Kids: July 2008 Archives
July 21, 2008
I forgot to mention a couple of awesome things Ollie is doing lately...
1. He sings along to all kinds of things, but especially the tooth brushing song (he likes singing the "clean" and "mean" parts) and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" (where he does the Awooooooooo werewolf bits). Pure adorableness.
2. His life is filled with so much more intentional noise these days. He talks about what he's doing, what we're doing, he names things (and quizzes us, tries to catch us making mistakes, too!), asks what things are, and makes sound effects for whatever he's playing with. I'm sure in a few months I'll be blase about it, but for now it's totally awesome to see him driving a toy police car along the table edge going "Wee Wee Wee" for the siren. :)
1. He sings along to all kinds of things, but especially the tooth brushing song (he likes singing the "clean" and "mean" parts) and Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" (where he does the Awooooooooo werewolf bits). Pure adorableness.
2. His life is filled with so much more intentional noise these days. He talks about what he's doing, what we're doing, he names things (and quizzes us, tries to catch us making mistakes, too!), asks what things are, and makes sound effects for whatever he's playing with. I'm sure in a few months I'll be blase about it, but for now it's totally awesome to see him driving a toy police car along the table edge going "Wee Wee Wee" for the siren. :)
July 20, 2008
At 18 months Ollie is such a different person than he was at even a year old. He is learning words so fast, and learning to say so much it's amazing. He knows more names than just Mama and Dada, and he'll talk about or ask about people who aren't present (we came home from DC and he was asking us where MeMe, Ree, Nana, and Papa were; he talks about his friend Coco from daycare frequently too). He asks for "cookies" (which can be a cracker, a cookie, bread, etc, although he can say "bread" too) in the cutest, hardest-to-resist voice he can muster.
He's learning subtle distinctions; he can now identify a car vs. a truck, and while all birds are still "ducks" he'll imitate different bird noises when he hears them. He still loves airplanes, especially watching them take off, but he's a big fan of trains ("Too-too") and emergency vehicles (if he sees one, he makes a siren Wee Wee Wee sound, and if it has its lights or siren going he just can't get enough) too.
He still loves reading; in fact, as often as not he just wants to sit in my lap and read to himself before bed, instead of having me read to him. He has an entire book (Moo Baa La La La) memorized, where as you read or recite the book he does the animal noises right on cue.
He's learned to give closed-mouth kisses and even puckers up for them, and he makes happy Mmming noises when cuddling. He gives backrubs and hugs and he loves to dance.
He's definitely in a challenging phase, though; his two favorite words are "Me" and "No", usually repeated at high volume, and he wants to do more and more things for himself. (Which is often a good thing, because he's getting too heavy to carry everywhere :)). He loves crossing the street, so we're practicing doing that safely. He loves pushing limits and seeing what he can get away with. He bites and hits and headbutts when he's tired or frustrated, which is sometimes the hardest to deal with because it tends to be when we're tired or frustrated too. :)
He's sleeping. Oh my heck is he sleeping well all of a sudden -- down for bed by himself (no rocking, just a Sleep Sheep and Gertrude) about 7:30-8, and the last several days he's slept until anywhere from 7:30-8:15. Jenny and I actually stayed up until midnight (our usual pre-Ollie bedtime) the other night and weren't exhausted the next day. He's taking a solid nap each day, too.
All in all I love him to pieces and I'm really glad to be his dada.
He's learning subtle distinctions; he can now identify a car vs. a truck, and while all birds are still "ducks" he'll imitate different bird noises when he hears them. He still loves airplanes, especially watching them take off, but he's a big fan of trains ("Too-too") and emergency vehicles (if he sees one, he makes a siren Wee Wee Wee sound, and if it has its lights or siren going he just can't get enough) too.
He still loves reading; in fact, as often as not he just wants to sit in my lap and read to himself before bed, instead of having me read to him. He has an entire book (Moo Baa La La La) memorized, where as you read or recite the book he does the animal noises right on cue.
He's learned to give closed-mouth kisses and even puckers up for them, and he makes happy Mmming noises when cuddling. He gives backrubs and hugs and he loves to dance.
He's definitely in a challenging phase, though; his two favorite words are "Me" and "No", usually repeated at high volume, and he wants to do more and more things for himself. (Which is often a good thing, because he's getting too heavy to carry everywhere :)). He loves crossing the street, so we're practicing doing that safely. He loves pushing limits and seeing what he can get away with. He bites and hits and headbutts when he's tired or frustrated, which is sometimes the hardest to deal with because it tends to be when we're tired or frustrated too. :)
He's sleeping. Oh my heck is he sleeping well all of a sudden -- down for bed by himself (no rocking, just a Sleep Sheep and Gertrude) about 7:30-8, and the last several days he's slept until anywhere from 7:30-8:15. Jenny and I actually stayed up until midnight (our usual pre-Ollie bedtime) the other night and weren't exhausted the next day. He's taking a solid nap each day, too.
All in all I love him to pieces and I'm really glad to be his dada.
