I wish my house was a mess

I wish I had the typical life of a toddler parent, chasing my child around the house, trying to stop him from getting in to anything and everything. Cleaning up his trail of toy destruction. I wish I had that type of exhaustion. Even when Oliver was walking at his best he never moved around fast enough to cause much of a mess or even get into trouble. He'd walk around cautiously like Frankenstein and it was easy for us to stay ahead. Once or twice he climbed up onto the computer chair, dare devil.

 In April, shortly after his MRI he stopped taking independent steps. He'll still walk if you hold both of his hands, but that is becoming very difficult for him. He travels by crawling now, but never more than a few feet. It's just too much work and he gets tired too quickly. He's completely content to sit and play with the toys closest to him. 

People often complain about picking up after their kids, but what I wouldn't give to have him turning this house upside down.

Oliver vs Pinata

My friends brought over a pinata for Oliver.  Oliver is quite the pacifist, and he really didn't want to hurt his monkey pinata friend.


The first video he has a small toy bat, the second video is hysterical when Daddy went and got the metal baseball bat. Oliver's face in the last few seconds after the pinata breaks is priceless!


Oliver vs Pinata (toy bat)


Oliver vs Pinata (metal baseball bat)



(a special thanks to Col, Christina and Suz for making this really funny video possible. It makes me smile every time I watch it!)

Fun at the Park

 He really wanted to climb this thing, and he thought it was so funny when he got up high he kept shouting at himself "Ged down Oliver!"

"Ged down" was his first and favorite sentence. Chris and I are always telling our cat Pippa to "Get down" off the couch and coffee table and then one day we heard a little voice say "Ged down Poppa" and we look over, and sure enough, he's reprimanding our cat.

He wanted to do it all by himself. He actually held on very well.

"

 Very high....

Slides are still Oliver's favorite part of any park, but we need to go down with him because he doesn't have the core strength to keep from falling over. And by "we" I mean "me" because one time Chris went down a slide with him and Oliver's foot got caught on the side and his ankle bent to some scary angle. Oliver was completely fine because his joints are so flexible, but Chris will never go down a slide again. Poor guy, they're pretty fun.

It doesn't need to have a horn, he'll still say "beep beep" and press the center of any type of steering wheel.

Aquarium Pictures

Aquarium Pictures

Follow the above link and click the first picture to see the album. 


We had a lot of fun at the aquarium this morning. Thanks for driving all the way there to join us Greg. If anyone else ever wants to come, we have a Family + Au Pair Yearly Membership, which means we can bring someone in for free with us any time, but you'll be expected to do some light housework, clean Oliver's room, and speak in a French accent. 

Daddy's Saturday alarm clock

"Eeeear"

"Nigh nigh"

"Nose"

Off to the aquarium!

We're on our way to the Norwalk aquarium. Oliver loves the shark tank and Uncle "Geeg" (Greg) is meeting us there! Oliver seems tired lately, he's already yawning and we aren't even there. He's also had dark circles under his eyes even though he seems to be sleeping enough hours each day. Chris suggested that maybe the muscle relaxant is making his cheeks droop. I don't think those chubby cheeks have much muscle in them and the medicine doen't seem to be even helping his leg tightness much, let alone his cute little face. We put him down to bed by 7:30 each night and he sleeps from about 8-6:30 on weekdays and from 8-8 on weekends. He also takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. I know his medicine makes him tired but that's supposed to not be an issue after he gets accustomed to it. Stay tuned for fishy photos, maybe with Ollie awake.

Ollie's Field Day Fun

These pictures don't really show how fun field day was today, but these were all taken on my Iphone. I'll have better pictures soon. :)