Ollie's Found a Hat

Okay, it's really the colander that goes inside my salad spinner, but clearly our little guy loves donning his hat and galavanting around the house in high style.

Here he is on three consecutive days this week:


















The colander fits just perfectly over the boy's melon.


















"Hmmm, what other pieces of kitchen harware could double as stylish accessories?"


















Here, it looks like Spaceman Ollie has found the mother ship.

Blueberry Pancakes

Our friend, Sammy, came over today for a "cooking date" with Merrit. He had a recipe for blueberry pancakes that he wanted to try out on us. The boys measured and stirred all the ingredients and the results were DELICIOUS!

Right, Ollie?


















"You know it!!"


















"Can I have another?"

The Littlest Librarian

Ollie loves to play with books. He understands how to hold them, how to turn pages, and that we talk and point to pictures on the page while we look. He is so cute when he's "reading" his books. :-)

This morning, he did the sign for "book" and said "Buh! Buh!" over and over.

If I say, "Ollie, go get your book," he'll walk right over and pick out a book from the basket of board books we keep in the play area. He'll either toddle over to me with it in his hand (and a big grin on his face, of course) or he'll plop down in the blue teddy-bear chair and start "reading."

Another book lover in the family perhaps?

Don't Cry Over Spilled Cheerios

I just spilled a whole half-box of Cheerios all over the dining room floor. Rrrgghh!

What was funny was that Merrit said, from the other room, "I know what that sound is...."

I would sweep them up and put them back in the box but, knowing how clean (or, rather, how unclean) my floor is, I don't dare!!

Ollie Wanna Cracker?

Spring Has Sprung!!

It's GORGEOUS outside here this week! Sunny. Low 70's. Breezy. In this picture you can see the shadows cast by the late-morning sun, and even a little bit of the breeze blowing through Ollie's downy hair:

















Ollie is getting to be such a good walker. He's even wearing big boys shoes. Here, he's sportin' some super-cute sandals. He's also getting some good practice going up and down steps on the two steps that surround our deck (not too far a fall...and grass for a soft landing).


















Ollie shows off a "pom pom" (a sweet gum seed pod) he found on the ground.

"Bye Bye"

This morning, Mike said "Bye Bye" to Ollie and he said it right back!!

Look Who's Talking

Ollie is saying "Mama" and "Dada" very clearly and very intentionally. He's also combining these words with something that sounds KIND OF like "Hi" so we get something that, to our anxious ears, sounds like "Hi Mama!" and "Hi Dada!"

Ollie is also mimicking the intonation of certain phrases. Friends and family members who remember Merrit imitating the phrase, "Yes We Can!" (which sounded like "Ha Hee Haaaa!") will recognize this kind of -- well, it's a stretch to call it speech -- but we're proud of the little whippersnapper all the same. So, Ollie is definitely imitating us saying, "All Done!" It comes out something like this: "Daaat Doouughh."

I'm also trying to expose him to more signs. We're using signs for:

- Eat
- Milk
- More
- Kitty
- All Done
- Bath
- Book
- Slide
- Gentle
- Play

I'm also trying to combine "More" (word and sign) with concepts other than those that relate to food. Today at the park I was asking him, "More Slide?" in words and in sign. He would start walking toward the steps to get back to the top in a kind of quick two-step happy walk. Then at the top of the slide, he'd look at me with this excited smile of anticipation and clap his hands. (Oh, those are the moments!) He was even more cute/funny with his hair totally standing on end from the static electricity of the plastic slide! Darn, I didn't have my camera with me!

Where's the Baby? ... PEEK-A-BOO!

Ollie LOVES to play peek-a-boo. He hides behind the couch, behind the living room curtains (oops, he pulled the rod out of the wall this week!), around corners.

Here, while "helping" me with laundry, Ollie plays peek-a-boo with a freshly laundered hand towel.

Dance Fever

Ollie has started dancing to music. He really likes Lori Berkner best. He walks big circles, shakes his head side to side, then stops and bounces up and down a little to the beat. Too cute!

Stinkiest Diaper Ever Award

So, um, the rooster has come home to roost. (Or whatever that expression is!) The ham and 17-bean soup that Ollie ate for lunch AND dinner yesterday created the most foul, most stinky, most copious poop I have ever seen.

And at this point, you'll be asking: "And you thought it was OKAY to give a 16-month old a soup made with seventeen different beans? Are you crazy?!"

And you would be right.

Another New Word

Today, as I was feeding Ollie, I was trying to get him to sign for more food. I kept saying "more" and doing the sign. Then I'd look at him and wait. After a few rounds of this, he just looked at me curiously and said, "Maaahhhr."

Way to go, Ollie. Another new word. So now we have Mama, Dada, Uh-Oh, and More.

More Snow!

It snowed again last night. We have about two inches of the white stuff on the ground this morning. It's beautiful.

I bundled the boys up and took them outside to play. Merrit wanted to make a snow-snake (a less vertical variation of the snow man) but, again, this snow isn't good packing snow.

Ollie took a face-plant into the snow and cried. I have to admit, it was kinda funny.

I didn't take any pictures because our camera is with Mike, who was visiting "Eric the Magician" (a.k.a. Eric Schweitzer) in Black Mountain over the weekend and got snowed in there. (They got a lot more snow than we did!) Needless to say, I'm sure he's taking some gorgeous photos of the snowy mountains.

Button Mania

Ollie's latest fetish is to grab at buttons. In particular, he LOVES the metal buttons on my jean jacket.