Lean, Mean Crawling, Standing, "Walking" Machine

Do you like Oscar's "fat man party shirt" outfit? That's what David calls it anyway. It was a gift from his Aunt Shannon when Oscar was a newborn. (Notice the coordinating shoes). Anyway, Shannon's outfit made its debut today at school and all the teachers raved about Oscar's new look. They're not used to seeing Oscar in "big boy shirts."

We know blinds are not a child-safe toy, but Oscar loves pulling on them. Plus, it tires him out for bed time. He shakes the cords wildly and occasionally hits himself in the face--but that doesn't stop him!

Last weekend, I met up with some fellow Hallmark moms at the park for a playdate.

Below is Oscar's new friend, Maddox. Maddox is about a month older than Oscar and I worked with Maddox's mom, Jen, while we were both pregnant. Jen and I had lots of fun comparing stories about all the bodily weirdness that accompanies pregnancy.

We're not sure if the swings at park were meant to be used this way, but our little guys didn't seem to mind.

It was a very hot day, so we didn't stay at the park too long. Oscar's not a fan of the heat--just like his daddy.

David's mom sent us a package with his artwork from highschool. Everyone was excited to be part of the experience.

Here are some random moments of Oscar playing. We play every afternoon from after dinner until bedtime. Now that Oscar's on the move, he needs CONSTANT supervision.

Doesn't he look like a monkey in this pic?

Standing up against the couch is Oscar's newest thing. I'm just happy that he's found another activity that tires him out for bedtime.

Oscar started using a walker recently (picture below). He likes to walk himself over to tight little corners and places in the house and wedge himself in.

He hasn't figured out how to reverse very well yet.

As you can see, he's playing with the blinds again. I know, I know, there are warnings all over these things to children away from them, etc. I'm sitting him right next to him when he does this. For those of you who have or have had active babies, you know how precious it is to find an activity that holds his interest. This isn't an ideal situation, but I'll take it.

Oscar's crawling is amazing. He's lifting himself up much higher now and moving much faster.

I really can't take my eyes off him.

Here's a better shot of Oscar with his walker ( a hand-me-down from our neighbor, Min). He's frustrated because he wants us to open the door and we won't . We take him outside every day after dinner and he loves sitting outside in the grass.

Can you tell his hair is starting to curl and wave a little bit in the back? Miss Sarah at school made me promise not to get Oscar's hair cut until after he leaves the infant room. She loves long hair on baby boys and we love Miss Sarah, so Oscar's hair will stay long until we move to the big boy 1-year-old room.


More crawling...

More playing on the couch.

In feeding news, we're in the process of transitioning Oscar to thicker-textured jarred baby foods (Gerber stage 3).

It's been slow going, but we're making progess. Oscar doesn't gag on the food, but as soon as he feels the little bits of noodes or vegetables on his tongue, he either spits the food out, cries or refuses to swallow.

Today he ate 1/4 of a jar of vegetable beef. That was huge! I've gotta give props to Oscar's teachers Miss Sarah and Miss Rachael for being so patient with this transition.

Every day this week, I've sent a Stage 3 jarred food for lunch and then a Stage 2"backup lunch" for them to feed Oscar when he's thrown enough of a fit after enduring some of his Stage 3 food. Then when I bring Oscar home from school, I take the leftover Stage 3 jar from school lunch and subject Oscar to more texture torture. He hates it. I don't have footage of any of this. It just wouldn't be right.

As usual, I'll close with Oscar's teachers' notes from this week. I don't have notes from today because I surprised Oscar and his teachers by picking him up early today, so his activity sheet was still blank.

Monday: Oscar had a good day! Today we sang, "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Twinkle Twinkle." We also played with w/the cards and stacking toys. We are trying to get him to unstack them. And once he masters that, we will get him to stack them for us.

Tuesday: Oscar had a good day. We read "Goodnight, Baby Donald," "Downtown Lost and Found," and "My First Counting Book." Oscar was in a trance the whole time I was reading. It was funny. He got poop all over my jacket today with his blowout-it was yucky. It was everywhere. He enjoyed playing with Hadley today. He liked standing at the horse and waving. It was like he was waving to everyone outside, but nobody was there. LOL.

Wednesday: Oscar had a good day. Ok, who taught Oscar to spit! Hmm? Let's just say it's not funny. LOL. Okay, maybe just a little. We sang "Rain, Rain Go Away," and "Itsy Bitsy Spider." We read "The Berenstain Bears Book." Good book, you should read it. LOL.

Thursday: Oscar had a good day. Today we read "Count with Tigger" and "Witzy's Numbers." We sung our ABCs and Tiny Tim.