Temp

Ollie had a 100.5 temp this morning. I hope it's not the flu again. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll just be because of his teeth. That temp isn't totally accurate though, it was with an ear thermometer, which the pediatricians office will not take as valid. It has to be under the arm or the nether region. Hopefully this illness will be brief. Last time he had the flu he had a hard time breathing for 2 days and pretty much slept both days. Finally a nice weekend and Ollie may be sick, which means we'll be sick. What a way to spend the weekend.

Imitation

It is said that imitation is the best form of flattery. If that is the case, Tresa and I are going to be flattered often in the coming years. Ollie has begun imitating things we do and has figured out how to imitate certain things. We always make funny noises for Ollie. He usually smiles and waits for us to do it again. It started with raspberries, they became his favorite thing to do. A few weeks ago, he started imitating coughing. Horribly pitiful coughs came out of him. A couple nights ago he seemed to be imitating sneezing, but we weren't real sure what he was doing. This morning he started making clicking noises with his mouth. He had been pushing his tongue out for awhile trying to do something, apparently he figured it out. This morning he was all into click click click click. So now he is waving, blowing raspberries, coughing, clicking, cruising, crawling, sitting, feeding himself, doing push-ups and drinking from a sippy cup. Of course, this is all on his own whim.

Also, I put batteries in a old Furby last night. It came to life and scared the crap out of Ollie. It would move, he would cry. I put it up where he couldn't see it, he heard it and still cried. The cats seemed to enjoy dragging it around though.

Ouchie

Ollie has one nasty looking bruise on the top of his ear. I think its from his head bop from Tuesday night. I didn't even notice it until his bath. It looked better this morning. I don't think I've ever seen cartilage that purple before. Apparently it can happen.

We can't until it warms up. We can take him on walks and get him out of the house. I don't think he likes being pinned up in the house. He always has to go go go. You turn for a second and he's gone. Walking will just complicate this...then there is running. Then there is falling. More bruises!

Not so Good Night

Last night was not Ollie's best night. After dinner Ollie was playing downstairs with the Coke cans that we have stacked up. Of course he pulls them out of the shelf and drops them on his foot! He was upset and hurt, but no broken bones. I have to admit it was kind of funny seeing him stand on one foot while holding himself up on the remaining cans.

The next boo-boo occurred while he was holding himself up on the entertainment center. He tried to put his hand on the tiled box beside it and missed. His head went down right in between the two corners. No broken bones and he was probably just scared.

Finally, he was petting Splatter while she sat on an ottoman. His "petting" is similar to a slap in the face. Either that or he grabs a bunch of hair. Usually they'll run away. Not this time. Splatter got tired of it and tried to bite him. He got a small puncture wound and scared. I'm sure it won't deter him tonight. His memory needs and motor skills need improvement, but they are pretty good for a 9-month old.

He was a bear to put to sleep and to get back to sleep in the middle of the night. He didn't want his bottle at 7, but he was tired. We put him down and he cried and cried for about 1/2 hr. before we went to get him because we knew he wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. We tried a couple more times to get him to take his bottle and sleep. He didn't want any of that. He played until about 8:30 around the living room. After that he sat beside us on the couch, playing with his toys until about 9, when he finally took his bottle and went to sleep. He slept until 12 and didn't want his bottle like usual, he wanted held. We tried to let him cry it out. We tried his vacuum CD, but he wouldn't lay down. He was rocked until 1 and was put down, only to cry again and sit up. We laid on the couch until about 1:20 when he was for sure asleep. He went back in the bed, woke up, but just moaned. So I turned on the CD and he went back to sleep.

We were hoping all the problems were related to his top 4 teeth, but this morning he had no new ones. Hopefully tonight will go better for him.

Mountain Climber and the Incident

We have a full flight of stairs leading to the second floor. So, we decided to test Ollie to see how good of a climber he is. I walked up behind him and Tresa went to the top to encourage him to climb. Climb he did. It seemed like a record time he was going so fast. He didn't have a problem with it at all. This also lead to other climbing attempts on one of his pencil chairs later the next day. This time he toppled over. No harm, no foul, we are just making sure the chair is underneath the chalkboard table from now on.

As I mentioned before Ollie likes to crawl away from us while being changed. Lately, its turned into a game. We usually let him run around naked for a few minutes before we wrangle and diaper him. While changing him the other day, he kicked his pants off and I had gotten the diaper off and off he goes. He still had the onesie top on. He crawled around the rocking chair to his toy box and stood on it and started playing with Mickey Mouse's feet. Then he started peeing on the floor and the onesie. He just looked at me and smiled. NOT FUNNY! He was quickly diapered and changed into clean clothes after some wrangling. Then he was off again!

Mr. Grabby

Ollie's new height and mobility have allowed him to go where he hasn't gone before. After his bath last night he and I were 'walking' around the house. Of course we had to go into the bathroom. He latched onto the toilet lid and cruised his way around the other side to the tank. On the tank were his bottle of baby soap. The little booger is reached up and got his soap down to play with the bottle. He also latched onto the side of the tub and reached the faucet from the outside! We keep waiting for him to turn on the shower while we are filling his tub up. He's plays with the shower knob every time. One of these times he'll get a shower by accident. He won't be happy with that, he doesn't like showers.



He is also into climbing. Too bad he doesn't realize the steps aren't a floor to sit on. He's also tried to climb on his walker. Disaster ensued. He fell back and the truck fell on him. He was just scared, no bumps or bruises. I'm sure there are plenty of those on the way.

Reindeer Games

Rudolph Jr.

Diaper Games

It has become increasingly difficult to get Ollie's diaper changed. Whether it's putting a new one on after a bath or just changing a nasty one, Ollie is a handful. It is more like 4 handfuls. It is becoming a regular occurrence for both Tresa and I to have to be there to change 1 diaper. Usually one distracts him and keeps him in position, the other diapers him. He's even had to be pinned down by one of our legs on occasion so we can get the diaper on.



He just doesn't want to sit still for anything. He usually squirms away at some point and makes a run for it. So far he hasn't had any accidents on anything. I can't imagine what it'll be like when he can walk. I'm sure it'll be much worse when he can run!

9-Month Check-up

Ollie had his 9 month check-up yesterday. He is 29 inches tall and 22 lbs. He's on his way to 3 feet! No shots this time around, just an iron check. His is well within the range of normal. He's fit as a fiddle. Curious as a cat and into everything.

Praying to the Porcelain God

He cruises without a problem, can stand for a few seconds and waves bye-bye...when he feels like it. Most of all he's still exited by the cats, they still aren't excited about him.


Cupie Doll or Bad Hair Day?

His parents got a vacation from Ollie yesterday. It was President's Day, a holiday for my company. Tresa took the day off and we sent Ollie to the sitter's since we were paying for it one way or another. So, we had a nice quiet breakfast alone. NO rushing through it, feeding Ollie our food and passing him back and forth. We also picked up the flooring for our living room and went to a movie. It was strange being without him and not being at work for more than a few hours, but definitely worth it. He's still on his sleeping schedule, hopefully it'll continue. The doctor seemed impressed with his sleeping ability. If we hadn't heard all the stories of babies sleeping through the night after they came out, maybe we'd be just as impressed. This is a big improvement though. We can actually stay up until 10 pm and not be extremely tired in the morning. It's hard to readjust to that, but I'm sure when he's older we'll have to stay up late to get anything done.

Bundled

Ollie has outgrown a lot of his clothes already. He's even outgrown his snowsuit.


We had to find him another jacket. In the middle of winter, this is nearly impossible. We happened to go to Kmart and found him a 12-month old size jacket on clearance. He is only 9 months old today, so it is a little big, but at least it fits. Now he just looks like Big Bird in his yellow jacket. At least he can't sing the theme song to sesame street.

TROUBLE

When you have a loud, rambunctious child, you know that when you don't hear them any longer, they are doing something they shouldn't be. 2 days ago while making dinner Ollie got really quiet. We started looking around for him and found him on the first step standing up holding onto the railing! Not good with a tile floor below him. If he fell that would've hurt! From now on when we are downstairs we shut the gate on the stairs. The cats don't like it much, but they'll get over it.



Ollie loves to play with his basket. Flips it, pulls it and takes stuff out. The next logical step of course was rides in the basket. He loves being pulled around the house in his basket. We'll stop by the cats and he'll try to pet them and scream at them because he's so excited. Off we go again. What a basket case!



At the sitters the other day, while she was doing laundry, he followed her into the laundry room. He usually follows her back out. Yesterday, he didn't come out. He crawled into the shower in the room. When she found him, he was just looking around the shower and at the curtain. Silly boy.

Tired One

We must have worn Ollie out. Last night he went to bed at 7pm. He got up about 8:30 for some comforting and went back to sleep without much fussing. He only got up once at 12:30 for a diaper change and a bottle and we had to wake him at 6:30 to go to the sitter's. I guess we'll see if it continues tonight.



Here's proof Ollie isn't always a ham when the camera is out. Of course he wasn't looking at the camera at the time. That's one of his walkers in its 'play' mode. It hasn't been in that position in quite some time. It's mostly used as a battering ram on our furniture. He's not so gangly-legged now and it shouldn't be too long before he doesn't need anything to get away from his parents. We are embarrassing people you know.

Rub-a-Dub-Dub

Ollie is in the tub....constantly. He loves his baths. In the beginning, Ollie was in and out of the tub in a few minutes. Eventually he got to where he could sit up in his baby tub and tried to play with things outside the tub! He liked his baths for the most part, but they were quick. He moved into the big tub without a problem. He'll stand at the edge of the tub and get excited as the water rushes in to fill it up. He'll actually sit still long enough for you to take his clothes off to get him in the tub. He goes in without a problem, but you can only bath him if you can catch him. He's all over the tub. Messing with the spouts, toys and wash cloth. He's gotten better at standing and crawling in the tub since we put down a non-slip surface. He doesn't fall as much as he used to, but when he does, get ready to get him out. He usually scares himself and is ready to go. Most of the time he wants to play in the tub. He'll stay in there for as long as you let him. Which is usually until he gets cold. Most of the time he'll look like this:


A Ham in the Tub!

Equation

1 Baby + 1 Oreo =

A Big Mess!

Bird 1 - Ollie 0

We have this ornamental bird that we bought from Pier 1 a few years ago. The Bird is standing on 1 leg and is rather top heavy. Of course, Ollie has to play with the supporting leg when he gets near him. Last night the bird got the victory.

Ollie was crawling in between the rooms and grabbed the bird leg. Down came the bird, right on top of Ollie! The bird itself and the base missed Ollie. The leg however, pinned Ollie for the 3 count. He looked like he was trapped under a bar bell that was too heavy for him. He wasn't hurt, he just couldn't get out from underneath the weight of the bird and whimpered for help. It looks like the bird may lose the ultimate battle though, he may get put away. Before then, maybe we'll have a steel death-cage match between the two to decide it once and for all.

Lunge/Walk
Walking Ollie isn't too far off. He uses his walker easily now, but still runs into everything. He doesn't get upset and just tries to move around the things after he's run into them. Last night, he took his first lunge/step. He was hanging onto the couch and I was sitting a few feet away with my legs on the ottoman. Ollie turned towards me, let go, took a partial step and lunged at my legs. He caught them and was still standing. Daring little booger. The cats are shaking in their fur at the prospect of him walking. I'm convinced once he starts walking/running, we'll never see the cats again.

Gone in 60 seconds

Ollie's mobility has increased ten-fold recently. He's quick and determined. He sees something he wants, he's after it in a matter of seconds. When he's bored with a toy, he's off to find something else to play with. When he's tired of being cooped up in one room by the baby gate, he'll stand up against it and shake the heck out of it. We've had to pick up the cat food whenever we are downstairs. Inevitably he makes his way for it when he's bored with his current toy in the living room. The thing is he has to travel half way around the downstairs to get to them, but he's there in a matter of seconds. You can tell when he's coming though, he gets excited. There is also his favorite Pepsi can. We had 1 Pepsi left over from x-mas in the pile of pops we have. Every time he passes the pops he has to grab that 1 can and beat it up some more. If you come to our house, don't ask for the last Pepsi.

Steps are another new thing. He can go up them when he wants (with parental supervision). The problem is he thinks it's part of a floor, so he tries to sit down on them and then wants to go back down head first! Not a good idea. I keep trying to teach him how to go down correctly, but he'll have none of it. He'll get it eventually.

His cruising is better. He can go along objects easily in short spans. Longer ones are not far off. He also loves his push carts and has become quite adept at it. He's pretty much given up on his exersaucer because he can't be mobile. We can't sit down without being conquered by Ollie. The cats don't come around much anymore, if they do its farther than Ollie's reach.

Clear the road here he comes.

So, that's what sleep is like!

Crying himself to sleep worked surprisingly well. Friday night we laid him down at 9 pm and he cried for only 15 minutes! We were in shock. We got to sleep until 5 am, when he woke up to eat. Then went back to bed for another 2 hrs! Tresa got up with him, so I got to sleep in for a bit. Saturday night was 1/2 cry out and he fussed a bit during the night, but put himself back to sleep. He also got fed sometime during the night. Last night he fell asleep while eating his bottle. I stuck him in bed and he barely squirmed until 12 when he needed his diaper changed. Then he slept until 3:30. He never cried for more than 30 minutes. He slept better than he has in the past during his naps too. He has been much happier during the day as well. Hopefully this pattern continues.

He has tricked us a few times. He'll be quiet for 5 minutes, so we think he's asleep. We go to the door to make sure the blanket is on him and he'll hear the door handle make noise and start screaming again. Very smart child indeed.

He's started using his walker very easily. He still runs into everything, but he's getting good at it. He can climb up the stairs when someone is watching. Down is another issue. He thinks they are a normal floor and wants to sit down and play. He's also cruising along the furniture much easier now. The cats especially hate this. He gets excited around them and starts banging his hand on the furniture he's standing on because he wants at them! He reaches as far as he can, sometimes he gets them, sometimes they get him. He is persistent no matter the outcome.

Bye-bye - waving is now a skill Ollie does when he's not too distracted. Also, his first real word was Mommy, but he's now seems to have become a daddies boy. Sometimes when I leave the room he gets upset. I'm doing a lot of sneaking around the house so, I'm out of his sight when I want to go to a different room for something. It was such a problem this weekend that he stayed in the bathroom with me while I replaced the faucet. He had to help of course. Babies don't make good handy-people.