Park II

The park was visited last night by Ollie, his parents and his aunt. There were other people there, so he didn't get the run of the place. Ollie kept staring at the older kids running around and wanted to see what they were doing. He played with everything. He loves the slides. He is able to go down the enclosed slides by himself and always comes out with a smile on his face. He loses his balance on occasion and ends up in and awkward position, but no crying. He also loves the swings. He was on the swings for 20 minutes and went quite high for a little boy. He loves going back and forth and the wind being blown in his face. Of course he also played in the sand and got nice and dirty. On the way home we stopped and got ice cream. Running around, playing in the sand, flying down slides, swinging through the air and ice cream to top it off. It was a great evening.

Shrek

One of the most popular movies of the summer has been Shrek. So we decided to get our own green little monster. Like Shrek, he pulls at his ears, eats gross and disgusting things, plays in disgusting things like his own spit up and isn't much for grooming. He doesn't have a donkey for a sidekick, but 5 different cats. Though they don't comply with his requests very often. They run from our green little ogre when he comes tromping into the room. So far no torches have been lit for an ogre burning at the stake. Now here is the star of the movie...Shrek!

It is Good to be...C.O.E.

The inspiration for this entry came from the show "It's Good To Be" on E!.

It is good to be Christian Oliver Erickson because

1. You get to drag around small appliances by the cord and occasionally get a cat to chase you. The appliances may include, but aren't limited to, Baby monitor cords, Dart board cords, electric knives, electric mixers, hair dryers and occasionally the toaster.

2. Parents order piles of dirt and rocks for you to play on during the weekends. So while you are enjoying your juice box, you also get to taste the salt of the earth...literally.





3. You get carted around in all things large and small. Some of the things that people shouldn't be pulled around in, like laundry baskets, trash buckets, boxes and toys that aren't meant to be a ride.



4. There are plenty of shelves of books, CD's and DVD's available for his entertainment pleasure. Unfortunately, the only touching of these is when the shelves are in just too neat of an order, so Ollie rearranges them for us on the floor.

5. You have a case of PATES (Parents About To Eat Something), so you get a bite of whatever your closest parent has to eat.

6. Whatever is in your grasp is fair game for playing. Including toothpaste tubes, hair clips, q-tips and dental floss. Once you have said items, you get to play the swap game. You drop an item off in one room that it doesn't belong and pick up another to take to a different room with your parents providing color commentary to amuse themselves.

All in all it is good to be C.O.E.

Animated

Some times you take a picture and it turns out a bit better than you expect. I particularly like the ones of Ollie in action.





He is usually running around and playing like this more than he is standing still. It is rare for him to sit still, he's got too much to do and so little time before his parents put him to bed!

Slip Sliding Away

It was such a nice day after work yesterday that we decided to take Ollie to the park after dinner. The park was empty so he had the run of the place. Run he did. At least as best as he could in the sand without falling. He's not big enough to climb to the different levels on the playground yet, so Tresa and I took him to the various play things. He liked the slides best. They had a few different ones. Straight silver slides, straight enclosed plastic slides and curved enclosed plastic slides.

Ollie didn't like going down the straight open silver slides by himself, but he laughed all the way down when his mom and I took him down it. He was a bit scared of the enclosed slides at first, but really seemed to enjoy them. They were slower and shorter, but he could go down them by himself.

Of course he had to play in the sand and give himself a sand bath. He kept picking it up and dropping it on himself. Of course I had to help, but taking the little scoop play toy and dumping some on his pants! I know...mean daddy. He didn't seem to mind though. No bouncy and no swings, maybe another park another day.

Little Things

This weekend Ollie tried to make a mulch angel. He fell backwards onto the mulch and ended up with his hands stretched out like he was going to make a snow angel.

A fire truck was driving along side us this morning on the way to the sitters. Ollie stared, pointed and told me all about it. He was thoroughly impressed.

This weekend Ollie gets to go on a Tot Walk for Relay for life. He'll get to walk around with a bunch of other kids. Hopefully, he doesn't show them up too bad.

This weekend we are also shoveling 6 tons of rocks. Guess we'll have a taste test and another game of king of the mountain.

All bottles going bye-bye is not in the too distant future. Some nights he fights having a bottle before bed. Unfortunately, he wants to play instead. Usually he gets put in bed. Now if we could only stop him from crying so his face wasn't so red.

5 Ton

How much dirt did Ollie eat this weekend...5 TONS! In truth he was the king of the hill on top of the dirt, even though his mouth was rather brown after a few minutes. Once he got the dirt clods in his mouth, he realized it doesn't taste good! He wore his shoes for the entire time he was outside and rarely messed with them. He clomped around happily in them. He lost his balance occasionally due to the unlevel ground, but was back up and running around in no time. He got a little bit up by the bugs, but didn't seem to mind. Kids are oblivious to those sorts of things. Bug bit...Ok, dirt in mouth...Ok, fall down stairs...Ok, crack head open on concrete...cry, then ok. Just give them a little time and they are back to their normal selves as normal as babies can be.

Tooth Update: Seems like his eye teeth are coming in. Last night he went on a 2 hr. crying jag from 10-12 and was trying to grind his teeth/gums. The good news is his parents got to stay up 2 hrs. past their bed time! The bad news is that it is no longer fun to stay up 2 hrs. past your bedtime. To be a carefree kid again!

Sleep

Ollie must have had a tiring day yesterday. He went to bed at 8 the previous night and slept until his normal time. After dinner yesterday, we went for a walk. It turned into a very short walk. It was almost 7 when we left on our walk and we didn't get very far before he started to fall asleep. He hasn't gone to bed at 7 in at least a month. So, I picked him up out of his stroller and he laid his head on my shoulder. He then was put on my shoulders to help him stay awake a bit longer. I wanted to keep him on his schedule and not get up too early in the morning. He got down off my shoulders and we skipped a bit on the way home. He enjoys the bouncing. We got home, got him a drink and he ran around with the cats for a bit. He's also taken to pulling the string around the house and the cats chasing the string. He laughs hysterically when the cats chase him.

He wound down about 8 and went right to sleep. He was one tired boy. Maybe it is another growth spurt. Hopefully not, his clothes aren't that big. He may be naked for awhile if that is the case.

Bookstore

We went to the bookstore last night to pick up a few books. Ollie and I headed to the kids section while Tresa looked and then we switched. While Ollie and I were in the kids section, I get a book for him, he would open and close it and try to bite it. After awhile, it was apparent this was boring. So, I set him down to look around for himself. Let me tell you he is one fast booger. He took off around a section of books at the speed of light. Round and round and round he went. Of course, I had to follow in case he darted somewhere he wasn't supposed to go. It only made him go faster! Round and round and round some more. He tripped every once in awhile, but got back up and kept going round and round and round. When Tresa came, she tried to take him to the play area in the kids section. There was a woman reading to her child and wouldn't move so other kids could play with the toys. It would have been one thing if it was the only place to go, but there was another section entirely for reading to your kids. Needless to say, Ollie didn't get to play, except for going round and round and round.

Dance Dance Ollie Revolution

High knees, up and down as fast as possible. This is the newest Ollie dancing craze, just like the video game Dance Dance Revolution. He'll stand in one place (usually on top of an air vent) and pick up his legs and put them down as fast as possible. If you prompt him by doing the action yourself, he'll usually repeat unless he is doing something really important like chasing down a kitty for "petting". I guess the rump shaker is next.

Tumble

Speed is Ollie's best friend. He practically runs everywhere now. Fortunately for him, this gets him where he wants to go fast. Unfortunately for us, this led to his first tumble down our full flight of stairs this weekend. Tresa was waking up her brother-in-law to come help me outside. Ollie was there to help wake him. Except he took off and was able to reach the stairs before anyone noticed. He has to be told to turn around at the top of the stairs to go down backwards and doesn't always do that right. So he took a step off and down he went. He made it all the way down and landed on the oh so plush rug on top of the tile...NOT! He is fine, a bit sore, but fine. He was back to his normal self except for a little tender walking for awhile.



In other Ollie news, he now likes shoes. He wants to put them on and tries to walk around in them. He does pretty well with sandals. Regular shoes are a bit more difficult to get on him. 17 more years and thousands of things for him to learn and he'll be an adult. No big deal.

Thief

Ollie's sitter also babysits her grandson. He is only a month old and regularly gets fed. After feeding her grandson, she set his bottle down to burp him. A few minutes later she noticed that Ollie wasn't making any noise and was no where in sight. She went looking for him and found him hidden behind the chair with the bottle happily sucking away. He smiled and handed her the pilfered milk. He then took off his ski mask and black gloves and went back to playing with his toys.

His sitter is in trouble today. Her grandson's cousin is coming for the day as well. Now Ollie will have the opportunity to pilfer 2 bottles. He was eyeing them when the babies were brought in. The oldest one can only roll over and her grandson is only a month old. Ollie will be able to pick up the bottles and walk away with them and they won't be able to do a thing about it...yet.

Active

I don't think we are going to have a TV watcher for a child. Which is good that we won't have to pry his dead, cold hands from the remote when it is time for bed. To say Ollie is active is an understatement. He tries to run every where he goes. He always takes something with him along for the ride. Last night he continually drug an old hair dryer from the kitchen to the living room in a continuous circle. He's even gotten smart enough to get the hair dryer unstuck so he can continue going round and round. Round and round cause he won't sit down. All this activity used to cause him to throw up. Luckily at 9 months his gastric went away and now it is only occasionally. He even enjoys getting twirled around in chairs and getting dizzy. Swings are no longer a problem either.



He was in this one outside the zoo after our trip. He seemed to enjoy the wind rushing into his face more than the swing itself. Next time you want him to smile, just take a huge breath and blow in his face!

Aftermath

Here is the final result of Ollie's cake eating.



He definitely had a sugar rush after he was done with his cake. He ran around and screamed for at least a half an hour. He was so excited, too excited.

His walking has improved quite a bit. He doesn't seem to waddle as much. He still can't run very well, but the pace is picking up.

We also take pictures of Ollie in places that normal babies should not be. Such as the top of the fish tank.



He's also crawled back behind the bakers rack, inside the kitchen cabinets and is near fitting himself underneath the fish tank. I can't wait until we have to search for him and he's hidden himself under a bed. He'll be good at hide and seek.

Eggs

Scrambled, boiled and flat on a sidewalk, that's how Ollie likes his eggs. In reality, it is just scrambled and boiled, but I need a witty intro to the picture of Ollie falling out of his stroller head first. This is the best one I got out of the 4 pictures of the egg on his head that I took. His egg is above his left eye. Both of those bruises are the result of his dive.



It looked worse right after the accident. As you can see he was fine a few minutes later. He's been strapped in to his stroller ever since. Unfortunately, his wagon doesn't have a seat belt. He has gotten in trouble several times when we go on walks and he stands up. We don't go on long walks with the wagon anymore. He usually gets a quick ride around the block in that until he understands he has to sit down in the wagon. He's too curious for his own good.

Meet the Roos

Mama, Dada and Baby Roo

Table Dancing

Last night while Tresa was taking a shower, I took Ollie downstairs to finish dinner. I gave Ollie a piece of chalk and sat him next to his chalkboard table. He started drawing, so I turned around. When I turned back around he was standing on his table grinning from ear to ear. I didn't hear him climb up on the table. Now he does this with regular consistency. This morning, while he was table dancing he sat down on the edge and fell over the side backwards. I was able to catch him before his head cracked on the tile. He was still scared, but it didn't take long for him to want on top of our kitchen island. I can't wait for this stage to pass!

Furniture Climber

The 'baby climbs everything' stage has officially started. Ollie wants to climb everything he can. Chairs, tables, stairs and couches. All are fair game for the inexperienced climber. This morning he wanted on top of his chalkboard table so bad, he climbed on his little chair, which enabled him to climb on top of the table. Since he's not quite tall enough to get on the couch by himself, he'll stand next to the couch and bounce until he gets put on the couch. We are trying to teach him 'up' and 'down' when he wants either. He can get off the furniture by himself, by turning himself around, but he tries to go head first sometimes. Babies are definitely fearless.

Up and Down and Through

On the couch, off the couch. On the chair, off the chair. Through the legs of the chair, play in the legs of the chair. This was Ollie's favorite weekend activity. He was all over the furniture, constantly trying to get up on it. He's still not tall enough to get on the furniture by himself. He would stand at the edge of it and reach as far as he could. If he didn't get up fast enough, he'd start bouncing up and down and get agitated. When he did get up, he was all smiles climbing all over. Now if only he was a bit taller he could get himself on it. I'm sure the additional height with bring other challenges with it.