Dear Ollie,

I can't believe you're three today.

6 weeks in his onesie from Auntie GG and Uncle C

Gone are your gooey thighs and rubberband wrists.


You're no longer content to sit still at the park.


The car ads in the newspaper don't give you a thrill anymore. Maybe when you're 16 and hoping for a car. (Don't get your hopes up, kid.)



You say you need things, like you need to watch “Thomas the Train.” You need leche. You need to stay up. We always correct you and say you don’t need that—you only want that.
Now you say, “I need-want to watch Thomas the Train,” or “I need-want to go play.”

You always tell Dad and me, “hold you,” which means you want one of us to hold you.

Your favorite movies are “Cars” and “Horton Hears a Who.” You like to watch “Dinosaur Train,” “Curious George” and much to our chagrin, “Thomas.” You always find a toy to go with what you're watching. If it's "Cars," you hold McQueen. If it's "Horton," you find an elephant.

Sometimes you tell me to be “Oviler” and you’ll be “Twacey.” Then you call me honey and ask if I want to go the park.

You hate taking a bath, except if it’s time for bed.


You love, love, love your best friend, Faelan. When you’re at school and I tell you that it’s time to go and to tell your friends goodbye, you say bye to Faelan only. We’re working on this.

Sometimes you ask if we can “have a cuddle” and my heart melts.

You truly love people, particularly kids.

You love your uncles and you show off for them.


All of your grandparents are mad about you -- and you know it.

When we’re driving you talk constantly and you’re a bad backseat driver. Once I didn’t have my seatbelt on and you hounded me until I put it on. (Not because of the seatbelt, but because of the light on the dashboard.) When we sit in traffic you often ask me if I can drive faster.

You sing the ABCs when you’re excited. On our way to a birthday party? You belt it out.
Waiting for a donut at Fellini’s? ABC!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ollie-pepper, Mr Magoozer, MowMow, Ollie-max, we love you to pieces. Happy birthday, big guy.

Love, Mama

i'm running out of ideas for o's lunch -- and dinners for that matter. find good ideas here.

good fun things day 6

+

l u a u tonight at ollie's school. all week i've been on the fence and then yesterday i decided we weren't going, so i didn't sign us up. one of the moms in his class emailed me asking if we'd be going, so i decided we would go. i asked the director if we could crash the party and she gave us the thumb's up. i'm glad we went. in the past there hasn't always been a big turn out from parents of kids in his class, but tonight was pretty good. it was fun to meet some of the parents i never see due to different drop off/pick up schedules. and tonight there was music and beer. even better.

after the party s. and ollie decided they'd shoot some hoops before going home. too cute.

++

today when i arrived at ollie's school one of the teachers told me she had to give him a sponge bath today because he had somehow been covered in dirt while they were playing outside. i can only imagine what he was doing. dirt in his hair, his diaper, etc. i was only half joking when i asked her if this meant i wouldn't have to bathe him tonight. she told me i'd definitely need to bathe him tonight and mentioned that there was still dirt in his hair. i wonder if the teachers are catching on to me. you see, his last bath was last saturday at my folks' house. is that gross? don't answer that. today is friday. it is gross. i've been slacking on bath time because he had swim lessons two nights this week. and he's in a stage where he doesn't ever want to take a bath. i promise to be better about your hygiene, ollie. here is he smiling in the tub. that's because i told him we could watch dinosaur train and eat popsicles after the bath. (yes, i resorted to bribery. i was weak. )

- - - - - - - - -

on the agenda for the weekend? chores, shopping, haircut and o's first movie, cars 2, with a handful of kids from his class. actually it's o's first cars movie period. i doubt we'll make it through the entire almost 2 hours. (thank god.)

my day was going just swell until about 3:30 this afternoon when i started sneezing and sniffling a bit. all of a sudden, on the way home, i suddenly had a full blown cold. let me paint a picture: my nose is like a faucet. as one of my facebook friends from elementary school posts in her status updates, oh, about every other day, FML.

i think this is the 5th cold i've had since october. ollie started preschool in october and i blame ollie for this cold. he had it first and the kid has shit for manners. he keeps sneezing in my face.


my head is too congested to think of a clever way to transition into this. so, changing subject, moving right along:


i don't subscribe to gwyneth paltrow's "goop," but after reading beth spotswood's and crummy mummy's commentary about the same newsletter, i think i want to start. because i like to torture myself.

nighty night.

Conversation on our drive home

Mama, snack. Oggie snack. Briana.
Sorry Ollie, mommy doesn’t have any bananas.
Now he’s whimpering: Briana. Briana.
Ollie, baby, sorry, mama doesn’t have any snacks. As soon as we get home, I promise.
Mama, snack. Mama, pluggy. Mama. Mama. Snack mama, pease.
Sorry Ollie, mama doesn’t have any pluggies and mama doesn’t have any snacks. When we get home you can have a snack.
Mama, snack. Snack please mama. Oggie snack. Oggie pluggy. Mmmmmmmmmaaama! Snack pease. Oggie snack. Oggie snack. Oggie pluggy.

Repeat x 100

I felt so bad. He barely touched his lunch and his lunch was at 11:30. And, his snacks at school are hardly substantial--fruit and water.

Lesson learned: Always have snacks on hand. “Oggie” needs ‘em.

Can you draw the internet?

Children today are growing up in a world of technology and communications. They have never experienced a world without the internet, with every part of their day consumed by mobile phones, websites, computer games, apps, Xbox, you name it.

We took this thought and 'thought' it would be interesting to find out what their perception of the internet actually is, by way of scribble, drawing, or piece of art.

Then, to make things even more interesting we thought it would be great to get the creative industry involved. Why? To find out who's the more creative. The industry with all of it's wisdom, or the kids with their vivid imaginations.

Anyway, we'd love it if you could spare a few seconds, minutes or even hours to get something down on paper, no matter how basic.