Friday

Argh - thank goodness it is Friday!

Unscathed - mostly

Oliver has a wonderful book that has, among other things, pictures of different types of planes. Before I left for Detroit Oliver and I looked at the book and talked about how I would be getting on a plane and going away for a night. I kept pointing to the picture of the 747 when talking about my travels, but Oliver kept saying "No Mommy," and kept pointing to the sea plane. I was a little worried that perhaps he had some inside knowledge and Delta had switched out their 747 for a sea plane - I was glad when I got to the airport and found that my plane was not sporting pontoons.

Back at home Davis had the wonderful idea of building a plane with Oliver, a plane like the one I was on. When I landed in Detroit I was treated to a picture of their work -

Note that the plane is a sea plane.

Overall the boys had a good night. Some pictures I received were happier than others, but Davis and I both agreed that the night went much smoother than either of us expected (although Davis did pull out the big guns (Ernie, Bert, Elmo, and Curious George) at one point). As you can see Oliver, who is not usually allowed to watch TV was pretty mesmerised by their antics.



The plan had been for Davis and Oliver to pick me up from the airport. I was excited to see my boys and to see, in person, the plane they had built. However, when I landed I had a message from Davis that he was in the emergency room getting stitches. Davis had been making salad and somehow managed to spear himself with a knife (Homer was, once again, correct - you don't make friends with salad). Thankfully my friend Brigid was home and took Oliver so that Davis could go to the ER and get himself stitched up (5 stitches!).

While I think we could have done without the trip to the emergency room, overall things went well.

Boy's Night

Tonight is a big night for our family - I am headed to Detroit for work and leaving the boy's on their own.

While I had envisioned my first night away from Oliver a bit differently (specifically I had thought I would be with Davis and would be going somewhere other than Detroit (Detroit wasn't in the top 10 (or really top 100) destinations)) I do have to admit I am looking forward to (or at least hoping for) a night's worth of sleep. I also have to admit that when I go to sleep tonight I will be a little nervous and sad thinking of my very crowded (Oliver, Davis, and Pippa) bed at home.

Here's to a good night - for all of us.

Watch out Bode!

Bode Miller won the gold medal in the men's super combined today. Given the events at the Bradford ski hill in Haverhill today we are putting our money on Oliver taking home the gold in the 2014 Olympics. Here is how the events of today transpired-

Bradford is a great little hill just 9 miles from our house. Davis had the wonderful idea of taking Oliver over there today to see if they had rental equipment that would fit Oliver (equipment that would work for someone who is just two feet seven inches tall, has size 7 (infant) feet, and weighs just 26 pounds). By the time Oliver woke up from a uncharacteristically long nap Davis and I were chomping at the bit. We were throwing things in bags, shoving lunch at Oliver and jumping around. Oliver was suspect and seemed to be saying - "Oh no, what crazy thing are you going to make me do/take me to now?"

The people at Bradford were very nice and helped us to find skis and boots that fit Oliver (yeah!).

Since Oliver has made it very clear that he is not a big fan of winter and would much rather stay inside than play outside in the snow we were not not sure what Oliver would think of skiing. As it turns out he LOVES it. As soon as he saw the skis he wanted to put them on, and as soon as we set him down on the snow he wanted to go and go and go and go...


After holding Oliver a few times I decided to let him go and see what he could do - he did an amazing job, managing to keep his wedge and stay standing until Davis caught him several feet later. Every time he got caught he yelled "More! More!" and pointed back up the hill. We finally had to take Oliver inside, not because he was done, but because he was tired of being carried up the hill and then having to ski down to either Davis or me - Oliver wanted to ride the lift. Here he is pouting and pointing, begging to go up the lift.

When we finally got Oliver's skis off him he tried to pull them apart and get them back on. However, once he realized that he would not be going up the lift he would have nothing to do with the skis.
To end the day we took Oliver to the lodge for chocolate milk (hot chocolate is just too hot for Oliver who requires his food and drink to be room temperature, preferably colder) and fries.

Headed home at the end of his first day on the slopes.

We hope to get on the snow again soon - next time Davis and I will bring our skis so that we can take Oliver up the lift.

Oliver (Daddy) the Builder

To be honest I am not sure who is more excited about "Oliver's" toys - Oliver or Davis. While Oliver has gotten much better at building with blocks, Davis has been spending quite a bit of time perfecting his building skills as well. Davis especially likes building elaborate towers after Oliver goes to sleep so that when Oliver wakes up he has tower to explore.

Davis' towers usually incorporate creatures -

And/or bells -

Oliver does spend a good amount of time exploring the intricacies of the towers but after some time (or after taking some measurements) he usually determines that Davis did not secure all necessary permits and sends the tower crashing to the ground.

Uncle Naan

Uncle Jon, or Naan as Oliver calls him, spent two lovely weeks vacationing in Nicaragua. We were fortunate enough to have Jon stay with us for a night before he headed south and for a night after he returned (all tan and healthy looking) from his vacation. Oliver LOVED having Jon visit and was so upset when he left (both times), spending much of the following day yelling "Naan," and looking around the house for him.

Jon took some wonderful pictures of Oliver while he was here (it is a amazing what great pictures a professional photographer can take - even when just using their iPhone).

A couple shots of Oliver in the bath -

One of the little monster sleeping -


And one of Oliver and Davis enjoying breakfast together. Each morning Davis and Oliver have cereal and coffee together at Oliver's table. Sometimes I am invited to join them, other times I am not. If Davis is not yet back from the gym and I suggest cereal and coffee at the table Oliver gets very upset and makes it clear he is going to wait for his daddy; it is clearly a special time during the day for both of them.


We are hoping we having another visit from Uncle Naan soon.

The Miracle That Was

On the night of February 3, 2010 the most amazing thing happened...Oliver slept through the night! It took exactly 19 months for the little guy to decide that maybe a full night of sleep (rather than 2 hour stretches) was a good idea. Davis and I were so caught off guard the morning of the 4th - not only did we completely oversleep (we slept until 8:15!) but we also felt fantastic all day despite there being no coffee in the house. Our little family had three nights of heaven, but I guess old habits are hard to break - the little monster is back to his old routine.

Although I would love a full night of sleep, it is hard to get upset with Oliver, because he provides me with a full day of laughter, imagination, and smiles (ok, frustration too).

Aunt Elizabeth's dog Pippa has been staying with us for the past couple of weeks, and we have been having a constant battle with the water bowl. Pippa, of course, needs to have the water bowl on the ground, whereas Davis and I need to have the water bowl up high so that Oliver can't dump it over. The other day I was loading the dishwasher and heard a splash. I turned around to find that Oliver had pushed his stool over to the island and had put a seal in Pippa's water bowl. I watched as Oliver then got down off the stool and went and got a lobster and added it to the bowl. And then watched him get, one by one, several more sea creatures. In all I think about six ended up in the bowl. It must have gotten rowdy in the "hot tub" because as soon as I went back to loading the dishwasher I heard a big splash as the bowl and all the sea creatures hit the floor.

My Boys

Saturday morning at The Home Depot.