Oliver is doing great. His little sharp tooth is getting bigger and sharper by the minute. He is still under the impression that if he rigorously stiffens his body with his arms stretched outright he will magically stand upright. Although holding him by his hands and walking him around the house is great fun for us, we have given The Boy the false impression that a stiff upper body will cause him to rise. He loves standing so much that he is forever stiffening-up and grunting until one of us invariably helps him to stand. I know we should not be encouraging this behavior but its is fun to see his face light up once he is upright… even if he has no real idea of where he wants to go once he gets to that point.

We have bombarded him with a bunch of new toys in the last week or so. It feels like Christmas in our living room. Empty boxes galore. Oliver does not know which toy to go for first, and he is not quite sure what to do with them once he has them. The adults certainly are having fun opening the boxes. Grandma Angela came over last night for Chinese food and some quality time with her grandson. We let The Kid stay up extra late because he was having so much fun with her. After he went to bed, we ate dinner, caught up on conversation, and played with Oliver’s new toys.

This morning Oliver was extra cute. He played in his crib for about a half hour before I got out of bed and I gave him his bottle. We read his “rooster book” and then we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Oliver and I were surprised by how many people are out and about at 8am. There is quite a cast of characters living in our neighborhood and seemingly no end to the crazy. More on that later…

Oliver may not quite know what to do with the people in the neighborhood, but he is still fascinated with the trees.