Summer time!

Oliver is learning and growing so much right now. Matthew and I always talk about how you can see the wheels turning in his head. He is increasing his sign language vocabulary and actually beginning to say words other than "da-da" and "ma-ma." He has been saying "yeah" for awhile now, but I was never really sure if he understood the context...until now. Whenever I ask him a question he responds with a "yeah." He is also saying "up" as he climbs the stairs or gets to the top of the slide. He signs to communicate his needs and wants, and has learned that "please" really is a magic word that melts our hearts every time.

Our little boy is a real copy-cat. He loves learning by watching our every move. This has forced us to be very aware of how we do things. He refuses to eat with baby utensils, so he just uses what we use. He loves to blow his nose (or breath heavily into tissues).

He is now very mobile. He has a walker that helps him go independently and loves cruising in it.

One of his favorite activities is to go climb up and down stairs. We have to do this all the time. I took him to one of the local museums and all he wanted to do was climb the stairs of the building.

Now that the weather is hot our favorite activity is to go to the water park. Ollie loves cruising through the pool in his walker or watching all the kids fly out of the slide.

We are having lots of fun and really enjoying ourselves together!

Easter Photos

Thanks to Shaunie and Brett for the beautiful photos!

One

This kid is such a ham! He turned one just two weeks ago.

He is super independent and refuses to let me feed him anymore. Unfortunately, with him feeding himself it ends like this every time.

Whenever daddy is home Oliver likes to help him work. And if we keep the screen at the same place for too long, he likes to hit the keys and make it more interesting for us. He has only renamed some of my folders and bookmarks to date.

Here he is trying to convince me to hand him the camera. When he really wants my attention he will now say "Ma ma." My heart melts. It works every time...for now.

He is such a charmer!

First Cake

From Auntie Maddy and Uncle Tim

Some more pictures

This is how Oliver likes to eat his food: the kind of meal that requires a bath. He had it in between his toes, through his hair, and everywhere in between.

Nice haircut, right? I think it makes him look too much older.

I found him sleeping like this and couldn't stop laughing.

long overdue...

Oliver's first real swing at the park.

Learning to bang pots and pans.

All dressed up for Matthew's work Christmas party.


Fun in the light of the sunshine.



Notice how if I had permitted it the camera would have gone straight into his mouth several times. He loves biting things!