22 months

We have been enjoying summer and spending as much time as possible outside. This month I started my third trimester and have been thinking about the changes the new baby will bring. We are trying to savor every moment of being a family of 3 before the baby arrives this fall.

Oliver continues to be sweet, smart, and funny. He's talking up a storm and says new words and phrases all the time. He has gotten really into vehicles and one of his favorites is going outside to watch the garbage or recycling trucks. He has moments of frustration (as do we), but overall he's so much fun! More pictures and some fun things we did this month to follow.

21 months

21 months old

This month has been fun. Oliver is talking more everyday and it is so fun and funny to hear the things he says. He still loves numbers and now we take walks for him to see the numbers on all of the houses. He'll look at each house and say "Numbers!" or "Lots of numbers!" and then as we walk away "bye bye, numbers." He's also very observant when out on walks and excitedly points out what everyone is doing or riding (I'm sure they love it), "running!" "two bikes!" "red car!".

One of my favorite things he has started doing is...

Summertime

It's summertime and we're embracing it. Green grass, puddles, sunglasses, water fountains, sprinklers, gardening, ice cream, not wearing pants... loving it all!

Houseboat trip with the Bocks

At the beginning of June we met up with some of Chris' family for a houseboat trip on the Mississippi. Despite some rainy weather, we had a great time! This was Oliver's first time on a houseboat, first time on the Mississippi, and first time meeting Chris' uncle Brian, aunt Vivian and cousin Jessica since they live in Columbia, South America. Jessi was great with Oli and he had so much fun playing with her. Oliver did really well on the river in general, even wearing his life jacket without much protest and sitting happily on one of our laps when we went out on the little boat. By the end of the trip I think he had learned everyone's name, although at first he was calling his cousin "balloon" and Chris' dad and his two brothers were "the Bruce's". It was really nice to spend time with everyone. Jenny we missed you! Looking forward to next year (in Austin?)!

First, a few of Chris' great photos and then a few photos from my phone:

first (non-home) haircut

After our somewhat failed attempt to cut Oliver's hair ourselves a few months ago, we decided to leave his next haircut up to the professionals. We took him to a place that specializes in children's haircuts. Apparently the key is televisions playing Mickey Mouse, lollipops, and stickers. Oli did a great job and didn't protest or get upset at all. He looked so little in the big red smock, yet so grown up with his hair cut and slicked back. Here are a few photos to remember the occasion. The first is a "before" shot of his hair and the others were taken during and after. Watching him experience "firsts" never gets old!

20 months

This age has been really fun overall. Oliver's language development has continued to where we have a hard time counting how many words he knows and he can repeat almost any word. It's amazing to hear him saying so many words for the first time. This month he started saying names (Auntie, Izzy, etc.) and putting words together more ("bye bye, kids", "water great"). He still loves counting (can count to somewhere between 13-19 - the teens all sound the same at this point when he says them). We continued teaching him the alphabet with help from some alphabet magnets on the fridge and he can now recognize and say almost every letter. J and K sound alike when he says them and W is still tricky (he currently says "double"), but otherwise he knows them all.

Chicago & Madison

At the beginning of May we headed for Chicago (for an annual conference I attend there with other faculty and students in my department). I brought Chris and Oli along last year and we decided we'd all go again this year. We drove to Madison Tuesday night and stayed overnight at my sister's before heading to Chicago on Wednesday. At this age Oliver is a little higher maintenance than he was last year (when he just hung out in the baby carrier), but we all had a great time! We ate a lot of good food and saw a lot of beautiful sights. Favorite foods for me were the tart frozen yogurt at Freshii in our hotel and the kale salad at Native Foods Cafe. Oli especially loved exploring the city streets, playing in the hotel pool, and watching the trains.

Chicago at night

taking some meeting notes in the hotel room

picnic dinner in Millenium Park

color coordinated with the tulips

Oli and the bean

happy about the bean

father and son near the bean

posing in Millenium park

hotel pool!

watching the trains

loved exploring Chicago

He also loved the hotel bed, as evidenced by this video:

Saturday afternoon we stopped at Chicago Diner, one of our favorite Chicago restaurants, before driving back to Madison . Spring had arrived in Madison and we grilled in Shell and Graham's backyard. The weather was perfect and it was great to sit and talk with each other and watch the cousins play together. Sunday Shell packed us a picnic and we went to a park. Shell and I got a little sister time and went for ice cream too (Do you see a food theme?). Thanks for the great visit Ayres-Wilhelms. We always love seeing you!

cousin picnic in Madison

living the dream -
eating grapes outside with no shirt

Bodie and his great smile

my niece is adorable

scootin'

Izzy and Oli sit on the front of a firetruck at the park