Sunday, February 21, 2010

My great debaters


When Sam was in high school his dismal attendance record got him kicked out of the English department (as a recent recipient of a Masters Degree he has obviously made a big turn around). At the time, one of the teachers, Sam Beason, decided to make Sam his personal "project" and offered to help him get credit in English, which he needed to graduate, if he would join the debate class, unbeknown to him that also meant joining the school debate team. Long story short - or short story even shorter - Sam ended up winning the state championship in debate that year. Needless to say, he is a talented debater - unless of course he is facing off against me, hem, hem.

I think our son may share his talent - or at least his love for debate. The following is a conversation I had with him a few days ago:

Ollie: Mom, say no. Pleeeeeeeeease!
Mom: huh
Ollie: Say no.
Mom: Okay, no.
Ollie: YES!
Mom (catching on now): no
Ollie: YES!
Mom: no
Ollie: YES!
Mom: no
Ollie YES!
Mom: no
(continued. . . )

Saturday, February 13, 2010

To dream the impossible dream...


I saw a chair like this once in an airport bathroom. I couldn't understand then, why you would want to strap your child to the wall. I have a two-year-old now and I often find myself wishing that this company did home installations.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

My new January...

In case you couldn't tell, one of my new years resolutions was to update my blog at least once a week. Ha. Saddly, the rest of my goals seem to have taken a similar turn. Anyway, I have decided to make February my new January soif you don't see a regular update on my blog be sure to write mean posts until I do it!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Ollie-isms

Disclaimer, you may not be too interested in a lot of this stuff, but this blog is the only record I keep of our little family so I am recording these things for my own benefit.

Oliver is an absoute two-year-old, I wouldn't necessarily call them the terrible twos, rather, they are the extreme-twos. Extreme in the sense that we experience all emotions - to the extreme! One moment he will be telling us "No, no, no" and sending everyone within hearing range to time out (something that doesn't really go over too well) to covering my face in kisses when I'm feeling bad, to make it better. Oliver has reached the point at which he could star on Bill Cosby's "Kids Say The Darndest Things". The following is just a sampling:


1. First thing Oliver told me when I got him out of bed one day last week was, "Mommy, I want need to make a mess. Pleeeeeeeeease." It used to be that Oliver never "wanted" anything, the only verb he ever used was "need" now however he has started to have "want needs". I guess he is pretty much just like the rest of us who can't seem to draw a hard line between needs and desires, he is just more verbal about it!


2. At the store Oliver loves to push the cart through the isles of clothes stopping every few feet to pull random articles of clothing out and exclaim, "Oh, that is soooo cute!" The other day he pulled something out, examined it then put it back and moved on explaining that he, "needed something yellow." Oh dear.


3. "I need chocolate." He is obviously his father's son.


4. Sam has an affinity for diet coke, but seeing as Oliver has enough energy as it is we don't let him drink any. Of course, that hasn't' ever stopped him from asking for "black juice" or what he has dubbed "daddy juice." Our solution has been to introduce "Big Brother Juice" aka Fresca. He loves to go on adventures with daddy to get big brother juice.


5. The "Secret Taco". Oliver used to have an invented word for water, it was "gogee" and it covered every kind of liquid from juice to rain to the ocean. He has a new filler word these days, but we can't quite pin down what it means. The word is "taco." I decided to start keeping track of all of the qualities of a "taco"in an effort to figure out what it was. I evenutally decided that was futile after the "taco" changed from something "high in the sky" to "the house of Jesus" to something to do with "water games" in just over an hour. Yesterday he was making a biting motion toward the sky, when I asked him what he was doing he explained to me that he was eating the moon. When I asked him what it tasted like he casually replied, "a taco". Duh, why did I even bother to ask?

Ruby-kins

Our little Ruby is getting to be so big! Literally, she is outgrowing clothes faster than I can buy them - no complaints here though, there is nothing quite as fun as dressing little girls! She is four and a half months old now and such a sweetheart. She has changed from a slightly demanding newborn into the sweetest little girl ever. She is just full of smiles and is sooooooo mellow, she is always happy to just hang out. She loves to eat rice cereal (with a little bit of baby food mixed in). She has also mastered the art of rolling over and is pretty close to sitting up - she can go for a minute or two before tipping over.

Her greatest hero is her big brother and she just lights up and giggles anytime he plays with her. (I just have to point out that I wore the pink outfit she has on here when I was a baby, too fun!)
Ruby loves to suck her fingers, ironically she has an affinity for the exact two middle fingers that I used to suck - until about the second grade!
She always likes to have something to playwith. She is super alert and I don't think she has ever actually laid her head down on my shoulder. Since the day she was born she has been able to hold her head up and she always has to be looking around. No snuggles here I am afraid.