According To Ollie

According to Ollie, I don't talk enough, so I needed to talk to him this morning.

According to Ollie, I jumped on a bridge and it broke.

According to Ollie, he got his hammer and a ladder and fixed it.

According to Ollie, there is a hole in the babysitters crib.

According to Ollie, Santa is bringing him candy, not presents.

According to Ollie, the little moon is for him.

Vacation Over

Ollie went back to the sitters this week. He was ready to go too! His vacation at home with his mom is over. He'll only have to deal with his parents next week, so he may be a little tired of us by the time the new year rolls around. He got to open one of his presents early this year. He opened March of the Penguins and watched quite a bit of it. I still can't get him to watch Emperor's New Groove, but I got close. It almost came out of the cabinet before he realized what it was, maybe next time.



Some preliminary packing for our trip has begun. This has provided Ollie with lots of questions about the coming week, including when he gets another present. He doesn't have the Holidays down yet, we are hoping it starts to happen next year. Along with potty training and the fear of Santa subsiding.

Happy Holidays

From:


Ornament Ear Boy

2 Days

Day number 2 for Ollie in his pajamas. He is spending another day at home with his mom while she cleans.



He'll be watching TV and snacking all day in his jammies. Occasionally he'll bug his mama for a snack or a drink. Then it is more playing. He skipped his nap yesterday and stayed up until 9. This morning he got up at 6:30 for the day. He seems like he's going to be an early riser.

At Home

While I was taking Tori to the cardiologist today, Ollie stayed at home with his Mom. He has been in his pajama's since waking up. Of course, he put his pajamas back on because when he came into Tori's room he had them on wrong and he had taken his diaper off in the night!



I got a diaper on him and put his pajamas on him right and he was ready for the day! He's probably going to lounge around in his jammies, eat ice cream and crab rangoons (yes he likes them) and watch movies all day. It must be fun to be a two year old and be able to do that for a day.

One More From Halloween

Buzz and Woody together on Halloween night.

Trick or Treating and Beyond!

Snow Boy

This weekend, Ollie will be helping me shovel the driveway. At least I think he'll want to go outside since I'll be out there. He'll be all bundled up, he hates hats and gloves and he'll help me shovel the driveway by using the garden shovel.

His post will quickly be abandoned for the indoors or to play in the snow. I'm sure Hot Chocolate (warm chocolate for Ollie) with Marshmallows will be enjoyed after. Maybe a marshmallow roasting later in the night (if we can get him away from his movies).

Bang Bang

Two shots of antibiotic in the legs while being held down is what Ollie received yesterday for his continuing ear infection. He gets more oral antibiotics today to spit back at us. I hope this takes care of it. Due to all the nasty taste of the Cefzil, he now hates all medicine. So another round is going to be met with a lot of resistance.

This time they are trying augmentin to kill the ear infection. It will still be a couple more months before they consider tubes. The fun of having an ear infection is the gift that keeps on giving. Maybe it'll stop giving after this round.

Medicine

Ollie's Cefzil for his ears made him sick. After he got over his stomach bug, he was still lethargic and sat around all day. He was very clingy and crabby. He then spewed his chocolate milk on the floor and that was the end of the medicine for him. It was a day early, but it made him feel horrible and just made him feel worse. Not something we needed to continue. If he still has an ear infection, we'll know in a week.

He hated the medicine, which made it worse because it was a fight to get it down him. His amoxicillin he took without a problem. After a couple of days of this stuff, he hated it. The day after he stopped taking it, his personality had returned. He was up to his usual antics and on our nerves, but that's what 2 year-olds do.

Last night he played in the snow for the first time. He 'pushed' his aunt and uncle down our hill. He didn't want to try the sled himself. He then threw snow on everyone and came in for a hot chocolate and an attempted smore. Next time he wants to make a snow man.

Better

About 8 o'clock, Ollie was feeling better. He had 3 popsicles, then eggs along with pedialyte and Hawaiian Punch. No barfing ensued, so we delcared him well. He went to bed late and woke up a little crabby because he didn't get enough sleep, but he was fine. Fine enough to have ice cream with chocolate for breakfast! He did throw up a little bit, but he had been upset at having to take his medicine and being tired. He was so tired that he fell asleep on the way to the sitters.

Once there they checked out the first snow of the year through her sliding glass door. He wasn't too thrilled with being outside while it was snowing, but liked to watch it from the inside. Back to our regularly scheduled Ollie.

Trifecta

This morning Ollie woke to what looked like bloody sheets. It was dried vomit on his face, sheets, hair and clothes. He also had diarrhea. After getting an emergency bath, he seemed crabby and scared but normal. We decided to send him to the sitters. That was until he got his first drink of the day.

Not long after his first drink of green Kool-Aid, he projectile vomited it on his mom and the floor. Everything got a cleaning and Tori went to the sitters while Ollie and his mama stayed at home to watch the Little People. Come to find out that he now has Lice as well. This is not turning out to be a good day for Ollie.

If we are lucky he will be the only one that gets sick. I'm just hoping we can keep it away from Tori and we come out unscathed. Doubtful, but I can hope.

Big People

While cleaning out old movies, we came across 3 videos of that featured Fisher Price's Little People. They came with some of Ollie's toys, but he hadn't watched them and didn't know they existed.

While waiting to exit our house, Ollie discovered them in the pile. Of course he had to watch them. This one viewing led to 20 million more consecutive viewings. He watched them so many that 2 of the tapes were eaten in the VCR and the third wouldn't play. After throwing them away, he cried for his 'Big People' movies.

We did what any normal parent would do, we bought him 2 more, but this time on DVD. Now all is right in the world of movie watching. That is until we tell him that he can't watch them anymore. The tears ensue and much unhappiness is had, until he gets distracted.

I don't know how he will survive the Christmas trip without his 'Big People' movies. He may out grow them by then and move onto his next fascination to annoy his parents.

Helper or Ornery?

Ollie has been 'helping' his sister do many things. For instance, he showed her how to play with her exersaucer. This weekend he 'helped' his sister by showing her how to make her cheeks red. By you brother slapping them! She didn't cry, but he got in trouble. The sibling fighting has begun.

Train Boy

While the little slobbery reindeer was getting her picture taken with Santa. The Train Boy was chugging down the tracks.



His first ride was uneventful. His second started with the ripping of the money because he was making 'coupons' out of it. Then the contrarian in him set in. He was going to ride, then not, then was, then not, then was. Now that he was going to ride he had to give the girl the money. His last handling of money turned it into 'coupons' and this was now a $10 bill, there was a bit of trepidation with his insistence on paying. Then he threw it on the floor and it was snatched quickly by me to pay for his journey to Timbuktu that I was now sending him on instead of his little train ride.

He still waffled at riding the train, but once another little girl got on, he had to get on the caboose with her. So a ride was had after all. Next we had to ride the elevator (because it is fun too and it enabled his parents to coax him away from the train and out the door). Splash time was had with a cleaning especially for the Little Reindeer's M & M's booty. The night concluded with the beginning of Ants, the beginning of Snow White (which was scary to him) and the completion of Cinderella. After that the bed howler commenced his screams for longer than an hour, but eventually fell asleep by himself and stayed there all night.

Movie Buff

Watching movies in his Aunt Annie's room is now Ollie's nightly routine. He gets dinner and a bath then it is time to watch 'his' movie.

"Start my movie", he says right after dinner.

He has watched the same 10 movies over and over. At least parts of movies, he keeps returning to the living room to play and asking us to watch the movie with him. After we make our escape from the movie room, occasionally we'll him laugh at something in the movie. Then he'll run in and tell us he wants a different movie since he has only watched 10 minutes of his first choice. We end up putting a limit on the number of movies he tries to watch in a night. It hasn't gotten past 3. He'll get bored with it eventually and want to watch the other movies we have. There aren't too many of them that are appropriate for his age.

In a few years we'll attempt a theatre showing of some epic children's movie with popcorn and pop. Hopefully he won't try to run around during his first theatre experience.

The Movie Buff

Buzz Lightyear

The largest struggle of the year. Getting Ollie into this:


For some reason, he decided to put it on a week before Halloween. The bowl on the head was his own addition. He refused at Multi-ad and for awhile at home. Once he saw others, he wanted to dress up himself and off he went. Next year his sister will be able to join him.

Weekend

The weekend started out badly for the little guy. He complained about his ear hurting a few times, so Friday night we took him to get it checked out. While we waited, he played happily in the waiting room because he didn't know what was in store for him.

Once we got through the door to start his diagnosis, the crying started. First it was the scale (he's 33 lbs.), then it was the individual room that he didn't like or getting a full check-out. I refused to let them get his temp rectally since he hadn't had a fever so they took it under his arm. They torture the crap out of your kid for nothing sometimes. No fever, big shock. They left us alone long enough for him to calm down, only to be stirred up again when the doctor checked him out a few minutes later and diagnosed an ear infection. He left and Ollie calmed down enough to play a little.

Once the nurse came back with the prescription, he told her all about swimming. Of course his infection means no swimming so the rest of his lessons are done until February. That night he slept like a rock in his own bed. Saturday Morning he tried dressing himself. He got undressed, but wanted help getting dressed.

Then it was off to refuse to take pictures with his sister. Of course the photography barely tried to get him in the picture. While viewing pictures, he went to look for us and couldn't find us. His Mama found him balling his eyes out and no one had even tried to help him. His play time at the play ground was cut short by the rain.

Sunday a lot of movies were watched by Ollie. He has taken to watching them in Annie's room every night. I'm glad we have a big collection of Disney DVD's. He also watched The Wizard of Oz and wasn't scared. He's turning into a real movie watcher. I don't think he could sit through a theater movie yet. Too long and he'll probably get scared.

The weekend ended well as he slept all night in his bed as did his sister. Next weekend is haircuts and maybe leaf raking. I'm sure Ollie will help by messing up our piles.

The Blue Car

On the ride home yesterday, Ollie his blue car and the many wonderful things that went with it.

First there were the 2 blue keys that go to his blue car in his pocket. Then there was a boat in the trunk of his blue car, but he wasn't going to the lake. One boat became multiple colored boats in the trunk of his blue car. Next came the wolf who was going with him in his blue car. The baby in the basket was in the front seat next to him, but the wolf wasn't in the back he was with him! Must've made it difficult to drive. At some point the blue car became a blue truck, but the 2 blue keys still worked! Then it changed back into a blue car. It is an amazing car.

After we got to the sitters this morning, he told me I was the Daddy wolf, he was Ollie wolf, Tori was baby wolf and Tresa was Mama wolf. As any Daddy wolf would do, I ate him! He thought it was funny. He thought it was hilarious when his Daddy wolf growled and tickled him until he couldn't stand it. Then I left for work.

Tired

As tired as Ollie was yesterday, he still had his share of fits thrown. We went to eat at Fazoli's and he kept running back and forth between the counter and the booth. This wouldn't have been so bad if they hadn't been a mile apart. Once we placed our order he didn't want to stay put and threw a nasty fit. I took him outside to the car, calmed him down, cleaned him up and we went back inside for a decent fit-free meal.

He then threw a fit before and during his bath. Another one before brushing teeth and finally a few at the mere mention of going to bed. He lost all of these battles and both he and his sister were asleep by 8 pm. A early night for both of them. While he woke up happy, he still had his usual stubbornness this morning. He's a great kid overall and pretty well behaved most of the time. We'll see if the fits decrease when he turns 3 or if this is just his personality.

Pain

This morning he began as a pain for his mom at 3 am which is when his sister woke up. He threw a fit downstairs because he didn't get what he wanted, he wanted "I don't know". We then went to Hardee's for breakfast. He proceeded to run around the store back and forth between parents. He smeared his face all over the glass partition, getting it nice and greasy. Stole his Mom's breakfast sandwich. Ate the egg, then spit it out all over the seat. Then threw a fit when I wouldn't let him out of the seat while I cleaned up the egg.

Overall, it wasn't a wizz bang morning for the youngin's. I must admit, it wasn't my best performance either as a parent. The only one who was herself was their mom who had the least amount of sleep.

I'll probably get lucky and they'll both sleep through the night in their own bed tonight. If only we had a magical spell to cast on them to get them to sleep all night, quietly in their own beds. Not enough pixie dust to go around I guess.

Another Chicken Pic

Off for the Day

Little boy is off for the day with his Mama again. He didn't want to leave home. He watched lots of TV and is now on his way to the park with his Aunt Annie, giving his mom some alone time.



Next week he is back to the sitters whether he likes it or not. His Mama is definitely his favorite this week. They've watched a lot of Noggin, which included Blues Clues and some show where peoples hands are the characters. Of course Ollie swears they aren't hands. At least he has the ability believe in what he thinks he sees.

He'll be all screwed up when he gets home tonight. He may be taking a nap while we are trying to grocery shop. His usual nap time is 2 hours starting at sometime between 12 and 2. Sounds like tonight is going to be a rough one.

Day Home

Ollie spent the day home with his Mama today. She stayed home so the furnace guy could check out our furnace. This morning Ollie didn't want to go to the sitters, so he got to stay home. He's watched tons of Noggin TV. Particularly Blues Clues and other shoes.

He's also fed his passion for food. While I was talking to him he was eating a hot dog after his Bologna and a bit of candy. All the while the chicken nuggets were cooking.

His toys were everywhere, all while his Mama was trying to clean the house. Lego's tipped over, fire trucks strewn about. Then the furnace guy came and Ollie hid upstairs. He kept asking what the furnace guy was doing. He is still wary of strangers.



We'll see tomorrow if he wants to go to the sitter's. It doesn't sound like that is going to happen, but he may just change his mind. We may just force him to go. Nap time is coming soon for him, so maybe his Mama will get a break.

Big Boy

While I was at class last night, Ollie went to the fridge to get himself something to eat. He came back upstairs with leftovers. He opened the container with a cheeseburger.

Ollie: "It's meat with cheese!"

He nearly ate the whole thing. Apparently, we have a carnivore in the making after all.



The cheeseburger must've filled him up because he slept in his own bed from 9:30 to 5 am. More meat, the sleeping cure.

Rejection and Acceptance

Ollie's Halloween started out as we expected...rotten. We went to Tresa's work for their trick or treating and pictures. He didn't want to dress for the occasion and he didn't want his picture taken, so neither happened. He did get candy from Tresa's co-workers.

We ran into a bit of trouble around and inflatable Frankenstein and a person dressed as a wolf. He was scared of them both. That didn't deter him from collecting plenty of loot.

We made it out of there and picked up a pizza on the way home. In the parking lot of the pizza place was a fire truck. While I was inside getting the pizza, Ollie told his mom all about the fire truck and the fire fighters. Lucky her.

We were still convinced that he wasn't going to get his costume on and go trick or treating. He decided he wanted stuff in his buckets too. We told him that he had to get his Buzz costume on before he got things in his bucket. I don't think I've ever seen him try to get changed so fast in my life. Once he was changed he was ready to go, but he didn't know what was going on. While we waited for Annie to return, kids started coming to the door dressed up. The first group scared him a bit, but as more came he got excited at each new arrival. Finally he could wait any more and Tresa took him out.

He asked what they were doing. Where they were going and why. When they got to most of the doors, he put his head down and wouldn't say 'trick or treat', Tresa had to say it for him. Sometimes he said thank you, sometimes not. On occasion he asked to come in to the person's house. He still needs a little work in that department. They came back in a little while and Annie took him back out with one of her friends kids. Around 8:30 they came back and Ollie was finished for the night, even though he protested. He was worn out and had a good sugar buzz going by then.

He was given a bath while protesting it. He was dressed while protesting it. He calmed down long enough to watch a little TV and go to bed, protesting it. He was out within 30 minutes. A nice end to his first successful Halloween.

Barrel Rider

After a few false starts at activities this weekend, we made our way to Tanner's Orchard on Sunday. It started off relatively well for Ollie. We made our way through the sale barn and almost out the door when Ollie spotted the gords and pumpkins, something new to him. He had to tell us about them.

Once he was done we headed out to the activity area. They had made several characters out of their plants. Initially the Sesame Street gang scared Ollie but he loved them by the end. Next it was off to the goat feeding section. Ollie took 1 piece of food between 2 fingers and tried feeding the goats. He ended up dropping it or throwing it at them as they got close. Just a little scared of them. He liked the Llama's and Alpaca's (even though he called them dogs).

Next was the play area. For 3 hours, Ollie ran, climbed and jumped his way through a ship, bus, fire truck, sand box, airplane and tractor. He was just like the energizer bunny, he kept going and going. After awhile we took a break for lunch. Ollie devoured his hot dog, chips and pop with hot dog and chips inside (Yummy). After lunch we headed back out to play. In the play area they also had a pony ride that went in circles. Ollie got on a horse, got scared and got off before the horse ride could start. It was a big surprise to us when he said he wanted to go on the barrel ride.
Considering his history with the horse, the barrel ride didn't seem like something he'd actually do. The first time, he didn't even get up to the gate. The second time he kept insisting he wanted to go. He made it into a seat and we were prepared for the tears to flow. To our surprise, we didn't have to perform and Olliectomy and remove him from the ride. On the contrary, he loved it. He grabbed the steering wheel of the cider barrel and 'drove' along behind the tractor and the other barrels full of kids. Around the orchard they went and we expected them to come back early because we thought he'd cry. Not only did he complete the ride, he did it 3 more times! We had to almost drag him away so we could leave.

He was very tired and fell asleep on the way home. He was still a bit crabby when he woke up from his nap, but was fine by his bedtime. We'll have to go back there again soon.

And The Pitch

Ollie practices his pitching

Our little pitcher is starting swim lessons on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see how they go. It has been 1 1/2 years since his last class and it took awhile for him to get used to being in the water.

He has been throwing fits during his baths recently, that doesn't bode well for swimming. I'm hoping it is just the washing part he currently doesn't like. If we are lucky he won't scream for the entire 30 minute class and scare off others. If all goes well, Tori will be old enough in Feb, so they can take the class together!

Out for the Night

One of these two spent the night out.



He went to one of Annie's friends house to play with her kids, dog and cat. They went to McDonalds to eat. Chicken nuggets and fries were great for him. He played hard and was tired enough for bed by 9. Annie brought him home, he was changed into his pajamas and the fight over going to bed began.

In/Out and back in again. It went on and on with Ollie screaming and crying. Eventually he fell asleep, but not without a fight. The successfulness ebbs and flows. Tonight its back to his normal routine. If we are lucky we won't have to keep returning him to his bed as often as last night.

Missing Fingers & More

Last night while Ollie was drawing on his drawing board (coloring in a coloring book), he marked on himself. Then he decided he was going to paint his finger nails with his markers.



Me: "Ollie, don't draw on your fingers or I'm going to take them away".
Ollie: "No dad, don't take my fingers".


Needless to say, his fingers are intact and his mom and I had a good laugh.

He also slept better last night. He still got out of bed, but not as many times and it only lasted 30 minutes before he fell asleep for the night. He came into our room at 5 am, which is later than usual. We'll see how it goes the rest of the week.

Not So Happy Boy

Last night began Ollie's training on how to fall asleep in your bed by yourself. As was expected, this development was met with much wailing and pleading. The ordeal started around 9 pm and lasted until 10:30, when we were sure he was asleep. The sleep was preceded by numerous attempts at fleeing his bed. The refusal to let him get up was met with more crying and plea's.

The plea's included were such favorites as:
"I don't want to"
"No blankets"
"No night light"
"No Daddy"
"No Mama"
"Don't leave me"

and many more! The extra crying didn't contribute to him staying asleep all night. At some point in the middle of the night, he awoke and joined us in our bed. That will be the next hurdle we tackle with him. One sleep step at a time. We are preparing ourselves for more of the same tonight. The good thing about this is that he woke up in a decent mood.



Then after all of this, we can work on potty training. His next great fear!

Relaxing

Ollie's weekend consisted of relaxing activities. Shopping , napping and home improvement (though minor) made up his weekend. We went to several stores on Saturday morning and got the supplies for the Sunday's home improvement.

Sunday morning came and Ollie and I went out to fix the gutter. One of our downspout's was so clogged it was busting at the seam. As my assistant and I took down the bottom half of the gutter, the top half came with it. We got the pieces apart, I used my tools, Ollie used his race car. He also had to use the drill and try to screw in the pieces. He wasn't successful, but he was able to open the box of screws without much problem. About half way through he had had enough home improvement and went inside while I finished. He's not quite a working man yet.


Resting after his hard work day.

Mr. Food

Ollie has been eating more like an adult the past few days instead of snacking every 30 minutes. We went to get a quick dinner last night at a local sub shop. Ollie had a Ham and Cheese sandwich with chips, pickle and root beer.

He also ate Spongebob, Patrick and Mr. Wolf. While he was dissecting his sandwich to eat it, he named parts of it. Spongebob and Patrick were pieces of bread. Mr. Wolf was the cheese, unfortunately for the ham, it remained nameless. Ollie went at it cutting with his plastic knife and fork. It turned bad for the threesome when he started stabbing them with the knife to eat them. Stabbing is a bit harsh, it was more like poking them hard enough to get them on the utensil.

He surprisingly ate most of the sandwich (except the bread, so Patrick and Spongebob were spared, Mr. Wolf didn't get so lucky). Tonight we'll see if spaghetti noodles and meatballs become Blues Clues or Bob the Builder.

Wildlife Prairie Park

This weekends adventure didn't turn out as well as we thought it would. We thought he'd love the wolves and bears. The bears were no where to be seen and the Wolves were pretty lazy. We also had to carry him most of the way. I swear, the boy doesn't think he has legs.

The chickens didn't peck him this time around, of course he didn't get close enough for them to try. He like the cougars and bobcats, mostly because he could see them. The owls were interesting to him, the eagles and hawks not so much. He is an animal lover, he just loves to watch them in movies more than in real life.

Speaking of movies, Ollie watch a lot of parts of them this weekend. Dumbo, Robin Hood (disney version), Shrek and possibly something else. All were not hits. Some will take a little time before he watches them completely. Anything with animals is guaranteed a modest success in the crucial 2-year old Ollie demographic. The rest can wait for another year.

Ollie's Story

This story started in the bath tub last night. This is how it went according to Ollie.

I'm going to hide from the wolf on the couch. The wolf and I will go to sleep on
my bed. The wolf and I will wake up and see the 3 pigs. The wolf will take the 2
pigs. The bears and Goldilocks...

This is paraphrased and much of the story was told sentence by sentence several times in a row. Needless to say our little storyteller likes Goldilocks and the 3 Pigs stories a lot!


The Story Teller

Bed

The boy doesn't go to sleep without a fight most nights. We have to be in his bed with him for him to fall asleep. He'll fidget and move any chance he gets. It all keeps him awake, in turn keeps us awake. Tresa tried leaving the room after she laid him down, I tried sitting on his bed while he fell asleep. Neither worked and only kept us up later. At this point, I'm not sure what to do to get him to fall asleep by himself, stay asleep all night and get enough rest.

The Characters

We rented ROBOTS this weekend and Ollie loved it. We also watched Bambi and Ollie loved it. We are going to introduce him to the other Disney characters with a movie or two this weekend. When I picked up Cinderella, he watched most of it when I brought it home. He repeats the characters names and parts of the stories.



The other night he told us he was Bob the Builder, Blues Clues, Bambi, Cinderella and various other characters from TV and Movies. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought he had a personality disorder. Instead, he is just in love with the shows and characters. I'm sure that will only grow with time.

No Clue

Don't know what they were doing. She looks like she is mad and yelling at him, he looks like he is yelling happily. Strange things you catch with a camera.

Body Parts

Ollie knows his body parts. You'll point, he'll tell you what it is and then move to the next one. He plays his own game where he grabs a body part and asks you what it is. He'll grab an ear and ask what it is. You'll tell him and he'll move on. We know he knows the answers, and sometimes we'll tell him that he knows what it is, he'll tell us what body part he has grabbed is called. Two nights ago he was sitting in my lapping grabbing parts of my face, the game turned ugly.

Ollie:"What's This" grabbing my ear.
Me:"My Ear!".
Ollie:"What's this?" grabbing the skin underneath my chin.
Me:"Its my fat that makes up my second chin".



Tresa and I started laughing. Ollie smiled because he thought it was funny. I just hope he doesn't grab someone else's second chin and tell them it is fat!

The Last From Labor Day

One more picture from Labor Day (now that it is October). At the reunion we went to the farm of my great aunt and uncle. As on most farms they have tractors. Ollie has a fascination with tractors so we showed him the tractors they used. Initially, like with the airplanes, helicopters and vehicles in the car museum, he didn't wike them. He was scared of their size. He calmed down long enough for us to get a picture of him on one.


His grandpa tried to get him up on this one, but I had to be the one up there with him. He sat long enough for a few pictures and then it was time to get out, because he was scared. We couldn't leave Grandpa behind, so we went in and out until they were done talking. We'd go in, Ollie would get scared, we'd go back out. We only had to repeat it a few times. Someday he won't mind things larger than him.

Another From Labor day

Grandma and Ollie on Labor Day

Table

Ollie and grandpa putting up the umbrella at the table

Wonder Boy

Little boy blew his nose. He's been a bit sick lately. Started with a fever 2 days ago, but that has disappeared, now he seems to have a nasty cold. He hasn't been sleeping well to begin with, so this has just compounded things. He was so tired last night he fell asleep on the floor.



He arrived at his usual time to our room in the middle of the night. Then he began his routine of tossing, turning and hitting. Hitting so much that his Mom's face is a little swollen. It is best to keep your back to him or you will end up black and blue.

He got a nap on the way to the sitter's and didn't cry when I left. Maybe he got some of the crabbiness out of his system on the way over. If we are lucky, he'll get a good nap and go to bed early.

Blues Clues Makes Zombies

For the past couple of weeks, Ollie has been crying when I went out the door at the sitter's. The past 2 days, she's had Blues Clues on the TV when we arrive. This has not only stopped the crying, but it has turned Ollie into a zombie. Yesterday, I put him down, he stared at the TV not wavering a bit. He also held his candy in a bowl about chest high and it didn't move. I went out the door without a peep from Ollie.

This morning was almost a repeat. I handed him off to one of the sitters, he sat in the rocking chair and turned into a blue zombie. Apparently, this is the chair to watch blues clues in because he does it every day. It looks like we'll have to get him something with Blues Clues on it for Christmas.


Ollie and TJ, just because

Memory

Sunday night, I put Ollie to bed. As it regularly occurs, Ollie began to cry because he didn't want to go to bed. We can usually tell him one of the stories and that will calm him down. If that doesn't work, we can ask him about the bunnies and the food he put out for them. He'll then launch into telling you about feeding the bunnies.

None of it worked on Sunday. I asked him about the corn and squirrels. That was the right one! He started talking about how his Grandpa got the corn for the squirrels from the farm. How he saw the tractors and we brought the corn home for the squirrels to eat. How he put it out for the squirrels to eat. He repeated each part of his story several times. A month later he remembers everything. He won't remember everything by the time he grows up, but it will stay with him for a long time. For the things he doesn't remember, we can show him this and remind him of when his Grandpa and he picked corn for the squirrels that didn't eat it.

Grandpa and Ollie

A Bit Late

I'm just now getting around to scanning in the pictures from Labor Day and 2 more rolls. This'll be a bit behind for awhile.

We'll start off with the run around gang. Actually, it was just Uncle Paul and Ollie. Ollie soaked his uncle from head to toe. Paul ran and ran and ran up and down the hill while Ollie trudged along with the hose and squirted him. He had decent aim, but missed the majority of the time. Paul was still soaked by the end of the game. I guess this is payback for falling with him a few years ago.



Yes it was a fall and you did drop him! Paul ended up going to bed at 9 pm because he was so tired, Ollie lasted until we put him in bed at 10. Guess the older folks can't handle that much activity.

Readjustment

Ollie has readjusted from the trip. He is back to his normal self. Normal temper tantrum 2's. Ignoring them has worked well for the most part. Sometimes, it does no good. Overall he is a good kid, he just doesn't understand a lot of things yet.

He stayed up late on Tuesday night, which caused him to be crabby Wednesday. About 8 pm last night he said he wanted to go to the Homer bed. He didn't look tired and wasn't acting like it, so we waited. He asked a couple more times and about 8:30, he was in bed for the night. He is big enough now that he can get out of bed easily, so we are a little skeptical when he says he wants to go to bed. Sometimes he just wants you to tell him stories.

1. Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf
2. Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
3. Little Red Riding Hood
4. The Ugly Duckling (thanks Grandma)

All of the, in that order. We are still trying to get the stories straight. He especially likes the ending because he says "The End" at the end of every story. We'll let him tell them to Tori. I'm sure he'll love it as much as we love telling him the same stories ad infinitum.

The Trip

The weekend consisted of a lot of travel and activity for Ollie. We left Friday afternoon and made it the Cape Girardeau by 6 pm. Ollie got to play with 3 kids that were older than him. His Uncle Frankie brought them by. Ollie had to have his uncle Frankie give him a bath. Keaton wanted a bath as well. 2 two year olds got a bath at the same time. They seemed to have fun.

Then bed time came and it wasn't so much fun. Ollie was out of sorts and tired. Then he realized he'd have to sleep in a bed he wasn't familiar with. This brought the tears, but eventually he tired out and fell asleep. The next day was filled with Ollie running around hastings and Target yelling for his grandma. Then we went to the park with Travis, Diane and Tyler. He slid down slides, threw rocks in the water and swung on the swings. The babies were getting tired so we headed back to Travis' for dinner.

We made it back to Ollie's grandma's house and played with his new fire truck from Target. Then his bath and bed ordeal again. Sunday started off with us going to Tyler's baptism. Ollie handled it pretty well, though he didn't want to be separated from his parents. He went to the front for the baptism with us. The rest of the service, he snacked and sat in his mom's lap. We headed for home after a quick lunch at Ollie's grandma's. We listened to Ollie's new CD's of childrens songs until he went to sleep for his nap.

We got home and he was a bit cranky. All the travel took its toll. I went to get dinner and when I returned he was crying. "I was sad about you", he said through the tears.

He didn't want to be left behind. He missed me. Then he wanted to take a shower with me. He never wants to take a shower, so I knew he was tired. I also knew I would be the one putting him to sleep that night. He actually got in the shower this time and got wet, he just didn't like it in his face. The rest of the night he played fairly well. Then it was time for bed. I told him stories and when he was done hearing them he told me to go to sleep!

After a restless night of sleep he was up around 5 am for the day. He was tired and crabby. He fell asleep on the car ride to the sitters. I tried laying him down on the couch, but he awoke and threw the largest fit in his history. I calmed him back down, handed him off to the sitter and the banshee scream returned, this time waking his sister. I hope he gets a good nap and gets back to his normal self tonight. He travels ok, but returning home is a nightmare.

The Good Times Have Stopped

We had several nights of rest alone in our own bed. Last night that all changed. Ollie was up at 1:30 and in our bed with us. Good things don't last forever and I guess 3 days is the limit. While he rolled, his mom and I were relegated to the 1 inch section on the sides of the bed. Of course, he had to sleep on top of the covers, which pulled the covers off me! I slept the rest of the night in the Homer bed. I wish there was a way we could keep him in there all night all the time. Maybe by his 3rd birthday, he'll be able to stay in his bed all night as well as be potty trained. We can hope for miracles.

This weekend we are off to see his cousin Tyler baptized. I'm sure he'll sleep with us. The good thing about trips is that they tire him out more than usual. He should have fun for the entire trip. The traveling isn't fun for him, so we are going to try and time it so he takes a nap for most of the traveling. I hope he isn't wired after sitting for so long, but as toddlers usually are wired, I won't be surprised when he is extremely active.

No! I Don't Wike It!

Those words reverberated through our ears for an entire hour Saturday afternoon. Ollie likes Planes, Trains and Automobiles of all shapes, not necessarily sizes. We took him and Tori to the Wheels o' Time Museum this weekend. It has cars, tractors, trains, fire engines and many other things from people's personal collections. We thought that Ollie would like the tractors, fire engines and trains because he is always talking about them. We were wrong.

We entered the building and started walking down the first aisle of cars. Ollie was ok with this, but when we neared the first turn, he saw a racing car that he thought was a plane. When he was brought closer to it, he said "NO, I DON'T WIKE IT!". That was the beginning of the end of our enjoyment of the museum. Everything else after that, he didn't like.

No horns beeping, no model trains running, no bicycles, no fire engines, no clocks, no nothing. Every time we neared a vehicle or display case he wouldn't like it. He even didn't like the flashing lights. On our way down the stairs, there was a blinking yellow street light. Ollie didn't like it, but we had to pass it to go downstairs to get out. Luckily we could turn the corner to so he wouldn't see the unlikeable light.

We eventually made it through all 3 buildings and went to see the train outside. A full sized steam train. He wouldn't go near it. So we took turns looking at it because Ollie didn't like it. He eventually made it up into the engine, but it didn't last long. The moral of the story, don't take Ollie to places that have big versions of his toys because he won't wike it!

Farm Finale

Just a few more to finish up the farm series. Guess which of the following chickens pecked Ollie?



They thought he had food in his hand and took a bite of his finger. He was tired and hot on the way home.



He slept well that day. This weekend, the indoor car museum!

Scar Adjustment

When I arrived at the sitter's yesterday to pick up the kids, she asked me to look at Ollie's forehead. I noticed he had an bruise and a knot on his forehead with a little blood where his previous scar had been. Apparently, he and her son Aaron were playing, Ollie turned to run away from him and ran right into the edge of the table, head first. He scraped off a layer of skin and got the knot on his head, but he wasn't any worse for the wear.

The sitter said he cried a little and she kept dabbing at the blood on his forehead. It hadn't totally stopped bleeding, but it wouldn't require stitches or glue like last time. It still bled on the way to pick up his mom from work and he was a bit upset because he could feel the trickle of blood and was scared. He wiped himself up and was distracted by his mom once she got in the car. Later that night, it had healed itself up and had stopped bleeding.

He got his dinner, rubbed spaghetti sauce in his hair and had it all over his face. He looked like a total mess with the fresh wound, tussled spaghetti hair and sauce all over his face and hands! Then he added the M & M's chocolate stain down the front of his shirt and it was time for his bath. He spent the rest of the night playing like nothing was wrong and didn't seem like anything was wrong this morning either. He's back to his normal self, with a bigger head for now.

Mr. Egg

Tresa and I were upstairs putting away some of Ollie's toys. We heard a rumbling of pans downstairs and didn't think much of it, Ollie gets into the pans all the time. We continued putting away his toys when we realized we no longer heard the pans, but his little feet coming up stairs.

He rounded the top of the stairs and found us, bringing with him a pan in one hand and the last egg in the other. He wanted eggs and he did everything he could short of making it himself. We busted out laughing.

He got into the fridge, stood on the ledge on his tippie-toes, grabbed the last egg and shut the door without us hearing. Then he found the right sized pan and brought both upstairs to us without breaking the egg. He had the biggest smile on his face, showing how proud of himself he was. He got his egg promptly cooked and seemed pleased with himself. This has to be the funniest thing he done so far. He keeps proving to us that he is a very smart boy and a hungry one too.

School

Not all picture experiments went well at the farm.



Ollie wouldn't sit down and Tori got upset fairly quickly. He did find playing with the seats and running away from his parents was a fun activity.

Slip Sliding Away

From the petting farm again, this time down the 2 story circular slide.


Click the picture for more pictures of Ollie. In the Large version, you can see his expression better.

More from the Farm

The horses were one of Ollies favorites. He'd feed the white horse only. The brown horse grunted and scared Ollie.



He laughed as the animals licked the food off his hand. He thought it was even funnier when they chomped down on the cone the food came in. For as cheap as it was, I'm sure we'll go back soon. We'll just have to make sure it is a cooler day.

Petting Farm

In addition to the animals at the petting farms, they had a couple of playgrounds. Tori isn't big enough to play on these things, but Ollie has rediscovered his love of swinging and playground equipment in general. Compared to last time, this time was a treat.



As you can see, his fear of swings is no longer a problem. His fear of getting pecked by chickens is till intact.

4 Photos from the Arch

Ollie and the Bear


Top O' the Arch


After the Descent


The 4 of Us

Comparison

Two years ago, I started one of my posts by showing the following picture.



The question at the time was who's daddy was I, Splatter's (our needy cat) or Ollie? I never got a response to that questions and with a second child, it has only compounded the situation.



As you can see it has only gotten worse. If we have a 3rd, I don't know who would lose their spot, but I'm betting Splatter would be getting the heave ho.

Tired Boy

This is the one picture of Ollie from the air show that he let me take of him. He didn't want to go near the planes and helicopters on the ground, but he loved watching them fly. I took a couple of pictures of aircraft in between yells of 'nooooo'. Now he likes the pictures, but get him near a real one and you can forget it.

The picture was taken nearing hour 2 of our time at the show. Ollie was getting tired, so we headed out not too long afterward. Don't know if we'll go to another one. He hasn't stopped talking about watching the helicopters and red airplane fly and it has been 3 weeks since we went.

Animal Farm

This loving child went to the animal petting farm this weekend in E. Peoria. There were tons of farm animals for him to feed and pet. Chicken's, Cows, Shetland ponies, a horse, goats, sheep, a pig, ducks and turkeys. There was also plenty of play ground equipment and other activities for Ollie to enjoy.

We started by heading towards the turkeys. Then onto the pig, which Ollie called an elephant. They are both fat, but not the same height or weight. Next up were the chickens. Ollie threw food at them and they ate it up. We then made our way to the barn where Ollie was scared of the wooden cow that you could milk. He stopped being terrified long enough to go down the 2 story slide several times.

The Shetland ponies were behind the barn and the brown one scared Ollie a little bit when he grunted. Ollie fed the white one instead. That'll teach the brown one. The goats and sheep herded as close to the fence as possible to get a chance at the grub. While the horse stayed in his fan blown covered area, Ollie watched. The cow was lazy on the hot day as well.

After lunch, Ollie went to the playground for swinging time. We eventually went back to the 2 story slide for more trips down it. Tori seemed to not mind the slide as well. Ollie went down on his own after the first time and wanted to keep going. Eventually he caught site of the tractor and was distracted from the slide. He made his way back to the chickens who pecked him when he had no food for him. His fingers are bite sized. Eventually he settled down on the chair swing and exhausted himself. We got him home and he went down for his nap without a problem. Not a bad way to complete the weekend.

The Simpsons

Cartoons are the order of the day for Ollie. It started out with pictures of Homer and the rest of the Simpsons. It has migrated to Toy Story (Buzz and Woody - watched both movies), Clifford, Nemo (hasn't watched it all), Disney characters (from books), Sesame Street (due to Elmo), Blues Clues and other various cartoons. His favorite has remained the Simpsons.

I got a couple of Christmas toys that are of Homer saying things when you press a button. He would press the button so often, I had to take them to work. Every time he sees a picture he has to tell us who it is from the Simpsons. Then we decided to move him into his big bed.

We went shopping for a comforter for his new twin bed. The ones we had weren't kid friendly. We took him to K-mart to find something. It didn't take him long and he found what he wanted. A SIMPSON'S BED IN A BAG! We tried to dissuade him with Elmo and Sesame Street, but to no avail. He kept coming back to the Simpsons. We got it for him. We also had other shopping to do, so he had to have the Simpson's packages in the seat next to him. He made sure they were safe and that he wasn't going to lose them. In honor of his good taste (very subjective of course), I present Ollie and the Simpson's.

Sometimes

Sometimes I don't know who this child is that has invaded our house.

Proof:





He used to hate hats, now he seeks them out. Apparently doorags are ok now too. Sometimes children just make you wonder. This was one of those times.

His aunt got him to wear them. He also had his aunt paint his toe nails. It has worn off, but he wants them painted again. If only I could get him to allow her to clip his nails, it wouldn't be such a struggle every week.