Dover

We spent today walking the White Cliffs of Dover and exploring Dover Castle.

The Cliffs were beautiful. Our plan was to hike out to a lighthouse, but we didn't quite make it out there. While the sun looked, for a minute, like it was going to come out, about a mile into the hike the wind picked up, it got super cloudy and cold, and Oliver fell asleep. We decided to turn back, and we ended up timing it perfectly - just as we got back to the car it started pouring and rained for the rest of the afternoon.


Dover Castle is huge! Given the rain we decided to check out the secret war tunnels and the Great Tower and leave the grounds for another day. The English Heritage, the conservation group that manages and maintains the castle, has done an incredible job. We all commented on how well it was kept up as well as how visitor friendly (especially for the wee ones) it was.


And lest you think it has been all fun and games, Davis did go for a swim this morning.

The hike along the Cliffs and Dover Castle both look out over the Channel, so we spent the majority of the day checking out where Davis will be swimming - honestly, the waters do not look that inviting.

Waiting

We are in Deal, a small town on the coast of England - waiting. The weather is pretty chilly (about 60) and we've had sun each morning followed by a bit of rain each day. The wind has been the big thing - I guess there were eight foot swells out in the Channel today. Honestly, looking at at the Channel, I would not even consider getting down to what is the equivalent of a small pair of underwear and jumping in. That being said, we are waiting for the best time for Davis to do just that - and are fingers and toes are crossed hoping that he can do it - soon.


Oliver has been amazing. He was wonderful on the flight. Although neither Davis nor I slept on the flight over, Oliver slept for about two hours. And then the first night we were here he slept wonderfully. Last night - not so much. Davis fell asleep part way through the first book I was reading to Oliver and then Oliver and I were up for another 3 and half hours - me doing anything I could think of to get Oliver to sleep and Oliver doing everything he could think of to stay awake.

Today we headed to Canterbury where we met up with Davis' brother Tim, his wife Carolyn and "baby" Caitlin- although Caitlin is no longer a baby - she's now walking and talking and has a true personality. After lunch in Canterbury we went to a wildlife conservation area. The place advertised many animals, but the ones we were most excited about seeing were the lemurs and foosa. Both Davis and Oliver are obsessed with the movie Madagascar - both quoting it consistently and both trying to act like the characters in the movie (although I do have to admit that our entire household has gotten into dancing to "I like to move it move it" and at 8 months pregnant my dancing is quite spectacular.) When we arrived at the place we were told that the price of admission had been reduced because many of the animals had "moved on" (we asked later and moved on meant to a zoo, not to animal heaven). So the tigers, bears, elephants etc. were gone, but the lemurs and foosa had not been packed up as yet, so we decided to check out the place. There were a lot of empty cages, houses etc., but our little troop didn't care one bit. In addition to seeing lemurs and foosa we also saw otters and a snow leopard. Oliver, who isn't one to shy away from danger, kept trying to give them all high-fives.

(Note the lemurs in the background.)

Hold you this

When Oliver wants to be held he says "Hold you." More recently Oliver has been asking to "hold you this." He says this with his arms outstretched as if he is cradling a baby. He's been asking to be put to sleep this way, cradled in my arms like a little baby. I think he's doing this in anticipation of his little sister's arrival as it has also been accompanied by asking for a pacifier, asking me to sing Rock-a-bye Baby, and telling me that he is a baby. This shows me, once again, how aware Oliver is of everything going on. Davis and I have been focusing on the swim and, to be honest, forget much of the time that we will soon have another person in our household. However, when we are out and about people are always asking how I am doing, if we are prepared for the baby, how we are balancing the pregnancy and the swim...I think Oliver is listening to all of this, and watching my belly grow and realizing that we are getting close to having the baby (to be honest he is probably more aware of this fact and more prepared than Davis and me).

In addition to wanting to be a baby again, Oliver has started to focus more on babies. He's always asking to feel the baby move, kiss the baby, and often tries to feed the baby food (I have lots of stains on my shirts) and make the baby feel better (for example, when Oliver hit his head the other day and we gave him ice, he refused the ice and instead wanted to put it on my tummy to make the baby feel better). He has also been paying much more attention to Bulldozer. Bulldozer is now getting regular diaper changes, bedtime stories and snuggles. It is interesting to watch because Oliver treats Bulldozer the same way he likes to be treated - he reads Bulldozer stories while Bulldozer is in his bed, but then when it is time for Bulldozer to actually go to sleep Oliver spends some time "holding him this" and then the two of them lie down together in bed (co-sleeping just as we have done). It is pretty cute.


Tomorrow we head off on our big trip. We hope to post updates while we are gone - updates on Davis' swim and also on our adventures (we hope to be able to explore many castles and do many hikes).

Take a hike

Saturday was a gorgeous day for a hike. We decided to check out somewhere new - Ravenswood Park in Gloucester. While the past new hikes we've tried have not been totally awesome (bugs, ticks, rain, poison ivy...) Ravenswood was a find - somewhere we will definitely return.

The trails were very Oliver-friendly and, with the exception of a few feet here and there, Oliver ran, hopped and flew like a bird or a plane (depending on the moment) the entire time.

Oliver and Davis being a bi-plane (a super fast bi-plane) -

Oliver handled the camera for a good portion of the hike and deiced that he wanted mommy and daddy to say cheese so he could take a picture of us. When we looked at the picture he took he declared it perfect because it had "two shadows" (he is really in to shadows right now). I have to agree, it is a pretty good picture of Davis and me.

Oliver and Davis taking turns catching and jumping -


Going super fast-
And some pictures of Oliver and me.


After our hike we found a great new (or new to us) restaurant in Gloucester, Latitude 43. And, amazingly, Oliver sat still the entire meal. Even more amazing, Oliver's meal came with an ice cream sundae. Oliver has never seen a sundae and both Davis and I were excited to see what he thought of it. He took one look, pushed it away and asked for water (mind you this is now the second time he's opted for water over ice cream(is he my child?)). Not wanting the sundae to go to waste, Davis and I ate it in about two seconds.

Our wonderful day ended with celebrating Liz's amazing run (Liz's team ran 210 miles in 24 hours; Liz ran 16 miles) and catching up with Ben, Ethan and Adam. After a rough week that included a crazy two-year old and working well past my bedtime every night, the day was just what was needed.

A couple of those days

Jess and I were talking on Wednesday when she dropped off Oliver. She was saying how well behaved Oliver is - how he always holds her hand wherever they go, how he sits nicely with a napkin in his lap while he eats, how he always says please and thank you - and how happy we must be that he's doing all of this. I just laughed. While we have been working on this behavior it is not too often that we actually see it. Case in point the last 24 hours -

Oliver knows when I am weak - for example, when I am going to the bathroom (which is about every five minutes at this point), driving, or am on the ground and he is high up on the playground. Oliver chooses these moments to be his absolute craziest. Let's begin with yesterday.

Oliver and I are taking our morning shower and I get out to go to the bathroom. I am out about two seconds and when I get back in I find that Oliver has pooped and has covered the floor of the shower in poop. Wonderful. Later in the day we are driving down the highway singing "Old MacDonald." We've cycled through ducks, pigs, and cows and I ask Oliver what else is on the farm. He responds by saying stinky duck poop. Well, yes, I am sure there is stinky duck poop on the farm. As we are discussing the stinky duck poop there is sudden silence from the back seat and then I hear "I mommy," a lot closer than I should have. Somehow Oliver has managed to un-clip the top clip on his car seat and has wiggled around and is almost out of his seat. Terrified I pull off the highway and re-strap Oliver in so tightly that the poor guy had marks on him from the straps for hours.

Later in the evening, as I am getting Oliver a snack he comes up to me, smiles and reaches his hands down into his diaper and then announced to me that he is feeling his poop and that it is now on his fingers. Crap (literally).

We have cleaners that come once every couple weeks and Oliver knows the day they come and, rather than let me bask in the joy of a clean house, he decides that he needs to get things back to messy. This time, after the cleaners left he waited until I went to the bathroom and decorated the fridge with orange crayon and the kitchen floor with baking powder. While I was cleaning that up he managed to decorate the molding in his playroom with back crayon.

During dinner Oliver introduced us to something new - a rice "waterfall." What is a rice waterfall? It is mouthful upon mouthful of rice sprayed all over the floor (let me tell you, Oliver can spray rice much further than one can imagine).

Let's move on to today. Today Oliver and I decided we'd head to the mall to do a quick errand while it was raining. I gave Oliver a granola bar to eat on the way down. We get to the mall and what do I find when I go to get him out of his car seat? A little boy who is smeared, from head to toe in chocolate - the granola bar had had mini chocolate chips in it and he had taken out the chips and smeared them all over himself. After I got him relatively clean we headed into the mall.

At the mall the only thing I had to do was make a return. I am standing there, swiping my card at the register and Oliver, quick as lightening, breaks loose and proceeds to clean off two tables of clothes (mind you the store had literally opened two minutes prior so the woman there had just finished making everything perfect). We apologized and left - quickly. By this point I desperately have to go to the bathroom. After a couple rides up and down the escalator we manage to make it to the bathroom. As I am going to the bathroom Oliver dives onto the floor and proceeds to crawl through several stalls. I am helpless and disgusted.



Two, wonderful two.