He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Some ideas aren't understood by Ollie, just yet. One of those ideas is love. We tell him and Tori that we love them all the time. Yet, according to him, he loves Mama and I love Tori. Sometimes it is the other way around. I don't think he has said he loves us both, yet.

When we put him in bed at night and individually tell him that we love him, he says he loves us too. Last night was an exception. He was put to bed and I came in after I put Tori to bed to kiss him good night and tell him I love him. Apparently, last night I didn't love him, Mama loved him and I loved Tori and he told me so. I guess some things just come with time. Maybe one day he'll realize that we all love each other, but for now I guess I'll have to settle for liking him on the days he says I don't love him. Its better than nothing.

If We Could Read Her Thoughts

Tori: What is this dork doing next to me!

or

Ollie: This is how you smile Tori!
Tori: Are you sure we are relate?

Domo Arrigato

We recently adopted a robot that looks suspiciously like Ollie with a Huggies box with cut outs on his head.


He's generally well behaved and just needs a bit of oil now and then. His arms don't work well and his sight is poor.



In spite of the draw backs he seems to manage well. I think the robot will be leaving us soon and our son returning. I recently saw the carcass of the robot out by the side of the road waiting for pickup.



So long robot. Where is a good Rodney Copperbottom when you need him?

Potty

We finally forced Ollie onto the potty. He cried and wailed for awhile. He wouldn't go, so we let him off the potty on the condition that he wear his underwear. We thought if he peed his pants, he'd get the idea and want to go to the potty. We knew he had to go because he was doing everything in his power to stop himself. He even held his legs together while sitting in his chair.

We were able to convince him to sit on his potty with his pants down. He didn't pee however and we waited. His being in underwear didn't help him get the idea and he peed his pants and a bit on the floor. We put on the second pair of underwear and hoped for the best, but we got the same result. He got to put his pull-ups back on since we were out of underwear. We got him to try sitting on the potty again before bed and tried to get him to relax by singing the ABC song. It didn't work either. We've made a little progress, but we aren't close yet. He still doesn't like the idea and he will resist for awhile to come. We just can't wait until he uses the bathroom like a big boy.

ABCDEFG

"next time won't you sing with me". This is how Ollie starts his ABC song. Then continues with the rest of the letters and repeats the "next time" line. As he says, this is his favorite song. He'll break into it spontaneously while waiting for dinner. The other night he sang it several times after being put to bed for the night. He' s so cute when he sings it. The only thing is, we don't know where we learned it. When we sang it in the past he would tell us that we were getting on his nerves and please stop. No Mama, no Dada, stop.

We guess he got it from Sesame Street or another kids show. Its amazing the things that he picks up when you know you haven't told him about such things. Their mind is like a sponge, they soak it all up and spit it back at you when you least expect it. At least he doesn't cuss anymore.



The Alphabet Singer

Rottweiler

Ollie and I were playing hide and seek in the back yard last night. I went to pick up an errant cat in the side yard and noticed a large Rottweiler walking along the sidewalk, by himself. No owner, no leash, just a big scary dog. He noticed our cat and got curious enough to head our direction. The cat was scared enough that she ran in on her own. I was scared enough to forcefully tell Ollie to get inside while I picked him up and carried him in. As soon as we were inside, we saw the dog come around the side of the house into the back yard. I had scared Ollie when I told him to get inside, so the sight of the dog made him more scared. The dog sniffed around a bit and went away. I walked to the front of the house to make sure he was going home.

When I opened the door to check on the dogs whereabouts, Ollie told me to shut the door. He was still scared. The dog was on his way home. A few minutes later we went out to warn Tori and Ollie's Mama. We passed a small dachshund while looking for them and Ollie said "he's so cute!". So he wasn't afraid of all dogs, just big Rottwielers. We spotted them coming the opposite way we were walking and turned around to meet up with them. The rottweiler also spotted them and jogged over to them. His sister was swung away from the dog in the stroller. The dog then went to investigate the dachshund. The dachshund owner called out for the rottweilers owner to come get her dog. She came out and retrieved the dog. She then apologized profusely.

Ollie was still a little shaken up. When we got back home, he didn't want to stay outside. He went back in by himself. A few minutes later he started crying because he didn't want to be alone inside. He was fine the rest of the night.

Thomas

Since Ollie got his Thomas the Tank engine trains, they have been the most played with toys. Even Buzz Lightyear has taken a back seat to Thomas. We've even added 4 more trains to his collection. Of course he wants them all!

Most of the time Ollie will just put the trains back to back to back to make "one big Thomas" as he says. Then that's it. Occasionally he'll wreck the train or his sister will wreck it and he'll rebuild. This all has to be done on the train track rug.

We've even thought about taking him to "A Day out with Thomas" in Union, IL. I don't know if he'd actually on the train that looks like Thomas. It looks like it is a full sized train. The last time he was near a full-sized train, he wouldn't go near it. It might be different if the train was Thomas. Of course, he could also have the same reaction as he did to going to look at tractors "I want to go home". Some day he'll out grow his fear of things larger than him. Once he does that, he'll enjoy more things. Like the air show we went to last year.

The Artist

Next to playing with trains, drawing is Ollie's favorite activity. He uses his drawing board to draw with markers, crayons and chalk occasionally. Though he doesn't like getting the chalk on himself anymore. He also likes using pens and pencils, particularly the red ones. He specifically asks for red pencils. If we don't have any, watch out. He also found our notebooks that we had around the house for various things. Needless to say, we are done to none. The funny thing is that his 'art' sometimes consists of drawing a single line and then he's done with it. He'll rip it out of the binder and bring it to you saying "here, I made this for you". Of course it is a masterpiece!

When we go out to eat and he gets to color, we usually color with him. Ollie won't let you color the way you want, he has to direct. You can only use certain colors on certain areas. If you violate his rules, your coloring is colored over by his in an instant. He is a dictator and you better follow his coloring rules or there will be swift coloring punishment.





This morning, Ollie realized he had a pocket on his sleeve. Of course, he had to have art in the pocket. So, we had to cut little pieces of paper for him to put in his pocket. Apparently, the size of art knows no bounds.

The Ride

Ollie's grandparents brought a wagon for Ollie and Tori to play with over Memorial Day weekend. It ended being one of their favorite toys that both of them like to play with together. No fighting, no screaming and actual sharing. There hasn't been a fight yet. The only bad part is when Ollie gets tired and Tori wants him to push more. Too bad, he doesn't realize that we get tired of carrying him and the its the same situation for us!


Ready, Set


GO!


Round the Turn


Pit Stop


Wrong Way!

Today is Ollie's check up on his ears. I'm sure he'll be crying like he did last time. At least it won't be a complete exam. If we are lucky we won't have to read the same book 20 millions times while we are waiting.

Farm Pics

We went to a farm park while Ollie's grandparents were in town over Memorial Day weekend. Here are some of the pictures from that trip.


Watching for Snakes


Cooling off in the School House


Racing Down the Slide


Checking out the Chicks


No Pictures Please


Ollie has his check-up appointment tomorrow to ensure his ear infection is gone. It'll be interesting to see if it is gone. He only got 8 days of medicine instead of 10 like he should have from the pharmacy. We'll see if it made any difference.