We just returned from visiting the whole family. What a great trip! Oliver looks healthy and happy. He is feeling very proud of himself these days, as he has recently learned to walk! Just a few weeks ago he took his first steps, and now he is walking very steadily. He still crawls about fifty percent of the time, but super fast. I saw him using his sign language well; his most used signs were ‘bird’ and ‘more’. Saying quite a few words too- I wish I could remember which ones. I love the way he says ‘mom’, it sounds more like ‘mam’. He doesn’t complain much compared to most babies, but he does notice when mom is not in the room anymore. He calls out to her or he looks at one of us and says ‘mom’ with a question in his voice. I also noticed him making two-word sentences, like ‘grandma mom?’ which means: Grandma, where is mom? Oliver is really into playing with Hot Wheels, and balls. We didn’t have a ball in Anaheim, so he turned a green apple into one. After a few days, that apple had tiny little bites all over it. Oliver would roll it, take a bite, roll it, take another bite. It’s really funny how good he is at whacking the ball, he is really very precise with his aim! Sometimes he backs up and gets a fast-crawling start, when he really wants to launch it far. Other times he is able to fly the ball into your lap from the ground, again with very good aim.
He has also developed a little mischievous sense of humor. You can see it in his eyes sometimes. Like when he’s taking a bath in the sink and he suddenly gets a hilarious idea, and next thing you know he just splashed a bunch of water at you and you’re soaked and he’s cracking up. I saw him almost sneeze once while Grandma was holding him, and in anticipation, she turned her head away quickly. Well Oliver thought that was hilarious and afterward he started pretending to sneeze, just to make Grandma turn away scared again. It really is funny stuff. Most of the time though we have to pretend it wasn’t funny at all, because it might encourage him to do it again. This can be very difficult sometimes!
Being at Disneyland with Oliver was really a treat. Once upon a time, being anywhere outside in the real world with Oliver was amazing and something we wouldn’t take for granted. Now we had the chance to be with him on his first ever trip to Disneyland! We couldn’t ask for anything better. Oliver did what he always does- amaze and delight everyone around him. He loved loved loved Mickey and all the characters. The Mickey statue in front of the Disney hotel was hands-down his favorite. When it came into view, he would start kicking his legs and waving his arms like crazy. This was without prompting. He just loved to see it! He loved the shows and parades. He stared at the colorful lights in the trees and pointed them out to us. He loved the rides he went on, for the most part. I saw him slapping his hands on his lap in time to the Small World music. He would watch the live dixie bands with pure joy on his face, his little body trying to dance while in mommy’s wrap. We had to pry him away quickly from the live characters, his arms reaching out to them and his voice telling us he didn’t like what we were doing. Oliver had a marvelous time in Disneyland, and we have photos to prove it! I haven’t sorted through mine yet, but if anyone else has some cute ones, send them to me and I’ll post them for you.
