In the 2ww

My breasts are sore.  I noticed it yesterday, and today it got worse.  I’ve never had sore breasts before – except when I was pregnant and nursing.  But I’m literally about five days past ovulation.  There’s no way these could be pregnancy symptoms.  I haven’t noticed anything else, but my breasts are definitely sore.  Two weeks is a long time to wait…

At fifteen months

Well, fifteen-and-a-half months, to be fair. Oliver had his 15-month well-child visit with the pediatrician last Tuesday. He is 31 1/4" and 23 lbs. 5 oz., and his ears were clear for the first time in months. He's grown about an inch and gained three pounds in the last three months. He's now about as heavy as the dog. He continues to be in about the same percentile -- except in weight, which went up from 55%tile to 75%tile. It shows, too. His tummy keeps peeking out of his shirt, the way mine did towards the end of my pregnancy. I have actually worried a bit about this, but everyone keeps telling me that all toddlers get the belly. I'm wondering if it's because he walked later and hasn't been burning off the calories.

The last few months have been lots of fun with him. I say it at every stage, but it's true! He's finally walking, is interested and into everything. Yesterday he learned how to climb the side table next to the couch and, as of today, face dive onto the couch -- where, fortunately or unfortunately I'm not sure, I'm sitting. He loves to climb up the step stool, which is only out when in use. Inevitably Wes and I got up it only to find when we try to come down that Oliver is right behind us. His newly daring nature is showing, too. He bobbled in the bathroom last week and got a gash next to his eye. He fell hard on his butt and back yesterday and got a bloody nose. Then he crashed off the couch but has his fall broken by the dog, who was not happy to do so. Oliver has started playing a lot on Lucy's bed, which concerns me a little. She needs a place to be apart, if she so chooses, especially as he gets more rowdy. We're having to say no to him or redirect a lot, and he's not always happy about it. He usually gets over it pretty quickly though, and it's certainly necessary if he's going to make it to two. He loves to push his truck, stack the blocks, and put the shapes through their respective holes on the one toy. He still likes all kinds of non-toys, including the remote control. He can reach almost every surfact in the house now, at least the end towards him. I learned this today as I watched him start to pick up a very sharp Henkels chopping knife from the kitchen counter. Lesson learned.

Since Thanksgiving and more recently my parents' visit, he loves to hold his arms in the air to be picked up. This is not something he did before the trip to my parents' at Thanksgiving, and I blame my family members personally for encouraging this behavior. Last week I took him and the dog to the park, and I let Oliver out of his stroller to walk to the playground. A lady walked up with her dog to say hello, and Oliver marched right over and held his arms up to her! I can see we need to talk about stranger danger.

The only thing he seems delayed in, to me, is talking. I don't recognize really any words. Sometimes some things he says sound a little like an actual word, but it's then applied to sundry other things. He says "mama" and "dada," but not really to us. The pediatrician told me to focus on receptive language -- like asking him for the ball or to point to the truck. I started doing this when I got home from the appointment. Sometimes he does it, and sometimes he doesn't. And usually I can't tell if he knew what I was saying or just happened upon the right item, or if he didn't understand or did but chose to ignore me. He communicates well through physical action and does a little signing, and we're trying to add to his signs. I don't want to be the worried mother, and I'm not too worried, but I'd rather ask now than have problems later. The pediatrician said if we don't see improvement by his 18-month appointment, she'll think about speech therapy for him. He's such a good kid, I hate to think there's anything seriously wrong with him, but I'm also a teacher and know some kids need more help. We'll figure it out, though!

LOL

Oliver got to open his few Christmas presents this year on Christmas Eve. Wes worked Christmas day, and I wanted him to get to see Oliver open his presents. Of course, he still didn't really get what to do, and we had to help a lot, but it fun to see him respond to the two toys he got (while I, of course, got excited about his new clothes). We did a web chat with my sister Laura so she could join in. Oliver wasn't sure what to make about the voice coming out of the computer talking to him, but he did like looking at the picture of a little boy (him!) on the computer screen. Lucy, meanwhile, kept cocking her head back and forth as Laura's dog barked, and she eventually answered back.

Yup, he's a Neiheisel

Oliver is absolutely enchanted with our vacuum. It helps that it's a canister vac and not an upright. He can get his hands around the vacuum easily, and it rolls back and forth nicely. What makes me laugh so much, though, is how he vacuums. He doesn't just stand there and push it a little -- he hunches over like I do to get under the couch and such. It'll still be a bit before I can hand off this household chore to him, but it's nice to see him taking so much initiative.

A coat of many colors

Thanksgiving in Georgia

Product placement

Dear Husband, Part 38

On the phone with Wes last Friday.

Wes: G says he wants to go to Home Depot.
Liz: What for?
Wes: To get a Christmas tree.
Liz: I thought we were going this weekend.
Wes: I know, but he wants to go now.
Liz: So you've already picked him up?
Wes: No.
Liz: Then how do you know he wants to go to Home Depot and get a Christmas tree?
Wes: I can just tell these things.

Oliver's Thanksgiving, in food

The view from the top

Ollie has been playing recently on the bunk bed in the other upstairs bedroom. Wes and I let him crawl around on the lower bunk, and Wes puts him up on the top bunk (which doesn't have a mattress) to look down over the side. The bear plays, too. Oliver loves to try to climb up the ladder to the top bunk. Rest assured, he doesn't make any progress without our help -- but it doesn't stop him from trying.

The green blanket

My family has a kind of tradition with these green army poncho liners, aka "the green blanket." I think the first one came from my uncle who served in Vietnam. The outside fabric is really soft, especially when the blanket gets worn from use, and there's ties all around that make it lots of fun to tie to things and make a fort. I've started doing this recently will Ollie. He loves to hide under the blankets. Wes will get on our bed with him and pull the comforter over them and let Oliver crawl around. I made one this past weekend to give Oliver somewhere to play while I tried to work. He loves going in and out of. Ollie also likes going up the step ladder, too, though, which isn't ideal.

The walking man walks

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, Oliver finally started walking. He took his first few steps on Sunday, November 22. I had taken his walking toy with us to my parents' house, and he spent Saturday pushing it up and down their steep driveway and cruising around the house. On Sunday, we had some definitive steps taken independent of the walker, and it was witnessed by multiple parties. His walking evolved over the course of the week, from a few steps between a person and a piece of furniture to a long haul from the pantry into the living room (for which my sister baited him with a goldfish cracker).

Wes and I had actually seen the first moves towards this at home the previous week. We had seen him stand independently, even standing up in the middle of the floor and, in some cases, hoisting large toys (like his big dump truck) while doing so. I guess he felt emboldened by this and decided to finally try out walking.

He's still pretty mixed in how he moves around the house. We try as much as possible to put him down in the middle of the floor so he'll walk some, and if he loses his balance he just stands back up and keeps going. He'll go into the living room in the morning after breakfast and get his walker down off the window seat. I've yet to get to see this happen. I've usually not noticed until I see him cruising around with the walking toy, and since I've yet to hear a crash, that must mean it's not too hard for him to do. He likes to try the stairs standing up when there are supports on the hand rail to hold on to. (He's currently trying to push the walker with one hand and carry the dump truck with the other.) He still crawls some, crabs some, occasionally walks on his knees. His walking is definitely slow and stiff-legged -- but it's there.

Baa-ram-ewe

At the petting zoo at the Pumpkin Festival in Franklin. He liked the boar's wiry hair.

My first pony ride!

Oliver went on his first pony ride at the Pumpking Festival in Franklin today. He was certainly the smallest guy up there, but it was fun to do. He had the same look on his face he had the first few times he went on the swings. He wasn't upset, but he wasn't loving it either.

A walker

While at Laura's, I finally caved and bought Oliver a walking toy. I'd been hesitant to do so. In part because Wes and I hate buying toys. The kid plays with anything, so we'd rather not spend money on something he doesn't really care about having. Plus, I kept hoping he'd just get going on his own and spare me the indignity of buying something he was only going to really use for two or three weeks. And a lot of these walking toys are fifty dollars are more.

But on a trip to Wal-Mart, Laura and I spotted this one that collapses into a little riding scooter and stands up into a walking toy. It was on sale and was absent the bells and whistles (and noisemakers) that normally go along with these things. We got it home, Laura got it assembled, and he was off in no time. He walked all over Laura's house for about an hour before we had to leave to head home. He even tried to push it up the stairs (where he'd spent almost all his energy prior to the walking toy -- I think I owe Laura new carpet on her stairs). He walked around for another hour or more at my parents' house when we got there. And he's been non-stop with the thing in our house. He uses the walking toy to get around the house, then crawls when he needs to inspect something more closely.

It's obvious he's making strides (pun intended) towards standing independently and walking. He can practically pick up the toy to move in the direction he wants to go. He's just not brave enough quite yet to let go and suffer the consequences of landing on his butt. It's funny to see him decide to go someone in the house, then look for his walker to get him there.

My hope is that this will give him the courage to eventually let go and try it out on his own. I try pretty often to get him steady on his feet and then let go so he'll stand on his own, but he usually gets nervous and sits down. I noticed yesterday that they have the exact same toy at daycare, and his teachers commented that they've seen his improvement, too.

It will, ultimately, be another toy he outgrows, but I have to say that for miles it's getting, it was worth the $20.

Meet me at the fair

On Friday night, the whole gang headed out to the Effingham County Fair. We went early since Oliver has such an early bedtime, and it proved to be ideal time to hit a few rides before the crowds got heavy. We checked out the animals being shown in competition, included some enormous pigs and cows that kicks. Oliver and I rode Jalopy Junction, seemingly the only ride I would ride with him, and he tried out the climbing wall in the baby play area. Laura and Reid did a slightly more daring ride, the name of which escapes me. It's like a Ferris wheel, but the car itself rocks back and forth as the main spindle turns. Reid was skeptical but manned up to escort his wife.

I like living in a more urban area, but fairs like this are fun to visit. It'll be fun to take Ollie back when he's a bit older and "this tall to ride."

Oatland Island

On Friday, Laura, Reid, Oliver, and I all went to Oatland Island, a natural preserve area with exhibits of a variety of animals (bison, wolves, alligators), including the Georgia Farm. The highlight of the visit was most definitely Reid showcasing his turkey calling skills. The turkey went crazy, puffing up and warbling back.

The most dangerous game

Last weekend, Oliver and I traveled to Savannah to visit my sister and brother-in-law over fall break. I hadn't yet visited Laura in her new home, though I'd gotten to see it mid-build when I was in Savannah over 18 months ago, and I was in need of a few days away from school work. I had a four-day weekend, but it was a long trip there. We left Wednesday after my afternoon class, drove to my parents' house near Atlanta, then drove the rest of the way Thursday. We did the trip in reverse Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning so that we could spend Sunday with Wes, who had to stay and work a shift.

We had a really nice time there, but certainly one major aspect of the trip was being immersed in the hunting culture that is part of Reid's (and hence my sister's) life. Oliver wasn't sure what to make of the deer mounted over the fireplace or the several stuffed animals on display at Bass Pro Shop. It's like he was afraid that if we stayed long enough, he'd end up in the hands of a taxidermist. He did seem to enjoy the camouflage recliner but wasn't a fan of the faux coonskin cap.

The hardest part of the trip, in fact, came just before we got to Bass Pro Shop. We were on our way to lunch, but Oliver didn't think he could make it. Despite Laura's best efforts to entertain him, he was having a meltdown in his car seat, and we were still miles from the restaurant. We ended up making an emergency french-fry stop at McDonald's (he plowed through the goldfish in the diaper bag), just so he would calm down until we could get food on the table at the restaurant.

The only bad part of the trip was the fact that Ollie spent so long, again, in a car seat with no one back there to play with him. As a result, he now gets upset when we try to put him in his car seat, even just to go to daycare five minutes away.

Dear Husband, Part 37

Wes dropped off Oliver at daycare on his way to work this morning while I took Lucy to the vet. Wes has a night shift, though, so I picked Oliver up after class. When I went to pick him up, his teachers told me that Oliver arrived at daycare this morning with his shoes on the wrong feet...

My wish

I wish I could freeze time. Not this exact moment, mind you. Oliver has been in bed for two hours and is now crying, and I fear I may have to intervene to get him back to sleep. So I don't want to freeze this moment in time, just this general stage of his life. I know the fussy, cranky, temper-tantrum terrible twos or threes is coming. But today, watching Oliver stick his head in a box or crab across the hearth of the fireplace, I wished he could always be like this. When Wes left for work, he kissed us both, and right after he left, Oliver turned and tried to kiss me, too. I love watching him play on the floor, stacking blocks or rolling his truck or mimicking something we've done. He looks up at me and smiles with all his dimples showing. I'm afraid it's all going too fast, that I'll look up and he'll be a teenager.

I don't really want to keep him small, of course. Watching him grow and learn and develop new skills is most of what makes it so much fun. Still, if I were going to pick one age to leave him at, this seems like a pretty good one.

From the video vault (June 09): Smiling at Him Self