Vacation

Ollie had a great time on vacation and was extremely well behaved. It started out as 'the best vacation ever' as soon as we got to our hotel room in Rolla for our first stop. We had dinner and went swimming in the hotel pool.



After a quick bath, a complaint about wanting to go home and a 9:30 bed time for everyone, we were set to make our way to Pittsburg, KS. to see Ollie's Great-Grandparents.

Ollie took to them immediately. In the first 20 minutes he was playing with the blocks with his Grandpa.


Later that night Ollie went to Kiddieland and rode the rides. He didn't want to get off the airplanes and had to be taken off crying when we ran out of tickets.


He also went on the train with Caroline and rode the boats.


We went back later in the week and Ollie rode the teacups, vehicles and surprised me by riding the roller coaster twice. He would've made permanent residence in the rides if he could've. We also went to a park, fed ducks, got Ollie a toy and lit fireworks. Ollie did the sparklers and smoke bombs, but was a bit afraid of the loud fireworks.

We then headed to his Grandpa Lanny's in Brookfield, Mo. to meetup with Ollie's uncle Travis, Aunt Diane and cousin Tyler. We stayed in a hotel in town and had a good time visiting. We also went to see Maxie the Goose, the world's largest goose.


Ollie is under the table in the picture, but didn't seem to be afraid. Ollie then went on the swings and slide in the park for awhile to complete his week long activities at parks around the country.




We ended up making it back home Saturday with a tired out 3-year-old. He wasn't sleepy though. He made the entire trip with only a few complaints, switched beds constantly and who was sleeping with him and had 4 five hour car trips during which he was well behaved. He seemed to enjoy it, but tired himself out Sunday night when he fell asleep in front of the TV at 5 PM and slept through the night. Even with sleeping in until 7 am every morning and getting a nap most days, he was still worn out when we returned home. He seems ready and willing to go on our next vacation, whenever that will be. I'm sure he'll enjoy it as much as this one.

Up-Chuck

Ollie didn't feel good yesterday when I left him at the sitter's. He still has an occasional bout of separation anxiety, but it turned out to be illness. We traced the culprit to his antibiotics causing nausea and him not eating breakfast.

He also threw up on himself on the way home. We pulled over, cleaned him and the seat up and he threw up again on the side of the road. We still have to teach him the right way to not barf on himself as I had to bend him over so it wouldn't get all over him. Once home, he had popsicles, macaroni and cheese and a bite of pizza. We skipped his medicine last night and he was in bed by 8 because he was so tired.

This morning we made sure he had plenty to eat and gave him his medicine. He is feeling much better and when I called to check on him, he was feeling fine without any more incidents. I guess we were right about the antibiotics causing it. We just have to make sure he gets food in his stomach before his medicine. I'm just glad he isn't going to be sick for our entire trip that is coming up. At least he'll be able to enjoy the fireworks and fun.

Water and Works

Last night, Ollie enjoyed spraying water and a few fireworks. He wanted to spray the tree in our front yard because it was dirty. He didn't like the water coming back at him and getting him wet. The nozzle was switched to mist and he 'cleaned' Annie's car. Then Annie got her squirt gun and the fight was on! The nozzle was switched back to jet and Ollie took aim at Annie. His aim has improved since he last soaked Paul.

In no time Annie was drenched, Ollie was too, but he didn't realize it until it was pointed out to him. He didn't seem to mind and kept squirting Annie. Every once and awhile, they'd take a break and Ollie would be the sprinkler. He would shoot the water high in the air, like a sprinkler would, and Tori and I would run through it. Ollie thought it was funny, Tori enjoyed the running and getting wet and we didn't get drenched which is a plus.

Dinner time came and the soaked ones had to change out of their wet clothes to eat. After dinner Ollie immediately wanted to go back outside and squirt Annie more. It was bath time, so he got himself wet again in the tub with Tori.

Later that night, Annie brought home more fireworks for Ollie. He loves the smoke bombs, snakes and sparklers. He went through an entire pack of sparklers and smoke bombs. Anything with noise, he doesn't like, so the little poppers aren't a hit with him. He twirled the sparklers and we got some interesting pictures of him with them. He also commanded which smoke bombs were to be lit and 'oooh' at each color. It looks like the 4th of July fireworks will be fun for Ollie, even though they may not be loud.


Random Picture of The Waterboy

Follow the Leader

While playing on the screened in porch last night Tori and Ollie played a game together. Ollie would bang on the metal porch wall and Tori would imitate what he was doing. He'd bang with one hand on a panel, she'd try to keep up by banging both hands on the same panel. He'd move over a panel and bang, she'd follow and bang. All around the porch then went, enjoying the sound they were making and their game. Ollie was thrilled that she was copying him and she seemed thrilled that they were playing together. As a parent, sometimes you just have to sit back and enjoy the entertainment on your porch. We can also hope for more days like this.

Exercise

While Ollie wouldn't go into the sprinker this weekend, it didn't stop him from doing 3 things.

1. Watching The Incredibles twenty million times.
2. Finding Blues Clues and drawing them in his handy-dandy notebook.
3. Exercising on the bike.

Writing clues in his book while exercising!


Making faces while holding onto the notebook


Ignoring the camera or looking for a clue?


Making faces at the camera


More faces

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