Picasso

We decided to let Oliver try his hand (toes, belly, head, face...) at painting. We covered the floor in newsprint and finger paint and set him free. Given his love for messiness we thought both he and the newsprint would be covered in paint. Surprisingly Oliver had no interest in the paint - what he did have interest in was shredding the paper. Perhaps he has a budding career in finance rather than as an artist.

Other exciting news is that Oliver has said his first word! Last week both Davis and I were sure that he said "dog" when looking at Pippa. He said it a couple times, over several days, but we thought maybe we were just being overeager parents. Well, this morning Elizabeth heard it too - Elizabeth and Pippa walked into the house and Oliver said "dog" when he saw Pippa. So it is official - yeah Oliver!

Perfect days

Yesterday was one of those days. It was a day that felt more like August 25th than April 25th - spectacular blue skies and - hot! I got to spend the afternoon with four of the most wonderful women I know, Liz, Melissa, Sarah and Kate. While we used to all get together at least once a week and consume more than our fair share of wine and cheese, our lives have all evolved. With work, a growing brood of kids, and trips back and forth to Minneapolis for an amazing man - we have little free time. So while we are, unfortunately, not able to get together every week, I love that we are still able to find an afternoon here and there to spend together. We have another date on the calendar - less than a month - I am I looking forward to another fun afternoon.

While I was enjoying girl-time Davis, Elizabeth and Pippa took Oliver to the beach. Pippa's love for sticks and the water, combined with an unexpectedly crowded beach, brought their beach day to an end earlier than anticipated. However, Oliver's fun was not cut short. Elizabeth dragged Anna's pool from the garage and cleaned it out. I arrived back from my afternoon in time to see the little guy take his first dip in the pool - he loved it!

Monkey on my...head

There was an ad on TV recently for a new show called "Motherhood." The ad showed a mom saying she had run out of diapers and had been using paper towels and duct tape. I immediately wrote off the show as dumb.

Then today happened. Davis, Oliver and I headed to the beach. We managed to remember sunscreen, trucks, balls, blankets, pails and shovels - but we forgot a hat. We tried rubbing sunscreen in Oliver's hair, but, as it turns out baby sunscreen doesn't really "spread" so instead we ended up with clumps of slimy hair and clumps of sunscreen. We searched our bag for hat alternatives - we came up with Oliver's friend Sid. So yes, Oliver was the kid on the beach with a monkey tied to his head. Maybe paper towels and duct tape is not so far fetched.

Slip Sliding Away

This past weekend Oliver went to the park with his papa and noni. It had rained the previous evening and the little slide I usually take Oliver on was wet - papa and noni decided that it would be a good time to introduce him to the tunnel slide - he loved it!

You would think that being a little over 2 and a half feet tall would make walking a bit tiring - not for Oliver! Oliver wants to walk everywhere, and he can walk for much much longer than you would think a little guy could walk.

Last night he inadvertently took a couple steps by himself - Davis and I are hoping the little guy is up and running on his own soon.

Plain or Sugar?

Last week Oliver's Aunt Elizabeth called when she was getting out of work to see if Oliver wanted to join her for an ice cream cone. My initial response was no - no way was Oliver, at 9 months, going to be introduced to ice cream. But then I thought a bit more and realized that by withholding ice cream from Oliver I would be subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment (you can see how deep my love for ice cream runs). So Davis and I quickly threw Oliver in the car and headed into town to meet Elizabeth.

Oliver, it appears, takes after his mom and loves ice cream. His favorite - ice cream in a cone (he's not big on utensils).

Trucks

Yesterday we were invited to celebrate Greek Easter with our friends Brigid, Matt and Carragh. Oliver and Carragh loved playing with the trucks and playing, what one of Carragh's cousins termed, baby foozeball. Oliver also got his first taste of lamb (an event Davis has long been waiting for), and he seemed to really enjoy it. By the time we left Oliver was filthy and exhausted.

Beach Day!

Yesterday was a beautiful summer-like day (looks like our efforts to bring the warm weather have started to work), so we decided to head to the beach. Oliver and I brought a pail and shovel and Davis brought his wet suit. While Davis went for a nice mid-morning swim in 40-something degree water, Oliver and I had a great time playing in the sand. I was unsure, given his love for putting everything in his mouth, if he was going to take after Molly Doyle and eat handful after fistful of sand. Surprisingly he took just one little taste of the sand and decided instead to focus on squishing it between his fingers. Oliver and I are looking forward to lots more playtime on the beach - and crazy Davis is looking forward to more cold water swimming.

Men at Work

In an effort to hurry the arrival of warm, sunny, margarita weather we have been doing a lot of yard work this week. But it hasn't been all work and no play; Oliver and Davis have been enjoying pushing each other around in the new wheelbarrow (alright - Oliver has been the only one getting rides).


As of today we have officially gotten rid of the dirt pile, we've spread mulch, seeded the yard, and put out the furniture -- anyone want to come over and help us hasten the arrival of warmer weather? We'll give wheelbarrow rides...

Zoo starter kit

We spent this past weekend in Arlington, Virginia visiting Oliver's aunts, uncles and grandparents. Oliver had a wonderful time playing with everyone - however, Davis and I were so intent on keeping Oliver's path of destruction to a minimum that we neglected to take pictures of the visit. We hope to see everyone again soon - and remember to bring out the camera!

The weather in Virginia was amazing - especially compared to the weather here - and so we decided to take Oliver on his first trip to the zoo. On the ride over Davis kept telling Oliver about all the animals he was going to see - I told Davis to be careful since we weren't sure what animals would actually be at the zoo. Davis said that he was sure the National Zoo would at least have the "Zoo Starter Kit" - giraffes, bears, monkeys, hippos, a big snake, and a crocodile. And he was sure that the zoo, given it was the National Zoo, had gotten the upgraded kit - and so it would have lions, tigers, and elephants. We were disappointed to find that the zoo didn't get the starter kit - no giraffes! Despite the lack of giraffes Oliver had a great time at the zoo. His favorite animal was the little black bird that flew over us while looking at the lion. His second favorite was the emo, and his third - the orangutan.



Oliver also enjoyed walking around the zoo. Luckily it was full of children doing the same thing, so we didn't hold up traffic too much.

Sharing

Oliver has discovered sharing; however, like waving, he seems to only be interested in sharing with a select few. Mr. Parrot is one of the lucky few, as are the "Biscuit Sharks," Anna and Pippa. It seems that at 9 months old Oliver has already perfected "sharing" with the sharks. Last night I cooked him sweet potato for dinner. The little bugger took a bite, looked at me, scooped the potato out of his mouth, and leaned over the side of his chair and waved his hand around -- seconds later Pippa took the potato. Potato-free Oliver looked at me, smiled and shoved a bunch of Puffs in his mouth. I tried again to give him sweet potato, and again, Oliver scooped the potato out of his mouth and fed it to Pippa.

Not captured

Although we have discovered the fun of trying to capture milestones, antics, and just plain fun on camera there are, of course, moments that are not captured.

A couple recent moments had to do with Mr. Parrot. Mr. Parrot has been away on vacation (he actually got eaten by a dog) and a "new" Mr. Parrot arrived in the mail. Oliver's face when we opened the box and he saw Mr. Parrot was, not to copy Mastercard, but it was just priceless. Also priceless was Oliver, so excited to see Mr. Parrot that he kept trying to put his pacifier in Mr. Parrot's mouth (beak).

Another moment was last night. We were playing with several of Oliver's friends and I commented that while Oliver does a great high-five I have not been able to get him to wave good-bye. I then scoop Oliver up to leave, say good-bye and look - Oliver is waving good-bye to his little friends. Davis, Elizabeth and I kept trying last night for a repeat performance, but we have been unsuccessful - I guess he just saves his waves for his litle friends.

"Cousins"

This past weekend we got together with family to celebrate my Aunt's birthday. Oliver doesn't have any cousins of his own (yet), but at the party he met my cousin Pete's little girls. The girls loved playing with Oliver, and Oliver seemed to have a great time with them.

Here is a great picture of Oliver's great grandmother with all three of her great grandchildren.