Oliver-isms

- Oliver LOVES shoes!

- Oliver is pretty naughty and mischievous.  In one weekend, he threw the digital camera over the balcony, threw a glass bottle over the balcony (shattered below), put the digital camera in a glass of water (completely ruined), poured a cup of coffee on the floor, poured a gallon of water on the floor, sat on the cat, pulled the cat's tail, drew on the wall with multiple crayons, put a full trash can in his crib twice, insisted on getting back up on a chair after he had fallen off twice, and threw his dinner on the floor.  Ben was never very mischievous, or maybe I've forgotten.  Ben now says, "Liv is naughty."

- Oliver has fallen in love with two blankies and has to have them to sleep. Then he has to have them when he gets up in the morning, and they have to come downstairs with him for breakfast.  He might forget about them after breakfast.

- Oliver loves reading.  A couple of the books we read have food in them and I pretend to eat the food off the page.  Oliver copies me and chews in a funny way.

- Oliver knows how to pucker up for a kiss and knows what to do when you ask for a hug.

- When I get home from work at dinnertime, Ben says, "Look Liv!  Mommy's home!"  Oliver screams and runs towards me.

- Oliver tells you after he poops.  That's a good sign and we should capitalize on it and get him potty-trained a couple of years earlier than Ben!  (Ben started wearing underwear just this week!  Yippee!)

- Oliver loved putting on his lion costume several times a day before Halloween.  After he got it on, he would put his hands up like claws and roar.

-  At the boys' last doctor appointment, we all got flu shots, thinking it would be easier for Ben if he saw Mommy and Daddy get a shot first.  It didn't end up helping Ben much, but Oliver did nothing but flinch.  And then when we got his second booster, again - nothing but a flinch.  Tough little guy!

First sign of brotherhood

One day Oliver did the 20th naughty thing and Tim lost his temper a little bit.  Ben and I were near and Ben said vehemently, "Daddy, don't you talk to my little brother like that!"

Random Ben-isms

- Ben had a stomach bug for a few days, and threw up many times one night.  Tim stayed with him and Ben said to him,"Frow up not fun!" and "Frow up was ekercise!"  We agree.

- Words Ben still says funny:  empaphant (elephant), bastekball, ekercise.

- Ben still says often, out of the blue, "I love you too, Mama. I think you're byooful."

- Ben is often polite about asking before doing something.  He wanted to give Boomer treats in Kansas City and he asked Aunt Marilyn, "It's ok I give Boomer treat?"  One morning Oliver woke up crying in Kansas City and Ben said, "It's ok I get Livvy a muffin?"

- In the car, Ben told me, "Those guys didn't stop at red light."

- Ben burned his fingers pretty bad while helping Daddy make quesadillas.  For a week he told everyone, "I burned my fingers making ideas."  Then it changed to: "I burned my fingers making hot-tillas."

- It's funny to hear your kid go from barely talking to picking up subtle nuances of language.  For a while, Ben started every sentence with "I just..."  And now almost every sentence includes "kinda" and "like."  "I kinda don't want cereal.  I want, like, a peanut butter sandwich."  "I don't know about pink soup.  I think I kinda not like it."

- When Ben is with a group of his friends, he'll often say, "Hey, you guys!" or "Hey, kids!"

Oliver is talking!

Words Oliver knows:
- Mommy
- Daddy
- Ben (sounds like "Bun")
- ball ("bah")
- window (sounds like "whi-dough")
- cheese ("chee")
- juice ("joo")
- no
- kitty (sounds like "kee" or "tee" or sometimes "k'tee")
- Eva
- Wally
- help (not sure he understands what it means)
- happy (not sure he understands what it means)
- bubble
- hi!
- bye!
- whoa!
- cold ("co co")
- hot ('hah hah")  I think he doubles these because I warn him that the stove is "hot! hot!" Not sure why I say it twice, but he caught on.
- Santa ("yenta")
- toes
- jump

Halloween 2010

We planned to head down into town to trick-or-treat near our old condo. We could see an old friend and it just seemed easier than our attempt at canyon trick-or-treating last year, with the wind howling and taking Oliver's breath away, ice and snow everywhere, in and out of car seats to get in between houses that aren't near each other.

At the last minute we got invited to a Halloween party in the neighborhood that coordinates trick-or-treating in the canyon and decided to go. We had some yummy pizza while the kids played and then we loaded all the kids into the back of a pick-up truck and walked alongside it to head out trick-or-treating. What a blast!! I think the kids had fun, but I sure had a lot of fun. It was probably 55 degrees and beautiful out and it was like one huge street party, with everyone walking around and meeting up. Some of the houses were super decorated and so fun to see.

Ben was a dragon again this year, but kept saying "Arrr matey" and "Aye Captain" and told another kid, "I'm a pirate like you." Oliver was a lion and didn't seem to understand what was going on, but tried to just go along with everyone else. At a stop, we'd get all the kids out of the truck and tell Oliver to follow along and he would trail along after everyone else. He didn't understand he was supposed to get candy at the door.  We usually ended up picking him up and getting him to the door quicker. Several times he wanted to go into the houses and we had to pull him out. He also wanted to sit in the lap of a scarecrow dude. Here are some photos.

What's going on??

I think people are taking a photo of the view, but anyway, you can see the kids in the back of the pick up.

Oliver wanting to sit in the scarecrow's lap...

Ben is on the left in the green dragon costume. I remember he was telling me at that time, "I'm kinda tired and ready to go home."

Caaaatttcchhhhinnnnnggggg uuuuupppppp!

I have 1.5 free hours - how much catching up can I do on this poor, neglected blog? Nothing will be in order, but I will see what I can do.

More videos!