Us's

I love love love Oliver language; it is much more intuitive than the English language. Right now my favorite is us's. "What are us's doin' today?" "Where are us's going?" Or today as I stood in dreaded Walmart forever and ever waiting for someone to help us "Are us's lost? Where are you Walmart person? Us's so lost."

Did it!

Last night Henni rolled over! True to her personality she did it quietly and with a big smile. We were playing on her mat, I looked up for a minute to talk to Oliver, I looked back and Henni was on the other side of the mat, on her back, smiling up a storm. Davis, Oliver and I tried to get her to perform her new trick in front of us, but she would have none of it.

Laugh in

Oliver's language skills have really taken off. Not only is he now talking nonstop but he is also making long and rather complex sentences - the other day he said something and I was so shocked that I stopped and counted - 12 words! Much of what he says is hysterical; this kid is a jokester. Some recent examples-

When we landed in Boston after our trip to Florida I turned to Oliver and told him that he did really good job on the flight and that I was proud of him. He looked and me and got very serious and said, "Mommy you did a really good job too." Thanks buddy.

Last night he looked at Henni, who was quietly playing, and said, "That is a rocket powered baby." I asked for an explanation and he said, "Mommy, that's just how it is." I see. Good to know (perhaps that explains why the majority of the time that she poops she has to get a new outfit and sometimes a bath as well).

The other day Oliver farted and I asked him what he was supposed to say. He looked at me and said, "Somebody farted." Trying not to laugh I said that that wasn't correct and to try again. He looked at me and said, "Mommy farted." After several more tries I did manage to get him to say excuse me, but the lesson didn't sink in - he has been blaming other people and/or me for weeks now.

Seriously this kid cracks me up. And I have to say I am so glad that he has a sense of humor. The massive amount of snow, the cold, new baby, crazy schedules of late...if he didn't have a sense of humor it would have been tough getting past the last few weeks - last week especially.

Last week I had my first week of my yoga teaching training. I had put together 4 days of childcare, gotten us all organized, Davis had gotten us all dug out and then - two huge snow storms which brought two feet or more of snow, training rescheduled, more digging out to do, childcare provider sick, smoke alarms going off at our house for no apparent reason, rain... Thanks to Davis, Oliver, Henni and Jess - all of whom were amazingly flexible and full of humor - we managed to get through the week with smiles and fun (although Davis didn't get to spend much time at work).

Oliver went sledding
Oliver and Mark spent time sledding

Henni and I went sledding

Henni spent time smiling

Oliver and Davis put on head lamps and road bikes in the trails in our yard

They also built an even bigger and better snow fort

And donned their snow/rain clothes and played outside in the pouring rain - forever

Back inside we played quite a bit of dino bowling (Oliver's idea which I think is quite inventive)

Played on the mat
And tried to keep Henni from harm

Although we have been having fun in the snow, as Oliver said yesterday, "I think it is time for all this snow to melt. I am ready for sand."

Groundhog Day

This morning Phil, the groundhog, made his appearance and predicted that spring would arrive early this year. While I am hopeful that the furry little rodent will be right and sooner rather than later we will see the telltale sign of a New England spring - mud - I am questioning the groundhog. Why? Well, 1) because he is a rodent and 2) because the snow situation is beyond crazy here; this winter around 50 inches has fallen on our house and it is still snowing - hard.

The ridiculous amount of snow has made it pretty impossible for Oliver to play in the backyard. On Saturday we went out to play and the poor guy just got trapped - he sunk in about waist deep and was unable to move. No fun. So we decided to snow blow a few trails so he could run about.

Notice the crazy amount of snow in the pictures from the weekend? Well, check out these from this morning. As you can see from the snow depth against the fence we've gotten A LOT over the past couple of days. Did I mention it is still snowing?



I took this next picture standing in our front walk - the snow is out of control.


Also out of control - the plows. Davis and I have both snow blowed the driveway today. However, one would never guess that we did because the plow guys keep going by and plowing us in - grr. Oliver was "helping" me snow blow the driveway and one of the plow guys made eye contact with me and then proceeded to create a big plow pile right where we had just cleared. I recognize these guys have a big job on their hands, but really - was that necessary?

Fingers crossed Phil is right and that soon we'll be up to our waists in mud, rather than snow.

Up North

Here are a few pictures from our last trek to Maine that I've been meaning to post. To say that Oliver had a wonderful time is an understatement. Papa and Le Le's house is, as it tuns out, a 2 and a half year old's dream -

Due to some extensive tree work they have a skidder in their back yard-

And they have the infamous luge track -

A track which is even better when one can bring a balloon along for the ride -

And when one can go super fantastically fast when getting a running start-



Although we didn't get pictures, on our last trip to Maine Oliver also managed to, three times, ski from tower 12 (almost the top) of the Snowbowl. While his snowplow is improving, Oliver has no interest in stop or slow - he wants to race down the mountain. He also spent a good amount of time begging us to let him do tricks and to go on jumps - next time (maybe).