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.