Hand-me downs

I'm so grateful this week.

I asked a friend if she had any little boys clothes that she was willing to part with. She graced us with a box full of long sleeve shirts, pants and thankfully a bunch of Pajamas. Not only did she generously give us this box of 2T-4T clothes, she called her cousin who also had clothes that she wanted someone to have. What perfect timing too, as Monday was a blustery day and I had just finished washing, folding and putting away all the new, warmer Fall clothes.

I opened his closet and found we have two winter coats and one pair of snow pants that I received last year from another friend...wonderful. Thank you just doesn't feel like enough to say.

I was struggling to think of how we'd be able to find/ buy clothes for Oliver as he continues to grow and am so very humbled and grateful that people are so giving. We now have all kinds of clothes for Oliver this winter and even possibly through spring, depending on how fast he grows. Currently, I put everything 18 month and under away in storage and now he has a whole new wardrobe. We just need a few more misc things (mittens, boots, warm winter hats, socks...etc. The list is a lot shorter thanks to all the hand me downs) to slowly gather/ buy to outfit him for winter. Soon we'll be all set; today Daddy bought Oliver a new pair of super cute shoes to get him through the Fall- pictured here.

My friends cousin also gave Oliver this "Mader" riding toy. He LOVES it and yes, it makes a bunch of noise.

Another Zoo trip

Oliver and I woke up from a nice nap, but we no longer wanted to be home. So yesterday afternoon we went for a walk, at the zoo... to see animals.

Oliver watched the "geese"- I tried to tell him the small ones are called ducks, silly boy.

Got a perfect view of mr. monkey, saw small statue giraffes next to the real giant ones, and look Buffalo's.


It was just a special day with Marmee, because Daddy has been out of town for three days. We really miss him. Oliver hasn't really noticed too much, but has been telling me throughout the weekend where daddy's gone and that he left in an airplane to see his friend Bob. We've had a great time together, but are very ready for Daddy to come home.
Daddy just happens to be the best husband and father EVER. I have to say he does a terrific amount around the house to keep it all running smoothly. He washes the dishes, vacuums, cleans the kitchen, prepares meals, goes grocery shopping, trys hard to get his writing projects done, does laundry (even though he hates folding and I try really hard to help do that at least) AND, if that wasn't enough, reads books (over and over again), plays games, teaches manners, tickles, gives big hugs & kisses, laughs, goes on walks, and washes little hands all in an attempt to bring a little love and excitement to Oliver's day. Wow, I guess it's about time I start pulling my own weight around here and take back some household chores. I missed you a LOT Jerimy. I love you more than you'll ever know- I appreciate all you do around the house and hope I can help out a bit more in the future. Thank you.

Tumble Time

Oliver is taking a community education class, 18-24 month gymnastics class.

He's learning balancing, hanging, jumping, bouncing, tumbling, and even a bonus- sharing. It's been super fun to see his joy at all the new experiences. We go for the next few months every Saturday.

Sounds like "Camera ate"

Oliver spent the night at Auntie Melanie's house (click here to see a little video)
When we got home it was long past bedtime, so I skipped story time and went straight for our prayers, which I just started doing a couple nights ago. It went something like this:

Marmee: Bless Oma and Opa

Oliver: Bless Oma

M: bless auntie Em and uncle Jon

Oliver quietly listening

M: and Mormor and Morfar

O: Mormor

M: and...

When Oliver sudden chimed in with

O: Camera ate

M: what?!

O (enthusiastically): camera ate, camera ate

M: um... (wildly wracking my brain to think of what he's trying to tell me)

Marmee's brain: searching, searching, searching... does not compute

Then Oliver says it one more time: Camera GRate

M: Oh yes, and God Bless GRandma GReat!

Side note- Dear Dad, some of the best memories I have of you include you sitting at the top of the stairs saying goodnight prayers or talking about our day while all of us were in our own beds. Thank you for being a wonderful example.

Naptime Crash

The last three days Oliver has not napped during the day. He's played in his room for a while and then he's ready to be out in the world again. Usually not much worse for the wear. The lack of sleep is slowly catching up to him. Today he actually took his nap- two hours worth. And where, oh where did he find to sleep today??

In Marmee's big chair.
Nap time side note: as we put him down to bed we've tried to give him a few guidelines for nap time since he has the freedom to get out of bed now. We put him down and explain to him that its nap time so no book, no blocks. That's our attempt at telling him it's not really playtime, he should be resting. (As you can see by the first picture, we fully understand he'll still play with his things and that's okay too as long as its peaceful, quiet and he's refreshed afterward)

While riding in the car this afternoon, out of no where Oliver says
"Nap time- no blocks, no books"
I was a little blown away.

My little negotiator

Oliver's first 5 word sentence:

"Play Zolo a little bit?"

"pleeeeease!"
I figured I had a few more years before he start negotiating with us for things he really wanted.

New sleeping area

Well, something just came over me and I took the rail off the crib the other day. The first couple days it went really well, probably because Oliver had a slight cold. But now we're not sure if he's crawling out of bed to sleep on these cushions or if he rolls out. Either way we find him down here as often as we find him on his bed.

He's been getting up to play with toys during nap time, which means he's not really taking a nap the last few days. Crazy enough he has been sort of refreshed after playing by himself in his room. I think he's enjoying his new found freedom. Oh yeah- and I think he might actually like his new blanket I just finished, but I'm going to put it away and save it for colder weather since it is 100% wool.

Just for my Oma

"Oma, I love you"

Ps. I named one of my stuffed dogs "Sophie", after your dog.

Games and Imagination

I hope that I can always encourage Oliver to use his imagination and be as creative as he wishes to be. I realize I need to lead by example and lately I haven't really been feeling terribly creative myself.

I bought this game before I had kids, it's like a crazy Mr Potato Head. It's a bunch of wacky pieces you can use to build a multitude of characters. Its in our game cupboard and we take it down on occasion as a special treat/ toy.

It's Zolo-a-go-go. Oliver loves running to the game shelf and yell "Play Zolo" repeatedly till we either get it down or break his heart by telling him not now. It's another special chance for us as parents to take time out of being lazy or being selfish to play with Oliver. Playing with him is the most fun- I don't see how I could resist, and I always feel better spending time focusing on Oliver & playing. It reminds me that almost everything else isn't even half as important as watching him create and imagine all sorts of possibilities.

Temper Tantrums 101

Daddy and I have started our schooling in the fine art of temper tantrums.

Our Professor, one Oliver Don, has opted for a more home school teaching approach where we can receive training at any given time. Yesterday, for example, our class schedule was packed: morning car ride home from church, while reading books before dinner, and diaper less on the first floor of the house (apparently that freaks the professor out- as he's only really been diaper less on the second floor). I think that works out to about 12 parent credits. I also received a bonus pop quiz on "middle of the night melt downs" at 3am. Very informative.

For those with sensitive hearing we recommend earplugs as our Professor can get quite impassioned during a lecture.

We welcome anyone who'd like to audit the class and/or join a discussion group on how you dealt with your own impassioned Professors.

Dapper Dan

"Yes sir, that's my baby!"
Eat your heart out Ladies

Nothing if not determined...

We went to the Apple Orchard yesterday, mostly just to visit their bakery. We bought apple doughnuts, apple turnovers, stocked up on apple sauce, pondered getting apple jelly, and tasted a variety of apple slices.

It was an Apple day and what did Oliver find that he couldn't stop talking about?

As we were checking out he turned to the very nice lady waiting behind us and said "Honey Bear?" "Please". It was adorable, and slightly sad. The plastic jar shaped as a bear filled with yummy honey was just sitting innocently on the shelf, looking so cute. I had let him hold and touch two different bottles but he wanted to see them all. We did not buy a bottle, but if I run out of ideas for gifts I know where I'm heading.

The whole ride home was "honey bear" "bye-bye honey bear" "please Honey bear"... poor little guy. Not even a few drinks of Daddy's fresh Apple cider could distract him.

"Come what may" Adventure day (continued)

Our Destination:
We drove to Amish country (the biggest population of Amish in the state) to see a natural wonder. A CAVE. I'm fascinated with under ground rock formations and being completely under the earth. This cave has a 60 foot waterfall in one of its explored chambers. Then we walked about 1/2 mile down a different cave tunnel to the end of the path where we were 200 ft under the earth. It was one of the greatest caves I've ever been in and totally worth the $10.50 a person (Oliver was free). Parts of the cave tunnel were only a couple of feet wide but the ceiling above us stretched up 70 feet or so.

There were 250 stairs (x2 once going down and then coming back out again)...luckily not all in a row, or I might not have made it out. Jerimy took Oliver when we headed back to the entrance, because I was completely out of breathe walking at what seemed like break neck speed to keep up with the rest of the tour group. I am super glad I thought ahead and brought the sling to carry Oliver in (Absolutely best baby invention ever, by the way). There was not really a great toddler walking zone, and no one was supposed to touch the "living walls", so Oliver got carried the whole cave distance.

At one point about a quarter of a mile down the path, Oliver was getting restless and did not want to be on our adventure any longer. Thankfully the pacifier and flipping him upside down stopped the fussing. (Fussing in a cave, quite annoying and loud). Of course, flipping our son in a tunnel that's only a couple feet wide while going down stairs and watching intently as to not hit his head on a rock... that was a challenge.

Afterwards, we all hopped in the car, grabbed a little ice cream from town and headed home. Oliver made it most of the way home nicely, with a bunch of entertaining with books, songs and the "Um game" (we just say random words of things we see and in between say "ummmmmmmmm"). About twenty minutes from home Oliver started to get restless and threw a tantrum, but we were close to home and managed to survived.

Highly recommend the trip!

"Come what may" Adventure day

We rode in the car about 2 1/2 hours South. The first twenty minutes Oliver stared out the window probably thinking "where is Marmee and Dad taking me today?" Then he took a half hour nap- we thought he'd sleep longer but he must have been hungry. He snacked and talked for the next hour. We had to make a pit stop to use the small town gas station toilets. As we pulled out of the gas station we noticed a really fun looking park called Tree Top Towers across the street. If we hadn't stopped to go potty, we wouldn't have even seen the park.

We all got out, stretched our legs and played for a while, we weren't in any hurry. I'm trying to be good about having fun on the journey, not so intent on getting to our destination.

After a little swinging, sliding, and climbing we hit the road again and it was closer than we thought- only about a half hour away from the park. Fantastic.

To Be Continued...

Can you Guess??

Please play along, I know you want too. I think this one will be easy.

Can you name all three activities Oliver is enjoying while on our family adventure today?
I'll tell you all about our amazing road trip after I hear a few guesses.
I will share with you that Oliver spent a lot of time in the car and he did incredibly well. Daddy and I were both quite impressed with his patience as we traveled to our exciting destination.

Game Time

Oliver and I have been enjoying game nights in the evenings when I get home from work. It's been fun to watch him enjoy new things, and I love how his face gets super concentrated. I know the box says 7+ but who wouldn't love that k-k-k-k-klink of the connect four pieces hitting the bottom of the game board.