A Special Double Issue

The Weekly Recap:

The OG and the Boys

Earlier last week, we had a nice dinner in Naperville with the Glynns, Kyle and Brad (who were both in town for work). We had a great time, though the topics of conversation were quite varied. On one end of the table, there was talk of sleeping on mattresses found in alleys and refusing to splurge for air conditioning (but spending hundreds at the casino). On the other end of the table, the talk centered around day cares, diapers and Halloween costumes.

The Usual Suspects

The weekend came and went with various visits from our favorite aunties and uncles. Trav and Cori stopped by to play with the OG, as did Tamra and Mike. Auntie Lily came to visit on Saturday and, unbeknownst to me, had called ahead to ensure that she and the OG would be wearing matching outfits. I felt a bit left out, but since Auntie Lily is one of my closest friends, I let it slide…this time. On Sunday, Cori and Travis brought Carrie Underwood – I mean, Angie – back to the house with them…The only one who was missing was Uncle Huey, who was enjoying a vacation in Florida – lucky him!

Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend

One unexpected visitor to grace our house (twice, no less) was the newly engaged Miss Leah. She came over to give hugs and kisses…and to meet the OG (well, really, it was to pick Tamra up, but all the other things happened too). Olivia enjoyed meeting a new friend…and she especially loved wearing Leah’s new ring (which is very shiny and sparkly and dripping with diamonds). Congratulations to Leah and Brian!

…Not Flintstone’s Vitamins

Olivia takes one dropper-ful of Vitamin D with Iron every day…and she hates it! Admittedly, the syrup doesn’t smell very good, but she needs her vitamins to grow strong and healthy bones. When we first started giving it to her, she couldn’t do anything about it; the doctor had showed us a trick - we stick the dropper in between her gums and cheek, so that she has no choice but to ingest the vitamins. Now, not only does she use her tongue to push out as much of the syrup as possible, she has also figured out how to purse her lips so that we can’t even get the dropper into her mouth! She’s a smart cookie, that one!

Ah-gohng’s 60^th birthday

Last night, we celebrated Ah-gohng’s birthday. According to the lunar calendar (used in Taiwan), he turned 60 last year – so we had a big party for him, then. This year, we just had a small family celebration. At dinner, Ah-gohng declared, “Olivia is my best gift.” However, it should be noted that he did not offer to let us return all of the other gifts. The OG had fun helping Ah-Gohng open his presents and eat his cake. She also gave him a lot of hugs and kisses.

In Other News:

Last week, the OG turned 6 months – yes, 6 months! On the one hand, I can’t believe it has already been 6 months, it seems like just yesterday that we came home from the hospital. On the other hand, I can’t believe it has only been 6 months because I can’t even remember what my life was like before the OG entered it. One thing I do know for sure…seeing her wide, toothless smile each morning makes my whole day.

The OG is getting harder and harder to keep in one place. If you place her on one end of the couch, she can make it to the other end in a matter of seconds. I wouldn’t say she is “crawling” per se, but her movements get her to where she needs to go. Olivia’s also doing a great job with sitting. If you put her in the sitting position, she can maintain it for a period…eventually, she will start to slowly tip forward. She’s working on developing her back strength so that she can stay get into and out of the sitting position and, of course, stay in it for as long as she wants.

No more paci for Olivia. We have been weaning the OG from the pacifier for the last several weeks. She wasn’t that attached to it, to begin with, but she did miss it when going to bed. She’s now learning how to soothe herself to sleep. It’s not always easy on her, but it’s coming along.

One aspect of turning 6 months that the OG is/has been DEFINITELY looking forward to…is eating solids! Whenever the OG would sit at the dinner table with us, she would watch us bring each bite from our plate to our mouths. Then, she would mimic us and make chewing motions with her mouth, as though she was eating something too! We’ve received the OK from the doctor to start integrating food into her diet. We started with rice cereal. The first night that we tried it, the OG did not take very much. She wasn’t used to eating with a spoon and would shut her lips when we brought it to her mouth (much like what she does with her vitamins).

However, the next day, she opened her mouth and allowed us to put some of the cereal into her mouth. Even so, much of it went on her face and bib (and eyebrows), but she (and we) are starting to get the hang of eating with a spoon.

One addition that will help the variety of food that she can eat is…teeth! We think we can see her bottom middle teeth coming in. The gum is stretching tightly over them…so, it should be any day now that we’ll find the tops of the teeth breaking through. She hasn’t been too crabby through the teething process, although she does seem to find comfort in biting on her toys and, sometimes, her own fingers.

With her 6 month birthday came her 6 month doctor’s appointment. She’s growing right along her curve – 26 ½ inches (75-90^th percentile) and 16 lbs 12 ozs (50-75^th percentile). The OG had to get 4 more shots this visit…and, with Steph out of town, I convinced Ah-Ma to come to the doctor with us. Olivia was a good sport with the doctor – she allowed Dr. Cherian to poke, prod, measure and weigh her…but, when Nurse Peggy came into the room (and Ah-Ma was holding her), the OG took one look at her and started crying! I’m convinced that the OG must have recognized Nurse Peggy (and remembered the shots she brought with her) from her 4 month appointment because she rarely cries for no reason. As expected, the OG was not very happy about this month’s shots. But, on the upside, she seemed to hold it against Nurse Peggy and not Ah-Ma or myself. Unlike last time (when she wouldn’t even look at Stephane for the rest of the night), the OG was her usual happy self once we left the doctor’s office.

Top Dollar

Stopping to Smell the Roses

Ah-ma and the OG spent a beautiful fall afternoon at the Chicago Botanical Gardens. The OG loved looking at all the bright colors and all of the different flowers. Ah-ma said that she was especially fascinated by the fountain and had a lot of fun watching the water spray in all directions.

Entourage…

We had another parent activity at Little Hands. Stephane, Ah-Ma and the OG made lots of footprint molds. We think that the other parents and the teachers must think we are a bit strange because the OG ALWAYS has at least 2 family members with her at all times – sometimes she has 3! As further evidence, we are definitely the only family to bring our own camera…and camcorder to record her every move.

International Traveler

Well…ok…it’s more like Midwest Traveler. Having spent last weekend in Wisconsin, the OG was bitten by the travel bug and wanted to go out of town this weekend, too. So…we packed up the car and journeyed to the land of corn – South Bend, IN – for the OG’s first tailgate at Notre Dame. She was such a trooper…she barely made a peep when we passed her from person to person (our biceps were lucky to be getting a break) and she had smiles for everyone…even grumpy Uncle Huey.

We all want Olivia’s first football game to be a positive experience…so, we decided to go to Kiam and Steve’s house, instead of going into the game. Adorable and super blonde, Jack (their son) was such a riot. He was very sweet and shared two of his beloved trains with Olivia (even though all she could do with them was put them in her mouth). He also reprimanded his Auntie Tamra twice – once for talking during his video and then again for pushing his trains off of the ottoman. The OG had such a good time…and she can’t wait to hang out with Auntie Kiam, Uncle Steve and Boyfriend Jack again!

Happy Birthday to Godfather Factor!

A big THANK YOU to Casey for sharing her room with the OG on Saturday night. Olivia was very excited for her first sleepover party. Of course, she didn’t want to go to sleep while the “adults” were still awake…but, then she soon realized that the “adults” weren’t too exciting, so she drifted off into sleep.

Another Episode of "Everybody Loves Banky"

Yup, you can add her to the list of “Girls who have fallen for Brad McDonald.” She spent a lot of time dancing and laughing and “goo goo”ing at Banky. Mc & Mac are expecting – and the OG is so excited to meet a new friend in March.

Infant One Week in Review

October 8^th – 12^th, 2007

Miss Jackie & Miss Helen

Defining Grasp

Our large caterpillar is great because it has many bright colors and different textures. Scarves are useful in developing a pincher grasp, which requires more refined muscle development in their hands. The children are building the small muscles in their hands through this activity as well as hand/eye coordination and focus.

Almost Crawling!

Olivia is scooting, a precursor to crawling. She is developing the muscles in her arms and legs needed to propel her body.

Balls!

We explored shape by focusing on round items in our sensory pool. Exploring like items together helps children learn to form categories, which is a way to build early math skills.

Painting

Even our littlest babies paint! They are able to feel the cool paint on their feet and hands. They watch it as they smear it around the paper. This creates a sense of wonder and helps to build color recognition in addition to new textures and sensory exploration.

FINALLY

Someone else to spoil the OG

The OG was lucky enough to spend time with her other grandma last week. Grandma A came from Las Vegas to visit for a whole week and took very good care of Olivia, during that time. The OG showed Grandma A all of her new tricks – standing up (with support), rolling over from front to back and back to front and getting into “crawling” position. Every time the OG looked at her Grandma’s face, she laughed and laughed – no one was sure what she was laughing at, but we all laughed right along with her. [Note: you would think that we would have some great Grandma/OG pictures to share...and we did...except a certain somebody erased them from our camera without downloading them. I'm not pointing fingers, but it wasn't me...and it wasn't the OG.]

A Visit from Royalty

Princess Sophie, daughter of Ellen and Andrew of Austin, TX, came to visit the OG last weekend. This is the first time that the two of them have met…and so, they initially stared each other down. Although they have never had a face-to-face, Sophie and Olivia have met in various stages of their bellyhood. Sophie was born when Olivia was just the size of a grapefruit; and she moved away when Olivia was just about ready to burst out. Soon, the OG and Sophie were laughing and playing …and wished that they didn’t live so far away so that they could have play dates more often!

Reunited and it feels so good…

A few weeks ago, we had forgotten Bobo the Blue Elephant at a friend’s house. This week, we finally got him back. Since then, the OG has been playing and loving Bobo all day long – especially on the long car rides to and from the city. We are very glad to have Bobo back in our lives…he brings such a big smile to the OG’s face.

Ah-ma’s house of mirrors

Ah-ma’s house is finally done (well, nearly done), so the OG has been venturing to the suburbs every day of the week. She loves looking at herself in the mirror and there are mirrors everywhere. Who knew this little girl would be so vain! Not only that, the majority of the first level is completely bare, so Olivia has entire rooms to scoot, scoot, scoot herself through. What a lucky girl!

Pumpkin patch

We made big plans with Ah-Ma and Ah-Gohng to go pumpkin picking this weekend. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate…but, we didn’t let that stop us. We went up to the Apple Holler in Wisconsin on Sunday. We decided not to go out into the fields because it was so rainy and wet, but there were all sorts of pumpkins and gourds to choose from in the orchard market. Since we saved $5 by parking on the street instead of the parking lot, we decided that it was only appropriate to buy ourselves an apple pie from the Apple Holler. Mmm…it was delicious!

Papa Pirate's Golden Birthday

Almost there...
Baby Girl is so close to crawling. She is able to lift her upper body up onto her arms. This week, she has figured out how to bend her knees when she pushes off on her toes so that she is on all fours. Once in this position, she rocks back and forth, back and forth, until her arms grow tired and she plops down onto the ground/couch/bed. Once she develops a bit more strength and learns how to coordinate her arm and leg movements...she'll be off...and that much harder to keep up with. As it is, this little baby has more energy that Stephane and I put together.


Shake, shake, shake
This week was “business as usual” for the OG. She did make an extra trip to Little Hands on Thursday afternoon for Curriculum Night. This year, the theme was “the Four Seasons” and Olivia’s classroom was designated the “Fall Room.” Pretty metallic leaf cutouts hung from the ceiling and the babies played with mini pumpkins and gourds. Olivia even made an art project by shaking a container that had fall-colored finger paint, paper and shape sorters. It was her very first take-home art project…and, she made it just in time to give to her daddy for his birthday.

Rain, rain, go Away
Ah-Gohng came over to accompany Ah-Ma and the OG to the zoo, as this had become a weekly tradition. However, the weather did not cooperate, so they had to spend the morning indoors. Undeterred, Ah-Gohng made sure that he still got in his “special time” with the baby!


Just off the Runway
The OG woke up bright and (too) early on Saturday. She was excited because she had a new fall wardrobe from which to choose her outfits. She selected a(nother) pretty pink dress – a belted shirtdress made out of corduroy – and waited for her friends to arrive to watch the ND game. As always, she loved all the attention and had smiles for everybody. She especially loved when Aunties Tamra and Cori fought over who got to hold her first.



A Pirate Party
After a weekend of birthday festivities (Rockit, Mad River, 10pin, Sushi Samba Rio and culminating at Deja Vu), we had a birthday party for Stephane at our house on Sunday (his actual birthday). In case you haven’t yet guess, the party was pirate themed...and, Cori and Travis really got into it!

Huey did not. However, he had a great excuse... not only did he go to Rockit and Mad River on Friday night. He then, got up and drove to Michigan for a wedding…and then drove all the way back to Chicago afterwards to meet us out at the Vu! As if that wasn’t enough…he was the first one over for the birthday party on Sunday.

Huey also brought his puppy, Tucker, over. The OG wasn’t quite sure what to make of Tucker at first. She seemed simultaneously interested and frightened of the puppy. Because they are about the same size, I think she couldn’t decide whether he was a really small farm animal (which she knows from the LP Zoo) or just a really hairy baby. Eventually, she warmed up to Tucker.Auntie Lins and Uncle Tom came over for the festivities. The OG just kept smiling and smiling at Tom. Lins had to give her a talking to...something about "keeping her mitts off of my man." Uncle Tom is running the Chicago Marathon for the 2nd time next Sunday and the OG will be there to cheer him on!

The OG's cousin, Sylvie, came over to play with her on Sunday, too. She did not like dressing up like a pirate nearly as much as Travis and Cori did.




the OG wants to wish her daddy a

Happy 30th Birthday!!!
And...many more to come!








GO CUBBIES!!!