The Big 2

If you were going to turn 2 years old, how would YOU celebrate?  Probably in some sort of a pirate-themed, pool activitied way right?  Awesome, that's what we did!

The only thing Grandma and Grandpa's pool was missing was a giant, blow up pirate ship.

Not anymore!

  

Yeah, that's right parents!

"My hands are dirty!"

"Look at my beard?"

"Ahhhhh ha ha ha ha aaaaahhh arrrgh! I'm a pirate!"

You're sleeping in a big boy bed!

The time has finally arrived for the short railings to replace the crib wall.  Yes, your child is leaving infancy behind and stepping up to the BIG BOY BED!!!

This is a pivotal point in a parent's life.  You prepare yourself for the proverbial bump in the night which tells you gravity has won a round, your child's head has a new bump, and your REM cycle will need a reboot.  It's a sometimes nerve-wracking business friends, but hey! It all starts out happy right?

It should be noted that on the morning after night #2 we found Oliver sleeping under the bunk bed on the opposite side of the room so, I'd say it's still a work in progress.

PS - We dropped the binky about a month ago cold turkey one night.  He cried a bit. . . I mean, hey, wouldn't you?  But he's done just fine ever since.

O-pourri

Oliver is at the stage where he is jabbering non stop, sometimes we can't quite understand what he is asking for and he will repeat himself until we understand.  He has a bit of a shoe fetish at the moment, Lincoln's shoes are his favorite. He can be a little shy at first and is definitely a "momma's boy".  AND his last 4 teeth are coming in...finally!  I am not looking forward to life without a binki, but now that the teething phase of life is done, its time to cut him off.

Enjoy Oliver being incredibly cute!

 

Oliver's new favorite toy at Grandma & Grandpa's house...

Indiana Oliver

Darth Oliver

 

Top Gun Training

Notice Oliver is wearing Lincoln's church shoes.

First Easter Egg Hunt

EGG!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

18 Months

Height: 32.5 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 23.5 (25th percentile)

Eating Habits:  Oliver has been acting as if he is "starving" for the last 3 months. He never seem to be done eating, when we take his bib off or try to take him out of his booster chair, he screams and clings to his bib and tray. At least O is not picky and has even started eating meats and cheese.
Diapers: Size 4

Nighttime Routine: 1-2 books and a bath every night with breathing treatments. Sleeping from 7:30 pm to 6:30 am

Accomplishments:
-Lots of words: apple, waffle, hot, cup, mine, me, eat, cracker, mine, wow, no, off, yes, moo, car, mommee, daddee, mmamma (for grandma and grandpa), milk, cookie, coat, shoes, baby, rock, tree, ho ho ho and phrases that sound like "I don't know,  uh-oh, thank you, you're welcome, and all gone".
-He can eat with a spoon. 
-He folds his arms for prayer.
-He loves to help clean up and put things away.
-He can point to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, hands, feet, head, hair, and belly button. -And he can understand directions-I love this age, when they are so willing to put something in the garbage, pick up their toys, and pretty much do everything you ask.  Too bad it doesn't last longer, but its so cute to see him wipe his nose when we ask him too.

Ahh..."Bullen Hair"

Recap of the last three months:
Right around the 15 month mark, Oliver got some kind of stomach bug, he threw up multiple times during the month and constantly had diarrhea. This when on for about a month and half.  We finally took him into the doctor and they thought maybe he had some kid of super stomach bug so Dr. Fisher suggested "stool tests". Let me tell you that the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do was scoop poop into a test tub and even worse I had to ask the daycare to do it too.  We took Oliver off of milk, eggs, citrus and wheat just in case he was allergic to any of those things.  The stool collecting went on for about 2 weeks.  The results came back negative, but he was still having "stomach issues" A couple weeks later we went back to the doctor, only this time we went wtih Pink Eye and "stomach issues"  Dr. Letizia suggested that we do a blood test to rule out food allergies.  In the meantime we had switched Oliver over to Almond and Rice milk with minimal contact with foods that had gluten, eggs or citrus. Again the results came back negative for everything but a mild case of lactose intolerance.  

When we finally got the stomach issues under control in December. I bought pizza from Papa John's for everyone at the daycare for all the extra attention and love they had give to Oliver during this time. We alternate between rice and almond milk and slip him dairy every now and then at the doctors suggestion so he doesn't develop a life long intolerance to dairy. He has done relatively well on small amounts of yogurt, ice cream, milk and cheese.

The week of Christmas the daycare called to tell me that Oliver had a fever of 102.6. I was in a panic trying to get there fast enough. We we walked in the door, and saw that he was almost limp in he's teacher, Ms. Amanda's arms, I couldn't help but cry.  We went straight to the doctor and he had double ear infections and was wheezing. They asked if we had a family history of asthma which I do, Aunt Karla,Uncle John and Grandma Bullen all had childhood asthma. They did a breathing treatment with a Nebulizer and sent us home with our own Nebulizer to give him treatments morning and night.  2 weeks later we were back in the doctor's office with more ear infections and more breathing problems. Dr. Letizia diagnosed Oliver with Over-Reactive Airway Disease and we will have to use the Nebulizer the rest of the winter.

 

Good thing we don't live in Utah, can you imagine how his lungs would have been in the freezing temps?!?


Other than these minor health problems Oliver is doing great. He is a happy, fun loving little guy and we love him!

15 Months

Height: 30.5 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 23.5 (25th percentile)

Eating Habits: Table foods of pretty much any variety but you don't like cheese or lunch meat
Diapers: Size 4

Nighttime Routine: 1-2 books and a bath every night. Sleeping from 7:30 pm to 6:00 pm

Accomplishments:

- You're a sippy cup man now.  No more bottles.

- You are full on teething. You currently have your two top (real chompers) and two bottom front teeth.  Your two top molars (left and right), lateral incisors (top and bottom) are all coming through right now . . . yay!

- You have moved to the 1s at daycare.

- You are fully mobile and can get up and down the stairs easily.  You slide down the stairs on your bum.

- You can throw a ball overhand and kick.

- You really like books.  You get books and go sit in mom's lap to read them.

- You have a few words: that, what that, uh oh, mmm (milk), buh (book), apa (apple), ah me (mommy)

-You play and pretend and imitate animals.  You make growling noises and love to chase and be chased.  You love playing catch.  The other day you were in the bath with Lincoln and you held up a toy dolphin and made it growl at Lincoln.


- A few other tricks he does: gives high five, blows kisses, gives kisses (sometimes), gives hugs, snuggles (occasionally), claps hands, and he's started dancing.  He also sings the clean up song from school = ee up (clean up)

Yeah, but you should see the other guy!

From the looks of this kid you'd think he was part of some underground street fighting ring.  Nope!  It's just week one with the one year olds at daycare!  No Fear!

Hey you like my scratch Ma?

Heeeeeey!

Here are a few other recent developments:

• When he wants something he points to the object and then back to himself. . .until he gets it.
• We were bowling and we asked him if he wanted a cracker and he nodded his head and said "gnah!"  Which we've formally interpreted to mean "Yes!"
• He's standing, walking, and just about scurrying.
• Lots of teething action, which is really fun. . .yeah.

Facefood

Oliver has turned into a toddler overnight! About 2-3 weeks ago he really got the hang of walking and went from crawling with intermittent walking to walking all the time. He started standing up on his own this week.  He babbles constantly and he is starting to understand directions, such as "come sit in your chair to eat". He is getting better at feeding himself. He prefers to dump his food out of his bowl and eat it off the floor or off his tray.  On Monday he will start in the "Ones" class at daycare. AND his top two teeth finally broke through!