15 months

Oh my goodness, how long has it been since I last posted?
I can't really remember and I haven't looked on my blog to see my last dated post.
We've honestly been so busy just living our day to day that I kind of dropped my posting here.
But what have we been up to?
Here we are about a month into the school year already- hard to believe. I know school starts earlier here than it does in the north. I certainly don't remember starting school until 'real' fall began. But Jonah has been moving right along, and I am so proud of him. He is such a hard worker and a natural teacher. I wish I could sit in on his new class- photography. There is so much I have to learn yet, and he teaches me new things every time we do a shoot together.
I love my husband and I am so thankful for him in my life, by my side. Thank you Jesus for bringing us together!

Oliver has been growing like a weed. He is really developing his personality now and it's hilarious to watch him bloom.
He is 15 months now, actually getting close to 16 and really tackling the walking thing. I love being able to hold his little hand as he totters beside me. I often walk with him down the sidewalk to a park we have in our neighborhood. It's slow going, but I wouldn't rush it for the world. He is thrilled to have this new freedom too and walks all over the house now. He also loves to climb on things and his no fear mentality seems to be too often for my liking. One day he got himself up on our rocking ottoman while Jonah and I were watching. He was mad once he got up there because he couldn't figure out how to get down, until it tipped over. He was fine just a little shocked at it all. He hasn't ventured on the ottoman since then!
He has also discovered how to not only go upstairs but down, and will get all excited when we say 'lets go upstairs' because he knows not to go up without us there. However the other day when I had some friends over, he managed to climb all the way upstairs, without my knowledge as I thought my friends were watching him. They didn't realize he wasn't allowed to go up. Stinker. That was pretty amazing that he did that on his own- when he very well knew it wasn't allowed. Looks like we'll have to keep the gate up at the bottom of the stairs.
Oliver has really done well with learning 'no' for things. We've been teaching him this since he was around 10 months or so and I think that has helped him a lot. He still tries to do things even though he knows it's a no, but daily training... it will continually and consistently be daily training.
Another fun fact about Oliver, he has a fascination with his belly button. He's graduated from holding his hear (or ours) and sucking his thumb when he's tired, to playing with his belly button and sucking his thumb.
I'm not sure what the fascination is with this newfound body part, but it makes us laugh. One day when he's older we'll be sure to show him photos of all his little phases!
And the newest thing that Oliver has learned? What the elephant says.
We wave our arm out and say 'phrmmm' and he started mimicking this. So cute.
I can't believe how quickly he is learning things and copying us too. Truly the little mind he has is so quick and growing so fast, I think we underestimate what he is capable of doing!
We are truly enjoying all these milestones along the way, and looking forward to a very full fall! Pumpkins, roasted marshmallows and hot cocoa are a few things we have yet to introduce to this little boy!