Steppin' Out with My Baby

We had a super-busy 4th of July. We spent the afternoon at Shannon and Rich's house--like we do every year--and went to a late afternoon/evening barbecue/bday party at our friends Jeannie and Roy's house. We took the ExerSaurcer with us--that thing is such a lifesaver. Roy took the picture above--Oscar is still obsessed with hair pulling. I normally stop him, but I didn't want to interrupt Roy's picture-taking.

Jeannie took the picture above. Since Oscar is such a squirmy worm, I'm constantly finding new ways to entertain him. In this instance, a plastic spoon did the trick.

Check out the video below, Oscar is infatuated with Gigi. When she enters the room, he gets an extra pep in his step. (btw, I love his technique of holding the blue frog while jumping--that's a new thing).


Here's Aunt Shannon doing "pony ride" with Oscar. He loves it.
Oscar's been a little lethargic all week--starting with the holiday weekend. At first, I thought he was just overtired.

It turns out he was fighting a head cold and is cutting his two front teeth. They've just about poked through. He won't let me take a picture =(
As for his head cold, it's clearing up pretty well.


Here's Oscar in the car on the way home from his double-booked 4th of July.

Gigi and Sasha continue to entertain Oscar (and themselves) in the process.

One of Oscar's favorite games is "Where's Oscar?" See for yourself.



The husband and wife team who mow our lawn gave Oscar their daughter's Elmo water toy from when she was a baby. How thoughtful! Oscar really enjoyed playing with it last weekend. He's such a water baby.

I'm saving the most exciting development for last. At the beginning of the holiday weekend (see first video below), Oscar learned to pull himself up (all by himself), sit back (or fall back) down and get back up again. He's been bouncing around his playpen like a professional wrestler all week.

Come Monday, Oscar started standing for brief periods of time without holding on to anything. He loves doing this and gets frustrated when I sit him back down. He wants to do things on his own terms! I wonder where he gets his stubborness/determination from?

(please forgive the blurred quality of this video. i didn't realize courtney had smudged the lens with her nose).

Here are Oscar's Teachers' Notes from this week:

Monday: Oscar has had a good day! Wow! Can't believe how he is standing up on things, then letting go!! He is trying to stand without holding on. Today we sang "I had a tiny turtle," and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat."

Tuesday: Oscar had a good day. We read "Peter Rabbit" and "Clifford's Peek-a-Boo." We worked on saying "dog," but all he would say was "dada." He said it all afternoon. He has been pulling up good. He has hardly fallen today.

Wednesday: Oscar had a good day! Today we played w/the balls. Oscar liked them. We rolled them across the floor and bounced them to the sky. Today we sang "Twinkle Twinkle" and "5 Little Monkeys."

Thursday: Oscar had a good day!! He and Christalyn played lots today. Today Oscar read "Humpty Dumpty" and "Where's Mickey's Ball?" We also sang "Wheels on the Bus" and "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe."

Friday: Oscar had a good day! Today we read "Christmas Baby" and "Tip Truck Tip." OMG!! He is standing w/out holding on to anything. He pulls up, then lets go and stands for a while! Before you know it, he will be WALKING!