Chompers

Ollie now has 6 teeth all the way out. The 7th has poked through on the bottom. We can see the rest of them waiting their turn. At 6 months his first 2 teeth came in, he had to wait another 4 month for the next top 2 and those were nasty coming through. These last 2 have been relatively easier, but once those top 2 came in the flood gate of new teeth opened and they haven't stopped since. We pay a bit more attention to what he gets his hands on now, so we don't have to go fishing for something he shouldn't have in his mouth and get bit. The good thing is it makes it a lot easier for him to eat harder things. The cheeseballs have been warned.

Last night was Ollie's last swimming class. He did really well, just didn't want to put his face in the water to blow bubbles. He got a passing report card and some treats for his efforts. He especially enjoyed going up and down in the water. Maybe the loud splash he makes when he re-enters is what he likes. He also figured out that the shiny side of the pool is where he does humpty dumpty. After doing it several times, he wanted to go back over to the side, so I took him over and he was trying to get up on the side to do it again. Ok, so it just appeared that way, but he liked playing with the side for some reason. He got to have some celebratory french fries and a bottled water. Yes, I said bottled water, not bottle full of water. Tresa popped the top and he sucked it down. He's also drinking from regular cups with help. I guess we'll keep him.



This is one of those pictures he'll complain about when he gets older. He'll wonder why his parents put him in the trash. I said we'd keep him, but he'll need proof we thought about getting rid of him. No, not really.

And they All Fall Down

Ollie had another fall last night. He was sat on the table, turned our back for a second and he tried to sit up on the edge of the table. He fell back into the chair and tipped it over. He hit the back of his head on the chair and not the tile floor luckily. He got a good goose egg out of it, but was just scared. He was fine after a few minutes. He became excited about the blinds and stopped crying.

After all was well Ollie went to swimming. The other people in the class showed up this time, so he had other people to entertain him. He also fell in the pool several times. You set the child on the edge and do Humpty Dumpty. When Humpty 'has a great fall', the kid is supposed to lean in and fall into the parents hands. Ollie did pretty well. He leaned in 4 out of 6 times without coaxing. Usually before I could get the first sentence out. The other 2 times he had to be coaxed. Unfortunately, the pool was the coldest its been since we've gone swimming and his teeth were chattering from the moment we got in. Humpty Dumpty made him colder. Luckily it was near the end of class so he could warm up. He almost fell asleep on the way home. He got his bath when we got home and that woke him up. He was up until almost 8 pm. He's been staying up later, more time with Ollie, less time alone.

Meet-Up

Ollie met the next door neighbor baby last night. He is almost 4 months younger than Ollie, but about as big as he was at that age. He was on his best behavior. He kept reaching out for Matthew to try and figure him out. He was nice to him. I guess we'll have to let them get together to play in the future. I hate the words play date. You used to just go over to someone's house and see if they wanted to play. I'm not scheduling time for Ollie to play with someone. It makes playing too structured. Ok, time is up no more playing together. Not quite what should happen. I'll get off my soapbox now to present a styling Ollie.



Tooth Update: Sixth tooth on its way out. It has been easier than the other top teeth. The rest of is teeth all look like they are ready to come out any time. I hope they will be easier than the first six.

I Scream!

Lone Swimmer

Ollie was the only one in his swimming class last night. He was a bit crabby and hungry, so he wasn't his usual happy self for the entire time. He did fairly well though. During swimming they usual teach them to kick, float, splash and blow bubbles. Ollie occasionally kicks, floats without a problem and tries to drink the water instead of blowing bubbles. At least he is getting his face in the water. Not all of them do. They also play several games/songs during the class. Ollie's new favorite has to be Humpty-Dumpty. You sit the child on the edge of the pool out of the water and start the Humpty-Dumpty nursery rhyme. When you get to 'had a great fall', the child is supposed to jump/lean in and fall into the parents arms in the water. Ollie enjoys the falling part so much that he never gets past 'Humpty-Dumpty sat on a wall'. He's in the water grinning from ear to ear and ready to go again.

Splashing is what Ollie did the most of last night. He would splash with the boat, splash with one hand, splash with both hands. He got all of us soaked and seemed to enjoy it. He only stopped to wipe the water off his face when he splashed himself. He didn't seem ready to get out of the pool. We fed him on the way home, got him a bath and he played until about 7:30 when he crashed for the night. He got up this morning, ready to go again.

Peek-a-Boo

Ever since Ollie has been able to pull himself up on things, he has been playing a unique game of peek-a-boo. He has been crawling under our pool table and pulling himself up on the middle of the legs. There is enough space for him to stand under the table while hitting his head. He doesn't seem to mind. The game goes like this, we say "Where's Ollie?".

He pulls himself up on the legs and we yell, "Peek-a-boo, I see you".



He then sits himself back down and we repeat until he gets tired of it and crawls off. He is good at initiating the game and has caught on quick. He seems to catch on quicker when it is something fun for him. Maybe that's why he doesn't stop doing the things he shouldn't when we say 'No'.

Walking Update: Last night Ollie started walking longer distances. He walked from the wall with his window to the door. A distance of 12 feet without falling. He also walked from the couch to the sliding glass door, about 8 feet, while moving around the chair without touching it. He is still kind of in a saddle stance when he walks to help keep his balance. He is slowing himself down and is going farther. He doesn't get as excited, charge ahead and lose his balance as he has been. It won't be long before he walks full time.

Up We Go

Ollie has gotten better at going up the stairs (rapidly). He has yet to learn going down the stairs without our help. He has started to learn how to turn around and get off of furniture. He doesn't always get it right as he is a bit excitable. He is also a still a bit uncoordinated. This leads to a bit of falling.



Luckily he hasn't injured himself greatly. Just bumps and bruises. His walking has improved as he is able to go greater distances without losing his balance, sometimes. He keeps trying though. A little less than a month and he'll be 1-year-old. Maybe for his birthday, he'll give us the present (torture) of him walking.

Decorating

Tresa and I like to do home improvement stuff. We seem to always have some plans for the house. The list I have is a mile long. We'll usually try something and if we don't like it, we'll redo it. Apparently Ollie has the decorating bug as well. Unfortunately he only has the destruction phase of redecorating down. On Sunday Ollie was late for a nap, so I put him in bed hoping he would cry himself to sleep. He cried for a while, then he decided to play in his bed. 45 minutes later, it was obvious that he wasn't going to sleep, so Tresa went in to get him up. She discovered he had done a bit of redecorating on his wall border. There was a 6 inch chunk ripped out of the border. Apparently he didn't like the cutesy bears looking at him anymore, so he tore the chunk down. Now if only we could get him to repair his handy work, we'd be happy parents. I'm sure this isn't the last redecorating he will do, hopefully it will be easier to repair the next time around.


Checking out the Table for Demolition

Yuck!

This weekend was nice and warm. Ollie and the cats got to spend a lot more time outside. He crawled, walked and explored a great majority of the front yard. The good thing is that he is not like his father was on grass. No tip-toeing through the 'tulips' for him. He is willing to try everything a couple of times. Unfortunately that also relates to dirt.

Ollie was playing on our front walk next to the plant beds and was playing with the wood chips, twigs and leaves. He had to taste test everything, including the dirt. His first taste got the usual disgusting look from him. So we thought he had learned his lesson. Next thing we know he picked up a dirt clod and had a snack. It was disgusting, sloppy mud coming out of his mouth and then we had to wash his mouth out. He doesn't like being washed with a cloth, it wasn't fun for anyone. I'm just hoping he doesn't enjoy making mud pies!

Sitter

Ollie may have to get a new babysitter. His current sitter's mom died last night. She was staying home to take care of her mom and wanted to babysit so she wasn't so bored. Now that her mom is gone, we aren't sure what she will do. We are beginning to look around. He has been a good distraction today for her family. We'll just take it as it goes.

Beware

Clowning Around

We all have pictures of us that we are embarrassed about. Usually your parents think you look cute in the situation they place you in. There are several pictures of me holding a cigarette and a beer bottle when I was a baby. Yea, it looks pretty silly, but it is a bit cute. Also, a boy should never ever have his mom's foot long wig on unless they put it there. That's one of the rare ones not many people see. Well, this may be one of those pictures for Ollie.



The hard part was getting the stacking cup to stay on his head long enough to get the picture. He kept moving and it would fall off. I also tried to paint his face like a clown using Paint Shop, but the results weren't good, so you can print this off and color his face paint in yourself!

Ride

Who wants to go for a ride? Ollie does! Anything he can get into he does. Including his dump truck.


Of course he couldn't get into this himself, so his parents helped and pushed him around the room as fast as we could. He seemed to love it and was smiling away.

Understanding what Ollie wants has become much simpler. He's started reaching for things and indicating what he wants. When he wants picked up he raises his arms for you. He'll even come over to you and pull himself up on you and raise his hands. When he doesn't want to come over to you, he'll get on his knees, raise his arms up and open and close his hands and sometimes squeal to get your attention. Smart boy!

More swimming tonight. The only bad thing is trying to get home, feed him and get to the class at 5:30. Not easy. Next time we do swimming it'll be on Saturday's.

Easter

Easter went well. Ollie got marshmallows, chocolate and toys. He also played outside this weekend for a little bit. He didn't do much of an egg hunt, but he found a lot of hickory nut shells and kept hoarding them like they were a precious commodity. If only the world needed hickory nut shells, Ollie would've been a millionaire.

Swimming went well last Thursday, just a bit of whimpering and all was well in the water world. He played a bit and sort of kicked. No bubble blowing though. He did laugh his scrawny butt off at his dad blowing bubbles and him getting splashed with the water from them. Pictures coming soon, must scan some in.

Tooth Update
Tooth #5 is on its way out. You can see all his top teeth underneath the gums. It is harder to see the bottom ones. He's started to bite things he shouldn't and gotten in trouble for it. Hopefully we can head that off at the pass before it becomes a major problem.

More Swimming

Ollie goes back to swimming tonight. More splashing, kicking and maybe crying. Hopefully, the other kid that cried the entire time won't do it this time. I think he'll start to enjoy it a bit more as the weeks go by. By the end I bet he won't want to get out!

Walking Update
Ollie is now trying to walk on his own. He'll stand himself up on something, let go, take a step, regain his balance and step again. He'll do this until he loses his balance and he'll sit down or get into a crawl position. This morning he tried doing this over and over. He's got a wide walking stance, almost like he's riding a horse. Now we just need a saddle to fit the cats!

Water Follies: Part II

Ollie's first 'swimming' class was last night. It was more of a 'get in the water and walk around the pool with a baby' class. It was a bit more than that, but it was a start. Ollie whimpered and cried for about the first 15 minutes of the class. He then started playing with the lane dividers in the pool and calmed down. The instructor brought over a ring and they played the give and take game. Ollie was in up to his shoulders almost to get the ring underneath the water. He then learned to splash with the ring and kick in the water. He let me turn him around and not face him and kicked away. The only thing he didn't like about the whole experience was being in the locker room. For some reason, when I set him down he started crying. So, he got changed in the pool area. Overall, I think he enjoyed it and will enjoy Thursday's class more.

His fear of the tub subsided last night. He didn't scream, he still played with the drain plug and emptied his bath to soon. We hope the screamfest's are over.

Park

It was nice enough this weekend to take Ollie to the park. He had to wear his light jacket, but it wasn't bad. He went down the slide a couple of times with us holding him. He then went down a larger slide with us. Either way he wasn't impressed. He didn't dislike it, but it wasn't anything great either. He was more curious about his surroundings. He barely moved once we set him down in the bark to play. He didn't know what to think. He got really interested in other people when they showed up though. He just sat and watched. We then took a stroll down a walking path and by the time we got back he had almost fallen asleep. We got him home and he eventually got a nap. I just hope his fascination with other people makes swimming tomorrow a non-cry fest like his baths have become.

Another tooth looks like it is on its way. He is also trying to walk a bit more, but ends up crawling a bunch instead.

Water Follies

Ollie was enjoying his baths. He was playing with toys, handles and the drain plug. He was crawling, standing and splashing with delight. He was squealing, babbling and making noises. He was doing all of this until 3 days ago.

Then the crying started. He was fine standing at the edge of the tub watching the water flow in. Once he went in, however, he cried and cried until he was back out. Needless to say his former 20 minute marathon baths are now a 2 minute dash. Tonight we are going to try taking a bath with him to see if that helps. This is a phase and it too shall pass.

This just doesn't bode well for swimming classes starting next week!

Chili's

Last night we went to Chili's for dinner with Ollie. We got our drinks and he had to have a straw, but not any straw. He wanted a straw with pop in it! He drank out of the straw with a little pop in it. His momma would put it back in the drink and he would reach and make noise for more pop. Needless to say, we had the waitress bring us water to give him instead of the pop.

It took awhile for our food to come and Ollie was restless. I took him outside for a bit to play. He loved the benches. He squealed and pounded on it to the delight of the people on the way in. It started to rain, so we went back in and eventually got our food.

Ollie had his usual, French Fries and bread. Unfortunately for his momma, he poached the bread from her! He grabbed it right off her plate. He had been playing with his fries and tensing his entire body, grabbing fries and pushing them around the table. He saw his mom's bread on her plate and grabbed it. This bread was bigger than his head and he was chomping away on it. By this time we were laughing like crazy at him. We eventually finished, cleaned him up and came home. He got to bed about 8:30 after he finished some of his bottle and fell asleep while being rocked. This morning he woke up at 5:30 for some reason. He had a bottle and played. He was tired by the time we left for work. He got a short nap on the way to the sitters. I'm sure he'll go to bed early tonight, hopefully!