Oliver is 3

Oliver is 3!! This little boy is so full of life that you can't help but smile when you see him.

At 3, he:

• weighs 37.2 lbs
• is  37.5  in tall
• wears 3T clothes,  size 9 shoe
• was potty-trained around 2 1/2 and is even now sleeping in underwear at night
• still sleeps with his dog Woofie every night. He sleeps in the top bunk of he and Owen's bunk beds. 
• is silly, often making up nonsense words or funny sounds
• loves to play make-believe, often being a dog, a superhero, or a knight.
• obsessed with the movie Planes and all things Dusty (the main character)
• loves Rescue Bots (preschool version of Transformers), Ninja Turtles, and Super Heroes
• has started playing with Owen's little Legos
• loves playing outside, esp anywhere he can dig
• loves playing with his siblings.  He is adorable when he sits and plays with Amelia in the floor.

One huge difference we have noticed with Oliver is his speech.  He talks so clearly and so well for his age. We often forget that he's only 3 because of the conversations he has with us. 

What is your favorite color? blue
Favorite food? Milk and cereal

Least favorite food? stir fry
Movie? Frozen
Book? Go Dogs Go!

Animal? Dog
Toy? Woofie
Sport? Baseball
Favorite activity? play Rescue Bots
Who is your best friend? Owen

Where is your favorite place to go? Chick-fil-a
What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy? playing with big Legos
What about with Mommy? play Don't Break the Ice

What do you want to be when you grow up? work with tools

What are you really good at? wrenches :)

Oliver is 2!

Our littlest guy is already 2 years old!! I know I say it all the time, but I really can't believe he's already 2! The time seems to fly by faster with each kid.

He is extremely hard to photograph these days because he's always moving.  If he's not moving, he's thinking about his next move and doesn't want to focus on you taking his picture.This is as good as we got with the "I am 2" chalkboard.

Oliver is such a fun kid.  He has such a vibrant and fun-loving personality.  He makes us laugh all the time with his funny antics.






At age 2, he:

• weighs 31.5 lbs and is 35 in tall.
• wears size 2T shirts and 24 month to 2T pants, size 7 shoe
• must have a banana and a cup of milk every morning upon waking up
• sleeps with a paci and his dog Woofie every night, still in his crib
• is the best sleeper...he goes down without a peep every night and sleeps 12 hours most nights.  He takes a 3 hour nap every afternoon.
• is a little parrot. He repeats everything you say. The funniest thing is when he imitates me fussing at Owen, like when I say "Owen come upstairs now!" 
• loves to sing and is often caught singing a song he learned at preschool
• knows all of his friends' names at preschool and will sing about them at home.
• has no fear...he will jump on anything, slide down anything
• loves all the men in his life. He is obsessed with his Daddy, Papa, Grandpa and Uncle BP.  We have to call them often on Facetime and Skype.  He literally cries when Papa leaves him. 
• loves spaghetti, black beans, raisins, crackers, tortillas, all kinds of fruit, yogurt, etc.  He really is a great eater and will eat whatever we put on his plate.
• loves dogs, especially our neighbors' dogs, which he loves to call through the fence, and Cooper, BP and Lauren's dog
• like his brother, he is very fond of Curious George and Cat in the Hat
• loves to play in the sandbox at the Y. We find half of the box in his shoes each day when we pick him up. 

He is such a little ham and we love watching him sing and dance. He plays an integral part in our family and we are so blessed to call him son. 

Oliver @ 18 Months

My crazy, funny, wild man is now a year and half old!

Because we were losing our insurance at the end of May, we moved up his 18th month doctor's appointment.  At his appointment, he was 26 lb 12.8 oz (65 %tile) and 2 ft 8.5 in tall (62%).  He continues to have a big head at 19.25 in (81%).

Oliver @ 18 months:

• is wearing mostly 18 month clothes. He has started to wear some 24 month shirts. He wears 5 or 5.5 in shoes and size 4 diapers.
• just this week has started to slim up some.  I think it's because he's become a little pickier at meal time.
•  started using some 2 word phrases like Get down, up please, I home, Ta da
• his favorite phrase is No.  He says it even when he means yes. He also likes the word Okay but he draws it out real southern like. 
• has moved up to the toddler room at the Y, which means he is dropping his morning nap. He really enjoys being in the older class though because they get to go outside and play on the playground daily. He LOVES slides!
• has started dancing and it's hilarious!

• 
  
• can point to most of his body parts when you ask him where they are. 
• loves to play chase with his brother and well do anything his big brother is doing
• always wants to wear his shoes and asks for him as soon as he gets up

He is such a ham and he makes us laugh daily. We love you little man!

OIiver @ 17 months

Oliver is becoming such a little boy. My baby isn't a baby anymore. :)

This month his language has really exploded. He will try and imitate anything you say. He is using many multi-syllable words; his favorites are: basketball, outside, apple, balloon, and baseball. He uses all of our names now when calling us; he calls Owen "Oh-wee" and Daddy has now changed into Dabby for some reason.

He loves books and can be found many days pulling and "reading" books by the shelves.

He is very affectionate and gives great hugs. He really has never met a stranger either; he'll go to anyone!He has moved up to the toddler class at the Y. He loves it in there because there are more toys and they go outside. (He is obsessed with going outside!)

Like his brother, he has an infatuation with Curious George. It's the only show he actually will sit down at watch. He also loves the two George stuffed animals we own.

Milk and bananas continue to be an obsession for him. He must have both as soon as he wakes up.

He is still taking 2 naps a day. He takes a short one in the morning at the Y and I'm trying to hold onto it as long as possible because we don't get home from preschool until 1:45 3x a week.

Thanks to the lovely model of his big brother, he started to try and bite. Owen sadly taught him that when they were fighting over a toy and now he thinks it's appropriate. He has also learned to say no and swat at you. Ow vay!
 
 He's a climber too! One day I found him standing in the kitchen chair after I put something in the oven. He LOVES bath time and must get the whole bathroom wet before he gets out! :)

His love for all kinds of balls continues.  He loves putting the baseball on the tee and "hitting" it.  He also likes when you lift him up to dunk the ball in the basketball net. 

It's hard to believe we are only 1 month away from a year and half.  His life seems to be flying by!

 

Oliver @ 15 and 16 Months

Because I'm a slacker I forgot about his 15 month post, so we're going to combine the two post together.

Right now, Oliver is:

• a whopping 25 lbs! The boy loves to eat and can often eat just as much as his older brother. 
• has 12 teeth (4 top front, 4 bottom front, 4 molars).
• walking exclusively now and is pretty fast.  He loves being able to walk so much that he likes to try it out wherever we go.  He likes to roam up and down the halls at the Y, which makes getting ready for the day kind of tricky.
• in love with balls.  He loves to carry, throw, and roll balls of every size. He actually has a pretty good arm!
• saying quite a lot of words. His vocabulary includes: Mama, Daddy, nana (for nana and banana), papa, dog, ball, apple (new word this week and he constantly repeats it over and over), waffle, night-night, bye bye, all done, thank you, cup, and he says something like Tucker (next door neighbor's dog) and brother.  He really will try and imitate any word you say.  I love hearing try to talk!
• LOVES bananas and milk! He must have both immediately when he comes downstairs in the morning. He loves milk so much that he downs the whole cup of milk before he eats anything at his meals. If I let him have bananas as much as he would like, poor thing would be so constipated. 
• constantly suffering with a runny nose.  I believe he has allergies, but he hasn't been dignosed with anything. 
• fearless..he will climb on anything, go anywhere, and put just about anything in his mouth. He definitely keeps me on my toes. 

Oliver really is just a fun kid.  He differs a lot from his brother, but that's what makes him so great.  I love that my boys are different and that God gave them both to me. :)

Oliver @ 14 Months

This post is very late, but I didn't want Oliver's 14th month to by without pointing out some highlights.

This month, he:

• weighs 23 lb and is moving into 18 month clothes.
• has become a picky eater.  I have to hide his vegetables in his other food in order to get him to eat them. However, he loves bananas and a glass of milk like his brother.
• has a few words: book, done, mama, daddy, nana, dough (he uses this for go, esp when riding his motorcycle)
• has become annoyed with his brother's constant affection
• has developed eczema on his belly and face
• has 3 more teeth (the back molars)
• is still taking 2 naps a day. 
• continues to make the silliest faces and sounds.  He is going to be our comedian. 
• has a new obsession with my iPhone. I think he associates it with FaceTime and talking to my parents so he constantly wants to play with it. 
• is a climber. You have to keep a close eye on him or he'll be half way up the stairs, on a chair, etc.  He has learned how to climb up the stool and stand at the bathroom sink. (The things you learn while hanging out in the bathroom all the time with your potty-training older brother.)
• had his first eye and ear infection.  The poor boy keeps catching all the germs at the Y. 
• is walking, yet not full time.  He still finds crawling his preferred method.  Check out the video below. 

 

Oliver @ 13 Months

"My baby" is Owen's most used phrase lately when referring to Oliver.  Sadly Oliver is seeming more and more like a toddler these days than a baby.

At 13 months, he:

• is taking 2 1-hour naps a day and sleeps about 12-13 hours a night.
• wearing 12-18 month clothes
• can walk about 3 or 4 steps before lunging at you to catch him.
• has developed a huge appetite; many nights he can out eat his older brother.  He has been refusing/spitting out most of his veggies now, but we're not giving up.
• can say the following words: Daddy, uh-oh, no, nana, mama, done
• loves the Little People farm set and balls of any size
• like most kids..loves to throw items of his tray at dinner and say uh-oh. He loves to get a reaction from you.
• wants whatever his brother has or wants to do whatever he is doing.
• starting to finally sit still and listen to an entire book.
• really likes to color/scribble

Oliver's 1st Birthday Party

Saturday, December 2nd we celebrated Oliver's 1st birthday with our family and a few friends. I went with the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme as it seems as if our little caterpillar can never get satisfied these days. The book lent itself to easy food and decorations ideas (all of which I needed for a birthday the weekend after Thanksgiving).  We had a great time and Oliver was by far the most entertaining kid I've ever seen eating his first cake.  I'm sad I forgot to take pictures of the table and sorts, but you can see the most important pictures (the cake eating) in the below slideshow.

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Happy 1st Birthday Oliver!

Sweet Oliver,

One year ago today, you surprised us all by coming 20 days early. Evidently you didn't care what the calendar said and you just wanted out. :)  From the very first moment we saw you, we knew our world would never been the same.  You showed us early on how strong your lungs were and you made sure your needs were attended to immediately.

You've had a crazy first year of life full of doctor's appointments and tests, but you haven't let it faze you at all.  We are so thankful that your little tumor is almost gone and you are a smart, funny, and healthy toddler now. You have the cutest little expressions and are constantly make some of kind of noise.  You are mischievous, fearless, and easily amused.  You bring so much joy to our lives and we praise God that He chose us to be your parents.

As you reach this big milestone, here are some of the fun new things you are doing:

• You now weigh 22 lbs 14 oz. (52 %tile) and are 30 3/4 in tall (80% tile). Sadly son you have a big head at 18 3/4 in (84 %tile). 
• You are now drinking whole milk exclusively. Sadly due to Mommy's back injury, we quickly had to finish the weaning process. You were a champ though and never looked back. 
• You are doing a little bit of baby sign language now; you can do more and all done.
• You can make sounds that sound like: dada, mama, nana, baba, nigh (for night night) and I swear you said kiss the other day.
• You are starting to point to things you want and people in our family.
• You are eating A LOT! You must be growing through a growth spurt because I swear you are eating more than Owen these days.  I've also learned that you don't like to eat the same thing 2 days in a row. Just because you liked to eat something for lunch today doesn't mean you'll like it tomorrow. You like variety! :) However your new favorites have been apple cinnamon cereal bars and goldfish. 
• You are almost out of 12 month clothes. 
• You have become more of a daddy's boy this month.  You get so excited when he walks in the door and start fussing if he doesn't acknowledge you immediately.
• Clapping is your new favorite thing.  You love for us to sing and you will immediately start to clap when someone breaks out in song. Favorite songs are Wheels on the Bus and If You're Happy and You Know it.

We look forward to celebrating your first year tomorrow with our families and friends.  We pray that we have many, many more birthdays to celebrate together.  WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Oliver @ 11 Months

11 months...such a fun age.

This month, Oliver is:

• 22  lbs (by our scale)
• wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers
• still nursing 3x a day and has one cup of formula in the morning at preschool (ok and let's be honest, lately he's been waking up once during the early early morning and we'll only go back to sleep if I nurse him)
• taking one short nap at the Y and one longer nap here in the afternoon
• has 6 teeth..2 on the top and 4 on the bottom
• cruising along all the furniture and loves to pull up on any and every thing
• can crawl up the stairs
• no more bottles..he's moved onto sippy cups
• still a good eater but a little bit picker than the rest of the family
• wants anything Owen has and will fight him for it
• waves to everyone wherever we go
• loves to clap his hands
• a super fast crawler and walking holding onto our hands
• like most kids, loves to throw things off his high chair tray

In a few short weeks, we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday! It's so crazy how much faster the first year went with him than his brother's. We love you little man!

Oliver's 1st Haircut

In true Cox/Piner fashion, Oliver has a head full of hair. It was starting to get stringy in the front and long on the sides. While I'm the sentimental type, I'm not one to wait until after their 1st birthday to get their first haircut. My feeling is if they need, why not do it?

Thursday afternoon (Oct. 6th) I took Oliver over to Dolittle's Kiddie Salon for his first haircut. Unlike his big brother, he LOVED getting his haircut.  The lady placed him the little police car seat and he was happy as a clam.  He "drove" the car unfazed while she snipped away. While he really didn't get that much cut off, it still made a big difference to me.  He looks so much bigger now and I'm getting more comments about how much the boys look alike now.

Pre hair cut

Driving away

Whoa that looks short

Wooooooooo

Am I cute Mom?

He didn't even mind the clippers

Dude I'm cute. 

All done and ready to ride (again his silly picture taking face)

Oliver @ 10 months

Oliver has another month under his belt. He is just 2 short months away from his 1st birthday!

At 10 months, he:

•  is 21.8 lbs
• has gone through a growth spurt this month and seems to want to eat all the time.  He has recently discovered bread and is in love. He practically inhales any bread product you give him.
• has started to drink out of a sippy cup. He has trouble holding it up by himself though.
• is starting to walk while holding our hands. 
• is still taking two naps, though it's a short nap while at the Y.  He also goes to bed around 7 and wakes up around 6:30. Sadly teething has been causing him to wake up in the night the last few weeks.
• would rather be standing then sitting. If you try to sit him down, he will arch his back in attempt to keep you from make him sit.
• now has 5 teeth..he added a new one on the bottom just this week.
• is doing much better at the Y. We think some of his issues were because of hunger.  I have started packing him more snacks and he seems to be happier. 
• can climb the stairs
• makes the funniest faces, esp when you want to take his picture
• is obsessed with Owen's tool bench, esp. the lighted drill press. 
• leans in to give you a kiss and waves bye-bye
• has started to include more consonants sounds into his vocabulary. This week is the n sound.

He is such a fun little guy and we are blessed to have him in our family. :)

 

Oliver @ 8 Months

This past month was a big and busy one for Oliver as he has reached several new milestones.

This month, he:

• Weighs 19 lbs
• now has 2 teeth on the bottom (and continues to drool like crazy)
• can army crawl really fast. He is rocking back and forth on his knees, but hasn't figured out how to move forward quite yet.
• has started saying dada, hey, baba
• started eating 3 solids/meals a day along with nursing every 3.5 hours
• has pulled up once to his feet all by himself. I went into the kitchen really quick to get a glass of water, I come back and he is standing at the play table. We quickly made sure to lower the crib.
• is wearing mostly 9 month clothes
• adores his brother and laughs at just about anything he does
• is starting to have some separation anxiety
• takes 2 naps a day, maybe 3 (a short 30 min one around dinner). He has difficulty staying asleep at the Y unless one of the sweet ladies holds him.
• is a terrific eater..he will eat whatever we give him.

We go back to the oncologist on Monday, Aug. 8th to check on his tumor. From what I can tell, it has broken up and seems to almost gone. I look forward to hearing his assessment.

It feels like his 1st year of life is flying by. We are only 4 short months away from his 1st birthday! It's crazy...slow down time. :)

Baby's 1st 4th

Have you ever noticed how there is a shirt for baby's first everything? It's a running joke in our family about it and of course my parents found Owen a baby's 1st 4th of July shirt 2 years ago. Well it was Oliver's turn to wear it. What do you think? Do they look alike?

Oliver @ 7 Months

Month 7 already? Oliver is changing every day and has such a fun personality. My friend Caron said the other day that she has never seen a little boy change so much every time she sees him (and she sees him weekly).

At 7 months, he:

• weighs: 17 lbs 11 oz (we know this thanks to an unexpected trip to the doctor for what I thought was pink eye. Thankfully it was just a bad summer cold that had traveled to his eye.)
• is wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes. He is a lot longer and leaner than his brother at this age. He is wearing outfits Owen wore later because he needs to the length. Poor thing has lots of extra room on the sides though.
• is still breastfed and is now eating solids 2x a day. His food repertoire now includes: bananas, apples, avocados, plums, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, green beans, and prunes. He loves them all! He has also started to practice with puffs. He can get them in his hand but loses them in his fist.
• finally started sleeping through the night (it only took 2 nights of crying it out); now if we could only get him to sleep later. :)
• had his 1st tooth appear this weekend. He has been drooling non-stop for about a month now; he goes through several bibs a day trying to absorb all that excess saliva.
• is sitting up all by himself. He can also go from the sitting position down to his belly.
• loves water! He loves splashing and kicking in the pool and bathtub. Speaking of the bathtub, he is sitting up by himself in the bathtub with his brother.
• is inchworm crawling (puts his bottom up in the air then down enough times to move)
• is very ticklish and will laugh at any little funny face you make.
• has learned to defend himself against his brother already..pulling his hair is his latest move.
• has moved to the bigger carseat. He was just getting too heavy for the infant carrier and since we already had the seat from Owen, we went ahead a moved him out.

Half Birthday :)

On June 2nd, Oliver turned 6 months old. Happy 1/2 birthday, sweet Oliver! The past 6 months went by sooo quickly!

At 6 months, you:

• weigh 17 lbs 2 oz (45%tile)
• are 27 1/2 in tall (85 %tile)
• head size: 17 1/4 (53%tile)
• are wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers
• still exclusively breastfed, eating every 3-3.5 hours
• take 3 naps a day, varying from 1 to 2.5 hours each
• still wake up once a night to eat (boo!)
• are a light sleeper and therefore do not transfer from the car to the house without waking up
• are very close to sitting up by yourself. You can sit for about 30 secs then topple over, normally because you are reaching for a toy or trying to suck on your feet.
• love eating oatmeal and started eating avacado on Tuesday.
• still suffer from reflux and must wear a bib (or 3) all day to keep your clothes dry
• very loud. You have definitely found your voice and love babbling at a very high volume. You are saying many consonants but no real words yet.
• like to chew/suck on everything...your feet, arm, a toy...really anything
• love to look at yourself in the mirror
• are very ticklish
• love to watch your brother and think he's the greatest thing since slice bread

We love you little buddy and feel so blessed to have you as part of our family!