Happy Birthday Baby!

Oliver is seven months old today! I can’t believe he’s now closer to being 1 year old than a newborn.

We seem to be on the brink of toddlerdom. (I say we, because it will affect us all.) Last night Chad and I were playing with O, when his new ball rolled out of reach. Ever the captain of concentration, Olie spent a good 10 minutes trying to figure out how he might get to it. He kept staring at his feet as if to say, “Now I know you could get me there, but I can’t quite figure out how.” Then he tried pitching forward from a sitting position so his head was completely on the ground. (Oh the flexibility!) “Hmmm, maybe if I get into the tummy position, I can go from there.” On the right track… We could practically see the gears turning and the smoke coming from his ears.

Oliver now squirms, arches, and rolls in every direction, like a pinned worm, pivoting on the axis of his belly button. As you can see from the above picture, it’s just a matter of time before he crawls. Also imminent: pulling up to a stand. Actually, it’s more like pushing up – his legs are very strong. While at dinner last night, Courtney gave me some baby proofing items. Just in time, I fear.

Other milestones: Oliver’s pincher grip, taking objects between thumb and pointer finger, is quite established, allowing him to grasp and manipulate small objects. Tags are his favorite. (Thank you Jenny MacKenzie Last for advising me not to cut these off his toys.) My big joke is that Oliver will surely have a career in the domestic arts, for all the laundry labels he studies.

Olie is also able to simultaneously pick up a toy in each hand now. A major achievement, my books tell me. Ergo, he’s now happily banging blocks together, and we’re beginning to see signs of clapping. He also plays “catch.” When you roll a ball towards him he slaps his hands down to stop it and promptly looks up at you for congratulatory squeals and claps. Anita (new nanny) says that Oliver is the star of sign language class, paying very close attention to the teacher and studying everybody’s faces intently.

So advanced! But even were he less so, we'd still love him completely!