Oliver has mastered several milestones this month, which means it's been a busy month! He's now a
champion sitter. It's so great to be able to put him on the floor and not worry about him falling backwards immediately. There's definitely still the threat of him falling over and conking his head, but it's not as likely as it was two weeks ago. He's also grasping toys and it seems like he's trying to figure them
out which is pretty darn cool. He'll grab one, turn it around and around to look at it, and then, usually, throw it on the floor. :) It's hard to keep him occupied because he's so interested in new things and getting increasingly bored with the same old toys. Of course, he takes a special interest in sister Zoë's toys, whatever she happens to be playing with, so that usually ignites some sparks from her. We've been working on
gently taking the toys out of his hands rather than yanking them and pulling him face-first into the floor. It's definitely one of my recent frustrations to try to teach Zoë that not ALL of the toys in our house are ALL hers anymore. Bringing up the baby toys has been especially frustrating because while she hasn't seen them in over a year, she
hasn't seen them in over a year, so they're novel to her again. She tends to bogart the toys and give Oliver the less exciting ones, which of course he's not thrilled with.
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| Oliver's first playdate at our house with all of his friends. Laila, Abby, Major, Oliver, and Addison |
I weighed O at baby group on Wednesday and he's 21.5 pounds. Only gained a pound this month, boo hoo! :) He's in 12 month clothes officially (and a size 4 diaper...which is what Zoë was in until we potty trained last December) and I'm wondering how I should buy for him for Christmas since if he continued to grow at his previous rate he'd be well into the 18 month clothes by then, but if he slows down now he may not be.
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| Oliver is AWESOME in a plank position. He's rocking on his knees and hands with a little support behind his feet, too. |
He's still only taking cat-naps during the day: 20-30 minutes at a time. If I'm really lucky he'll nap for about an hour in the early afternoon. He's still sleeping through the night, though, which is really the most important sleep of all! And, he's definitely the happiest boy on the block when he wakes up in the morning, which is my favorite part of the day. I love giggling with him after he wakes up for the second time and then giggling with both him and Zoë when she finally wakes up and I bring her into our bed to snuggle.
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| Loves to eat...and make a mess. |
I've been mourning the fact that I'm 6 months through my last baby's baby stage. It's been hitting me a lot harder lately and it's all going way too fast. OK, that's enough dwelling on that otherwise the tears will start to come again.
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| Love my buddy. |
Zoë got sick for the first time this weekend...so here starts the LONG winter season of sickness for our kiddo. I'll be interested in finding out if she's sick less this year not being in daycare around kids every day OR if it doesn't really matter and she's sick all the time anyway. I've got to get her into the doctor for a flu shot for sure...
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| Rescuing her friends from a block of ice. |
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| "I don't want the sun to look at me." |
She's becoming sassier and sassier and can really use words to get her point across now. I'm terrified of how the next year will go knowing that becoming a 'threenager' is in her future. Yikes!
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Early mornings are my favorite.
They're the best snuggle buddies before breakfast. |
We have a busy month already planned out (of course!) with lots of Halloween shenanigans to start off the busy holiday season. The kids' Halloween costumes are mostly done, I have a couple of ears to sew onto Zoë's hoodie and a red ribbon onto Oliver's and then I'm done...two weeks before our first event. Woo hoo!
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Burien Brat Trot 5K.
Chris was a champ and pushed the double stroller up some killer hills. |
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| Grandma made Zoë a special dress for the Brat Trot. |
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| Everybody watching Olivia. |
Zoë continues to be a good big sister. 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time she's whining about sharing her toys or doing half-kicks in her brother's direction out of frustration. She IS very helpful, though. She's always willing to go grab a wipe for mom in a pinch when brother is spitting up, or grab a toy for him when he throws it on the ground from his highchair, or sit with him and play with him while mom takes a shower or takes care of a chore. We say all the time (and most often after spending time with other kids), we are so thankful for our easy-going child. Here's hoping Oliver keeps on the path of easy-going-ness he is on right now and follows in his sister's footsteps!
After Trick-Or-Treating update: We had SO much fun today...it was a banner day for the Seaman Clan. We went with a few friends down to downtown Des Moines to participate in the Trick-or-Treat path put on by the businesses on the main streets. Zoë LOVED Trick-or-Treating and after about the third or fourth business we visited she had it down. We spent more than an hour walking through town and Zoë was thrilled to collect so much candy. It was a wonderful community event and even Chris and I proclaimed it as a REALLY fun time. Zoë said as we were driving back home "I really like it here". 
