Will you be my Valentine?

Oliver and I enjoy doing crafts together.  So it was great to have Valentine's Day as an excuse to make cards for friends and family.  For his Friday daycare class and other friends, we did store-bought and decorated the envelopes with stamps and stickers.  For family, we made a few cards from scratch.  I asked Oliver to sign the cards when we were done decorating and said make an "O" for Oliver.  To my surprise he did, so then I said make an "L"..... I was shocked at his focus for several cards as he followed my instructions for each letter of his name. 

I was totally spoiled this Valentine's Day.  Not only did Joe send me flowers, jewelry, and treats at work, but I got the best gift when I arrived home on Valentine's Day.  Due to snow, Joe had the day off and stayed home with Oliver.  They made me a card (note the hand print--loved it!) and the three of us had a candle-light dinner.  But, the memory I will cherish forever, is Oliver running to me when I opened the door holding his card and bursting with excitement.  After a few prompts from Joe, "Oliver what do you want to ask Mommy?"  Oliver smiles, runs over to me and says, "Mommy, will you be my Valentine?" and then gives me a huge hug.  Best Valentine's Day ever.

"Mr. Gorbachev, cut a door!"

We have a bunch of place mats for the table: letters, numbers, periodic table, maps, presidents, etc.  This week we used the US presidents one a lot.  Oliver asks who everyone is and can identify the last four Presidents, Lincoln, and Washington.  So we were talking about Reagan this morning and I was trying to think of a story to help him remember him.  So I told him about the Berlin Wall and about how Reagan told Gorbachev to "tear down this wall."  He asked me to show him pictures of the wall and to re-tell him the story a couple times.  After looking at the pictures on my phone and asking a few questions, he looked at me and said, "Reagan should cut a door in that Berlin Wall."  Our discussion on symbolism aside, you can always count on this kid for a good idea.

The Barber

At breakfast this morning, I mentioned taking Oliver to the barber today. His immediate response, "I do not want to go to the barber. I want Mommy to cut my hair with a comb and scissors." I am guilty of trimming his hair around the ears and a few times trying to keep his mane under control. But, I have never tried the full on haircut. He will usually let me trim a little in the bath or I sneak a couple snips while he is sleeping. As you can imagine, these approaches have not always produced the best results. I really wanted to get him in for a professional haircut. However, he was pretty clear that he wanted me to do it.

In his defense, the last time I tried to take him to his usual barber they were closed, so I got a walk-in appointment at a salon I go to regularly. Unfortunately, the man who let us believe he was capable of cutting a toddler's hair was totally not up to the task. More alarming than the bad cut was that after we left I realized Oliver's ear was bleeding because he had cut him with his shears. Which would explain why mid-way through the cut, Oliver had lost it.

To my surprise, Oliver sat for at least 20 minutes while I cut his hair (with safety scissors and a comb). He played with his Lego trucks and occasionally brushed away the loose trimmings. Not a professional job, but it will work for now. Any when I told him I was done, he happily declared, "Now we do NOT have to go to the barber today."

Calm as could be.

The front.

The side.

Saturday morning animal train

Pandas, clouded leopards, tigers and bears.  Oh my!

Let it snow (again)!

So much snow they even closed MY office today!

Oliver really enjoyed playing outside in the snow with Daddy, and he did not want to come back in.  However, I made a batch of hot cocoa with my latte machine, which he agreed to try.  He was soaked, but quickly cuddled into my lap for a nice warm cup of cocoa.  You would have thought it was liquid heaven the way he sipped every drop.

It was a really fun snow day:-)