I was in the kitchen today, and the boys crawled into the office. Then I just heard laughing coming from that front room. I grabbed the camera and peeked in on them to find this scene.
Oliver cackles. Solomon yuck-yucks.
(Just for reference, this happened about 20 minutes after a complete explosion involving block throwing and hand biting. Brothers.)
Oliver is such a charmer. Everywhere he goes he flashes his endearing smile and suddenly, everyone around him has a crush on him. Each time I look up from my list at the grocery store, I see three or four people looking at our cart, smiles wrapping around their faces, shoulders raised, eye lashes batting. There is Oliver, charming them all. I feel like a celebrity. There is something so pure and joyful and hilarious about this boy. Here are some photos and a video of him eating. It is just so cute to watch him eat. I must document it, because at some point--I don't know when--it's not so cute anymore. I mean, nobody is sitting around taking videos of me chewing a pear.
Happy. All the time.
Mr. Cheeks.
Oh those chubby hands.
Get it.
This video isn't quite in focus. I'm still trying to figure out our new camera. But, you can see how Oliver just suddenly flashes smiles. Nothing seems to really be the catalyst, only he's so excited about life. Super precious.
Solomon at the park throwing leaves into the ditch.
Mama and Oliver.
Sylvie
Oliver.
What a crack up smile!
Mama and Solomon planting garlic.
Solomon and Baba ride in the tractor.
Hanging out with friends at the garden.
Solomon and Kai on the old Caterpillar.
Taking control.
Wanting to shave.
Green tomato chutney.
We also made and canned soups, sauces, and sauerkraut this week.
And we finally carbonated and bottled the mead we made.
On 10-10-10 my friends Hannah and Jeff gave birth to a baby boy. Issac Augustus was born at home in the water. I was honored to be there and document their day. Here are just a few pictures:
He's a boy!
George, the midwife, shares a moment with Hannah.
Mama and Issac, curled up in bed.
Issac weighs in at 9 1/2 pounds. (That's the little guy in the sling being weighed)
This is for the Gardner and Seitz family. Solomon was captivated by Mary dancing the Cupid Shuffle. He watched her video four or five times in a row. That's when I decided to get out the camera and film him watching it. I thought it was too funny how he just barely wiggled while watching her. Then, suddenly, while watching it this time, he brings out the moves. Anyone who has not seen Mary dance, can see her by clicking on the link on the link in the right-hand side of our blog that says "Mary's dance recital".
So, it's time for a little bit more Oliver. As it seems to be his Way, Oliver is again taking leaps and bounds after a long period of frustration. After months of "being on the verge" of crawling, he started really locomoting. Now he can get anything he wants to play with. Then, week before last, four teeth came through in one week--three on top and one on bottom. So he now has six. Then he decided he wanted to eat everything himself. No more mush. No more Mama feeding him. He wants to do it. Suddenly, all frustration has melted away. I have to say that this last week and a half has been the cutest and easies, time with Oliver. I am enjoying him so much. His smiles and giggles are adorable.
Look at those pearly whites as he laughs in the afternoon sun.
Crawling on the shadows (and squinting).
Playing in bed first thing in the morning. When I get him up, he nurses in bed. Then, he just laughs and laughs, tries to climb on Baba, plays peek-a-boo with the sheets, buries his head in the pillows. It is the sweetest time of the day.
Here is Oliver enjoying his teething biscuit. Really, it's kind of gross, but so endearing too.
And, because we really can't leave Solomon out, here's a few:
Solomon hugging Baba. Baba was filling out a "daily" for his workers and Solomon wanted to fill one out too. This is his "daily". Jon Ray and I both got a kick out of the fact that he made little marks in all of the rows.
Jon Ray and Solomon filling out dailies together.
Oliver can now get to everything. So, he follows Solomon around and does what he does. Today, they looked at records together.
