A day in the life

So, after spending some time with Oliver and I my sister suggested that I keep a tally, just for a day, of how many times I save Oliver's life. At first she suggested cataloging each different incident, but after watching Ollie in action she realized that it would take too much work to write them all down. Rather than keep a daily tally, I decided to pay attention for just a specified period of time, about twenty minutes. This is a list of Ollie's adventures:

(on the deck)

-Oliver tries to crawl off the high side of the deck where there are no stairs, I move him away
-Oliver tries to walk under the picnic table but he has grown too tall and keeps hitting his head, I pull him out from under the table
-Oliver crawls over and sits under the porch swing, I happen to be swinging on the swing so I get off and hold it out of the way
-Oliver puts the cat food in his mouth, I move the catfood to the top of the picnic table
-Oliver tries to drink the cat's water, I distract him with a stick
-Oliver attacks the cat with the stick, I take the stick away
-Oliver climbs into the cats' water dish, I just look the other way
-Oliver goes for the steep side of the deck again, I move him away, again
-Oliver tries to pull his uncles bike over on top of himself, I move the bike off the deck
-Oliver stands up and tries to push the lawn chair off the steep side of the deck, I move Ollie onto the grass
-Oliver makes a beeline for the rocks and begins stuffing them in his mouth, I pick him up and we move inside

(in the kitchen)

-Oliver pushes his walker towards the stairs at top speed, I point him in the other direction
-Oliver pounds on the glass patio door with a golf ball, I move him so that he is pounding on the wall instead
-Oliver opens the cupboard under the sink and plays with the chemical cleaners, I close the cupboard and stand in front of it
-Oliver moves toward the garbage can and removes the lid, I close the lid before he can begin to pull things out
-Oliver heads to the bathroom and unrolls all the toilet paper then closes the door behind him and sits in front of it, I coax him away from the door, open it and re-roll the toilet paper
-Oliver throws the dirt from the house plant all over the floor, I pick him up and we go back outside

(repeat)

This may sound like an exaggeration, but anyone at our house can attest to it's truth. My husband wonders why it now takes me a month to finish a book. Obviously, it is because I can't get through a single sentence without having to put it down and chase after my energetic baby. Can anyone out there relate?

Onward and Upward

My eleven month-old baby is getting so big and so grown up. His vocabulary has now expanded to four words: mama, dada, no, and go (meaning go outside). He has also discovered the joys of pointing. If you show him pictures he can pick out his mom, dad, grandma, grandpa and aunts and uncles. Just so there is no confusion he will also point to exactly where he wants to go and what he wants to eat. (Talk about demanding!) Another funny thing about Oliver is his diet. If you give him a choice between a cookie or a fruit he will pick the fruit every time. The kid is nuts for fruits and vegetables. Every time he finds himself in the front yard he makes a beeline for the strawberry patch and starts picking and stuffing anything that appears to be even remotely pink into his mouth, leaves and all. The other day he picked up a zucchini off the counter and just started to munch on it. It wasn't exactly tiny and he ate at least half of it. I wish I could get some of those healthy tastebuds to rub off on me!

Seven Peaks

Last Saturday we took a mini-vacation to Seven Peaks Water Park. We had a great time, but I was surprised by how different it was than I remembered it being as a child. It seemed a lot smaller and I was no longer completely preoccupied with getting on as many rides as possible. In fact the whole family seemed more interested in watching Oliver than in doing anything else. At one point we were all in the wave pool together and everyone was surrounding Ollie and going under the water and popping back up in unison to make him laugh. It was then that I realized just how ga-ga for Ollie we all are. Of course, our little water bug had a great time and he came home with a great tan line while the rest of us just got burned. Ouch!


Just check out that farmers' tan, Sam has been working pretty hard on that one this summer.

Happy 4th of July

Certain things seem to loose their sparkle as we grow older. Now that I am grown up I have been disappointed to find that I can actually sleep on Christmas Eve, my favorite childhood cartoons were actually really cheesy, and the 4th of July Carnival isn't that incredible after all. I guess one of the reasons we have kids is so we can enjoy all of that stuff again through their eyes. Yesterday we took Oliver to the park for the 4th of July celebrations. We loaded up on tickets and used them all up watching him go on rides (it was much more enjoyable than going ourselves). Although he was a little tentative about it at first he loved it and after a couple of rides he couldn't get enough.

Ready or not here we come...

So, it has been a while and we have a lot to catch up on. To begin with, Oliver took his first steps on Monday June 30th. He only seems to enjoy walking when no one is pressuring him to do it, but you can catch him venturing out on his own every once in a while (you just have to be content to watch out of the corner of your eye).

Aside from that exciting event, we also took a trip to Golden, Colorado last week to check out the school and search for an apartment. I have to say that my first look at Denver was certainly not "love at first sight". Fortunately, Golden is tucked behind some big hills so I never even have to look at Denver if I don't want to. We were super impressed with the school and while we were there Sam even decided to switch programs. He has now decided to study mineral and energy economics. This program is much more specific and the graduates get better jobs when they finish. Unfortunately, the apartment hunting was not so successful. We did find a place that we liked but they didn't want to hold it for us and we didn't want to pay July's rent. We have a place reserved in student housing but living there would only be a possibility if we sold all our furniture and lived with folding chairs and sleeping bags (I'm pretty certain that nothing more than that would fit into the apartment). As it is, I still came home and started selling things that we don't think we'll have room for out there. The first to go was our TV and some baby stuff. I imagine I will be selling even more stuff as our situation grows more desperate. The next things on my list are our treadmill and Love Sac.