Help

Oliver wants to help. When I take out the vacuum he grabs his a toy and pushes it around next to me. When I clean the table, he too needs a sponge so that he can clean the table as well. When I weed, he - well, he pulls up flowers. When I fold laundry, he - well, he unfolds laundry.

In the past week he has become very interested in the plants. He helps to water all the inside plants, and he has three favorite bushes outside that he is obsessively caring for. I've tried, in vain, to get him to water the other bushes, but he has no interest. These guys though - he seems to love. Not only does he water them, but when Pippa tries to dig a hole near them he runs up and yells "No!" and waves his arms back and forth. Believe it or not, she listens.

Catch a Wave

A little over a year ago Davis and I took Oliver to the beach for the first time. He was just a week old and the trip was a disaster. It was super hot and windy and the tent blew over on Oliver and me just as Davis went out to surf, and just as I started to nurse Oliver. A nice lady came and rescued Oliver and me from the tent, and made it clear that she thought I was crazy for bringing a newborn to the beach, and that Davis was horrible for abandoning Oliver on the beach. Here is a picture from that first excursion.
Thankfully we didn't get too hung up on the advice of the very nice lady. Over the past year Oliver has had many many wonderful beach days. And yesterday was another on the list -- it was also the first time this year we went to Jenness Beach (the scene of the tent incident). On our trip yesterday we had our surf board and Oliver's new Boogie board (a present from his cousin Taggart). While the waves were not surf material - but they were great for Boogie boarding. Oliver has been towing the Boogie board around the house since he got it, so he was very pleased the wave conditions were as they were.


The beach was also a great place for Oliver to test out some of his new words. One of the new words being "hot." Much to our amusement Oliver yelled "hot" at all the girls that walked by (although Davis and I both knew that he was just showing off his new word, we both found it pretty hysterical).

We really do need to remember to pull out our real video camera - our little point and shoot just can't capture the smiles and laughter that our video camera could. That being said, it is pretty clear that Davis and Oliver are having a wonderful time.



Thank you again Taggart for the Boogie board!

Peaks to Portland

Saturday was the "Peaks to Portland" race, Davis's first training race for his big swim across the Channel. The race was a 2.4 mile swim from Peaks Island to Portland, in 59 degree water. For his Channel swim Davis can only wear his "swim costume," goggles, and Vaseline (or something similar). Wanting the Peaks swim to be in the spirit of the Channel swim, Davis decided to forgo a wetsuit - out of 247 swimmers, he was one of only a handful of crazy people who donned a speed suit (as Davis likes to call it) rather than a wetsuit.

Davis had also planned to be one of the only few swimmers without a paddler. But, I stepped in and insisted that he have a paddler - thankfully my dad agreed to the the said paddler. Prior to the race, swimmers and paddlers met on the beach on Peaks Island. The race people checked over all the kayaks to make sure that all the necessary equipment was on the boat -- paddle, extra life jacket, water, whistle, flag... My dad, being the ever prepared mariner, also had with him a GPS, marine radio, and chart of Casco Bay (in case Davis decided to start the Channel swim from Maine?). The boat got an extra sticker for the level of preparedness.


Oliver and I were in Portland at the East End Beach waiting for the swimmers to arrive. Not knowing Portland that well, Oliver and I stumbled upon the beach after a 2 mile walk. I had thought the beach would be near a coffee place, or that there would be something in the area where I could find Oliver and I some breakfast. I was wrong, and a little five year old came up and pointed it out - "What is your baby eating?" "Split pea soup." "Why is he eating split pea soup for breakfast?" Figuring honesty was the best route - "Because I found it in the bottom of his bag." Oops. For the record, Oliver didn't seem to mind the split pea soup and loved running around the beach waiting for the swimmers and paddlers to arrive.

Davis- just after finishing. Davis finished the swim in 1 hour and 1 minute - he was 74th out of 247 swimmers.
The team.
Oliver, stopped for one second - trying to determine which kayak he should try and pillage next.

When we got home Oliver captured the flag.

A big thank you to Jedd - Jedd let us stay at his amazing apartment in Portland the night before the race - staying in Portland was wonderful. Not only did we get to eat yummy sushi the night before the race, but we also were able to sleep a bit later (no 4 AM wake up to make the ferry). Thank you Jedd!

Wheels

This past weekend Oliver got a fancy new set of wheels. Despite numerous attempts at trying to get Oliver to be a two handed driver, he insists on taking a more laid back approach.




Our neighbor Joe has a super old truck. The other day as I was getting Oliver into the stroller Joe commented that although his truck has a ridiculous number of miles on it, he thinks the stroller might have more. Later on, as Oliver and I were headed down the driveway on his new bike, Joe and my dad were speculating on the number of wheels we would go through. It is true, Oliver and I do spend a lot of time out and about -- when we get home, and I shut the gate, Oliver goes right over to it and tries to pull it open. And when we get inside, he just stands at the door and bangs on it. What can I say? Oliver clearly takes after both Davis and me -- two people who would much rather be outside than inside. as you can see, we have long stopped caring about whether or not the sun is shining.

Water...Baby

Oliver and I made our first solo plane trip on Monday. I was a bit nervous about having to try and contain Oliver for a couple hours without Davis's help. Despite taking a two hour nap and waking up just as we were getting on the plane, Oliver was a champion. He even helped the pilot during take off by jumping up and down on the seat and yelling "vroooooom."

When Davis met us at the airport Oliver, who had been running around, stop and stared -- he was utterly confused. After getting over his initial shock he got super excited and ran to give his dad a hug, and then crashed on the sidewalk and got a bit of road rash. So excited to see his dad, Oliver picked himself up without a cry.

Another moment of awe and confusion was when we arrived at Oliver's grandmother's house. Grammie Margot has a pool in her backyard. When we got out of the car and stepped into her back yard Oliver just stopped and stared. When we let him pop from lunch to the pool the little guy couldn't contain himself.


We spent much of our trip visiting Oliver's grandfather Rickey in the hospital. Oliver brought his dog with him and charmed Rickey and the nurses by walking his dog up and down the hallway.

Although Oliver didn't really slow down enough to give either his grandmother or grandfather a hug and a kiss (which is probably best avoided anyway), he did have a wonderful time visiting them and is looking forward to heading south again soon.

Davis brought home with him a camera full of pictures of Caitlin. She looks so beautiful and Tim and Carolyn look so at ease and so put together. And here is a picture of a happy uncle.

It's a girl!

Oliver has a little cousin!

Caitlin was born at 11:19 in the morning on July 17th. Davis is down in Virginia and was able to meet Caitlin - and says she is adorable. He also says that Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Tim are doing well. Oliver and I are looking forward to meeting Caitlin and to giving Carolyn and Tim and big congratulations hug (and slobber (that would be Oliver)).

Congratulations!

Summer

This last week has finally felt like summer. Oliver, Carragh, Brigid and I have become regulars at the beach. The other day Davis and Matt were able to join us as well. I am not sure who had more fun playing in the sand, Oliver and Carragh, or Davis and Matt.

Friends, new and old

On Monday Oliver and I went to Marblehead to meet Nola Victoria Rose de Mol van Otterloo (as her father says - good luck filling out bubbles on official documents). Little Nola was born on June 21st -- just a few days before her big sister Fiona turned three. Nola was even more beautiful in person (and so wonderfully content) and Fiona was a gracious host. Oliver thoroughly enjoyed playing with her toys, walking their dogs (like Oliver, Fiona has a little stuffed dog she likes to walk) and running around the yard.

Meeting Nola, and getting to spend time with Fiona is so special. Erin and I have been friends for more than 30 years. I love that we now live just a short drive away from each other and therefore can see each other more often than we used to be able to -- and that our little ones can grow up together.

Congratulations-again- to Erin, Sander and Fiona. And welcome little Nola.

Double diamond

Life with Oliver has never been dull. He is an adventurer, an explorer, a non-stop tumble-weed of energy. When he wakes up in the morning he either sits straight up and starts clapping, or else stands up and immediately starts jumping on the bed. Rumor has it some parents can snuggle with their little one and get them to fall back to sleep for a little while - Davis and I have tried to do this and have ended up with fat lips and chunks of hair missing from our heads (Oliver has also used this time to perfect Chuck Norris-style round house kicks) - when Oliver is up, he is moving.

While every day has been an adventure, I feel as though Oliver has decided that we are, ready or not, going to forgo the green and blue trails we've stuck to thus far and hit the double diamonds. What, you might ask, constitutes double diamond when not on the ski slope? I'll give you some examples from the past few days.

On Saturday we decided to introduce whole milk to Oliver. We filled his sippy cup with the milk and handed it to him with much fanfare. He took a sip, looked at Davis and me, and walked over to the trash can. He lifted the lid, threw the cup in, and then slammed the lid down. Undeterred, Davis and I filled a glass with milk. We thought the excitement of drinking out of a glass, rather than his sippy cup, would win him over - not so. Oliver took a big sip of milk, looked at us and then spit the milk on the floor and stomped on it.

On a nice night our neighbor and his friends sit outside together and have a drink and catch up. Oliver loves these guys. On Saturday night, after Oliver had made himself "one of the boys" for probably a bit longer than Joe and his friends would have liked, we brought him inside. Oliver wanted none of it. He went to the window, climbed up on the baseboard, and then pulled himself up to the window sill and began banging at the window - I'm not sure if he was trying to get the attention of Joe and his friends, or if he was trying to bust out.

Breakfast tends to be my "leisurely" (I use this term loosely) meal of the day. Oliver is usually so excited to see his toys after a night away from them that he will play with them for a few minutes and let me sit and have a cup of coffee and maybe some cereal. This morning Davis and I were both at the dining room table having coffee when Oliver stood up from playing and tore off his diaper. Given that I had just changed his diaper less than 5 minutes prior we laughed and I grabbed the camera. Proud of his accomplishment Oliver took several victory laps around the house. On about his fourth lap he came within arms reach of me and I grabbed him - only to discover that the diaper was full of poop. A quick look at the floor and we discovered that when Oliver flung off his diaper he flung poop onto the floor.

After cleaning up the floor and cleaning up Oliver Davis headed upstairs to take a shower. Oliver grabbed his pet dog (he has a stuffed dog on a leash that he is very diligent about walking) and began walking him around the house. I sat back down with my coffee. I took a sip and realized that Oliver had entered the kitchen and all was quiet -- not good. I turn around and see that Oliver has managed to scale the oven - within two seconds the little monster had managed to use the handle to the drawer under the oven, the oven door, and a burner and was close to being on top of the oven.

Should I go into detail about the slug eating, or Oliver's cleaning help (mopping the floor with the toilet brush)?

While double diamond days do not lend themselves well to sitting, eating, or going to the bathroom - they do lend themselves to laughter and they do keep me on my toes.

Boys

On Friday Davis, Oliver and I met up with Liz, Adam and Ethan at Wells Beach. It had been too long since we'd seen each other. Adam is ever changing - such big smiles and scooting all over the place - and Ethan was (as usual) beyond excited to see Davis (Davis got a HUGE hug when we arrived - I didn't even get a cursory glance). It was also fun to see Ethan and Oliver interact - while not yet playing together, they were interested in one another and had a great time.

At one point Davis and I had all the boys down by the water. While we were playing a nice man came up and offered to take a picture of our "family." Not wanting to get into the details - or logistics (2 and 1/2 years, 8 months and 12 months...) - I said that it would be "so special" if he could capture our day at the beach. So here it is -
And here is a picture of just the boys playing -

Noise

At Oliver's first year appointment Dr. Alice asked if Oliver babbled. On cue, he looked at her and gave her his very best babble. He is quite a talkative little guy and he has sound effects for most everything. And, as I learned from Liz, at least one of these sound effects, vroom, can be counted as a word!

We spent July 4th weekend in Rockport and, as luck would have it, the sun appeared for part of our trip. We took advantage of the nice weather and headed off in the boat. Anna, who has been on an extended vacation in Maine, joined us on our adventure.


Unfortunately the boat is loud on the video and you can't hear - but Oliver is vrooming along with the boat and then echoing the fog horn (which I guess was so used to going off for the past month that it decided to sound despite the sun).


Our boating adventure took us to Birch Island. We took a walk around the island when we arrived - Oliver enjoyed climbing up the rocks and quacking at the seagulls and Anna enjoyed finding anything and everything gross and rolling in it. Oliver and his Papa also enjoyed building (Papa) and destroying (Oliver) castles.



Oliver discovered the piano on this visit and loved pounding on the keys and growling (I am not sure why piano playing is associated with growling, but it is). Uncle Jon and Oliver spent some time at the piano together.
Oliver really liked spending time with his Uncle Jon. Perhaps it was the pepperoni pizza Jon shared with him, or the plain pizza Jon bought him, or maybe it was that Uncle Jon taught Oliver that he could play the piano with his feet.
Oliver didn't know if he should laugh or growl, so he did a combination - it was pretty funny.

Celebrations

Last week we celebrated Oliver's first birthday with friends and family. The celebration began last Wednesday, the day before Oliver's birthday. We had two of his little friends over, as well as Maggie and Tommy - his two "big" friends from across the street. After his escapades with his Papa's chocolate cream pie we were interested to see how he would react to the cupcakes we made for him.

He began by giving them a look over -
And then started exploring them a bit more -
His friend Carragh was a bit dismayed at his restraint and began to crawl across the table to grab a cupcake (or two) for herself (notice her little tongue) -
Eventually Oliver did mush the cupcakes up a bit more, but it was clear that cupcakes were not as interesting to him as the chocolate cream pie had been the week before (that is not to say that a mess was not made).
On Oliver's actual birthday we celebrated with his Aunt Elizabeth and her dog Pippa. While Oliver didn't have cake, pie, or ice cream on his birthday he did manage to eat a piece of pizza and two egg rolls.

On Friday we headed to Maine where we celebrated with his Papa, Noni, Uncle Jon, his great grandmother, his friend Kristi, and four wet (yes, it was still raining) dogs.

Knowing that Oliver is a big fan of ice cream he was given an ice cream cake.

Although he did like the candle, he was off and running before sampling a bite of ice cream.
Davis celebrates his birthday on Friday - we'll see, maybe Oliver will convince Davis that a chocolate cream pie is the celebration food of choice.

One

Today Oliver is one!

On the one hand it seems like just yesterday we were at Beverly Hospital with our wonderful midwife, Eva, welcoming Oliver into the world. On the other hand it seems as though Oliver has always been a part of our lives.

The changes Oliver has gone through, and what he has accomplished over this past year are astounding. When he was born he was 8 pounds 3 ounces and was 21 inches long. At his one year appointment yesterday we learned that he is now 22 pounds 6 ounces and 31 inches long! He also also gone from, well, a lump (an adorable lump), to a child with an amazing personality. He loves to go go go and go some more. He runs around, loves destroying things, climbing things, loves anything dangerous, absolutely loves being outside, loves dogs, loves ducks, he loves to quack, and he loves to smile and laugh. He also loves his Rick Charrette CD, especially the song "I love mud." Whenever the song comes on Oliver starts clapping and laughing. He is one of the happiest children I have ever met. Oliver hates being contained - and one of his greatest dislikes (hate might actually be a better word) - is his crib. If Oliver ever becomes president I would not be surprised if he banned cribs.

While Oliver has learned to, among other things, roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, talk, listen, clap, and talk, I too have learned a lot over this past year. There are the obvious things like how to change a diaper while chasing Oliver across the room, how to survive on minimal sleep, and how to sing all the versus of "I love mud." But there are also the not so obvious, or rather, the things I never thought about before I was a mom. Before having Oliver I had opinions on parenting and opinions on the type of parent I would be. Then Oliver arrived. Although the pediatrician said that there is no manual for babies, what I found is that there are a million manuals -- there are so many parenting books. It seems like every book has the "right" answer and if you don't follow what that book says, you are "wrong" and may do harm to your child. Seriously, the amount of information, conflicting information, is crazy. What is also crazy is the lack of academic literature out there. Clearly there is no "right." What I have learned is to put the books away, to ask people I love and trust for advice, and to take that advice with a grain (or two) of salt. I have learned to listen to Oliver, and to my heart and to Davis. For me, this is how I can be the best parent possible to Oliver. I have also learned that for other moms this is not the best option. In short, every family needs to figure out what works for them - and only they can figure that out.

The other thing I have learned is to let go (although sometimes this is a bit challenging). I have learned that juggling work, Oliver, Davis, and me is tough. I have learned that the growing piles of clutter and the bigger and bigger "to do" lists are not important. What is important is playing with Oliver, spending time with Davis, and taking those few minutes of "free" time and giving them to myself rather than to checking things off a list.

I love seeing the world through Oliver's eyes and look forward to what he will show me over the next year.

Happy birthday Oliver!