Holy Smokes!

The last few days have brought with them many many surprises and I have found myself saying holy smokes quite a bit.

Surprise #1: Oliver is afraid of something. Oliver shows no fear - ever (okay, he gets frightened when farm animals make loud noises, but that is it). He will dive, head first, into huge waves, and come out laughing. He'll crash his bike, fall to the ground, and laugh. He'll walk up to dogs four times his size and give them a big kiss... So what did I discover scares my little guy? On Friday we were at the playground and Oliver climbed to the very tip top of the climbing structure. He walked over to the top of a super tall ladder and smiled. I told him it was too high - he just smiled. He then took two steps and balanced himself on the top two rungs of the ladder. At this point I am worried because I realize that I can't even reach his feet to rescue him - he is too high. He then flashes another smile and yells "Jump!" and launches himself into the air. My heart in my throat I race to grab him. I caught him and immediately he burst into tears. He had finally scared himself. Not that I am glad he got scared, but to be honest, I am happy to learn that he does possess a bit of fear.

Surprise #2: Oliver is catching on to the spelling game. It turns out that there are now some things we can no longer spell. For example, milk. If Davis and I spell milk, Oliver will say milk, or go and get it from the refrigerator. Bottle is another example. Pop (as in lollipop) is another example. Seriously, this kid amazes me sometimes - he doesn't let Davis or me get away with anything.

Surprise #3: Not every day is sunny. We've been living the good life this summer - sunny day after sunny day after sunny day. Yesterday we spent the day, as usual, at the beach. We made sandcastles, turned logs into boats, swam, counted snails, and raced trucks all over the sand. Today we woke up to clouds. Given it wasn't beach weather we decided we'd go for a hike. We got in the car and it started raining. We decided to ignore it - and thus went our day. We spent our rainy day in denial. We went for our hike and then, after Oliver's nap, rode our bikes for ice cream.




Surprise #4: We are in the third trimester. It is funny. When I was pregnant with Oliver I could have told you how far along I was at any moment - the weeks, the days, maybe even the hour. Every week I read how big Oliver was - grape, orange, grapefruit... and often read ahead, excited to learn what was happening next. This pregnancy is completely different - this pregnancy I tend to forget I am pregnant (it's not that I'm excited about the baby, it's just there isn't much time to think about being pregnant). I tend to ask Davis questions like: "Why am I so hungry?," or "Why do I keep throwing up?," or "Urgh, why do these pants not fit anymore?" Each time Davis responds - "I think it is probably because you are pregnant." Right, I keep forgetting. Anyway, over the past couple of weeks I've been asked, many times, how far along I am. I've thrown out answers ranging from 24 to 29 weeks - all guesses. A couple days ago I decided it might be interesting to find out how far a I really am. As it turns out I am now 28, almost 29 weeks - in the third trimester. Time flies when your not paying attention!

My little boy

Oliver is well into his second month of being two. Since turning the big t-w-o I feel like Oliver has changed dramatically - that he has gone from a baby/toddler to a little boy.

Oliver loves routines. For example - Right now it is difficult to tell our house from the beach as there is so much sand inside - on the floors, in our shoes, in our beds... All of this sand means we've been spending lots of time at the beach. Oliver now knows the drill and hops out of the car at the beach and pushes his big truck down to the beach while I carry the other beach paraphernalia. Once we get down to the beach Oliver will, immediately, sit on the towel and wait while we get his swim diaper, beach clothes and sunscreen on. As soon as that is done - he is off and has selective hearing - but for those few minutes...

He also loves to work. At the beach the other day he spent forever carrying buckets full of water to his "house" and washing shells.


Other favorite activities include mowing the lawn (an activity he would like me to partake in, but since we've been spending our time at the beach and not watering the lawn, our lawn is pretty much non-existent (on the up-side this means no need to mow)), blowing bubbles, and riding his bikes. He alternates between peddling around the block on his trike and racing around the block on his balance bike. While this video shows a relaxed bike ride, this is not the usual. Oliver has figured out the balance bike and careens down the street at high speeds, sometimes narrowly avoiding obstacles, and sometimes crashing. I am seen sprinting along beside him trying to convince him to slow down and trying to catch him before he crashes - the whole time he is just laughing and yelling "Faster! Faster!" and then laughing hysterically when he falls.



Another new favorite activity is jogging. Ah yes, a typical conversation:

Me: "Oliver, what would you like to do this morning?"
Oliver: "Run fast."

He then puts on his sneakers and grabs a water bottle and he runs around the block a few times. I am not kidding, my two year old likes to go for a morning jog. He is definitely building up his endurance because he is now wanting to go on longer and longer runs. As my belly is getting bigger and bigger, I am wanting to go on shorter and shorter runs (and trust me, I do have to run to keep up with the little monster).

"Daddy - D" as Davis is now called is becoming more and more a favorite. Oliver is always asking for Davis when Davis isn't around, and often times refuses to do something (like build with blocks or go to the hardware store) because he wants to do it with daddy and not mommy.


Oliver's vocabulary is also improving. Not only does he repeat and retain almost everything - but in the past few weeks he also has gone from having three word sentences to five word sentences. I am often shocked by what comes out of his mouth.

And last, but certainly not least - Oliver is now primarily sleeping in his room. He naps in his room and he goes to sleep in his room. At about 2:00 I hear his door slam open and before I can even put my feet on the ground he is standing next to the bed and trying to climb in. I don't listen to the part of me that says I should bring him back to his room, instead I pick him up and he snuggles in between Davis and me. I know that sometime he will sleep all night in his room, but for now I am enjoying the few fleeting hours of cuddling my two year old (because lord knows, he never slows down long enough when he is awake for any cuddling).

Boston Light Swim 2010

Yesterday was the Boston Light Swim - a mere 8 mile swim in Boston Harbor. Davis had been looking forward to the swim for awhile - and so had Oliver.

The afternoon before the big event Oliver and I went and got poster board to make a sign. While I had my ideas as to what the sign should say, Oliver was adamant that the sign say "Go Daddy Go!" The whole time Oliver was coloring the sign and sticking stickers on it he was chanting "Go Daddy Go!" His chanting continued through the next day - to the swim.

My parents, Oliver and I managed to get to the finish before Davis finished- but not by much. Davis completed the swim in 2 hours and 58 minutes - almost 45 minutes faster than last year! He had thought he'd shave off a few minutes, but had no idea he would be so speedy.

True to form, Davis ran out of the water as if he'd just swam a few feet. While other swimmers were wrapping themselves in towels and sitting on the sand to recover, Davis just chatted away with people and drank a few celebratory beers with Andrew and my dad.



Given Davis' performance, and Oliver's enthusiasm, I think we are ready for the next big thing - the Channel.

Quadruple Trouble

This past weekend was heaven for Oliver. Not only did the weekend include two rides on a ferry, but it also included three cousin's, a very patient dog, lots of beach time, and six adults who, being on vacation, were a bit more willing than usual to give in to the desires expressed by a crazy two year old (and trust me, Oliver caught on to this quickly and took full advantage).

So where was Oliver's heaven? Heaven was Martha's Vineyard. My aunt and uncle graciously invited us to spend part of their vacation with them and we timed it so we would be there with my cousin, his wife and their three kids - Nina (6), Ben (4) and Meg (almost 2).

Oliver loved being with each of the kids, but he and Ben have a real connection. The two of them spent hours flying planes and racing cars. Ben was fabulous with Oliver - he was a great sharer, he was patient, and he taught Oliver some new tricks. We are going to have to figure out a way to get these two together more.

Not usually a big fan of being in the car, Oliver had no problem piling in when Nina, Ben, Meg AND daddy all got in the back with him. not only that but the car had a DVD player in it - I believe Oliver actually went into shock when he discovered that.
Nina, Ben and Meg introduced Oliver to Backdoor Donuts. While Oliver was beside himself in line - he just had to have a donut - true to form, he ate just a few bites and declared himself all done (just like his dad, he's not much into sweets).

The kids also introduced Oliver to the carousel and to games. Although Oliver loves riding Rody at home and, given the chance, will hop on any one's back and pretend they are a horse, it took him a bit before he warmed up to the carousel.
On the other hand, it took him no time at all to hop onto the motorcycle and race Ben.

The water on the Vineyard was amazingly warm and we spent a good amount of time splashing around. Oliver used flippers for the first time and thought they were great fun,
and he managed to get a good amount of time in on the boogie board. I think next year we are going to have to step it up and give this kid some surfing lessons!







Thank you again to Connie, Bob, Larry, Jen, Nina, Ben and Meg for including us on your vacation - we all (especially Oliver) had a fantastic time.

Yankee Homecoming

Rather than put on an event for a single day, such as the Fourth of July, our town puts on eight days of events - events that run from morning until night. Our fantastic weather allowed us to take in many of the Yankee Homecoming events this year.

Among the events we attended were an Entrain concert and the Yankee Homecoming parade.

Given that both Oliver and Carragh love to dance we thought the two of them would be dancing up a storm to Entrain. Instead the two of them pulled up chairs (thank you to the little girls who let us borrow them) and shoveled down popcorn (thank you to the mom who let them steal the popcorn (our packed snacks were clearly not the right ones)).

Note that Oliver still does the odd open mouth - jazz hand smile when he knows he's getting his picture taken. In talking with an older kid at the concert I was informed that the smile and hands is all the rage with the older set - cool beyond his years I guess.
Before we headed out to the parade I told Oliver we could get a balloon if we saw someone selling them. Famous last words- as soon as we got to the parade he wanted a balloon. Of course there were four million vendors who walked past us, but all had loads of other things, but no balloons. I ended up walking several blocks to find someone selling a balloon. In my haste to return with the balloon I almost knocked a man in the face with the balloon - he looked familiar, but I thought nothing of it. When I got back to our spot I learned it was our Senator Scott Brown who I'd almost taken out with the balloon. Oops - not someone I had expected to run into at the parade.

Oliver confiscated my chair, so I took his (notice a theme here? Oliver taking stuff. His new thing is to take it and look you straight in the eye and say "This is Oliver's" over and over again. If you respond by saying something like, "No, that is mommy's," he will just try the stare down approach again. I think he's employing some sort of hypnosis thing, or perhaps trying his hand at being a Jedi).
Of course, with the weather being as incredible has it has been, we couldn't spend all of our time at events - we had to head to the beach. And this weekend the most amazing thing in the world happened - Oliver announced he was tired and then napped for close to an hour and half - at the beach! Between Oliver's nap and having both my parents, Davis, and Elizabeth and Kevin at the beach - I got to spend an afternoon sitting in a beach chair and reading. I almost didn't remember how wonderful that is.