clapping by Olsen

We went to a friend's house the other day for a farewell BBQ for Sara who is off to Montana after finishing her masters. Bec has a little girl, Lola, who is exactly 2 weeks older than Olsen. She is super smart and if you say, "Lola, clap," she immediately claps her hands together. Olsen is not quite at that point, and I don't think his fine motor skills are as advanced as Lola's, but he's working on it. Here's Olsen's version of clapping.

 

the chase

Here is a video of one of Olsen's favorite games. This video is almost a month old, and he can crawl so much faster now. He's still not close to walking, though. I think he wants to be like Lucy and stay on all fours.

beets!

This is a picture of Olsen after eating some beets. It looks like he has some red lipstick on. He actually seems to like the beets and opens his mouth wide when they are offered. To be honest, I do not care for beets. But I know that they are supposed to be amazingly good for you. I am trying to get us to eat much more healthily, because I get the feeling that soon Olsen will not be satisfied with a bowl of beets while I'm eating half a pizza...

Mother's Day!

I had a great Mother's Day! It started with breakfast in bed: cereal, a poptart, and jello with fruit. Cooking isn't Adrian's strong point, but it was great. Olsen had gotten me a collection of Burt's Bees lotions and soaps with a really nice note. And then, Adrian and Lucy planted me a gala apple tree! There was also a package of oreos in the mix as well (they are dangerously dairy-free). 

The day was excellent and work-free. It is amazing how I just love my little guy to pieces, and he isn't even 10 months old yet. Being a mom is really an incredible role, and I am so happy that I have been blessed to experience it!

Olsen and me by the apple tree.

jogging finally!

I have gone jogging twice this week! After I put Olsen to bed, I have gone jogging, while Adrian goes jogging (he probably actually goes running) while I am going through Olsen's bedtime routine. It has been nice, but I am pretty slow these days. Adrian and I used to run together around the A&M campus. He was always ahead of me, but I could still see his back. There is something about seeing someone's back that encourages you to run faster and longer. Now I am on my own, so I will have to push myself. These past two nights, I have jogged up to campus and through it a little bit and then back down. It is nice being up on the campus and looking down at the valley with the surrounding mountains.

I do have an awesome jogging stroller that my dad got me for Christmas. I love it, and I take Olsen and Lucy for walks everyday with it.  It was especially nice in the winter, because it can navigate through the snow and ice with such ease, compared to our other, huge travel system stroller (which I might not have gotten in retrospect). However, I am still a little afraid to jog with it, because I don't like the idea of Olsen's head being too rattled. I think this is a little bit of an irrational fear, because the stroller is designed to absorb the bumps, plus Olsen's head is pretty well attached at this point. But still...I worry. Maybe sometime soon I will jog with Olsen. Perhaps, next week, when Adrian is out of town for his short course, and I will be unable to jog at night alone.  

decisions, decisions, decisions

I think the hardest part about being a mom is making choices for my little person, who is not able to make his own decisions. I need to try and make the best choices possible for my little guy, because I want the best for him. I can do all the research in the world, but a lot of the times, it still just comes down to what Adrian and I think is best. Lately, I have gone back and forth about our decision to not get Olsen a helmet for his head shape. His head is still a little flat on the right side. 

Olsen must have been crammed in my uterus and was born with hip dysplasia and torticollis. His ped caught the hip dysplasia right away, but we didn't realize he had torticollis until his 2 month appointment. I had noticed that he had a tilt at times and liked looking right, but I mostly just thought that was due to having a heavy head and weak neck. But apparently, his neck muscle was extremely tight and he couldn't turn left (maybe Zoolander had torticolllis). We only had him on his back when he was sleeping, but his head got a little flat on the right since that was the only way he would turn his head when on his back. We went to physical therapy and did a lot of stretching. His tort resolved pretty quickly, but we had to be really vigilant about repositioning him. I almost wanted to go ahead and get him a helmet to reshape his head, but insurance requires two-month of repositioning. And most people I talked to said it wasn't that bad. He had no facial asymmetry. Even my mom thought he looked fine, and she can be somewhat critical at times. And I honestly wanted to avoid having him wear a helmet since he already had to wear a hip harness. 

His head has improved and he is actually only 3 mm flatter on his right than his left, but he still has this flatness to his head. I think in general his head naturally doesn't come out as much and this is emphasized on the right side. I can tell his head is more flattish when I look at other babies. I just hope it doesn't bother him when he's older. I have never really noticed people's head shapes before, so I hope others don't really look at that also. I just wonder sometimes if we made the right choice in not going for the helmet. But his face is as cute as ever, so I'm trying not to worry about it too much...