Happy New Year!

Too early to tell

It’s Sunday, and my period is several days late.  Last Thursday would have been a 28-day cycle, which is what I had the month before, and today would have been 31.  I almost expected to at least spot, since that’s what happened with Oliver, but I guess every pregnancy – if that’s in fact what this is – is different.  I also had a really queasy stomach the last few days.  I was a bit lightheaded and vomited at one point.  Again, it all seems far too early for this, but at the same time seems more than coincidental.  

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