No Sleep 'til Bedtime

NO
SLEEP
'TIL
BEDTIME

(sung to the Beastie Boys 'No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn')

Ollie hasn't gotten a nap. He didn't get one yesterday and it showed. He fell asleep on the way home, got up for 30 minutes at home and we put him back to bed. He slept until we got his crabby butt up at 7 for a bath and snacks since he hadn't eaten. He stayed up until 10 and slept until this morning. It turns out it was probably a good idea to get him up or we would've been up 3 hours earlier as well. That wouldn't have been good for this non-morning father.

We aren't sure if he got a nap on Monday or Tuesday either. He fell asleep both days on the way to get his Mom from work, but woke up and was in a decent mood both days until bedtime. The sitter said she'd make sure he got a nap today. Hopefully we won't have a grumpy monkey this afternoon.

Hole

Cheese!

Olive Eater

Ollie loves to eat Olives. He gets this trait from his Mama, she loves them, I hate them. Ollie created a new way eat Olives, so I created this short video for everyone to see.

Ollie the Olive Eater

I had to take down the video of his birthday cake to get this one up because we are running out of space. If you want a copy of that video, let me know and I'll email it to you.

Devil Inside

Over the long weekend we did some shopping with Ollie. I returned a shower curtain to a store and gave Ollie the receipt to play with on the way to the car. This proved to be a mistake. About half way to the car, I noticed that Ollie had dropped the receipt. I asked him if he had dropped it. Of course I got no response, so I turned around and picked it up and foolishly gave it back to him.

He proceeded to throw it down and laugh maniacally. This had now become a game. I picked the receipt and the pace to the car up. He continued to throw it and laugh. It must've been a fun game to make your parent pick up things, because he sure enjoyed it.

Since it was Easter weekend we also dyed eggs. We only did 12 this year. Ollie still doesn't know what is going on, but he had fun with it. We had 6 colors ready for dunking. Ollie wanted his eggs to be multi-colored, so he threw 1 egg into the dye, then another on top of it, cracking the eggs. All the while he was cackling maniacally.

When a cup was empty of eggs, Ollie would grab a spoon and pretend to dye eggs. His dyeing technique with an empty mug consisted of getting a spoonful of dye and flinging it into the air while laughing maniacally. I was glad I put paper down on the counter, it helped, but the counter was still multi-colored. Ollie's pants were ruined from the dye, his hands were the color of rainbows and there was dye all over the counter. We cleaned up the spills and the dye on the counter and gave Ollie a bath.

The next morning, Ollie got up early for Easter. He received Lego's, a Baby Einstein video (of which he watched 10 minutes), a spinning Incredible toy and CANDY! He ate 2 of the bunnies and parts of 3 suckers. This sent him into a sugar rush and he ran around the house for a few hours laughing maniacally. Later in the day, he found his squirt bottle and he knows how to use it.

First he attacked Darin (after prodding from his father) and he soaked him. We went upstairs to get Annie. He also got his Mama and quite a few of his sisters clothes wet. Finally he woke Dale while he was sleeping with a good shower from the bottle. All this while laughing maniacally. Yes, he enjoys mischief a bit too much.

His devil horns and tail receded this morning, but his crabby claws came back out. I'm just waiting for the peaceful calm we experienced last week to return. As if there is a peaceful calm with a toddler.


A Calmer Ollie

Battle Arrival

We already know there will be a rematch of Ollie vs. the Tree. The only answer we don't have is how will the combatants arrive to the battle. The tree isn't going anywhere (as long a lightning doesn't hit it), Ollie must go to it. He could always walk to the battle, but that would be disrespectful of such a great warrior. In the place of his feet we have gotten Ollie a horse.




This is one of the few horse we could get that would be willing to carry Ollie. Besides that, he lives with us, so he gets nominated.

Since Ollie will be doing the actual fighting, I must direct him in his battle. That makes me a general and all generals must have a hat.


Going over secret plans!

I was awarded the hat by Warrior Ollie himself, so I must be doing something right. Now that I have a hat and the battle plans have been made, it is off to do battle with the trees. Unfortunately, none are ready to fall, so no battle will occur any time soon. I guess we'll take a nap instead.

Have Stick, Will Fight

Sticks are amazing things. They can be swung around like a sword. They can be used like drumsticks. They can be their own catapult if you hit a tree hard enough in the right spot. They can also be used to herd cattle (in our case cats) back into the house.

A few weeks back, when Ollie was done with his outdoor chalk, he found a stick. He immediately assumed the sword fighting position and swung it as fast as he could. This of course scared the holy-living hell out of the cats and a couple ran into the house. The stupid ones waiting until the stick swinger got close enough to wack them with it, like in the game wack-a-mole. He didn't actually hit them, just poked them a bit with the stick of death. Piper just hunkered down and took it. She wasn't going inside no matter how many pokes she received.

That became boring soon enough, so Ollie went after the tree. The tree was a more formidable opponent and it had the possibility to fight back. This time it didn't break the stick and send it flying back at the assailant. It took it like a gentletree.



Since the tree wasn't yielding, Ollie's arm got tired and he retired for the day. There will come a day, however, when the battle will rage on. Toddler and stick vs. Tree 2, should be an entertaining bout.

Rough Teeth

We picked Ollie up from the sitter's yesterday, his cheeks were red and he had a fever. He got medicine when we got home and he was his normal self until he went to bed. He was in bed a little earlier than usual, so it wasn't a big surprise when he woke up at 11:30 with another fever. His mom had to hold him while I gave him medicine. He got the medicine despite his protests.

We laid on the couch while we waited for him to go back to sleep and his fever to subside. To calm him I had to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" A LOT! I started making up verses to the same tune. Eventually, I was able to hum it and then stop all together. I'm sure the cats appreciated it when I stopped singing. It took about 30 minutes for him to fall asleep and his fever to subside. I waited for a little while longer and put him back in his bed for the night. He slept the rest of the night and woke up without a fever. He was a little crabby and still messing with his molars so, he received more medicine. If he's lucky, he won't get a fever today.

The fever has been part of his teething from day 1 with the diarrhea. I'm hoping he passed that part this past weekend. Maybe tonight he won't be in pain and will want to watch TV with his Mama and Tori.

Watching TV before bed

Spring

We've had a few warm days recently. One weekend we had a nice day and let Ollie and the cats out to play. Ollie found many things to do while outside. We also brought out sidewalk chalk and he drew straight lines and graded our efforts. This is of course after he forced us to draw with him.

Grading the Work

He had to practice his face making capabilities as well. You have to have a stern face when grading such important work.


Stern Face

There were many other activities that day, including chasing the cats, beating a tree up with a stick and sliding down a slide. Those are for another day, for now, just hope you don't need any chalk artwork graded by that meany.

For Sale

Apparently this young man has a few ties to sell you.


He obtains them from the local merchant called 'Daddy's Free Tie Rack'. He is stealthy when he obtains his ties. He pulls them down by grabbing one end and yanking, while the other end flies over the hook. Occasionally he gets caught, but hasn't been prevented from his theft. If only we could get him to put on a tie and get a real job.

Pictures Coming!

I have pictures, I swear. I tried having the photos put on a disk by the developer. The software they used kept crashing my computer. I'm going to try again tonight. If that doesn't work, then I'll scan them in, but it may take a bit longer.

Not much new on the Ollie front. His diarrhea has stopped and he has eaten a ton in the last few days. He was up early this morning and was a major crab. He threw fits when he didn't get his way. He probably got his butt spanked 10 times this morning, it just made him scream louder. Maybe communication will improve in a few months and some of the tantrums will stop. Then we get to repeat the process with Tori. I'm so looking forward to that!

Barf Boy

Ollie started a new routine and screwed up another one this weekend. The new routine consisted of Ollie barfing twice Saturday and Sunday morning, acting crabby for an hour and eating sparingly. After the hour was up he would return to normal, except for the eating. The evenings consisted of Ollie crying because he had diarrhea and his butt hurt. It was only from 4 to 6 and it was only a couple of times Sunday night. No bath tub incidents occurred, luckily for us.

We weren't real sure what was causing it. There had been a bug going around the sitters and he may have gotten a small dose of it. I also was able to see one of his molars pushing through during one of his wailings of woe. I couldn't see the whole thing, but I was able to see the tips on the side of the tooth pushing through. I wasn't able to look for any others, it was just by chance I saw that one.

He was also grabbing at his mouth quite a bunch and popsicles seemed to help. Of course, if Ollie had a popsicle, I had to have one too. We switched popsicles at Ollie's whim. So, if it was a virus, I would be sick by now.

All of this fun of vomiting and pooping discontinued his sleeping schedule for the weekend. He was up at 6 am on Saturday, took an early nap on Saturday and went to sleep from 6 to 9 Saturday night. However, he didn't go back to sleep at 9, he stayed up until 12 when we put him in bed after he started crying because he was told "No". When he cries at that, he is tired. He slept the rest of the night until, 6 am on Sunday.

Sunday, he managed to stay awake until almost 1 for his nap. He had a good nap and was himself for the rest of the day, for the most part. He still had his crabby bouts to make our day fun. He was tired about 8, but wasn't ready for bed yet. He laid around in various formations with his Mom and I until 9 when he was definitely ready for bed. We put him in bed and he awoke at 3. We brought him into our bed, but couldn't get him to lay down. He kept kneeling up in bed and wouldn't move. He was put back in his bed at 3:30 after the fun of trying to get him to lay down, cried for 5 minutes and was asleep until 4:30. He cried for a few minutes and woke his parents up after they were about to fall asleep again. He put himself back to sleep and he was, not surprisingly, a bit crabby this morning. He ate and seemed like he was back to his normal self this morning. No throw up and no calls from the sitter, so we'll see how the day goes.

Who is the Child?

Children are frustrating, everyone knows this. What most people don't realize is that children, especially toddlers, are frustrated. They aren't able to express what they want or need. This leads to problems on both sides.

The other night we were making dinner. I got Ollie's ready before our meal, so I had placed in on the tray for his high chair. I picked up Ollie and tried to sit him in the high chair to many protests. Once in the chair and pinned in by the tray his protests became screams of anguish and crying. He used to relent and begin eating his food, not this time. He kept screaming as if to say, "Hey stupid parent, get me out of this fricking chair that I don't want to be in. Let me stand at the counter like I have been for the past week and eat my food like a toddler you moron!". I'm paraphrasing of course.

He was taken out of his high chair and placed standing on the bar stool at the counter to eat. I was a little frustrated myself by this time and I took his tray and dumped it on the counter in front of him for him to eat. He then picked at it because he wasn't hungry and got down to play.

I had to laugh at myself because in these few minutes, I was no longer the parent, but I was acting like a child. I let a 2 year old get to me and allowed myself to behave the same age. I felt stupid and had to laugh at my stupidity. Sometimes you have to laugh at your failures.

Now, Ollie is only sat in his high chair when he requests it. He does this by trying to climb into the chair by hanging onto one of the legs and lifting his leg in the air like a dog marking his territory. He usually eats at the counter standing on a bar stool and I'm paying closer attention to what he wants/needs so we both don't get frustrated with each other and act like 2-year-olds, when one of us is 30 years older.

If It Comes Out, It Must Be Scary!

The bath routine is pretty static. The water is run, Ollie plays in the vanity and we undress him and put him in the tub when it is ready. Ollie then gets washed and he plays with his bath toys. Some nights the playing is over quickly others, it seems to last forever. Last night Ollie had a toy that he did not like at all.

He was squatting down, playing with his plastic toys when a Baby Ruth floated up from underneath him. No, I don't mean a CANDY BAR! A TURD! He kept playing for a few seconds until it floated within his vision. Then he got scared and began to scream. Apparently, floating turds are scary!

I picked him up out of the tub and got the rest of his toys out before they were tainted with poo. I wrapped him up in a towel, so he could get warm and to dry him off a bit. I started to drain the tub and got toilet paper to grab the turd so I could flush it. Ollie was still standing between the tub and toilet and when he saw it coming towards him he screamed like it was going to get him. I can just imagine a turd chasing a 2-year-old and how frightening that must be. It was to Ollie last night. I managed to flush it in between banshee wails, got him dried off and in his jammies. He was fine after a few minutes of resting his head on my shoulder and went on with his night like the scary turd never existed.

During all of this, I realized that I have grown (if that is what you want to call it) as a parent. Instead of making a big deal about it, I watched as the turd floated up and calmly took care of the situation. My son is screaming about a turd in the tub and I'm thinking ok, lets clean up the mess. Apparently, I don't think a turd in the tub is big deal anymore, I guess it happening twice makes you used to it. Now that's what I call real growth.

Sand Shower & Chalk

The weather was nice and warm this weekend, at least warm enough to go outside. On Saturday, we drew with chalk on the side walk. Ollie's parents drew things at his command and then he would help by making corrections with his chalk. He draw right through our drawings and then tell us what to draw next. We covered the entire sidewalk by the door and they've been graded appropriately by Ollie.

Ollie is also a good wrangler of the cats. Basically, they are afraid of him. They came outside with us, but most didn't last very long. Ollie would run near them minding his own business and they would take off for the door to the house. They weren't outside for very long.

Sunday was warm and sunny so everyone got to outside in the back yard. There was more chasing of the cats and running up and down the hill. There was sliding and playing in the sand. Lots of playing in the sand! Ollie got a sand bath! He would scoop it up and fling it into the air, mostly landing on him. In between scoops, he would grab a handful of sand and bring near us and throw it or drop it. Then he would go back to flinging it in the air. I'm glad I have a supply of replacement sand, the sandbox will need it.

Ollie got a bath after the first sand flinging in the sink. Apparently it didn't go too smoothly. He and I went back outside later and more sand flinging ensued. He also went down his slide several times and made a break for the neighbors jungle gym. I caught him halfway there and he wasn't pleased to say the least. We are going to have to build him one of his own apparently, but that won't stop him from trying to get on the neighbors, I'm sure. After his run for the Jungle Gym we came inside to his protest. This led to Ollie's second bath of the night after his dinner.

We did finish a roll of film, so maybe I'll have pictures to post by next week.

Dead Weight

It is very difficult to pick up a 30 lb. toddler out of bed when you are trying to move him back to his own bed. Ollie had a rough night and awoke around one. We brought him into our bed for a few hours and he fell back asleep. About 3 I picked up our son, who was as limp as a noodle, and moved him back to his own bed. He slept through the rest of the night without a problem.

This morning he awoke before 6 am. How does this happen? He went to bed at 9 pm (later than usual), had a rough sleep and still was up before 6 am and worst of all he was happy! Him being happy was better than him being crabby in the morning, but I don't get it. He must be turning into a morning person like his mama. His dada still hasn't figured out the morning thing yet. I'm guessing he'll get a decent (hopefully early) nap today, so he can go to sleep at a good time and sleep through the night. Then he can help us clean tomorrow, because a toddler is a big help in cleaning and then rip up the flooring in the bathroom on Sunday. He is good at ripping paper, I think the vinyl will be a bit tougher for him to tear up. I'm just hoping he doesn't try to eat it.

Random Stuff

"na nak", Ollie says

"who's there?", we ask.

Ollie laughs like it is the funniest thing, he's just missing the rest of the joke.


Mama Fat or Big Mama are phrases he uses to describe his mom's protruding belly. He just can't pronounce pregnant right. It comes out pegnat.


He says, "Hi Tori" all the time to his mom's belly. He doesn't realize that Tori will be invading his space and vying for his attention. He's also gotten a little over zealous in his playing and bumped his sister around a few times. She bumps him back. Apparently she's not taking his crap, even in the womb.


Hide and Seek is Ollie's favorite game. He'll tell us to hide and then he'll come find us. When he does find us he laughs and runs into us for a hug. Hiding in the family room is hard because there is little space and only 3 pieces of furniture to hide behind. He finds us pretty easily to say the least.


"Where did (insert random name here) go?", we ask as the other person in the room hides underneath a blanket. Ollie finds a way inside and surprises the person. Much fun is had by all.

Alldie Watch T Fee

Alldie, is how he says his name. He doesn't know that it is his name though. He repeats it when we say it to him. "Alldie shoes", "Alldie socks" etc.

"Yes, those are your socks", we say.

"Alldie socks", he says, like it is new thing altogether.

He knows what his socks are, he's just not sure what Alldie socks are.

He also has gotten in the habit of Watch T Fee. He gets asked if he wants to lay down and watch TV. He curls up with his momma on the couch and lays there with a sippee if he is thirsty and just plays around while still laying down. Of course this usually happens when he is getting tired and is winding down for a nap or for the night. I took a picture of the 2 of them last night on the couch in that position last night, but we still have a few more in the roll before they get developed.

I think as he gets older he is slowing down slightly and is starting to like sitting around a little bit. His attention span is growing and he is more communicative each day. Unfortunately, that still includes the occasional cuss word. His sister will be here soon enough for him to tell her everything that we ignore. I'm sure he'll think it is strange when she cries at everything he says. I hope he likes her enough that he'll want to keep her. If he doesn't, that will be too bad because she isn't going back.