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).