Annabelle

The past two days, there has been another two-year-old at the sitter's. Her name is Annabelle and Ollie hid under the table from her on the first day. Last night, he had loads to tell me about Annabelle, including how she drank from his and Nathan's cups. I am sure he will miss her when she returns to her sitter who has been absent.

Ollie had a great Thanksgiving. He enjoyed spending time with Grandma Vickie and gave her lots of hugs. He also rough-housed with Annie and Dale and talked to Tyler. Uncle Travis attempted to put him in the basement with the snakes, but Ollie refused and Grandma protected him. He was not ready to face the snakes. Little did he know there was no such thing in the basement.

Ollie enjoyed playing with Big Girl, my youngest cousin Stephanie. He called her by name a few times, but preferred to refer to her as Big Girl. He liked chasing her and watched Amber from afar. Tori, meanwhile, wondered around, staring at everyone and chasing whomever she could. She was jealous of Tyler being in my lap and didn't have much to do with cousin Jaxson. All in all, it was a nice, warm Thanksgiving Day.

Going to Grandma's

Ollie is getting excited about going to Grandma Vickie's. He has millions of things to tell her, from his dislike for Santa Claus to his desire to be Buzz again next Halloween. Last night was Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving, which Ollie watched intently, and then he played and watched Winnie the Pooh. When it was time for bed, he went willingly but got scared. The flashing light in back was sending too many shadows in his room and he had to sleep with his dad, while I slept in his room. His bed was quite comfy.

Snappy Dresser

Today Ollie is wearing his Thomas the Train outfit that he picked out himself. As we were shopping the other day, I found some clearance clothes for Tori. Ollie stuck around and oohed and aahed over all of the clothes. Then he latched onto the Thomas outfit and asked if he could have it. He has never shown an interest in clothes, so of course, I let him have it. Thank goodness it was on sale.

I have enjoyed choosing clothes for Ollie, but now it looks like he will be doing more of that himself. He picked out his shirt the other day, too, and refuses pajamas with buttons! My baby is growing up!

Ollie the Early Bird

Ollie has gotten up around 6 these past two mornings. He crawls into our bed, turns on Pokemon and watches it until it is time to leave. Meanwhile, his sister sleeps as late as possible and still gets up crankily. Ollie goes to bed at 9 and talks for about an hour before falling asleep. i guess he doesn't need much rest. Tori, on the other hand, has been going to bed earlier, around 8. She needs all of the sleep she can get and then some!

Tired Ollie

Ollie spent Friday at home with his mom, and somehow I managed to wear him out, so much so that he zonked out in front of the TV at 4 and slept until 7 the next morning. I don't know what we did, but we must have played hard!

This weekend, we are putting up the Christmas tree. Ollie can't wait for us to get out his train and set it up to circle the tree. Little does he know I also have a train for downstairs. We are going to be whistling our way to the holidays.

Ollie is getting interested in cousin Amber. He doesn't know who she is, but he knows she is close to his age and he is going to see her on Thanksgiving Day. He says she has friends and he is looking forward to playing with them all and Tori, of course. We can't go anywhere without Tori. It just wouldn't be the same! Tyler has also received special mention. Now for me to introduce the name cousin Jaxson.

Ornery

That’s the word I would use to describe Ollie these past few days. If he can stir up trouble, he’s gonna, especially when it comes to Tori. He is forever getting in trouble because he has pushed her, shut her out of rooms, etc. One day, she Is going to whack him upside the head.

If he isn’t stirring up trouble, then he is talking a mile a minute. Can I do this, can I do that, why did that happen, how come Tori is doing that, and so forth. He asks me and then he asks his dad, and vice versa. He must have an answer from both of us or he will not proceed. Ugh!

Ollie wants a lot for Christmas, and then, the next minute he wants nothing. We’re struggling to find things to buy for him. He doesn’t like new things to be added to his room. Wish us luck!

The Candy Man

This was probably the best Halloween for Ollie so far. He seemed to enjoy it the most. It started out with his 2nd trip to the dentist. This trip went much better than his previous trip 6 months ago. He was still half asleep from his nap when I picked him up from the sitters...I thought I was doomed. We got to the office and he watched Brother Bear for a little bit before being picked up and taken to the play room. He didn't want to go, but his crying subsided fairly quickly. They got through the cleaning and even got a few smiles out of him. He made it through the entire process without much fuss. No cavities and his adult teeth all look good for their emergence in a few years.

After the dentist visit we went to his Mama's work for trick or treating in the office. He got dressed up, but was still shy about saying trick or treat. Once again, Tori was the only one to get her picture taken. Maybe next year.

After dinner Ollie decided he didn't want to go trick or treating with Annie. He wanted to go with his Daddy. So we went. At first he was shy and didn't say anything. After awhile he let out his first meek 'trick or treat'. After that, he was a pro. Almost every house after he said 'trick or treat' loudly. He even said thanks a few times. After each house, he'd ask to go to the next house and we did. While waiting at doors, he'd chant Halloween, Halloween or Candy, Candy, Candy. Walking between houses, he'd make up songs and enjoyed himself completely. After an hour and a full bucket, we went home to warm up and empty his bucket.

After a few bites, he was ready to go again. We got his gloves and put his hood on so he would be warm. The people at the doors didn't get to see much of his Buzz Lightyear costume. The 2nd trip out he wanted me to hold his hand from house to house. He was happy the entire time, never complaining. About 30 minutes into our 2nd trip, it was time to pack it in. It was getting cold and not many people were still out. We headed home with our haul. He then went to Arby's with his Aunt Annie to get more candy. Needless to say, we ended up with more candy than we started at the beginning of the night.

When he got home he got his bath and went to bed a bit tired and crabby, but he had a good time. After all, he "likes Halloween Daddy!".

Trick or Treating over the years

2003



2004



2005



2006

Why Does Grandma Moo?/Maid Rite

Ollie got a tractor recently with a few farm animals, and while showing it to his aunt Annie, she managed to convince him to equate the farm animals with Uncle Dale (a pig), Uncle Frankie (a horse), Uncle Darin (a sheep), and Grandma Vickie (a cow). So, now the question he asks me from time to time is why Grandma moos. We are going there over Thanksgiving, so maybe Grandma Vickie can answer that question herself (or have Annie answer it).

Don’t ever ask Ollie where he wants to eat—he’ll always say Maid Rite. He convinced us to go there Tuesday night where for once he ate most of his dinner. He loves the chicken fingers and the jukebox. He was so excited we couldn’t get him to lower his voice and the women beside us had to move in order to hear themselves speak!

Change

If you know Ollie at all, then you know he doesn’t take to change very well. He doesn’t like items to be added to or moved around in his room, insists on wearing the same pajamas every night and detests the start of new seasons and new clothing. This morning, he had to wear his new winter coat, and boy, did the tears flow. Switching from his Pooh coat to a heavier coat bummed him out.

I shoved the coat on his limp arms, picked him up and encouraged him to push the button to open the garage door. He managed it somehow through the tears and continued to protest about his new coat in the car. He took it off and screamed when his dad made him put on his coat again. Hopefully, it won’t be as big of a deal tomorrow morning,

If Annie ever moves out, Ollie will be getting her room. Imagine the fuss that big change is going to cause. The tears are sure to flow then, as he has to move to a whole new room. Maybe we’ll skip the fuss and move his daring sister in there. She’s sure to adapt more quickly than him.

Busy Weekend

Ollie and Tori had a very busy weekend. The activities started Friday night with my party at work. Ollie, of course, refused to eat, go on rides and have fun. Tori, on the other hand, took it all in. She rode the carousel and went on the big slide twice! She also ate a hot dog.

Saturday, the two spent most of the day at the Children’s Discovery Museum, where they played for three and a half hours. Ollie loved the trains and food market, while Tori liked splashing in the water and going down the slide. Ollie was scared of the big tooth and skeleton in the doctor’s area and a million other things, but seemed to have a lot of fun. They both liked picking up the life-size chess pieces and moving them across the board. Ollie also liked painting on the wall until he tripped on the mat and hit his head. He got a nice goose-egg bump out of that. Yes, right on the spot where his head was glued.

We went out to eat afterwards, where Ollie made a huge stink. It took me about 15 minutes outside to get him calmed down enough to go inside and eat. He was hungry and ate most of his mac and cheese, while his sister ate fries and stared at everyone. They took naps on the way home and once we got home. We were going to take them to the zoo on Saturday night for the Halloween walk, but they were tired and it was getting cold.

Sunday, Ollie spent all day home playing, most of it in his pajamas. I can safely say after this weekend that Ollie is not an extrovert. He is a homebody who has to be coaxed out of his hole from time to time.

More fun is planned for this weekend, including carving pumpkins and maybe going to Wildlife Prairie Park for their Halloween fun!