Special drink

Every night for his with-dinner drink Oliver asks for a "special special drink with nothing in it that no one even knows about."  Neither Davis nor I have any idea of the origins of the drink or really what the request means.  What we do know is that the only person who can produce said drink is daddy.  And the components of the drink - it can be anything ranging from water to milk to juice...there is no specific special special drink.  Sometimes the drink is tricked out with umbrellas, garnish, or a straw, other times the drink is left unadorned.  But it is made with love, by daddy.

In many ways I feel as though our summer has been like the special drink request -- the summer has been special and what has gone into it is love and who the heck knows what else.  Some days were thrown together, other days involved elaborate plans and adventure.  The outcome of each day - tired children, tired parents, all snuggled together.

And the the morning arrives - the first word out of Henni's mouth is always "Oliver."  And the first words out of Oliver's mouth are always "Where is Henni?"  Now this could be perceived in many ways, but I am going to take it that Oliver and Henni love each other to pieces.  That once they realize the other is just on the other side of me - and that they scramble over me to play or awake the other - leads me to believe my assumption (plea) is true.  

Oliver starts school next week.  Our summer ends.  Henni is going to miss her playmate and I am going to miss having Oliver here too.  He is going 5 mornings a week and I am feeling as though that is too much.  While so big in so many ways, he is also still so little.  But I am excited for his new class and I know that he is looking forward to meeting new friends (although he says he is planning to only go to school for the fall and then retire come winter).

Some picture from our summer escapades.

A dip

This past weekend Davis participated in the Boston Light Swim - an 8 mile swim in Boston Harbor.  When he first did this swim Oliver was just a year old and his swimming was still something new and shiny.  We spent the night in Boston, we brought presents and a cheering squad, and said cheering squad arrived at the finish long before Davis crossed the line.  And after the swim...a celebratory lunch.

A Triple Crown and handful (or several) of swims later and an 8 mile swim is a mere dip in the water.  Davis left the house at 3:30 in the morning to head into Boston for the start and the kids and I got to Southie not too far ahead of Davis' finish.  The kids clapped and cheered when Davis finished, but not because of what he had accomplished, but because they were able to raid the snack table.  Seriously, I think the kids love the swims because of the long tables filled with treats and the medals they get to play with following the swims.

Part of me feels we need to re-focus and recognize that 8 miles is a long way to swim in the chilly, choppy ocean.  Another part of me loves that the kids have internalized Davis' swims as, well, a swim.  

 Daddy's biggest fans spend the majority of the time in the water when we are at the beach.  Henni yells "More!" when we try to pull her out, and Oliver literally turns blue before he is willing to be removed from the water.

Barefooted

"Clothed" backyard fun 

Oliver:  Mommy, there is a package on our front porch!!!!  Can I go out and get it?
Me: Sure, that would be very helpful.
Oliver:  Is it ok if I go out barefooted?
Me:  That is fine, thank you for asking.

What I am thinking during the conversation:  Why are you asking me if you can go out barefooted when you are buck naked?  Shouldn't you be asking if you can go outside with no clothes on?  But hey - I take it when I can get it, and I got myself helpful and polite...

A shoe lovers dream

My children love shoes.  Dello Russo currently has the largest shoe collection (more than 4,000 pairs), but I would not be surprised to learn if either Oliver or Henni take the title at some point in the future.  One issue we have with respect to taking over the world title is that we are not able to add to our collection - because little feet keep growing, we are repeatedly starting our collection anew.  Given the rate at which Oliver and Henni's feet grow, and their "need" for multiple pairs of shoes (to go with said outfit, to bike, to run fast, to stomp in puddles...), and Henni's love for pictures of herself, I jumped at the chance for Henni to be a shoe model (paid in shoes, of course).

Henni was a high maintenance model.  The other children at the shoot happily put on the shoes they were given and played with the toys they were handed.  Henni tried on all of the available shoes, several times over.  She changed her outfit three times (no other child changed their outfit).  She refused to play with the toys.  She sampled the drinks and snacks (the only child to do so).  She also kept the shoes on for a very short period of time (10-15 minutes) giving the photographer a very short window to take her picture (the other kids kept their shoes on for the full hour and a half).  Despite the challenges Henni presented, the photographer did an incredible job and managed to take some wonderful pictures of Henni.  And - I ran into the owner of the shoe company (Zooligans) at the dog park the other morning and I am told there is a picture of Henni on their Facebook page and that Henni will be on the cover of their new product catalog, and that her images will be used in other publications etc.  Pretty neat.  But my favorite part is that we have some really nice pictures of Henni (and a super cute new pair of shoes).

Here are some of the images from the shoot:

New Heights

Ah my Rocket.  There are days where I am blown away by the conversations and fun we have and other days when I wonder how we will both a survive the seemingly 4 millionth time out. But I am told that that is 4 and that it just gets more insane when we move to 5.  So I am embracing my Oliver and realizing (over and over again) just what an incredible kid he is.

A couple weeks ago we had a day where the wiggles and crazy were getting a bit, well, wiggly and crazy.  Rather then trying to think of yet another way to contain my Rocket, I put him in the car and we headed to the climbing gym.  He loved it!  And, of course, he was amazing.  In a few years when Oliver is scaling sheer cliffs and I am begging him to do a sport which is a little less extreme, he will likely note that I was the one who introducing him to climbing.  But, let's focus on now.  Oliver loves to climb, he loves the climbing shoes (a must for my shoe-lover), and is desperate for more.  So I am off to get my certificate in belaying so Oliver can climb to his little heart is content.

While Oliver has always been a master of words, he has been hysterical and brilliant as of late. 

Unfortunately our beta fish passed away this week.  In an attempt to disperse the tears I suggested we think of a name for the new fish and provided several suggestions: "Mommy, those names are not good.  We know people with those names and it good get confusing."  Good point.  So I suggested Priscilla.  "Mommy, that is even sillier, we could confuse Priscilla with Godzilla!"  Ummm, I didn't realize that Godzilla was someone who stopped by very often.  I suggested Zoe. "Mommy, Zoe could be confused with any name!  I think we should call her Eloise."  Settled.  "Oh Mommy."  Ok - not settled.  "Beta fish seem to die very quickly.  Bo Bo and Ulysses (our goldfish) live much longer (3 1/2 years!!).  I think our new fish should be a goldfish.  And I think we should get a parrot because they live so long."  I talked Oliver down from the parrot ledge and yesterday Oliver, Henni and Hollie went to secure the new fish.  Eloise was chosen because "she was the most wiggly, most crazy, and shimmery fish."  I noted that I thought she was a very good looking goldfish and that I was glad they hadn't chosen one of the fish that had those weird bubbles over their eyes as those ones kind of freak me out.  To this Oliver responded: "Mommy, it is weird to you because it is different.  But all fish are fish and you shouldn't like one more or less because of what they look like.  You should just like them all because they are fish."  Silence.  Stunned. Oh how right Oliver is.  How wise.  I need to listen to his musings more.

Another musing from my little guy - we all got new sneakers yesterday.  I put my on and Oliver takes a step back, sizes me up and down and says: "Oh Mommy, those look just fantastic on you!"  He then suggested we all go for a run to test out our new sneakers.  Upon hearing the suggestion Henni rips off her shirt.  Oliver looks at the confused look on my face and responds "Henni noticed all the fast runners in the running race we watched on Tuesday had no shirts on.  Henni wants to go fast."