I'll miss you.

Oliver had an "off" night last night.  He was up from 4:30-6:00 am.  He wanted me to rock him in the rocker.  He wasn’t crying, he just could not get back to sleep and wanted to be held.  He was up again at 7:00 am and not his usual happy self.  When I came into his room he was groggy and seemed a bit irritated.  He asked me to pick him up, but he was not very responsive to my chirpy "good morning!"  So I peppered him with a few kisses and a few more good mornings.  Still no good.  I tried another round.  Still no smile, but this time he said, "again."  So I gave him another kiss and good morning.  "Again."  It took about 20 good mornings and kisses and agains, but he finally broke out of his funk, smiled and said "good morning!"  He seemed to know that he just needed a little help to shake off whatever was bringing him down.   

Once we were off to a better start, we came out for breakfast.  Daddy was in the kitchen getting it ready, so Oliver and I set up at the table and picked our word for the day.  His first choice:  "CHICKEN".   A recent like of his is the book Chicken Little, and he is pretty cute saying "goodness, gracious" and "sky is falling, eekkkk!, bonk!"  He also has a Lego chicken that we misplace or the cats borrow frequently, so we will go on chicken hunts and he will laugh about the "chicken [on the] loose."  Finally, we have another kid's book about different countries, which has a page with a mama chicken and her two chicks in the background of the picture.  So another inside joke is, "mama [and] two chicks loose [in] China."  He called out each letter without missing a beat as I wrote C-H-I-C-K-E-N on the chalk board, and then we had a laugh when I illustrated our word with a mama chicken and two little chicks (one holding an umbrella with acorns falling like chicken little).

After breakfast, it was time for me to go to work (the hardest part of my day).  Usually, I leave after Sheryl comes, but today I had to leave early.  Per my usual, I told him I was leaving for work, I love you, I'll miss you, and I will see you tonight when I get home.  Per his usual, he said, "No, work.  Home!"  So I told him I loved him and I would miss him again, but that I had to go.  He looked me in the eyes and as clear as day said, "I'll miss you."

I came in to work early this morning because I have to get a draft patent application off to the client today.  But, all I can think about is whether my sweet little boy is going to have a good day.  I miss you, Oliver.

The picture that Joe texted of Oliver playing this morning after I left.

Happy Birthday Joe

Joe had to work the whole weekend so it was a less than ideal birthday.  However, Oliver and I enjoyed making daddy's card; baking daddy's cupcakes; decorating daddy's gift; and learning/singing the "Happy Birthday" song (with an extra couple lines added per Oliver's request: "and many more" and "happy birthday honey bunny"--something I on occasion call Oliver, but never Joe). 

Each day we have a "word of the day" on the chalkboard.  I write each letter (Oliver tells me what the letter is) and then I draw pictures to go with the word.  After spelling out "DADDY", I asked Oliver what daddy likes and one of his words was "people", which I thought was a pretty good observation.

Oliver and I baked cupcakes from scratch.  He had his own bowl of flour and sugar that he stirred with a whisk and taste tested ("sugar good" he let me know).  He also helped me mix the eggs and checked on the cupcakes through the oven door as they baked.

He was pretty pleased with his handy work.  I reminded him that this is what we made by mixing the flour, sugar, and eggs.  This was only the second time I let him have a sugary treat (half a cupcake), and his response: "sugar good, more!"

Oliver "helping" daddy open the gift we decorated.

And what did Oliver get his daddy?  Old fashioned glasses, of course.

Happy birthday honey bunny, we love you.

Christmas 2012

Joe and I discussed not doing any Christmas gifts and instead having our family trip be our gift to each other.  Oliver already celebrated Christmas once in Wisconsin and was fully spoiled with gifts.  But, despite our rational plan, we couldn't stick to it.  Instead, at 2AM after our return flight from Florida and finally getting Oliver to bed, Santa was up putting together Oliver's new fire engine (something mommy knew nothing about until Christmas Eve).  Come Christmas morning, Oliver had a small stack of gifts to open.  Each gift was so exciting and had his full attention, so we spent the the day opening a new gift every few hours and playing with it until it was time to eat, nap or he was ready to open the next one.  Actually, we were still opening gifts the day after Christmas as well.  Joe and Oliver also broke the rules and gave me a lovely earring and necklace set.  It was a perfect Christmas day.

Christmas Morning

Oliver went straight for the fire engine (but it was awhile before he put down his bus).

He learned all about gift opening at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Milo and Jax keeping watch over the bus while Oliver plays with his new fire engine.

"Darwin" the doll rides the fire engine.

The train set.

A Very Merry Christmas.

Miami Part II

A few more memories from our 2012 vacation to record.  On our last day of vacation, Christmas Eve, we spent the morning on the beach and then drove to the SeaAquarium in Miami.  Oliver was pretty tired by this point so we just hit the highlights.  He still talks about the dolphins that did "somersault tricks" and remembers that the turtles ate leaves.  He was equally happy to be at the airport and ride the plane back home.  When we got home that night around midnight, he was so happy to be home and see all his toys and books that he stayed up for an hour playing with them before finally falling asleep.  Oliver has a great memory and still talks about flying to Key Largo, how the ocean was cold (burr!), the buses and fishing at the Miami museum (and how there were no mice there), bee on mommy's boob, and other little memories he has from the trip.

Oliver loved all the different fish and wanted to get up close to see them.

Pink, pink!  He was pretty impressed with the "pink" birds.

His favorite toy/BFF is "Myrtle" the turtle who goes everywhere with him, so seeing a real turtle eating leaves was a highlight of the day.

More fish.

We watched them feed fish to the nurse sharks.

Oliver was amazed by the dolphins and whales.  This was his expression for the whole show.  Until the end when he just kept saying, "again, again?"

Whales and dolphins doing "loops" and "somersault tricks"

Oliver and Myrtle enjoying the show.

Digger Education 101