Memorial Day Festivities

Oliver & I were at my aunt & uncle's on Monday, hanging out with my family.  My mom and I had been shopping the day before and had oodles of fun picking out coordinating outfits for the boys.  My aunt had a pool under a tent on the porch, and much of the afternoon was spent attempting to coax them into the water, with varying degrees of success.

What a sight!

2 unhappy boys, disinterested in the pool

Omi helps ease him in by playing with water

the only one that didn't put up a fight!

Finally coaxed into the pool - success!

3 patriotic boys

Those that can, attempt an escape

Devon - the littlest munchin

Playing in IKEA

Jana is on vacation this week, so I had off to hang out with Oliver.  We were feeling a bit cooped up in the house (this heat is insane!) And i'm not the type of person that can take a trued day OFF without getting anything crossed off the To-Do list, so oliver and I headed to IKEA to get things for the bungalow and check out our bed options.  It was the perfect place for him to run around, since it was air conditioned and pretty empty. He held up really well until check-out and I can't blame him.  We were in line for forever because there was only one register open and there was an issue with the order of the guy ahead of me.  I came extremely close to abandoning my merchandise and just leaving.
Olivier hasn't met a toy kitchen he doesn't love!  Definitely one of the next things we need to get for him.....  as soon as we figure out where we have room for it!

Messy Eating

We have officially entered the messy-eating phase.  On Thursday night Oliver knocked his entire bowl of food to the ground (and I resorted to serving him a frozen waffle for dinner-  something I swore I would never do).  On Saturday and Sunday his dinner consisted primarily of white rice (ugh) with more ending up on the floor than in his mouth, but he was a happy boy!

A Talking Fool!

Just this past week, Oliver has been a talking-storm.  Even when he can't get out the words that we are saying he can get the sing-song tune of what we are saying and parrot it back - its really amazing to witnessed.  He's been saying "UP" and {versions of} "shoe" and "doggy" for some time now.  Just last weekend he started saying "Okay"and "No".  For a long time it was "Oh...kay" and he woke up a few mornings practicing.  The No is still of the cute variety and not consistenly associated with him not likely something.   
This week he's picked up at least three new words that we have figured out.  He can now say "Book", which started as "A-book-a-book-a-book" which was much cuter!  He finally figured out its just a single word.  I was in the hallway with him this morning pointing to family members in the photos and he could say "Opa!"  It was especially cute was that he was able to do it when I had my dad on the phone.  The other word he learned today (two in one day!) was "Pizza" although he says "pick". 

New Love

Today Oliver discovered cherries and he's in love!  I couldn't get the pits out fast enough to keep up with how fast he was eating them.

Oliver's latest kitchen favorite

We have always handed Oliver a cooking tool to entertain him while we were trying to cook or clean up- past items have included a wisk, multiple spatulas, spoons, & wine stoppers.  Lately, his fave is walking around with the pieces of our food processor which he gets out of the pantry cabinet himself.

Orlando Recap

Jana. Oliver & I were in Orland from Saturday-Wednesday.  They tagged along on my business trip and we stuck around an extra day for some sightseeing.  I have been dreading the trip -- flying with Oliver, figuring out meals, the 3 of us sharing 1 room -- but, the trip went surprisingly well.  Oliver is much more resilient than I was giving him credit for.  He was fine on the airplane and didn't freak out with the altitude - he just isn't particularly good at sitting still.  He came with me to 2 receptions and although there were 200+ people in the room and it was pretty noisy, he wasn't fazed at all.  He did have a couple of meltdowns - ZERO interest in going anywhere near the water!  But, nothing worse than an average day at home.  The resort we were at had a lot of things to do including paddleboats, walking trails, bike rentals, and my favorite, hammocks!

Getting the bungalow ready

Last year, we bought a bungalow (cabin) at the German club where I spent my summers growing up as a kid (dating back generations on my mom's side).  The bungalow had been neglected by its previous owners and is going to require some elbow grease before we can start using it. 

We recently took out the shrub leafy tree out front & an evergreen on the side

our beautiful kitchen! 

Oliver's new tricks

Oliver is like a sponge now!  He is really starting to mimic things we do.  Here are a few of the cutest:

1) He can now say Oh-oh.  For a long time he was just saying OH!

2) When he was younger, Adam would spin around in a circle to get Oliver hysterically laughing.  Now when you say "spin-spin-spin" (which Adam would say as he spins), Oliver will spin.  He has a tendency to bang into things when he spins (we're still working on balance), but its mighty cute. 

Adam demonstrates:

Oliver!

3) He can put his hand over his mouth to break up the sound of noises, sometimes I'll get him in the morning and he's hollering "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah" before he's even got the pacifier out of his mouth.

POTD: Rainy day project

Thanks to a suggestion from Grandma (Lee Ann) Jana & Oliver spent the rainy day making play d'oh!

POTD: Hip Kid

I guess we should all get used to seeing photos of Oliver in this hat.  Today's outfit matches the hat much better...  Since we have such a pale boy, it might make sense to get him some additional hat choices.

POTD - Cool dude

Off to the park with Jana in his snazzy new baseball cap