Whoa!

Oliver begins his day by sitting up in bed, making some statement (examples include - "Up!" "All done!," "Anna!"), and then climbing off the bed and running from the bedroom at top speed. Davis and I have to, like Oliver, go from a dead asleep to a full run in under a second.

Yesterday morning as Oliver jumped from the bed, Davis grabbed him and brought him over to the window. As soon as Oliver looked out the window he stopped his wiggling and just stood there, silent. After a second or two we heard - "Whoa!." Whoa was right - we awoke to about 4 inches of snow. Oliver spent about 5 minutes going from window to window just looking out. He was totally amazed at how our little street, which had begun to look a bit dingy, had transformed into a beautiful white wonderland all shimmery in the cold morning sun.

Oliver then realized that going outside to explore the new world might be more interesting than looking at it from the window. He yelled "Boots!" and off we ran, out of the bedroom, down the stairs and, once we had wrestled him into his snow clothes, outside.

He was intrigued by the snow, but a little put off as he immediately noticed that his truck (which Davis had put in the garage in anticipation of the snow) was missing. As soon as we reunited Oliver with his truck, he was quite pleased to be out in the snow.


We then gave Oliver his "first snow" present - an Oliver-sized shovel. He loved the shovel and loved helping Davis shovel the driveway.


This fall Oliver was a task-master with the rake. As soon as we would go outside he'd bring me my rake and then stand there and watch me. Once he was sure I was raking he would begin playing with his trucks, chalk, or try and get into trouble. If I stopped raking he would immediately stop whatever he was doing and bring me the rake. It appears his work ethic (or the work ethic he thinks I should employ) is still strong despite the snow and cold. If yesterday is any indication of the winter, I am going to be doing a lot of shoveling.