Babe in the Big D

Oliver has been on the move, still on all fours but working on standing with no hands.  His new favorite game is chasing the dog and cats, and chasing Seb and I.  We hide around the corners to scare him and say "boo" and he gets very giddy.  The last few days have been tough for the cats.   Oliver just wants to pull their tails but unfortunately he doesn't let go.   I guess he likes how they meow at him or maybe it is just the ornery boy stuff.   We have been going through a little bit of a finicky stage with food.  His favorite food right now is Goldfish crackers and Kix. 

He has been very consistent and clear with his signing.   He does milk, eat and now fish (for the crackers), hat, sleep and he also has some new dance moves.  

He is starting to show some separation anxiety when Seb leaves for work in the morning he gets a little upset.  He loves to say dada and daddy.

He now likes to take showers, he sits on the floor of the shower and plays with his toys.  We haven't had any teary baths in awhile. 

He spends a good part of his day playing with trucks and touch and feel books.   We have been around his friends the last couple of days and he is one of the only non-walkers.   He seems to really watch the other babies walk around.   He has been standing up on our ottoman and balancing with no hands.   The minute we try to get him to walk he drops straight down on his butt.

He is crawling around really fast now, we nicknamed him Toro because he gets his head down like a bull and goes even faster.   One of my friends heard him thundering down the hallway and asked, "what is that?" 

Things that Santa may be adding to his list:

- Oliver has a fascination with the stove knobs.  I take them off but when I am cooking I have one on the stove.  He can reach them, push them in and turn the flame up - UGH!!!!   I have to stand there to block him. 

- He thinks the dog's water bowl is his own waterpark.  He sits by the fridge in the kitchen and when he sees us get up he goes as fast as he can into the dog's water bowl.  He knows that he is not allowed to get in them.  We end up putting the dog's water on the counter but she does need water occaisionally.

- The cat box is his new favorite area, he likes to drop things into it.  Luckily he hasn't tried to retreieve things from it.

- Diaper changing continues to be challenging.   I babysat for one of my friends who has a little boy that is 4 days older than Oliver.  I had to change his diaper twice.  I had everything ready and in my head I had a plan on how to hold him, a toy to distract him, etc.   He just remained on the changing table ever so quietly and let me change his diaper.   I was in shock!   Oliver twists, turns, sits up, stands up, kicks his legs, turns around, crawls off the table and whines the entire time.   It is exhausting, then I have to get his shorts back on too!

We are trying really hard to be grown up, mature parents but when he does some ornery things it is so hard not to laugh. 

Oliver loves cookies, which is flattering to my baking but sort of a bummer that we have to share with him :) just kidding!