then and now

I keep thinking back to a year ago, when Oliver was brand new and tiny.  There are so many differences between him then and now.  Something about the first year of life is pretty incredible, with all the changes we go through in that time.  And there's a pretty big difference between one month old Oliver and 13 month old Oliver. I thought I'd mind more that he was growing up and turning into a toddler, but I actually just love this age.  He's so cute and fun and silly.  He enjoys playing games and making us laugh, and even when he doesn't sleep, he's always so cheerful and interested in the world.

A year ago, he basically slept all the time.  My mom actually got a bit concerned about this and at one point asked me if I thought he knew he could be awake and not eating, instead of just alternating between eating and sleeping 24 hours a day.  Now I look back and laugh, because shouldn't she have remembered what newborns are like?  And now eating and sleeping seem to be his two least favorite activities at the moment.  He'll do them, but he'd always prefer to be up and exploring.

I used to be covered in spit up, and I gave up on even changing my clothes when Oliver would spit up on me because it happened all the time.  I was always carrying a rag or two to wipe him down with, or to mop up the floor, especially if we had left the house.

Although, to be honest, a year ago, I was still getting used to leaving the house with him.  Now, he get that full-body wriggle of excitement when we go to the door, because outside is his favorite place.  It's going to be rough once the freezing cold and snow hits, because he has learned how to point, and makes a beeline for the door to tell me that he wants to go outside, please, right now.

Now I spend my days wiping down his high chair, and wiping sticky fingerprints off windows and doors and my shoulder.  He's still getting the hang of swallowing all his food, so even when he's put plenty into his mouth, he stores it in his cheeks for hours.  So that is my life right now, sticky hands and slobber, wiping his nose from the near-constant cold he keeps catching, holding his hand as we walk outside, pushing him in the swings over and over, watching him start to play with toys and enjoy books.  Wiping down his highchair.  Cleaning up toys and building him towers, so he can knock them over again and dump out his box of toys (because that is the best bit, isn't it?)

Last year, he was a tiny little thing that I carried with my everywhere I went.  I'd sort of do my own thing, meeting friends or reading books or watching Netflix, and he would sleep through 90 per cent of it.  Now, my days revolve around him: his nap schedule, walks to the park, reading books together, playing with toys, feeding him.  It's true that it doesn't really get easier (and probably big kids are harder than babies or toddlers), but it really gets so much better (and I say that as a baby person who loved having a newborn).  My husband especially comments continually on how much fun Oliver is now.  I mean, I used to spend my entire day cuddling him, but now he can cuddle me back, and that's worth all the sticky fingers and messy diapers and cold trips outside in the world.

one

A whole year of this boy.  He turned one on the last day of summer, and we celebrated by rescuing Sam, who got stuck in a parking lot at work when his car wouldn't start.  We went and bought some jumper cables, got the car going, and decided to go out to dinner, since it was Sam's day for class, which means he would have missed Oliver's birthday entirely if the car hadn't broken.  So silver lining there, I guess.  We ate Chinese food and Oliver made friends with every waitress there (and made a huge mess on the floor, which we did our best to clean up).  They even brought him out a little bit of cake with a candle in it and we all sang to him.  In classic one-year-old fashion, he had no idea what was going on.  He loved the attention, hated the cake (which he refused to even try).  He did love stealing broccoli and noodles and carrots from our plates.  It's the best way to get him to eat, actually, to let him grab the food we're eating.

At one, Oliver has an awful bruise on his nose from the other day when he fell over trying to walk.  He stands on his tippy toes to reach things that are high up, loves walking and exploring everywhere, and always loves leaving the house to go somewhere new.  He's an adventurer and a charmer and the sweetest little boy who sometimes even gives kisses and cuddles now.  And the cuddles!  This is entirely new.  He will come over and rest his head on my shoulder or lap and lay there for a minute, then up he jumps to run off in another direction.

His sleep is still terrible, his eating is random (and I can never tell what will be a hit, except he loves most forms of fruit and Cheerios), and he will play happily on his own for short stretches of time.  He sometimes imitates us, now, like by trying to bang on his new toy drum the way he's meant to, instead of just sucking on the drumsticks as he would usually do.  When we go for walks and we pass a certain playground, or a group of kids playing outside, he will sit bolt upright and try to stand up and go over to them, sometimes even stretching out his hand in desperation.  It is cute and sad, since of course the kids are always much older than him and he isn't going to go make a new friend.  But he would love to.

His very favorite thing in the world is being chased.  If we say his name a certain way and start to come after him, he shrieks and giggles and tries to run away, sometimes by climbing up the shoulders of whoever is holding him.  He loves the swings and he loves being outside and exploring the grass and twigs and plants in our yard.  He loves his dad, and is so happy whenever Sam is home to play with him.

I can't believe how good-natured and cheerful and independent he is.  He has strong opinions about what he wants to do, and is so curious and excited to explore the world.  I can't wait to show him more and more as he gets older.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that this next year is going to be even better than the last.

eleven months

When we returned back from the Cape on Saturday, Sam was waiting at the door for us, and he exclaimed, "Oliver looks so much bigger!" And it's true.  Sometime over the week, he started to turn into a little boy.  Not quite a baby.  He is still pretty little, I know, but when he's the only baby around, we think he's getting pretty old.  He babbles all the time, called me "mama" when he was reaching out to me, took his first wobbly steps on his own, had his first haircut, and waves goodbye when people leave.

(Pre- and post-haircut.)  He wants to be moving all the time.  He stands up in the bath, in his crib, everywhere, and he is an expert at finding paths to cruise along so that he can go from a safe table to holding onto the wall in an entirely different room in about five seconds.  He can walk on his own for a few steps, but doesn't seem to realize it, and still needs to work on his balance.

I've mentioned before how much he loves walking while holding onto our hands, but now it's progressed so that he has very definite opinions about where he wants to walk.  He will lead us around the house, exploring and touching every single thing we pass.  It can be annoying, especially when your back is hurting, but it is also really fun, to see what things he finds interesting and how exciting everything is to him.  Even a tiny piece of dirt.  Babies are weird.  I mean, we will offer him something delicious, like a slice of avocado, and he drops it on the ground, but he leaps for a coaster or a piece of paper and eats it happily.  Weird.

He loves exploring, seeing new places but also being safe in my arms when there are strange people around or something unexpected.  Whenever there is a new noise, he whips around to investigate, and he really adores getting attention from people.  He especially adores it if I'm holding him, and he'll smile and lay his head on my shoulder.  The other night, he woke up and had a hard time falling back asleep, so he put his head down on me and we cuddled together, something he never wants to do.  It made missing all that sleep worth it, to have him snuggle with me and remind me that he won't be this little for much longer.  I'm going to enjoy the last of his babyness, as he becomes more and more of a toddler every day.

He learns new things constantly.  He loves to play games, especially the chasing game.  He squeals and laughs and runs away when we pretend to chase after him, and loves when we catch up to him and tickle him.  Whenever Sam comes home and takes him off to play for a little bit, Oliver will turn to watch me as if expecting me to come chase after him, so I usually do. He loves when we do silly things and right now finds it hilarious when he accidentally hurts us.  We really need to work on that.  He will sometimes sit and play on his own, something we try never to interrupt because it's so magical.  He will babble away, hitting his cups or exploring a toy.  He still doesn't crawl on his hands and knees, but does this army crawl that I guess is effective enough for him.  He can pull himself up on just about everything, and last week he pulled the entire shower curtain off the wall when I thought he could occupy himself in the bathroom while I showered.  Oops.

He is far more delightful than I ever imagined.  I love just about everything he does right now, and I can't believe how much fun it is with him around.  He laughs a lot, enjoys just about everything (even when he is being stubborn) and will definitely give us a run for our money as he gets more and more independent.  I think this might be one of my favorite ages, even as I miss some of the tiny newborn things he used to do.  It makes me want to have ten more babies, he is so sweet and silly and fun.

first haircut

Oliver's hair was starting to fall into his eyes constantly.  I would sweep it away, but it was pretty obvious: he needed a haircut.  Various people have suggested cutting his hair multiple times, since he was much smaller and his newborn hair fell out, leaving a strange lock of dark hair in the back.  But little babies are allowed to have funny looking hair, and I couldn't bring myself to buzz it all off.  But it's true, it recently had reached a point where it was always in his eyes and sticking out over his ears and in the back was getting long enough that several people thought he was a girl.

(before) 

So on Monday, I strapped him into his highchair, handed him a spoon to play with, and did my best to give him a little trim.  I quickly learned that a spoon was not nearly enough incentive to hold still; he kept twisting around to look at the scissors, or try to grab them.  I ended up having my sister do her best to entertain him, and I handed him Cheerios one at a time to play with.  I didn't want to mix food and hair, but whatever.  It worked.

(after)

I ended up fixing it again an hour or so later (after I took these pictures), because it was pretty uneven in the front (that hardest place to cut because he would notice me and look up at me as I tried to hold his hair).  But after another attempt, it now looks much better.  And also maybe makes him look slightly older, more like a little toddler boy than a baby, but that could just be the fact that he's getting pretty close to being a year old.  His hair grew in so quickly these past few months, I'm pretty sure I have a lot of little boy haircuts in my future.  

to remember

Everyone told me how quickly the newborn phase goes.  I didn't quite believe them when Oliver was tiny; each day was so long, when he was about two weeks old I thought this is the rest of my life.  Then I blinked and now he's ten months old, turning from a baby into a toddler every day.  I see someone with a newborn and I want to stop them and tell them it doesn't last.  Why is it we can't learn anything until it happens to us?

I daydream about having another baby, and what it would be like to relive those newborn times. Then I remind myself to enjoy this wriggly little baby now, because ten months is still so small, and he is still so easy to love and carry around.  One day he'll be even bigger, and I'll want to come back to those days of constant diaper changes, wiping down high chairs, and holding his hands while he runs to the door.

So these are the things I want to remember about right now:

How Oliver grows shy in front of strangers and doesn't always wave or clap, but when his dad is around, he waves every single time Sam asks.

Hos Oliver races straight for the front door every chance he gets.  He knows exactly where he wants to go (the hose in the front yard) and if you try to redirect him to go another way, he twists around and plants his feet firmly on the ground, refusing to budge. If you manage to drag him along, he'll flop over onto the floor so he/s sitting down, perfectly situated to scoot around back to the direction he wants to go.

How he giggles and squats and loves to walk along things - his crib, the railings at the top of the stairs, the couch.  One day he'll learn how to walk on his own and his independence is going to blow his mind.

How he lunges for my glass every time I drink in front of him, and loves to share my water.  If it's mine, it's his.  I love how his tiny, chubby hands grasp the cup and he does his best to gulp it down.

How he is so fascinated by our faces, and loves to grab my nose or poke my eye.  He thinks it's hilarious when I pretend to eat his fingers, so he always looks at me expectantly when he offers me his hand.

How Oliver loves to carry around his own spoon.  He always wants whatever utensils we're using to eat, so I started offering him one of his own to hold.  He will clutch it in his hand and carry it around for hours, from room to room, to his car seat to his crib.

How interested he is in exploring every single thing, from that tiny piece of lint on the carpet to the door that takes him outside to the twigs lying on the grass.  He loves yanking on the chain that turns the light in his bedroom closet on and off, and always laughs uproariously when he succeeds.

I know there's more, and I could be writing lists all day long, but nap time is precious so that's all I have time for today.

ten months

This last month feels like it has brought so many changes.  Oliver is crawling now (it's an army sort of crawling, and it's not his favorite way of getting around, but he is surprisingly quick when he wants to be).  He's much better at cruising, and can stand at a couch or chair and play with toys or grab at things accidentally left within his reach.  He still loves walking with us, but doesn't walk on his own, and has learned that there are certain places he always wants to go see - like the front garden, where Sam introduced him to the hose and the joys of being sprayed by cool water on a 90 degree day.

He got his first two teeth this month and his hair is getting to the point of needing to be cut.  He visited the ocean for the first time and went swimming in a lake one afternoon.  He likes to play with anything we have.  He babbles a lot, and went through a phase of saying "da da da" that has now changed into saying "ma ma ma" and lots of other nonsense words.  He learned how to clap, and looks adorable when he does.  He is always sticking his tongue out, maybe because he likes the feeling of his brand new teeth.  His sleep schedule was thrown off when we went to Philadelphia last week, but now he's doing great and I love the chance to have time to do my own things while he naps. He laughs at just about everything, including funny voices or noises, or when we give him kisses.  Oliver also loves grabbing faces, and sometimes grabs my face so that I can give him more kisses.

It's been really hot this past month, so he has spent lots of time slathered in sunscreen and playing out in the shade, or inside next to a fan.  He definitely has the baby death wish thing going on, and he does his best to fling himself off of our bed, the porch, or any high steps he is sitting on.  He also makes desperate grabs for the fan whenever we pass it; presumably because I never let him touch it, he's convinced it must be something wonderful.  His eating habits are all over the place, and just as I was getting worried that he had stopped showing any interest in real food, he sat down with us and ate some of everything we ate (meat, cauliflower, fruit).  He loves almost every fruit, so those are usually my go-to option, along with toast and hummus and peas.  (And Cheerios).  He is very ticklish and his laugh is my favorite thing in the world.  I love how excited he is to wake up in the morning.  I love how he kicks his legs whenever people talk to him while he's in the highchair, and how he's so interested in everything around him.  I can tell he won't be a baby for much longer, so I'm doing my best to enjoy every second of it now.

five things

top: July 4th, trying on a sunhat we had no need for

bottom: laughing at my sister, proud of his walking ability 

1. Oliver is getting his first tooth!  I was a little surprised when I first noticed last week, because I figured he'd be as late as I was with teeth.  I didn't get my first tooth until I was about 14 months old, but I guess Oliver likes to speed things along more than me.  It's still barely there, and hard to see except when he is shrieking or laughing, but it's another step away from babyhood and towards toddler-hood.  I don't think he had much teething pain for this one tooth (considering that I didn't even notice it come in...) His sleep was a bit disrupted the week before I noticed it, but I blamed the fact that we were house-sitting, so his routine/schedule was changed a little.

2.  It is so hot this week.  All I want to do is lie in front of a fan.  Unfortunately Oliver is still addicted to spending his entire day walking from room to room to explore, so he's not very sympathetic to my wishes.  Over the weekend, he started to use his walker for the first time like it's really supposed to be used!  I bought it second-hand, but was starting to think it was a basically pointless purchase, because he'd always turn around and grab for our hands when we tried to show him how to use it.  But now he can walk with it and seems to enjoy himself, although since he can't really steer it, he still prefers using our hands and dragging us around.

3. I'm still at a loss for how to feed him.  He hates being fed by me (or anyone else) and I have this problem where I give him food he can easily eat when he first sits down in his highchair (like peas or corn or Cheerios) and then if I do offer him something I've cooked, he's no longer very hungry.  I need to look into baby-friendly easy meals I guess.  He mostly eats toast (with peanut butter, avocado or hummus on it), broccoli, peas, corn, Cheerios (or any puffs or cereal), bananas, watermelon, cut up grapes or really any fruit.  He will happily eat all these things, but they aren't exactly meals.  I've given him eggs, pasta, pancakes, rice and stir fry, etc... he'll sometimes eat a few bites or play with it, but he's not always interested.

4.  We celebrated the fourth of July by going to the beach.  It was cold and grey (and rainy, by the end of the day) so despite my extensive bathing suit and sunscreen and protective clothing preparation, we all stayed basically wrapped up.  I went into the water with Oliver, but if any (freezing) water touched him, he screamed.  He was pretty clingy all day, not wanting to be put down even to sit and play in the sand - something I was sure he would love.  Maybe next time.  He did enjoy walking around on the sand, and had a lot of fun eating cherries and watermelon and bread while we had a delicious picnic lunch.  The beach had a playground and shaded picnic tables, which made up for the mostly ugly rockiness of it (the pebbles hurt your feet when you stood in the water - it was like being back in Eastbourne).  It made me a little sad, because if we'd stayed in England, we'd go for daily beach walks and enjoy the beautiful views of white cliffs and rocky shorelines, but oh well... Summer here is much hotter, more humid, and one of these days we'll get ourselves to a gorgeous sandy beach and I'm sure Oliver will love it. At least no one got sunburned on Saturday.

5.  At Oliver's nine month appointment the other week, he was weighed and then measured twice, because the first time it appeared he had not grown one inch since his six month appointment.  I was not hugely worried over this, as I've noticed him growing out of clothes, but a second measurement showed he'd grown around two inches in the last few months.  He's still pretty short (I think they found him at 28 inches) and I've noticed that other babies seem to have the longest legs...poor Oliver and his terrible genes.  Maybe he'll have a growth spurt eventually, but either way, I love every appointment that goes pretty quickly because it confirms that he's still healthy.

nine months

I know I missed a few, but I'll just move right ahead, because Oliver is now nine months old.  I remember meeting a baby about this age when Oliver was a newborn, and she was basically a toddler to me.  So he's definitely moving out of his babyhood, but not quite yet, right?

At nine months old, Oliver is very happy, sleeping pretty well, and loving lots of things like swinging, going for walks, animals, walking himself while holding our hands, and eating (everything, not just food). Number one on his list is always, always walking with the help of our hands.  It gets old pretty quickly but he loves it so much that we usually give in and keep going.  He likes playing with anything that isn't a baby toy (like cords, a computer mouse, cell phone, rocks, etc) and eating or drinking whatever I'm having.  If I can't get him to drink water from his sippy cup, I just take the lid off and offer it to him like a cup and he's all over that.  He likes tags and ties and things I'm wearing around my neck and is getting a little bit more dexterous.  He can sort of pick up little things (like Cheerios) and get them to his mouth (always the destination).

He loves playing peek-a-boo or having a blanket tossed over his head (the sky is falling game).  If he's walking around with me or Sam and the other person leaves the room, he'll come running after us, eager to see where we're going and make sure he's not left out.  I need to nurse him in a quiet, empty room, because otherwise he is constantly breaking off to look around and see what people are laughing about or what is making that interesting noise.  He loves babies and kids and stares intently whenever we see other children playing at church or at the park.  We met my friend's son the other day, who is 3 months old, and Oliver immediately tries to grab his face, which is what he does to basically every adult who ever holds him.  When he's happy and well-slept, he doesn't mind being held by just about anyone, and gives those cute little looks that other people call flirting - he'll glance at strangers who are cooing at him and then look away, resting his head on my shoulder or just turning his head at an angle.

He has so much energy, he wears us out in about ten minutes and then is eager to keep going.  He wants to explore everything and gets frustrated when we try to make him sit down and play with a toy, or when I hold him on my hip just to get a break from leaning over and walking around and around.  He lets out this loud shriek to get our attention, and it makes me look forward to the day he learns to use words, but this communication thing is hard, and he'll figure it out eventually.  For now he's pretty good at getting everything he wants, even without a single word at all.

Nine months old means he's been here for as long as I was pregnant with him, but it feels so much longer.  Sometimes I'll remember something we did a year or two ago, and think, but wait, where was Oliver? before I remember that oh, yeah, he wasn't born yet.  Nine months of Oliver's babyhood have been infinitely better than pregnancy, but all those doctor appointments and tests and stress were more than worth it for this sweet, cheerful, perfect boy.

mother's day

Oh, what?  It's almost Father's Day?  Oops.  But mother's day was really fun, so let's just pretend it wasn't like a month ago.  And by 'really fun' I mean, it was just a normal day, pretty much.  Sam played with Oliver when he woke up at 7 so I got to sleep in, and then after church my sister took some family pictures of us.  Basically our first!  Sam and I tried to take one in the hospital after Oliver was born.  Just one, that's all I wanted, but that was definitely too much to ask.  Picture taking is always a stressful thing in our very non-photogenic family, but my sister did a great job, and we ended up with some pictures that I love.  I even got some printed out, so I'm counting it as a mother's day win.

May was hot and humid for us, so we took these pictures in my parent's backyard in the evening, and we hit a sweet spot while spring things were in bloom and it didn't look too much like a jungle outside (as it sort of does now).  Oliver was drooling on his overalls, I didn't really know what to wear, and I got annoyed with Sam at one point, but still, at least we have a family picture I like now.

Having a baby is definitely one of the best things I've ever done.  Oliver might be a sort of terrible sleeper sometimes, but other than that he the best baby in the world.  He is so cheerful and cute and eager to explore everything.  I love the way he grabs our hands and sets off in various directions, like nothing could be more thrilling than finally discovering what is hidden under the piano or behind that one armchair.  He isn't the cuddliest baby, so I love those rare moments when he puts his head down on my shoulder (sometimes just to give it an experimental suck, but I'll take it) or grabs my face in his hands and tries to eat my chin. I can't wait for all the years to come, and to see him turn even more into a little boy (but that's all, no getting TOO old, Oliver).

easy

A few days ago, I saw a friend who'd just had a baby.  Her son was only a few weeks old, and when we ran into each other, she was standing and casually feeding him a bottle, wearing a dress and looking totally put together.  And I kept thinking back to when Oliver was a few weeks old and what a mess I was.  I'm pretty sure I looked like it, too.  I hated wearing anything other than sweatpants, I hated putting blankets over Oliver when breastfed him, I was just generally exhausted and uncomfortable and yet really happy.  But watching her, it looked easy.  Oh, a newborn!  They're no work at all!  And suddenly I thought about all those women who talked about feeling inadequate when they see other women who look like they have it all together, and it all made sense.  Maybe she felt like a total mess inside, who knows.  But even though I loved, loved, loved those first few months of motherhood, and even though Oliver was a fairly easy newborn, I just felt like a mess basically all the time, so for a second, I was jealous of this friend who made it all look easy.

Oliver is eight months old now, and he's so perfect.  He still isn't the best sleeper, but we're working on it.  He's almost on a schedule now (after only eight months...) and he no longer nurses to sleep so we're basically declaring it a sleeping victory all around for the time being.  He still nurses a lot and isn't exactly enamored of solids just yet.  If you dare try to feed him something (by spoon or hand) he wants nothing to do with it, but if he gets to eat it himself, he just might enjoy it.  Right now his favorite things to eat are mangoes, strawberries, broccoli and cheerios.  He's also fond of asparagus and sometimes eats various things on toast.  Mostly he makes messes and plays with his food, but whatever, I count any happy time in his highchair as a win (and he definitely gets some food down).  He seems to take after me as a baby quite a bit - I get told a lot that he looks like me (or my dad), he is happy all the time, and has a happy little shriek that he likes to use at inopportune moments (like the middle of church).  He has no teeth but doesn't care at all.  His hair is still brown and light (but sometimes apparently looks blond or red to other people) and he has the brightest, bluest eyes I've ever seen.  Strangers love stopping us to comment on his eyes or general happiness, and he usually loves getting attention (but not always being held by people he doesn't know).

His favorite things to do are swinging and walking around. He loves sitting the swing and could happily spend all day there, especially if there are other children at the park for him to watch.  He also loves to walk while holding onto our hands, and could also do this all day long, but it's pretty hard on our backs so we pretty much last like ten minutes.  He will sit and play sometimes with various toys, but usually his favorite things are whatever we're using that he's not allowed to have (like cell phones, computer mouses, etc...) He's convinced my phone is an amazing, delicious treat, and lunges for it whenever he catches sight of it.  Changing his diaper has become a whole new challenge now that he flips over and wriggles away as soon as I try to lay him down, so that's been a fun change.  He loves when we make funny faces or use silly voices with him, and will always laugh when we play peek-a-boo.  He grabs and eats books when we read together, and doesn't always like to sit still in my lap.  He is wriggly and squirmy and cheerful and cute and just the best baby ever.  He has a hilarious laugh where he laughs on his inhalation and it comes out like this shrieking, wheezing thing that always makes me laugh, too.  He's growing interested in animals, and will follow them around, pulling on our hands when we're walking to make us go look.  We visited some friends with dogs over the weekend, and when they licked him he giggled and giggled.  It's been so fun to see him interact with the world, and to see how delighted he is with the silliest things.  When he was a few months old, someone told me that they thought ages 6-9 months were our reward for getting through pregnancy and labor and newborn days, and I smiled but totally didn't get it, because I thought three-month-old Oliver was pretty awesome.  And he definitely was, but this Oliver is even better.  It makes me so excited for the next few months and years, to see how much better it can get.

six months

Half a year! Oliver has been here for half a year. This age is just so much fun, I'll be so sad to see it go. Lately Oliver has been so cheerful and smiley and happy. When I get him from his crib in the morning he gives this joyful full-body wriggle of excitement, like he's just so thrilled to see me. He still loves bath time, and starts to screech with excitement and wave his arm around when I get him ready for his bath each night. He is rolling over all the time now, so basically tummy time lasts about 30 seconds before he rolls onto his back.  He is pretty good at wriggling and scooting around on his back, so I'll glance away for a second and then he's suddenly several feet away from where I put him down on the floor.  He still has his 'machine-gun laugh' that he uses whenever he sees someone or something he likes (a bright green spatula my dad handed him once to suck on in his highchair is still his number one favorite toy) and he loves to lie on his back and rest his feet on a nearby chair or table leg or whatever else he can find (like the wall of the tube while he takes a bath).  He also loves lying on his side to play with his toys and kick his legs around when he's playing on the floor. 

He's eating real food, sort of.  He loves sucking on bananas but doesn't do too well holding on to them for long, and he's not necessarily a huge fan of anything pureed.  He's tried banana, sweet potato, green beans, and peas so far I think.  He can make a ridiculous mess out of anything, even a rusk.  His naps are still a mess, and his schedule is basically different every day, but he's such a great sleeper at night right now that I can't complain at all.  

His hair just seems to get fluffier and fluffier, and maybe will never lie down flat on his head. His eyes are still bright blue and he doesn't seem to be anywhere near getting teeth.  He can sort of sit up, for brief periods of time, but isn't that interested in doing anything than grabbing onto his toes when he suddenly sees them.  He babbles and screeches and laughs and screams and all his baby noises are just my favorite thing in the world.  He still spits up profusely and loves sucking his fingers and I still might be his favorite person, but he always lights up and laughs more when his dad is around.  He loves being swung around and tossed into the air, and as soon as the snow finally melts, we're going straight to the park to introduce him to swings.  He loves being outside and seeing new things and watching people intently.  He has started to notice the cat we have around the house temporarily, and hangs off the side of his high chair to stare at her as she eats next to him.  Six months seems sort of like one of those milestones to me, as he stops being a tiny baby and moves onto the next stage.  So I'm enjoying this last little while where he is immobile and still loves sleeping on me best of all, and is easily entertained with a silly voice or nursery rhyme. 

Six months with Oliver has been so much fun.  I  can't believe how much he has changed already.  The next six will probably be even better.

five months

Coming up on almost half a year already! How did that happen? Why do I say the same things every month? Maybe eventually it will stop surprising me that he keeps getting bigger.

At five months Oliver is so social and happy. He loves people and getting attention and being held. He throws his head back with a big wide mouthed smile and then sticks his fingers in his mouth when he's particularly pleased with something. He loves sucking on his fingers and recently decided that he also loves sucking on everyone else's fingers, too, so he'll lunge forward, mouth wide open, whenever he sees something he wants in his mouth. It hasn't quite progressed to him grabbing actual food, yet, but I'm sure it's coming soon. He loves bouncing in his old, semi-gross exersaucer. He loves standing up, being sung to, given attention on any way, and swinging. I can't wait to introduce him to playground swings when the weather warms up in a month or two. He has the cutest way of getting very determined and making growling/grunting sounds as he tries to pick something up. He still makes amazing faces with his expressive eyebrows. His hair is fluffy and dark in some places, almost blonde in others, and it sticks straight up on top. His eyes are the most gorgeous blue. He cries when he gets frustrated with something or when he's hungry or tired but other than that he is so easy-going and cheerful.  I love the way he will slowly bring his thumb up to his mouth and then stick it in (even if we don't really want him to be a thumb-sucker...but, oh, well). Sometimes he puts up with tummy time for a while now, but he still isn't exactly rolling over much. He sits up in his high chair or on our laps really well, though, and I'm sure he'll be sitting on his own before too much longer.  It's just all going so quickly, and it is even better than I ever imagined.