HE’S OFF

Friends of ours have two kids who are a few years older than Obear so we’ve been to a few birthday parties at their place over the years.  Twice a year we get to catch up with their various friends and have seen many of them pregnant, with babies and now with bigger kids.  It is amazing to see them all grow up.  This time last year we rocked out there with our tiny three week old baby who Nick held protectively throughout the party.  This year he was walking around by himself and even managed a small level of involvement in pass the parcel.  By the next party in November he will no doubt be tearing around and in years to come he can really get into the festivities with the bigger kids and hopefully look out for his younger sibling.

It was while we were at the party today that I noticed something new in Ollie’s mouth – two top teeth!  Finally the two front teeth are starting to cut through.  I must concede that I was starting to wonder if he was destined to go through life with only two teeth.  Not that it has stopped him getting through any food though. 

Speaking of eating, he is starting to get a bit funny about it.  He still loves food (except paw paw and weetbix) but is only really keen on food he can feed himself.  He clamps his little mouth shut when the spoon is headed toward him, but if I put the same food on his tray, he will happily shovel it in.  The only problem is that it is an incredibly slow and tedious process, feeding himself one pea at a time (one for him, six for the ground, one for him, eight for the ground). 

At least his love of food is helping to extend his vocabulary.  In the last week or so he has started to say “cheese cheese” which is extremely gorgeous.  But it seems he is applying it to all types of food rather than just the dairy variety.  Close enough. 

He continues to hone his walking skills as you can see from the pics.  His latest trick this week is climbing.  He has climbed up onto a stool, various toys and a box he pushed so he could reach something on the tv unit.  This will require a whole new level of supervision!

 

Here’s one for the “Books We Heart” category – Ollie has a growing collection of Usborne Touchy Feely books which are these amazing textured books, each with the theme of “That’s not my (tractor, bunny, pirate, plane etc), it’s (wheels, ears, wings etc) are too (shiny, fluffy, rough etc).  They are truly fantastic and this week I had to add to the collection when I came across “That’s not my bear”.  The best part? On the final page there is a great big panda.  And if you happen to be a little one year old Olliebear, that would be just about the greatest ending possible for a piece of literature.