Nothin' but country!

Today, after Ola woke up from his nap, I turned on the radio while I was on the computer. Ola was playing around, and then I noticed he was kinda quiet. I turned around to catch him dancing along with the music. Yes, he's definitely my boy! Nothin' but country!!

Daga Daga

This past weekend, Ola found a new phrase that he just can't get enough of. I have no idea where it came from, or why he loves it so much, but, "daga daga" is all we've been hearing lately.

New loves...

For Christmas, Ola received an Elmo hand puppet from one of Aho's friends at work. Inside the head, there's a button that, when pressed, makes Elmo speak. I've used it a couple times to keep him distracted, and I know Aho and my mom have both played with it as well, but I didn't realize just how much he liked his Elmo. Last week, in an attempt to keep him busy, I asked him to go get his Elmo from his toy bin. To my surprise, he walked over, moved a couple things, and pulled out his Elmo. I believe I asked him, "How in the world do you know who Elmo is?" This week, I've noticed that he carries Elmo around with him throughout the day. In fact, just the other day, I held up two toys (one being Elmo), and asked which Ola who he wanted to take with him in the car. The other toy didn't stand a chance.


Since my parents were visitng this week, they decided they wanted to shop for Ola's birthday presents. They still have a month, but apparently, they couldn't wait. They came back from Toys R Us with a new ka'a, and Ola couldn't wait to play with it. It plays music and has animals that spin around, and he just loves pushing his new toy around the house. When he's lucky, Daddy puts him on and takes him for a ride around the house.

Bugs!!

While my parents were visiting this weekend, we took Ola down to Pearlridge to see the giant bug exhibit. There were three huge moving bugs at center stage, and Ola loved them. Well, only when they moved or made noise. We didn't know there were more bugs at the downtown area, so we'll probably make another trip soon.

What he's been up to...

Lately, I have been terrible about blogging. I haven't been so great at taking pictures either. So tonight, I thought I'd post up some of the latest moments from the life of our little man.

Recently, we have discovered that Ola LOVES fresh blueberries. Normally, I put them into pancakes or muffins and smoosh them a little before he eats them, but we've recently started giving them to him just regular. And, he can't get enough. Once he notices that you have them, he will ignore all other food items until all the blueberries are gone. This has made for blue hands, a blue face, and yes, a blue butt.
Ola has also been using his talents of walking and climbing to reach new things. Now, he can get pretty much anywhere he wants to, and very quickly. This includes getting onto the couch, and making himself comfortable, so he can play with the cord for the blinds.
We have also caught him in another hilarious position that gives a clue to one of his 10 ethnicities. Yes, my 10 month old is a pro at the Filipino squat. I guess we can't hide the Badua in him.
And last, but not least, our little man has moved onto his own full sized mattress. We noticed that he slept better when either Aho or I slept with him, so Aho suggested we try co-sleeping for a while. It was something we had tried to avoid, but as my hilarious husband put it, "I don't care if he sleeps with us till he's five, as long as he sleeps" (as opposed to his norm of waking up 3-5 times a night). After a few nights of him hogging most of our Cal King, I realized that, maybe, he's just a roller and needs more space than the two feet in his crib. So, we put the mattress in his room on the floor, and he now has it all to himself. Yesterday, I put him down for his nap in the corner against the wall, giving him space to roll. And roll he did...all the way the the opposite corner, right to the edge. Don't worry, he didn't fall off. (And in case you're wondering, this still hasn't fixed his sleeping problems. I guess space is not the answer.)

Walking EVERYWHERE

Ola now wants to walk. EVERYWHERE. He's not particularly fond of the poky feel of grass, but while we were at home on Kaua'i this weekend, not even the grass hindered him. Watch out people...he's fully mobile!
Sorry, it's from the other camera (aka not the one i usually use) and i couldn't rotate it.

Cheap thrills...

I LOVE it when the UPS man shows up at my house. It's always so much fun getting something in the mail that you were, or weren't, expecting. But today, I was SUPER thrilled when he knocked at my door, because...he had my camera! Yes, the wonderful people at the cannon repair center fixed my baby free of charge and sent it back to me today. And it was just in time to capture all of our cheap thrills of the day...


We have always had problems finding shoes to fit Ola. We have quite a few pairs, but they're all either too small, or too big. But now that he's walking, and wanting to be Mr. independent all the time, we figured we better find some shoes that fit NOW. So, on a trip to Target today, I picked up a pair of tiny crocs. They were only $9, which is actually less than half the price of some of the slippers he was given (but never fit). We walked around outside for a little while, but he's not quite used to having things on his feet yet. He did, however, enjoy examining his new shoes. While I was cleaning up after dinner, Ola joined me in the kitchen. For some reason, he LOVES the refrigerator. Maybe he knows that that's where all the food is. Once he hears the door open, he books it as fast as he can, from where ever he is, to get there. Normally, I try to close it before he gets into trouble, but tonight I figured I'd let him play for a bit. A couple extra bucks for electricity, but he was entertained, and it did cool down the kitchen. ;)

But, as many parents know, the cheapest toy you can get your kids is the box the toy came in. Or in this case, the box the diapers came in. We went to target to grab diapers since they were SOOO cheap. And when we got home, Ola and Aho played with the box. Gotta love cheap thrills...

10 Months

So, today, Ola is 10 months old. I realized it this morning while he was eating breakfast with his daddy. Aho and I are still trying to figure out what happened to our baby. How in the world have 10 months passed so quickly?

Aho was telling me that I need to make sure I write down things that he does so that when he's older we'll remember and we can share those memories with him. So, for the record, it's official...Ola is walking. He's been walking around the house, with the help of furniture, for about 2 or 3 months now. But, he's finally letting go. He gets such a big smile on his face when he stands up with no support and takes his many slow steps to his destination. Of coarse, we cheer and applaud, and his smile just gets bigger. Tonight, he was playing in the living room while I was finishing dinner, and the power shut off. It wasn't quite dark yet, but he still got scared by the difference, and took off towards me faster than I've ever seen him move. He moved so fast, he fell over. I guess walking and balance are two very different skills.

We've also noticed that he gets SUPER excited when mommy or daddy join him under the kitchen table. He loves to play around, walking around all the table and chair legs like a maze. If one of us gets down under the table to join him, he gets so excited and can't stop smiling and giggling. Who needs toys when you have a kitchen table and chairs?

And, on top of all his growing up, he no longer wants baby food. He wants real food. If we're eating it, he wants it. Instead of giving him strait fruit in the mornings, I've had to turn everything into pancakes. So far, in the past week, we've had sweet potato pancakes, blueberry pancakes, and just this morning, banana pancakes. I think Aho is pancaked out. But Ola just loves being a big boy and eating what we're eating. I just don't think that mommy is ready for all this yet.

Left unattended...

Ola has figured out how to get into pretty much everything. He loves the kitchen cabinets, his toy box, and is guaranteed to get into the bathroom if the door is left open. The other day, while he was playing, I left the room and came back to find this. He had gotten into his diaper box and had the diapers strewn everywhere. When i said "Hala!" very loudly, he smiled the biggest, cutest smile, and continued pulling the diapers out. I just had to laugh. And of coarse, take a picture.

This is why we need sleep!

Ola is NOT a sleeper. Naps are usually short, and night time is broken up into about 5 sections. We're still not sure what it is, but our boy does NOT sleep. However...every once in a while, we get a really good nap. By really good, I mean an hour and a half or longer. When he has one of these fabulous naps, he wakes up quietly and in a good mood (as compared to crying and grumpy, like he usually wakes up). The other day we had one of these GREAT naps. A TWO HOUR nap. And, I just so happened to be in the room when he woke up. This was the happy face of my no-longer-tired-because-I-actually-slept boy. I absolutely LOVE being greeted by this happy little man and really do wish we could figure out how to have this happen more often. This... is why we need sleep!

Who needs the water park??

For my birthday, Aho got me a new camera. He is wonderful, and thoughtful, and got me a great digital camera that anyone would be thrilled with. I, however, am spoiled. I LOVED my cannon powershot! And, like a spoiled brat, have hardly been using my new camera. In fact, I just sent my cannon into the shop to be fixed, and will probably be returning the new one Aho got (which, just in case you're thinking I'm horrible, is just fine with him). But, in the meantime, we did use it to take some pictures of things we've been doing, and I'm finally uploading them.
A few weeks ago, while Aho was off, we decided to take Ola to the water park. He likes to play in water, and we thought it would be fun, and different than the beach. We had a pepsi can that made it a two for one deal, so it wasn't as expensive as normal, but still $40. Our park has two kiddie sections for kids, so we hung out there. There were tons of kids running back and forth and Ola didn't quite know what to do with all the excitement.
We did get to take him down one of the slides in the kid section. It didn't really phase him though. He just chewed on his thumb the whole way down. I loved it though, since neither Aho or I wanted to ride the real rides by ourselves (next time we need to take a baby sitter with us). In fact, he didn't seem all too thrilled by anything (except maybe the birds that were walking around near the picnic tables).
When we were all done, we headed out the the truck to go home. I put the tailgate down and changed Ola and then let him climb around in the truck until we were all ready. Apparently, we shouldn't have spent the $40 to go the water park. We should've just put the kid in the back of the truck at home. Oh well. At least he had fun. Even if it was in the parking lot of the water park. You gotta love a kid who's easy to entertain.