Have you ever heard of a Germ Monster?

Oliver has; they live in his mouth just waiting to eat his food. For about a year now we have struggled with tooth brushing every single day. Oliver has his own tooth brush and loves to brush his own teeth, but as soon as it became time for Mommy or Daddy to finish the job, it was a nightmare. We would eventually have to hold his mouth open which lately has just led to huge tantrums. I was almost to the point of giving up brushing all together (not really :), when I received an e-mail from Babycenter.com touting that they could end tooth brushing battles. Baby Center has been a great resource for me since I was pregnant. After Oliver was in bed that night, I rushed in to read the e-mail and sure enough they had several suggestions we already tried (i.e. let him have his own toothbrush, let him brush in front of the mirror, let him brush your teeth, sing a song, etc.), but they also had some suggestions we had not tried before. The next night I told Oliver that he had Germ Monsters living in his mouth and asked him if he knew what color they were and he instantly responded "blue" (his favorite). I told him they were hiding between and behind his teeth and that he needed to use his toothbrush to brush them away so they wouldn't eat all the leftover food in his sleep. After he finished brushing, I checked his teeth and it turned out he left some behind and when I told him I could still see some, he instantly opened his mouth and let me brush. I was so impressed. Germ Monsters along with the privilege of spitting into the sink after brushing has been our greatest help with the teeth brushing battle. We have been using this technique for a week now and I am proud to announce that we have not had one teeth brushing battle since we began. I love that the Internet is so accessible and that we live in a day and age where we can find the answers to our questions by the click of a mouse. Here is a video Daddy brushing away Oliver's Germ Monster:

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Oliver's fascination with wooden spoons

Recently I was putting together Oliver's book for his first year and I found that the first picture of him with a wooden spoon was when he was only four months old. Oliver loves wooden spoons; I guess they are some type of security object for him...maybe that is why he loves cooking in his kitchen so much. If I had to guess, I would say that probably half of my pictures at home have some type of cooking utensil such as a spatula, a whisk, or his favorite the wooden spoon.

This week Clayton met Oliver and I at Gymboree and we switched cars and he took Oliver home to play and have lunch, while I went to a meeting at school. Clayton took these pictures of their playing at home. I loved the one where Oliver is showing Clayton how flexible he can be and of course, a wooden spoon is always in hand.

Oliver's new booster seat

Oliver has been increasingly interested in sitting at a big chair at the table, so we ordered him a booster seat and it arrived today. He was very excited and proud to have his first snack in his new big boy chair.

Oliver feeding ducks and playing with squirrels at the Chisolm Trail

Yesterday I was cleaning all the stale crackers out of our pantry and Oliver and I decided that the ducks might like the crackers. So this morning, we went to where the ducks always gather on the Chisolm Trail and fed the ducks. They were approaching us as we got out of the car their mouths agape basically begging for food. This was exciting because generally these ducks are not very hungry and snub their noses at what we offer them. Anyway, Oliver had a blast. They ate all our crackers and begged for more, so Oliver fed them the rest of his waffle he had nibbled on during the ride over. So many people stopped and commented on how cute he was feeding the ducks. I thought it was so cute too and luckily I had my camera. Here are some pictures of him feeding the very hungry ducks:


After the ducks had eaten everything we had to offer, Oliver started playing hide and seek with a squirrel around a tree. When Oliver would get close to him, the squirrel would run to the other side, then Oliver would run to where the squirrel was now, and the squirrel would circle back to the original side. It was so cute! I was taking these pictures which were not capturing it quite as I had hoped and then I realized I could record it. So here are some pictures of Oliver saying "Hi" to the squirrel and finally a video.

Video of Oliver playing with a squirrel:

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Oliver at Play

Oliver has taken an interest in musical instruments recently, so we purchased him a drum, a trumpet, and a few other instruments. This morning he was really into the drum and I was able to snap some cute pictures and this video:

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Later in the day, Oliver enjoyed a relaxing ride on a blanket courtesy of Daddy.

Oliver had a great week with Grammy & Gramps

My Mom & Dad came to stay with us this past week. Oliver warmed up to them in no time and by the end of the week he was asking for Grammy & Gramps before he went to bed and first thing when he woke in the morning. He had such a fun time with them here and loved having someone to play with while Mommy was doing mundane things like laundry and cooking. During their stay, Oliver rode a huge horse on the the carousel and enjoyed tastes of Grammy, Gramps and Mommy's ice cream cones while watching ice skaters at Stonebriar Mall. We took walks and played on the playground in the park behind our house. Oliver had a blast when Grammy taught him how to play Jacks; he loved throwing the balls in the air. We went to see the animals at Owen's Spring Creek Farm, where Oliver enjoyed feeding some very hungry sheep and goats and had so much fun counting the horses with Gramps: Oliver counts: "one, twooo", so cute! And finally, Oliver was able to ride all the mechanical cars and trucks at Willowbend Mall play area. Oliver's favorite part of the entire week was getting to know his Grammy & Gramps better and developing memories that will last a life time.











On the last night Grammy & Gramps were here, after dinner Oliver went to Grammy and took her hand and said “come” and then to Gramps and took his hand and said “come” and then he led them into his toy room to play. They played with puzzles, cars, trucks, shapes among other things. It was almost as if Oliver could sense that they would be leaving the next morning. My Mom said she will remember that for a long time. It was so cute! This is a picture of them playing that evening:

My family loves to play the card game "May I?". Last night we played probably the longest game of "May I?" ever! I am sad to report that I think I may have lost my touch with the game as last night I had my all time worst score, but that may be because I never got the calendar (inside joke). Thanks for coming to stay with us Grammy & Gramps. Here are some pictures of Oliver saying his goodbye's. We will miss you!

Oliver Clayton Royal is Twenty-Two Months Old!

Happy 22 month old birthday baby! I guess technically I shouldn't call him my baby anymore, but I just can't help it! I can't believe that he will be two in just a couple of short months; I still remember the day he was born and the months we spent rocking and nursing like they were yesterday. Oliver has grown into such a big boy. He loves to help Mommy & Daddy do just about anything: if Mommy cleans, Oliver cleans; if Daddy hammers, Oliver hammers. Oliver has become very social and several people have commented on he how he is not shy any longer. I attribute this to the time we have spent at Gymboree, but it may be that he is just growing up. He is such a happy boy with a great disposition, although he is testing boundaries and has definitely discovered that he has a will of his own and exerts it often. This past month he has turned into a great sleeper and he puts himself to sleep for a 2-3 hour nap and every night for around 11 hours. His favorite food is still pasta and he requests it daily along with cookies (go figure!). He loves to cook in his kitchen, play with toy cars and trucks, read books, snuggle stuffed animals, go outside, and he especially loves garbage trucks. We are constantly on the lookout for garbage trucks and we often watch videos of them on the Internet. We love this little guy so much!

This month I let Oliver choose where he wanted his 22-month old pictures taken and he had some good choices, some with bad lighting, and a ton of cute smiles. Here are the highlights. Enjoy!

And my favorite picture: