Spring 2009

We have all had a very busy spring and as always time has just flown by with Oliver. He is now 19 months old and has even more energy and is basically non-stop on the move. His favorite activity is still playing ball and running around outside. Grandpa Dave has started a new game with him which is throwing the ball onto the roof of a house and watching it roll of and bounce on the ground. Strangely enough, Oliver loves watching this. He also likes throwing the ball into the air about 1/2 a foot up and trying to catch it.

Oliver is like a little sponge soaking up everything that he sees and hears. His vocabulary is getting better everyday. His newest words the last few weeks are "up", "yellow", "alla" (which means over there in Spanish), and "juice". His favorite phrase is "go go go" which was taught to him by grandma Julia. He has learned how to give kisses, which he now asks for by leaning in and saying "muah". Very cute stuff! He can idenify (in English and Spanish) and say (in English) eyes, nose, and mouth. He now loves to scribble on paper (and his hands, clothes, or anything else that is near by). Oliver loves animals and calls cats "meows" and dogs "arrrrr" or "taco" which is the name of his godparents dog. Every time we see an animal in person or on TV he gets excited.

His Aunt Chela still watches him during the day while we work, and there he plays with his friend Nichael and his cousin Brisa. Him and Brisa are so cute together, they act a lot like brother and sister by getting along one minute and then fighting the next. This is a picture of them "taking a nap" or "mi-mis" as they call it. They also play chase with each other and their version of hide-and-go-seek.

The most adventurous part of our Spring was that we took 2 different trips. The first week in April we went to visit Aunt Becca and her boyfriend Matt in Portland, which is 3 hours away from where we live. We went to the waterfront in Portland and had fun taking in all of the beautiful sights and enjoyed the warm weather.

Our second trip was much longer. We drove to one of Megan's best friends growing up wedding in San Francisco, California. We were very worried about how Oliver would act in the car. With the help of a lot of toys and stopping every hour at a rest stop, Oliver actually did okay. Once we got down there we did some sight seeing, where Oliver met favorite character, Sponge Bob, and we went to the beautiful wedding of Michaela and Chris. It is always so much fun to see old friends and we were very glad that Oliver enjoyed himself so much.

We are now looking forward to our trip to Fairfield, Iowa at the end of May, to go to the wedding of our Uncle Scott and Aunt Stephanie. It will be Oliver's first time in a plane, but Aunt Becca, Matt, and Grandpa Dave are going with us. We are so excited to see all of our family that we have not seen in so many years. It will be fun for sure!