The end of the year, the end of December, and little O is 17 months old! His vocabulary has doubled this month, he's still sleeping great, he loves books and Christmas lights almost as much as his family, and is now giving kisses (awww!). He's starting to do some animals sounds (roars for lion, grrs for bear, snorts for pig, his cows - like his sister's before him - say "mo") and to brave the upper levels of the play structure at the park (ack!) and alternates between snuggling and screaming (strong-willed little guy!) about every five minutes of every day. But his dimpled smile covers over a relatively small amount of wrongs, and this young man has us wrapped around his little finger and brings us so much joy!
November: a month in which the beauty of the fall colors helped me to remember the beauty left in the world. I am a big fan of the change of seasons here, the bold hues on the trees, the blue skies but with a chill in the air. I'm not so much into the pumpkin spice and other scents & flavors of fall, but there was always something so unnatural to me about the constant near-constant sunshine and high temps of southern California. Even if I don't like having to remember socks and shoes and coats, and entering & leaving places getting wet, I'm happy to have a regular change of seasons back in my life.
A lot of our November revolved around getting ready for Thanksgiving, but the kids found lots of other things to do, too...
"We have 963 toys but our favorite places to play are the kitchen cupboards and the walk-in closet!"
Oliver in Overalls!
All that cuteness was happening while Vianne was having a horrible sick day. You know when she doesn't get out of bed in the morning that something is really wrong, she who is always the first one up in the morning...and when she sleeps throughout the day, she who never ever ever naps! Thankfully, it was only one day and she was back to herself the next morning.
Two peas in a pod
Some of those hues I was talking about...
Good grief!
Checked out "My Pet Book" from the library. It is now Oliver's pet book!
He also loves "Hooray for Fish"
The kids helped me get the house ready for Thanksgiving! It was kind of amazing how everything came together. Oliver: "Let's eat already!"
A rare moment of being able to see the carpet in V's room. Vacuuming - I kid you not - was her idea!
V vacuumed, O hung out in one of his favorite spots
V & I made this three-year-old's thankfulness wreath. She dictated what she was thankful, I wrote it on leaves and attached them to a paper plate ring, while O threw all the craft supplies from the table to the floor and then ran around with no pants (and, at one point, no diaper) on.
After
Thanksgiving was all said & done, we gathered up the leaves into a pile (there were never enough in one place to do this in San Dimas) and I introduced the kids to the wonderful world of leaf pile jumping!
Oliver would not let go of the rake for anything.
Rounding out the month with some sibling sweetness :-)
The end of November brings our little man to 16 months old! He added 3 or 4 words to his vocabulary this month, "hot" and "choo choo" (for train) and many more gestures (vigorous head shakes for "no" to just about anything sounding like a question, for example) and signs to get his point across. He identifies many body parts by pointing to them (eyes, nose, mouth, head, hair, ears, belly, toes...) and is starting to recognize specific animals in books. He always reacts when he hears the (frequent because we're close to the Sacramento airport) airplanes overhead and raises his hand (his attempt at the airplane sign).
He thinks books are pretty much the greatest thing on earth and "encourages" you to read to him by grabbing your hand, pushing a book into it, and insisting you hold it and read it over...and over...and over...which is a little monotonous but awfully cute.
We made the big transition to no longer nursing at night to sleep, but started a routine of milk-brush teeth-read book-pray-put him in bed with lion & blanket, and he took to it after only three nights of a little crying at first! It was & is amazing!
A few shots of our little rock star...
Posted by
Amy Evelyn Oden
,
2:06 PM
We had a lovely first-Thanksgiving-in-Sacramento. Patrick's family drove up from SoCal to join us in celebrating. I'm still not stellar at remembering to take pictures while also hostessing so my collection of snapshots are odd here-and-theres.
While Patrick and I got the food & table ready, the kids entertained Granma, Grampa, & Uncle Jon...
Collecting leaves for some last minute decorations - and a gorgeous day, you can see!
Not his first Thanksgiving, but O's first Thanksgiving dinner! He loved it all!
A proper little lady, learning to cut with fork & knife
The best of several tries to all smile at once...
Oliver finally succumbed to a nap - on the couch
Time for dessert!
Some fun gifts from Granma & Grampa
