I promised to post a few details about Oliver’s quirks, so here’s one: He only eats little finger foods that are unblemished. Yep, you throw a handful of Cheerios on his tray and he only eats the ones that make a complete circle. He either leaves the little fragments on his tray or throws them on the floor.
Below are some casualties from some Vanilla Smileys we gave Oliver after he ate a meal. The Smiley on the left is in perfect shape, to give you a reference point. The four on the right were tossed on the floor.
At Sarah’s brother’s wedding (more to come on that later) yesterday, Oliver was tossing away broken Gold Fish. What a picky little boy, eh?
Category Archives: oliver
Our son has a dog complex
Oliver is starting to develop a lot of quirks. I’ll share some of them in the coming weeks. One that really makes me laugh involves him noticing that our dog’s crate is open, then squealing and running over to it and climbing inside. Once in there, he likes to shut the door and just stare at us. He has a look of total seriousness on his face throughout the process. Sometimes Molly joins him. Other times he just sits there by himself. But every time we laugh.
Sarah soaks up second Mother’s Day
Sarah’s second Mother’s Day was, at least in my opinion, a success. I let her sleep in today, then we made a big breakfast. Oliver and I gave her a card and her gift, then enjoyed a nice relaxing morning around the house. In the afternoon, we headed over to Sarah’s parents’ house for a barbecue. It was a nice, and the food was awesome (of course).
Sarah really relishes her role as a mother, and Oliver just loves her so much. The boy has really been in one of those “mommy only” stages lately, where he goes to me (or somebody else) for a while and then just wants his momma. It can be tough on Sarah, and her back, to always have the boy clinging to her, but she handles it well. What a great mother.
Here are a few pictures of the proud mother and her bundle of joy taken today at the in-laws’ house. Enjoy:
Our son learns to walk
Our son is officially a “walker” now. He walks more than he crawls. Walks everywhere, really. It’s pretty cool. He kind of looks like a hybrid “Chuckie” doll/mini-Charlie Chaplin waddling around. I will try to capture a more recent video, as he gets better every day, but here’s one that I shot last Monday:
A few pictures from Easter
Sorry for the late post here. Been super busy. Easter was a lot of fun. Here’s a slideshow from our day at my in-laws’ house:
Oliver was REALLY tired at the end of the day. Check him out, posing on the couch with all his Easter goodies:
And for a good laugh, check him out in the same pose after a long Easter last year. Too funny, isn’t it:
The son loves ‘Old MacDonald’
Ignoring my terrible singing voice, and the fact that I botched up a couple words to what may be the easiest song in the world (hey, it was cute/funny and I was laughing, so cut me some slack!), here’s a video of Oliver doing his part to “Old MacDonald”:
A ‘wet’ morning home alone with the boy
Oliver and I are home alone today (Sarah has to work), and the day started off with something funny. Sarah left, I took the trash out to the curb, and I came back inside to play with Oliver. He was doing his favorite activity (banging his blue ring on the coffee table) when I noticed his pants were soaking wet.
“Strange,” I thought, so I patted his diaper. OK, so I patted where his diaper SHOULD HAVE BEEN. Yes, I dressed him but didn’t put a diaper on him. He had peed his pants for the first time. I guess after changing diapers for 13 months, I was bound to forget at some point. At least he didn’t drop a deuce!
Taking in some (granny-produced) art
The Lopinot clan is generally pretty talented when it comes to art, whether it’s traditional stuff like ceramics and drawing, or it’s other creative things like writing or flint-knapping. But when it comes to pure artistic talent, my Grandma Lopinot is No. 1.
Her work is currently on display as part of a group show at the Monday Club in Webster Groves. I took the wife and boy to the opening on Sunday (if the days of the week are confusing to you, grandma spends her Wednesdays at the Monday Club – go figure). The building is in a cute part of Webster. 
Here are some of grandma’s oil paintings on display:
Oliver was super cranky. We gave him two bottles to calm him down, but didn’t end up staying long. He fell asleep about one minute into our drive home.
But even as a cranky little guy, he sure was cute:
But hey, this was really about grandma. Here she is with my uncle, posing in front of a few of her paintings. Doesn’t she look proud?
Oliver takes a few first steps
For the past week or so, Oliver has been slowing showing us that he’s ready to try walking. So I’ve been taking time each night to grab his hands and show him what to do. When we were at the park last week, I even got him to walk with me holding just one of his hands. It’s was pretty darn cute.
Tonight, I kept taking the coaster he was banging on our coffee table and holding it a few feet away, tempting him to walk toward me. Then, like magic, he started stumbling toward me. He’d laugh, grab the coaster and head back to the table. We did this over and over again. While I wouldn’t consider it actual walking, I’d say he’s pretty close.
Below is a video. Let me know what you think:
Visit from Jennifer, Carrie and my mom
We had a really fun past couple of days. My sister, Jennifer, was in the state from Minnesota. She drove up to St. Louis with my mom and other sister, Carrie, to hang out for the weekend.
It’s always bittersweet to see Jennifer. She comes into town maybe twice a year. Sadly, we’ve only been able to visit her once since she moved up north. I wish we had the money and time to visit her more frequently. We’re lucky to see Carrie, too. She’s in Springfield for just another week before heading off on her next “traveling OT” job (next stop, maybe Boston).
Anyway, the clan arrived Friday, and Oliver was really shy. But he warmed up quickly. He spent the weekend showing off, being cute as always and even taking a few nervous first steps (we’re not saying it’s his first official “walk,” but he’s close).
Saturday night, my mom watched the boy, giving us a chance to head out for some drinks. We went to the International Tap House in Chesterfield (500 beer selections!).
Overall, we had a great time. Though we had hoped for better weather and some cool outdoor activities, we got cold weather and a ton of snow. Oh well. Today was a bit sad, watching the three of them drive off. We saw Jennifer last year around this time and then not again until Christmas. Sad. We love us some Jennifer time (and Carrie/mom time, too!).
Here’s a picture from today, when Jennifer and Carrie were goofing around with Oliver:
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