What a character...

Got Oliver to bed, as usual, while Jon put Natalie to bed. Jon just came down - said as he was leaving Natalie's room, he saw Oliver's hand sticking out under his door - was just waving it back and forth. lol Went in, and Oliver told him he went poopy. Why he didn't say anything through the monitor, or actually say something when he heard Jon leave Natalie's room, is beyond me, but the mental image of the little hand shoved under the door is killing me..

Happy Birthday, Oliver!

Our big boy turned 3 today, and to quote Oliver "Everybody had a great time!". When he got up this morning, I sang "Happy Birthday", complete with "cha cha chas", to his delight. Had a little breakfast, opened his gift from Aunt Jamie (Superman toy and a blue satin superhero cape - dude was over the moon!", then we headed out. Went to get some Toy Story plates and napkins, and a Jessie doll to go with his Woody and Buzz (Dee-da sent him a check, and told me to buy him something he wanted). Next stop was a haircut, per his request. Had a little lunch, then we went to the party store for balloons, got home just in time for nap. He wore the cape the whole time we were gone - so cute!

After his nap, Mitz and Pops came over, and he opened his gifts. Then we went to Chuck E Cheese - kids had a blast! Oliver wore his cape again, along with his special birthday shirt (Superman logo with the "S" replaced with a "3"". I climbed up in the tunnels that line the ceiling with him - man, it stinks up there. Oliver wanted Chuck E to come over, so he could tell the big rodent that he has a beautiful hiney (Oliver's highest compliment), but Chuck E didn't... So Oliver stood up at the table and trash talked Chuck E. He was babbling most of it, so we have no idea what he said, but the tone of voice was all tough guy. Had cake and ice cream... Our baker outdid herself again - the cake matched his shirt and was incredible! Found Whoppers (Oliver's favorite chocolate candy) ice cream by Breyers (and it is so gross, but Oliver liked it), so we brought that too!

On the way home, I was trying to get Oliver to pick a favorite birthday present. He mentioned this Buzz Lightyear Shake and Go car, that was one of his gifts from us. Natalie said "Don't you mean the Woody hat? Don't you love that hat?" (that's what she "gave" him - and it's really cool - nice sized, licensed Woody hat, not cheap plastic either - he wore that to CEC too!). He said "I WUV that hat! Thank you giving me my cowboy hat, Nanee". Natalie said "So is it your favorite?". Oliver said "Yes". She said "Good". We were dying. It was probably funnier being there...

As we left CEC, Oliver told all of us "I do love you Mommy". "I do love you Daddy". "I do love you Nanee". "I do love Mitz and Pops", and "EVERYBODY HAD A GREAT TIME". We read a book that Grandma Carol sent him, and as I finished it, he said "I do love Grandma". <3 Great day. Just a wonderful day with my big boy!

And Happy Birthday to Aunt Jamie too!!

Smooth talker

Oliver has been big on compliments lately. "I like your laptop, Mommy. It's beautiful!". "I like your cute shirt".... However, the best was a couple of days ago. I was getting dressed when Oliver burst into my closet (I had on underwear) and exclaimed "I like your cute hiney, Mommy! It's beautiful!".

He likes to receive compliments as well... If I tell him he's cute, he'll usually reply "Uh huh. I am cute".

And, I think I've mentioned his chocolate milk dance - he's been doing this since he was a little over a year old. When he wants chocolate milk (and when doesn't he?), he does a bouncy little dance, while chanting "choc choc choc choc". About a week ago, he was doing his choc dance, and I wasn't giving in. So he switched it up a bit. Got right up in my face and said "I LOVE chocolate milk, Mommy! It's my FAVORITE. Mmmmmmm *rubbed his belly*". I caved.

Road Raging

Oliver and I were waiting to exit the freeway yesterday, stopped at a redlight behind a line of cars. All of a sudden I heard "MOVE IDIOT BUTT" from the back. I asked him "Did you just say 'move your butt, idiot?'". He grinned, said "Uh HUH! Like Mommy do!".

Little Monkey

While in Chicago, Oliver taught himself to climb in and out of the crib at Grandma's house. It was hilarious, and I foolishly thought that since his crib at home is lower to the ground (it just seems deeper because of how low it is), that it wouldn't be an issue at home. Yeah, not so much. Not 24 hours after we got home, he was climbing in and out of our crib, so off came the front, and now he's in a big boy toddler daybed. I took him out to pick out new bedding - he chose Toy Story/Buzz Lightyear, and loves it. I'm not going into a lot of detail, most of the people who would be reading this know the hell we went through when Natalie switched to a bed, but so far, he's doing really, really well!

I just wasn't ready for this - not only the fear of having him less contained, but it's just one more baby thing left behind. He's getting to be such a big boy!

It's a good thing he's cute

Oliver is sleeping with Jon and me this trip. We found out he sleeps very well with us when we were in Baltimore in June, so we decided not to haul along the crib my mom has this time around.

5:30 this morning, Little Man was prying my eyes open. When that didn't work, he resorted to saying "Eat eat Mommy" and proceeded to gnaw on my head.

So I did what any good mom would do. I sent him into the girls' room to torment them. They were already up, but being nice and quiet. I guess they heard him coming, and quickly locked their door. So he started growling outside the door, and when he didn't get a reaction, proceeded to beat on it. Totally wouldn't be funny at home, but I was cracking up this morning!

Oliver needs a post too

Little man has had quite the language explosion lately. He's stringing more and more words together, and is using adjectives often as well. "Mitz funny! Pops funny!".

He likes to pretend play a lot - likes to pretend to be a baby, or various animals.

He seems to be starting to recognize shapes pretty well too. Pointed out a rectangle, heart, and star in a book today and named them all without being prompted.

He still gets pissy when you try to get him to repeat the alphabet. lol

And he sings "na na na na na na na na na na na na na BATMAN" and "Spiderman Spiderman" - in tune for both. He's obsessed with Spiderman - which is so funny because I don't think he's ever watched the show. Natalie has some Spiderman toys, so perhaps that's what sparked his interest. Oliver appears to have radar for Spiderman toys/shirts/pjs/slippers - he can spot that stuff from a mile away. He spied Spiderman slippers today, and I bought them for him. He was so cute - kept saying "Spiderman! Thank you, Mommy", over and over again. And couldn't wait to show them to Natalie when she got home from school.

My current favorite phrase is "fart bubble". Yeah, you read that right. The way he says it is hilarious! Never fails to crack me up!

Motive and opportunity

Oliver is a little chocolate milk addict. He would drink his "choc" all day if we let him (and we don't), and even has a special dance when he's trying to cajole his way into a cup of it - chants "choc choc choc" and has some little arm motions - I think I have it on video - will have to post if I do. Then when he gets it, his whole face lights up and he says "CHOOOOOOOOOOOOC" as if greeting a longlost friend.

This morning, he wanted some "choc". And has figured out he can reach the pantry shelf on which I have an unopened bottle of Hershey's. I was upstairs getting ready for the day, when all of a sudden, he appeared at the bathroom door with his sippy under one arm, and an unopened bottle of Hershey's under the other - the little stinker dragged both of them upstairs. I had to laugh. He didn't get his choc, but it was funny as hell. He was so pleased with himself!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there - especially Mitz, Grandma, Elizabeth and Sara!

My MD started off with a bang. I got out of the shower, to find Natalie standing there, swinging a bucket of vomit. "I threwed up Mommy". So I did what any stellar mother would do, I recoiled in horror, and directed her to take it down to Daddy. :-P Poor kid threw up most of the morning, but appears to be on the mend now. We've had a lot of fun with the whole "Natalie gave me a bucket of vomit for MD", but she doesn't find it nearly as amusing - "I did NOT get you throw-up for Mother's Day, Mommy". I tried explaining to her that it was just the timing that made the whole thing classic, and everyone knows that she didn't really get me vomit, but she's too young to understand. But some day, she'll likely have a similar experience, and we can dredge up this memory and cackle away.

Had a nice day though. Went to church, went grocery shopping. Stopped by Mitz's house to give her some flowers (she and Pops decided against coming over for dinner, given the diseased status of our house). Jon cooked an awesome dinner - bacon wrapped scallops with a maple/orange glaze, and a cream/dijon/maple sauce for dipping. And he made me Tollhouse cookies, but in a jellyroll pan (per my request) for dessert. Natalie made me a lovely card at school, and colored a picture for me at home, Jon and the kids gave me some clothes (gee, how DID they know just what to get and even the right sizes to boot?! ). Natalie insisted on putting a candle in my slice of cookie bar, and Oliver started trying to sing "Happy Birthday" - it was the funniest/cutest thing.

My kids rock.

2 year stats!

Oliver had his two year well-visit several weeks ago.

Height - 38.5 inches - off the charts
Weight - 34.6 pounds - 97th percentile
Head - 21.5 inches - off the charts

He's such a big boy now! He continues to crack us up - he is constantly goofing around, making us laugh, has the funniest expressions! He's been on a climbing kick lately, and appears determined to turn my hair completely white.

He's also Mr. Helper lately. He likes to find things around the house that each person uses, then hand it to them with a "here", but the way he says it almost rhymes with "fur". It's pretty cute!

He's also learned to say "excuse me" after he burps (and of course after I applaud for him with a "good one") - it's the cutest thing - he'll burp then chirp out a really cheerful "excuse me". Natalie actually taught him that!

Happy Birthday, Oliver!

2 already - it just doesn't seem possible... So happy, happy birthday my sweet, funny little imp of a boy!

Spring Break

Over a week late, but who's counting? :-P

We had a great week, but busy, busy, busy! I'll just break it down by day....

Monday - took the kids to the zoo. Had a great time! We fed the giraffes, looked at some animals, then the kids played on a huge treehouse structure they have there. Rode the carousel and went home for lunch.

Tuesday - Natalie had her yearly allergy appointment. Nuts and tree nuts still an issue - it took over ten days for her skin to heal where the peanut and walnut oils were applied. She is also highly allergic to basically the entire AZ outdoors. 7 weeds, 8 trees, 2 grasses (Bermuda mix and Rye), cats and dogs. She has mild, developing asthma, which we can treat with nebulized Albuterol on an as/if needed basis, and Singulair daily (mainly for the allergy symptoms - her asthma presents as allergic response) - so far no daily asthma meds or rescue inhalers are required. She is at high risk for developing severe asthma, and sometime within the next year or so will be required to start an allergy shot regimen - a shot once or twice a week for 3 months, then a shot a month for 3-5 years - this will greatly reduce the risk of her developing severe asthma. I'm starting to talk it up now, because she is very shot phobic, but we are going to have to do this, because the risks otherwise are too great. Her friend Trinity came over and played the rest of the afternoon.

Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day) - took the kids to get Easter and Oliver's birthday pictures. That went shockingly well - especially since Jon was OOT and I had to go solo with them. Then her friend Kevin from school came over to play - very sweet boy! Later that night, we had breakfast for dinner - green eggs for the kids (blech) was on the menu. So foul, but Natalie loved them!

Thursday - headed for the mountains in the afternoon! It was close to 80 in Mesa, but in Overgaard, there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground! Just got settled in that evening.

Friday - took the kids out for a bit in the morning, but it was 40 and raining off and on, so we didn't last too long outside. Ran a couple of errands, went back to the condo, had lunch. Once Oliver went down for his nap, Natalie and I went to a local tea place in town and had afternoon tea. Tea and an English muffin for me, tea and 3 enormous pancakes for Natalie. I am not a fan of pancakes at all, but these were amazing. Big, thick, fluffy and slightly sweet. They smelled kind of like cakes. Had dinner at the condo. Then the kids and I locked ourselves in one of the bedrooms, and I colored all over them with washable marker, (including "Hi Daddy" on Oliver's butt, lol) - and of course the kids got in on the action too! Oliver was so funny - he was so serious about coloring on himself. The look on Jon's face when we came out was priceless. The bathwater was unreal. Mad props to Crayola though - their washable markers come right off, with a minimum of scrubbing!

Saturday - Jon took the kids out to play while I got ready. Another cold morning, but clear. Then we all putzed around a bit - went to a local food store in town and ugh - they had hotdogs that expired in January. Came back, had lunch. Got Oliver down, then Natalie and I went over to the hot tub for a bit. After we got changed, she and I went to the coffee shop on the property and got hot chocolate for her, a Mexican (real sugar!) Coke for me, and a huge cinnamon bun. Went back to the condo to share with Jon and Oliver, but they had taken off somewhere. I intended to just eat a bite of bun and save the rest for Oliver, but it was too good. Little man had no idea what he missed. Walked around a bit, found the guys, visited some of the shop owners on the property - we've gotten to know several of them really well! Had dinner. Drew on the kids again.

Sunday - left for home.

Kid sweetness

Natalie has declared one day last week "Loving Brother Day. Hugs and kisses and kissing hands for little brother day". Kissing hands are part of her good-bye and good-night rituals - you kiss the other person's palms, who then presses their palms to their face to save kisses for later. It's from The Kissing Hand book.

She made Oliver a card, all by herself, that says "I love you Oliver, love, Natalie" and dug through all of her stickers, and decorated it with stickers that she knows he likes best, as well as drawings of him and her. And we had to have brownies and ice cream for dessert to celebrate Loving Brother Day.

And that day she got out really early - end of third quarter - so Oliver was awake when she got off the bus. As soon as the bus doors opened, he started shouting "Na na Na na", and she barreled off the bus, scooped him up, big hugs, kisses, spun him around, then introduced him to the kids who ride the bus in the afternoon - some of them only ride in the PM, so they don't see Oliver in the mornings at drop-off.

And Oliver has started demanding hugs. He throws his arms wide, big grin, yells "HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG" and waits for his hug. When Jon's gone, I give them story time together - when she leaves his room to wait for me to get her in bed (he goes first), he does the HUUUUUUUUUUUUG routine I don't know how many times in a row. Both of them laughing like loons. As soon as she gets to the door, he calls her back for a HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG.

Mr. Fix-it

This happened a couple of weeks ago -it's been crazy around here and I haven't had time to sit down and blog!

I was talking to my brother on the phone one afternoon, when I heard Natalie start yelling. Oliver took one of their wooden chairs flipped it over, and had one leg removed, and the middle support pieces dismantled as well.

Not two hours later, I ran upstairs to start their bath (takes forever for the water to heat up thanks to the water heater being on the opposite end of the house, and on the lower level to boot), and I heard her yelling again. I was gone maybe two minutes? Ran downstairs to find Oliver sitting in my desk chair, which had been flipped over on its back. He was riding it like a rocket ship. And had reached under, and by HAND, completely unscrewed and removed one of the bolts that attach the wheeled legs to the seat.

Stinker! I guess he got a good dose of the engineer gene from Jon's dad and my maternal grandfather!

Sweet sis...

Both kids are pretty sick this week, so they were both at the doctor's office yesterday. They needed to take pulse ox on both, tried Oliver first, who was having none of it. So Natalie went first. The nurse had to wind up getting the thing that wraps around the finger (instead of the clamp thing), and even then, had to put it on his big toe. He was fussing during the whole thing, and Natalie just came over and started rubbing his shoulder, telling him "It's OK, Oliver. Na-na's here. I just did that and it didn't hurt. You'll be fine!".

Same thing during his breathing treatment both at the doctor's office, and today when he decided he was finished with breathing treatments (too bad he has about 30 more to go!).

Makes my heart all melty.

It's potty time!

Well, probably not for real, but this was still pretty cool! Oliver peed in the toilet tonight! Twice! Natalie was so excited, she said "He's a big boy now! Like a 5 year old! Like me!" and gave him one of her Matchbox cars.

Backing up..... Last week, for the first time in months, Oliver peed while I was taking his diaper off before his bath. Jon was gone all week, so I was distracted and didn't give it much thought. Sunday night, I was taking his diaper off before his bath, and he peed again. Like last week, it was just a few drops. I tossed a wipe over him, went back to cleaning him up (poopy diaper). Then he peed two more times - every time I took the wipe off - and I noticed that he was bearing down to force it out, and laughing like a little maniac.

I wasn't sure if this was intentional mischievous behavior, or a "hey cool! look what I can do" connection being made, or some combination of the two. I asked some friends if they had ever encountered a similar situation (Google gave me nothing) and they suggested putting him on the toilet when he does that - not so much to potty train - but at least to show him that pee belongs in the toilet.

So last night, same routine, except I put him on the toilet and told him to pee. He looked at me like I had two heads, then pointed to the tub. I backed off. Tonight, again, same routine, except this time when I put him on the toilet and told him "Go pee. Pee-pee belongs in the toilet", he looked at me for a second, then grinned (I swear I saw a lightbulb go off in his head), bore down and got some pee out! We all made a fuss over him, then after his bath, he indicated he wanted to try again, so on the toilet he went, and he peed again!

I'm under no delusion that he'll be potty trained any time soon, but it's a step in the right direction!

Stringing words

Oliver has started stringing words together!

Last week he said "'nack chips!" - meaning he wanted chips for a snack. Prior to that he would just say "nack" if he wanted a snack and then he'd point to what he wanted, or he'd just say "chips". And no, he doesn't snack on chips all day! He can see the bag in the pantry and always tries to get us to hand some over. :-)

Tonight, I took the kid to see Mitz and Pops - had them out to get new shoes and wasn't far from M&P. As soon as we turned on their street (he actually recognizes the far end of their development where we turn in, and even as we get off the freeway he knows we are going to their place), Oliver got all excited and said "Mitz (I can't phonetically recreate how he says "Mitz") door, knock"! And he did a little knocking motion - so cute! He's also been knocking on doors lately - like Natalie's - don't know why, but it cracks me up.

Oliver has a new nickname...

I volunteered in Natalie's classroom today - wound up staying the whole day (they got out at 11:45) - her poor teacher was swamped. Holiday party and all that. On a side note, I can't believe I ever thought I wanted to be a teacher. Anyone who works in a school deserves a medal. I needed a drink and a loooooooooooooong nap afterwards. The kids were good and I had a blast, but God, holiday excitement and 29 kids?

Anyway, had Oliver with me because Jon is OOT - N's teacher was fine with that. Most of the day went well - the kids loved him - so much that Mrs. A. would rotate kids assigned to keep an eye on him/keep him happy so I could work a station. Even on the playground, if he was on the equipment, 4 or 5 kids would form a barricade around him so the other K classes didn't trample him. So sweet! Natalie was such a good big sister to him today too - very protective. When we first got there, the kids were watching The Grinch, the desk next to Natalie was empty, so Oliver sat there like a big kid - it was so cute! And he had N's classmates vying to sit next to him at lunch.

Then they got the blocks out. And O got overly excited, tossed a block, and somehow managed to clock two of Natalie's classmates in the head. I wanted to die - he wasn't being mean, just excited, but still... One of them was one of N's friends/neighbors of ours - I know Brooklyn gets picked up, so I just waited with her after school so I could apologize to Lisa (her mom) and let her know if there are any residual issues (hopefully not, she didn't even bruise, TG!) to let me know. I apologized to the other boy and had Oliver hug him and say "sorry".

So several of the other kids started calling Oliver "Evil Baby". And it stuck. I've been calling him that too (affectionately). One of the kids noticed Oliver needed a diaper change "Hey Mrs. Z.... Evil baby has an evil diaper". And if you ask Oliver "Are you Evil Baby?" He nods and says "mmm hmmm". LOL

Pass the Excedrin

Took the kids to Target yesterday. Because apparently I'm a glutton for punishment, I took them on the usual trip down the toy aisles (OK, I was looking for Zhus Zhus too. I'm the master at sneaking items into or below the cart and paying for them right in front of Natalie, yet she doesn't know what's going on). Oliver spied a baby doll and started yelling "Baybeeeeeeeee" - he over-enunciates "baby" and it's the cutest thing. Natalie handed him the doll. Big mistake. Motion activated. So every time the package got jostled, or Oliver moved, the damn doll would start cooing, or giggling, or crying, or whining. Pretty awful, but it kept him happy. After about ten minutes, Natalie turned to me and said "That toy is ANNOYING. It's giving me a headache" (man, she channels me well). We then conspired to get it away from Oliver with minimal fuss -"I think he really likes it Mommy, you might have to buy it", to which I replied "Do you want to have to listen to that all day, every day?". She looked horrified and said "Let's get it away from him". Took a couple of tries, but we were finally successful. Whew.

Morning Rituals

Every morning when we come back to the house from getting Natalie on the bus, Oliver has his own little ritual that cracks me up. He picks up the paper for me, collects a high five. Then he goes up to our standing, light-up Santa, stoops down, gives Santa a kiss, a hug, then sticks his fingers up Santa's nose and says "neh neh neh neh". Never fails to crack me up.