Oliver's First Haircut

On Friday, my mom and I took Oliver for his first haircut. His hair was getting really long - getting in his eyes, covering his ears, and growing into a mullet-like style in the back. So, it was time.

We made an appointment with Kathie, the woman who does my mom’s hair and who gave me my first haircut twenty-some-odd years ago (okay, maybe thirty-some-odd...). For a frame of reference here are a few “before” pictures Mom took:

Lots of hair! My mom had a brilliant idea and brought the booster seat that Oliver uses at her house to the appointment. It kept him safe and the toy on the tray kept him entertained throughout the appointment. 

He did great the whole time and that is entirely due to how awesome Kathie was with him. She would show him everything she was using and talk him through every step of the way. She made it fun for him so he sat still and let her do her work. He didn’t cry a single tear. He would look apprehensive every once in awhile but Kathie would talk to him a bit and he’d start smiling again.

She even managed to use the clippers on his sideburns and the back of his neck. He didn’t even flinch!

I was so impressed with Kathie and with Oliver! Not only did he do great the whole time, he looked great when he was done! Here are the “after” shots:

Fifteen Month Wellness Visit

On Friday morning we took Oliver in for his fifteen month wellness visit. 

Here are the pertinent stats:

At 12 months:

Weight: 24 pounds, 3 ounces (70th percentile)

Height: 29 1/2 inches (45th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.2 inches (97th percentile)

And, at 15 months:

Weight: 25 pounds even (60th percentile)

Height: 32 inches (75th percentile)

Head Circumference: 19.5 inches (97th percentile)

Giant noggin boy. Plus, I don’t understand the massive jump in his height but good for him. 

We spent the majority of the appointment talking about Oliver’s verbal development since that was my major concern. He is on track or better on everything else but (even by the doctor’s admission) he is behind with his language skills. She agrees that he is advanced in his ability to understand our language (being able to get a certain book, pointing to body parts, etc.) but she also thinks that the fact that he only has mastered two words (three if we count ‘kkkkkkk’ for kitty) and isn’t saying “mama” and “dada” indicates that he’s “behind” in this area of development. She said that if I was truly concerned about it then we could talk about speech therapy but that if I felt it was okay, then she agreed. That is, she didn’t feel the need to take more action unless it was going to make me feel better. 

So, I decided we would wait and readdress the issue at his 18 month appointment. I think about the way Oliver was with walking. He stood up and walked behind things for ages before he finally decided to take those first steps and two days later he was everywhere. Maybe he’ll be the same way with talking and is just waiting until he can do it right. Meanwhile, Brian and I are trying to be more vigilant about providing Oliver with as many words as possible. We have gotten used to his signs and his grunts and can easily fill his requests without him using his words so it’s just a matter of giving him the word for everything we see and do during the day.  If he hasn’t made improvements by his 18 month appointment, then we will talk about speech therapy (although I’ve got to say I can’t even imagine what that looks like with a toddler). 

Other than all that, the doctor agrees that Oliver is absolutely perfect. Healthy, smart and irresistibly cute. See?

Brag Book

It’s been really hard to keep this updated lately. I think it’s because once he hit that walking milestone I felt silly updating on what he’s doing now. His days are pretty routine to us. But then I remind myself that about eighty percent of this blog’s readership are Oliver’s grandparents or great-grandparents and they would never find anything the boy wonder does “routine.” And, in reality, when I take some time and really think about all that he’s doing now, I puff up with pride. So, here it is. A short and sweet “brag book” of all the amazing stuff that our little kiddo is doing or trying to do now.

• Moving and Grooving - He’s all over the place. I haven’t seen him crawl in ages. He much prefers to walk (or try to run). He’s recently started trying to climb up on things. He’s limited this to trying to get into chairs and his wagon so far so I hope we are going to skip the whole trying to get out of his crib thing. 

• Words - Despite my early enthusiasm about his verbal skills, they have completely stalled now that Oliver has started walking. He still only says “da” and “ba” consistently and some would argue that those aren’t even real words. He REFUSES to say “mama” or “dada.” But his signing vocabulary has grown exponentially. He can sign the following words: more, eat, water, all done, music, book, help, bath, please, thank you, bye bye, yogurt, and banana. He also has signs for Brian and my stepfather. For Brian he pumps both of his fist (this is directly a result of me trying to get him to do the Daddy chant a la Aidan). For Richard, he points to his nose. So, I’ve gone from being enthusiastic about his verbal development to a little worried about it. We’ve got a checkup on Friday so I will ask the doctor and hopefully she will put my mind at ease that he’s just focused on moving and the verbal will come later.

• Mommy’s (and Daddy’s) Little Helper - One thing I am 100% certain that his slow verbal development does not indicate, is a hearing problem. Oliver can easily follow simple (and somewhat more complicated) instructions. He will bring us the ball or a book when we ask and can even find us specific books so that when we ask him to find “Before John Was a Jazz Giant,” he will dig through his stack of pictures books and bring us the one we are asking for (it’s a little spooky, truth be told). He also LOVES to “help” around the house. He’s a huge fan of the vacuum but will settle for a broom in a pinch. He’s taken it upon himself to gather the dogs’ bowls after their meals and bring them to Brian or me. And he’s oddly obsessed with putting things back where he got them (when he feels like it). 

• Where’s Oliver’s ___________? - Oliver can now point to numerous body parts when asked (when he’s in the right mood). He can do nose, head, ears and toes. And, my personal favorite: “Where are Oliver’s dimples?” In response, he puffs out his cheeks, points his fingers at his face and blows raspberries. Pretty stinkin’ cute. 

• Meal Time - Oliver continues to be a picky eater but he is slowly becoming a self- sufficient picky eater. He’s a pro at finger food, of course, but he’s also shown himself to be quite good with a spoon. Part of that is physical dexterity and part of it is the fact that I suction his food bowls down to the table. Also, his table manners are slowly improving. He used to spend most of his meals throwing food on the floor. Now he will try to hand us the food that he doesn’t want us to eat. If we don’t take it, however, his next step is to throw it to the dogs so we are ever vigilant. 

• Nursing - That’s right, we are STILL nursing at least twice a day. And that’s all I have to say about that.

• Naps - And, for the last update tonight, we have officially transitioned to one nap a day. Oliver was fighting his second nap for awhile so we tried one nap and it’s been working really well (except for those days that the one nap gets interrupted). An unexpected benefit of this one nap thing is that he has moved his wake up time back a bit so that now he wakes up in the morning sometime between 6:30 and 7 instead of between 5:30 and 6. Hoorah!

That’s it for tonight. I’m pooped and need to head to bed. But, no, I haven’t forgotten about my temper tantrum tease from last post. Don’t worry, that post is still in the works...