball popper toy. Oliver would cry each time it would turn off so Annaliese would keep hitting it to turn it back on. Oliver caught on soon and then tried taking it away from Annaliese so he could turn it on.



They also had fun playing out in the pool.




Oliver liked playing with the doctors kit but more so enjoyed playing with the Caterpillar tool set we had given Ian a couple years earlier. I think the pictures say it all as to which were his favorite toys. I wonder if this will be an indication of what he will be when he grows up?