Force

Around 9 months, we had to force Ollie to sleep through the night. Now we are looking at having to force him to eat his dinner instead of snacking all night. We'll come home, make dinner and Ollie will eat a bite or two if anything. Then he'll snack the rest of the night because he didn't eat his dinner. He has also gotten to the wasteful stage of snacking. He'll ask for something, take a bite, dump it and ask for something else. We've gotten to the point of telling him he's not getting anything if he doesn't eat what he has in front of him. We'll probably need to apply this to his dinner as well as the car ride from the sitters to home. The snacks he eats on the way seem to fill him up enough that he's not hungry once we get home. Some of the recent refusal to eat is due to his cold, but the majority of it is due to his habits that we need to change before it becomes a real problem.

The other thing that is coming to a head is his potty training. He knows when he has to go. He'll grab himself before he has to pee or poop. The other night he even told me that his butt hurt before he had to poop. Of course, trying to convince him to get on the potty is like walking through tar pits. We are going to have to force the issue and he won't like it. It seems like he is afraid of the toilet and won't go near it. I got him on it once for 2 seconds before he realized what was happening and hopped off. Anything at this point would be an improvement. We are getting real tired of changing his diapers and he is more than ready to be potty trained, he just doesn't want to be. I'm sure that won't be the last thing that we make him do that he doesn't like.

Rough

Last night Ollie had a rough night with his fever. He woke around 3 am crying. He fought medicine then gladly took it once he was in our bed. 15 minutes later he was ready to go back to his own bed where he hunkered down for the rest of the night. He got more medicine this morning since he was feeling a little hot still. He was in a decent mood, but didn't want me to leave him at the sitters today because he didn't feel good. If he is still sick tonight, he may need some extra attention. He usually watches a movie or plays even when he is sick, so it is hard to tell sometimes when he is sick. Hopefully he'll be better soon.

B-Day Boy

Ollie's birthday went fairly well and he seemed to enjoy it. He especially like blowing out the candles. He had to do it twice! His reaction to most of his presents was pretty uninspired. Except for his Buzz Lightyear. The only downside to the purple buzz is that he doesn't have wings! He still carries them both around with him.


He played with Frankie's girlfriends kids for the weekend. He was shy at first, but eventually warmed up and ran around adding to the havoc. He seemed to have a lot of fun playing with them. His cold with a fever seemed to slow him down a bit on Sunday and he was back to his normal pattern of serial movie watching Sunday night.

The Birthday Boy

When we got up this morning, we went to the store to get Ollie a few things to take to the sitter's to share for his birthday. This morning he insisted on Apples, Bananas and cupcakes. At least he is thinking about eating healthy food. While we were at the store, he also picked out a birthday cake with balloons on it. He loves balloons and they were the default winner. For his birthday he will have balloons, paper hats, horns, cake and a trip to the zoo. His presents this year consist of Toy Story merchandise. A second (purple) Buzz, 2 Jessie's, Bullseye and another Woody. For a 10 year old movie, there is still a lot of toys to buy. Hopefully he is as happy tomorrow as he was eating this spaghetti.



On another note, as I was tucking Ollie in bed, I told him I loved him. He told me he loved me too. I said, good night, see you tomorrow and he repeated it back to me. Sometimes your kids are the cutest things in the world and this was one of those times.

3.50

Our subdivision had their spring garage sale this past Saturday. We started out in the car driving around to the individual sales. We knew Ollie wouldn't want to walk, but driving became a hassle with the extra traffic. We went home and decided to walk a bit.


After the first couple of houses, Ollie complained that he didn't want to walk. He also didn't want to ride in the stroller. He wanted us to carry him. At 35 lbs. the boy is getting to big to be carried. So he complained while he walked. He managed to make it through the rest of the garage sales that we wanted to go to and even got in the stroller at the end. He managed to come home with a lot of loot for about $3.50.

A giant Wal-mart semi, a smaller semi (each .25 cents). A 50 cent lizard (which is now a dragon) a power ranger motorcycle (free with lizard) and I thought there were a couple more things. We also got a small red wagon for 2.50 for both of them to use.

Ollie acted a bit funny at some of the garage sales. We offered to by something for him and he would tell us that he can't have it and would put it back down. I think he gets that from me. I hope it doesn't lead him to denying himself things in the future.

How to Eat Banana Bread

One morning before we left the house for the day, Ollie had Banana Bread for breakfast. He didn't want to have a slice he wanted the whole thing!



Believe it or not, the picture below is a good face. He likes it, he is just chewing. Of course, he has the prerequisite toy BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!



After he was done, so was the rest of the banana bread, he just ate the top off of it. It looked like a cat had gotten too it. Needless to say, no one else wanted it. He enjoyed it and it made for an interesting morning.

Parks and Presents

The weekend was nice enough that on Sunday, we ran some errands in the morning, grabbed lunch at Subway and took the kids to the park. While we were at Subway Ollie proclaimed their American cheese as "The Best Cheese Ever!". Then he promptly spit it out because he had too much food in his mouth.

We made it to Bradley park and found swings and slides they could play on. No one was around so they played freely. Ollie started out on a high curvy slide.

The slide itself wasn't hot, but the platform for the slide was hot and Ollie wouldn't sit on it to go down the slide because it was hot. Needless to say, this is my next view of Ollie, coming back down the stairs.

I had to go get him only twice because he wouldn't come down the right way and I thought he'd fall with on the narrow steps.

He proceeded to the smaller slide where he had to shake out the sand in his shoes.

Then he was ready to go down the slide.


We then headed to another section of the park where they had a jungle gym with a lot of climbing things and different levels. Ollie had to try most of the climbing apparatuses.


On the last piece of equipment, he lowered himself down in between the bar and the platform. He only bumped the back of his head, nose, forehead and elbow on it. When he got hurt, he went right back to it. Out of about 20 attempts 4 bumps isn't bad. Pretty typical kid. As with any typical kid, when you go down a slide, you must climb back up the slide portion. Ollie needed help climbing up it, and his mamma's arms weren't quite long enough, but he made it eventually and all was right with Ollie the Daredevil.

After we went to the park, we took him to the toy store so he could pick something out for his birthday next week. His list was a mile long, but we got him a purple Buzz Lightyear (because as he said, he needed 2). We also got him a Jessie and Woody combo pack, but we are going to return it because I found a Jessie and Bullseye combo pack for a couple dollars more on EBay. He should be set with everything else he is getting from other people. Now we just need to get him a cake and balloons and he'll be all set. A trip to the zoo and maybe a lot of playing for his birthday is the only thing on the agenda. Sounds about right for a 3-year-old.

He Doesn't Know

Ollie's birthday is coming, that much he knows. What he doesn't know is what he wants for his birthday. When we ask, it is a different answer. So far it has been dinosaur, balloons, basketball hoop, little people toys and everything in the Toys 'R' Us catalog. I'm sure we'll figure out something, but apparently 3-year-olds can't make up their mind any better than adults.

Dora went by the wayside last night as it was Mike's movie night. That would be Mike Wazowski of Monsters, Inc. Another one of Ollie's favorite movies.

Since his sister has become more mobile, Ollie has become more possessive and a little mean. She'll crawl into our room while he is watching a movie. Ollie will scream at us to get her out of the room. Tori will crawl around and pull herself up on things. On occasion, she'll pull up on his chair. One night we heard her cry in our bedroom where they were watching a movie. She was sitting in front of his chair crying. He had pushed her down because she was in his way. I made him apologize to her for pushing her. Sharing of toys is starting to become an issue. He's old enough to understand that he needs to share, but he doesn't like it and doesn't share as all 3 year-olds do. He hasn't been too mean about it, but it looks like the quarrels between the two have begun.

Addicted

This weekend we bough Ollie a Dora the Explorer DVD. This turned into a bad mistake. He was hooked immediately. He almost did nothing but watch the same episodes over and over. He's even started talking to the characters on the TV when they ask for the viewers help. He's also talking to them in Spanish! I guess it is accomplishing its goal of making a minion out of my child.

We brought it home and he watched it until nap time. He fought tooth and nail not to take a nap, he lost we won. After his nap, he immediately went back into our room to watch more Dora. Usually he will play or cuddle with us when he gets up. Not that day. Bed time that night was the same drama and he got quite a few spankings for his behavior.


Sunday was a little better he played more and didn't put up as much of a fight when bed time arrived. I'm sure he'll be watching more Dora tonight. Eventually it'll go by the way side as the little people DVD's and some of the Disney movies he's watched. We can only hope he is this addicted to learning.