Giggles!

Ollie LOVES wearing his rainboots. His favorite: jumping and stomping in puddles. He wears them whenever he can in the house...just so he can be ready for puddle jumping if it should start to rain.

Poof hair.

Despite having a little tummy bug last month, Ollie was in good spirits. Every once in a while, he'll come across a new word that gives him the giggles. Current giggle producing words: puke, shucks, shoot, cute, and success.

This is a game that Ollie and Daddy play during bath time that has come to be known as "Block It." It gets him to look up so we can wash his hair without getting soap or water in his eyes!

***Other news: Ollie is doing much better after our scare with MRSA. He has an appointment with his pediatric surgeon tomorrow.

A funny new phrase of his: "I know." Every once in a while, he'll respond with this. I still can't tell if her really understands what it means. An example from today: After he accurately pointed out where an ice cream shop is that we visited only once, over a month ago, I declared that he was better at directions than his mama...to which he replied, "I know!"

He's also developed an attachment to a stuffed elephant that our friend, Lindsay, gave him. Tonight, he must have given the "elf-a-dent" at least four hugs before finally agreeing to go to sleep.

In preparation for Father's Day, I asked Ollie what he would like to give his daddy. Ollie's response, "desitin." (Ollie calls medicine, "desitin," (they sound the same!) and taking his medicine three times a day for the past week has made it's mark. Apparently, Ollie thinks it's Daddy's turn to take his medicine!)

An Afternoon with Sean

Ollie and Mama pose for pics taken by Sean.

Sean and Ollie photo shoot. The three of us got to spend an afternoon and evening together on one of Sean's last days in town. Ollie still talks about how Sean is on a trip with "soupcases" (suitcases).

Ollie's going through a nose-blowing phase. We think it's hilarious--especially how he grabs a big clump. Don't worry...most of those get "reused." Otherwise, we'd be going through about a box of kleenex a day!

Storytime with Sean before bed. It seems so strange for it to be so light out at bedtime!

Yogurt Face

Ollie likes to stand at the counter to "help" us prepare meals. His favorite job: taste-tester!

Found this pic recently. Not sure when it's from. Obviously, it's not too recent! It's funny to remember when Ollie went through his baby balding stage. As always, Ollie misses his good buddy, Sean. Friends from the beginning.

Ollie ID-ing an incredibly historically accurate cartoon depiction of a very caucasion Jesus. haha He loves looking at the pictures in his Baby Bible. And also loves playing silly games with the camera! Gotta love that smile.

***Other news: Ollie is battling a nasty MRSA infection...and is as sweet as ever. It has been a sacry week--with much time spent at the hospital, pediatric surgery, and with his regular pediatrician. This probably won't change for the next few weeks, but we believe he's now on the mend. Being sick has brought out his love for kisses and cuddles. Whenever he is hurting or feeling sad, he will ask for a hug, a kiss, or a nose kiss. Our favorite is when he says, "Hug...both," meaning both Mama and Daddy hug him at the same time.

His latest fascination: naming every little body part and article of clothing. His current favorites: nostrils, eyebrows, eyelashes, elbows, "dots" (birthmarks), and distinguishing between boots, slippers, sneakers, and tennies. Not sure I really understand the difference between sneakers and tennies...but one pair of shoes is always, "sneakers," the other, "tennies." We've also been playing A LOT of catch and listening to A LOT of bagpipe music. Ollie heard a bagpipe playing at an outdoor function this weekend...and now he's obsessed with "bag...pipe music." too cute.

Family, Friends, and Popsicles

Daddy and Ollie reading the "Jack Book," as Ollie calls it (actually titled, "Another Perfect Day"). Ollie loves this story...asks for it often...and ESPECIALLY loves it when his daddy reads it to him.

Sittin' comfy in Daddy's lap--wearing a onesie that our friend, Penny, made for him.

Ollie has so many friends at school! On this particular morning, Mama followed Ollie around with the camera, snapping shots as he visited with some of his buddies. This is Ollie and our friend, Josh. Ollie's gotten pretty good at saying, "Josh," which is really cute.

Sean, Ollie, & John.

Ollie & Mama



Ollie and Micah are good buddies. Micah teaches him lots of important grad-school skills like: wrestling, chasing, and breaking sticks!

Aris and Ollie have a heart-to-heart on the chapel steps. Ollie LOVES this stairway, and we spend many an afternoon climbing up and down.

Grace and Ollie share a banana.



Sean, Ollie, & Grace.

Sean is in Scotland right now, and Ollie misses him SO much!!! Whenever we walk by Sean's apartment, Ollie says in a sad sweet voice, "Sean...suitcases...trip...bye bye." There will be a fun reunion between the two of them in the fall!

Ollie's serious side. If there's one thing Ollie's serious about...it's his popsicles. He was feeling a little under the weather here, so it was the perfect time for a popsicle.

***Latest Ollie news: We took Ollie to the beach this morning which was so much fun! Ollie loved running after the waves, splashing in the water, throwing pebbles and shells, and burying everybody's toes in the sand. The cutest Ollie-isms from the trip--how Ollie insisted on calling the ocean a "puddle." Even on the car ride home, as we were explaining to him that the "big puddle" was called the ocean, he would just nod his head and say, "ocean...puddles." Also, when we told him it was time to leave, he said, "No, no, no! More play with beach." I love that we were playing "with" the beach...not on it, or at it. My eco-friendly baby.

Ollie's also really into kisses now whenever he gets hurt. Today, he fell on his hand and proceeded to command, "Daddy, kiss!" "Mama, kiss!" over and over until we insisted that his hand was going to be okay.

Ollie talks a lot about "fuzz"--whenever he gets something funny in his mouth--a hair, an actual "fuzz," or even just an odd-textured bite of food, he'll stick out his tongue and say, "fuzz."

For the past five nights, Ollie has gone potty on the toilet before getting ready for bed! I'm not sure if this is the beginning of potty training or just Ollie being curious about the potty--but it's so dang cute to see him stand on his little step stool and go potty like a "big boy!" Way to go, kiddo.

Renewal

Ollie and I had the opportunity to take part in an amazing conference earlier this year called Renewing Hope: Pathways of Religious Environmentalism. It was an amazing gathering of eco-theologians, religious scholars, grassroots religious environmentalists...and Ollie. This is Ollie at one of the many planning meetings he attended leading up to the conference. He was always a good sport and here, is modeling the conference t-shirts for everyone. The conference took place during the last weekend of February. I recently received these photos, though, from friends...so wanted to post them!

I made this shirt for Ollie by cutting up the adult-sized shirt pictured above and stitching it into a little Ollie-sized pullover. He was a little symbol of hope for everyone at the conference. Here, he is taking a break from his ushering duties to look out a window and pose for our friend, Matt.

The smallest (and coolest) member of the "event staff" team.

Ollie and Mama taking a break from helping to set up the Interfaith Eco-service in Marquand Chapel. Ollie had a special role during the service, walking a pitcher of water down an aisle while Paul Winter played music. Ollie did a great job.

Checking out the chairs before people arrive.

Mama and our friend, Josh, working at the registration table.

For anyone who's interested, streamed video of parts of the conference, including Sallie McFague's lecture, are available at: www.yale.edu/divinity/video/index.shtml

Also, of interest, the Forum of Religion and Ecology at: environment.harvard.edu/religion/main.html

Couldn't help but add another butter video! This one is from mid-April.

Olliesitter

This is Ollie's reading chair. Our little scholar!

Ollie loves to play in the refrigerator while Mama or Daddy makes dinner. He especially likes to pull out the fruit and vegetable drawers so there's more room for him to sit on the refrigerator floor.

We love to shoot video of Ollie "sitting" on things. We think it's so cute how he backs up and positions himself so carefully. Here, he's sitting on a music box that my grandma and grandpa gave me when I was a little girl. When he's not sitting on it, Ollie likes to play with the little ballerina on the inside.

Ollie sitting on his school bus.

Ollie LOVES butter!

***the latest: Ollie's taken up playing the harmonica. His favorite tune...the diaper-changin' blues. We've been letting him take it to bed with him, as it's been a struggle to pry it from his little, chubby fingers. He's fallen asleep playing it the past two nights. I really want to get a recording...it's SO cute!

Window Watcher

Our little climber loves looking out our front windows. He comments on everything he sees...from whether or not the sprinklers across the street are on, to babies in strollers, to what's driving by: bikes, cars, trucks, taxis, busses, tractors, fire trucks, police cars ("see cars") or ambulances. We always know what's going on outside!
Don't worry...one of us is always nearby. You can make out Daddy's fingers on the left side of the frame. (just in case ollie needs help getting back down!) Which reminds me...Ollie's started this funny habit of adding "s" to the end of words. For example, whenever he needs help these days, instead of, "help," he says, "helps, please." too funny. new words: artichoke (which is hilarious to hear him say!), avocado (can you tell Daddy's a chef?), kites, rainbow. he's also very polite. Yesterday, we were leaving a toy store when we heard from the back seat of the car, "More toy store. Play with toys, please." Unfortunately for Ollie, we did not turn the car around to go back.

Yesterday's breakfast:

I give Ollie his cereal and juice...and start to eat mine when I hear, "Fold your hands." Guess who forgot to say the breakfast prayer?

Then, I pull out the "surprise" from the box of cereal...a super cool indiana jones light-up spoon. As I'm struggling to unwrap it, I hear, "Open it, please." Apparently, I wasn't fast enough. Upon seeing the spoon, Ollie asks, "What's that?" I show him it's a spoon and that I can make it light up when I eat with it. Then, I give him a bite of his cereal with the "new spoon." He says, "Ha ha! Funny! Mouthful!" What a silly boy.