Hooray, Graduation day is here!

Today was a great day! Graduation was at 3:00 PM and we needed to be there about 45 minutes before, so we left the house just before 2:00 PM. My parents, Clayton & Oliver were good sports to sit in the athletic center on those tiny, uncomfortable benches and wait for me to come in, and then an additional hour and a half for the ceremony. Graduation was great. There were some inspirational speeches from the students and it felt really good to be there with my fellow class mates. Oliver missed his nap but he was an absolute angel the entire day. After graduation we hung out in the bleachers for some photo opportunities and waited for the crowds to die down. For dinner, we went to La Hacienda Ranch for some oh so delicious food. Thanks for the birthday dinner Mom & Dad! And to top off the day we went to look at Christmas lights in Deerfield. It was a great day. Thanks to everyone for being so supportive and offering their congratulations!

My Graduation Webcast

Click this link to watch my graduation today with Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at 3:00 PM Central Time.

http://www.utdallas.edu/oee/media/webcasts/

Oliver went to the North Pole on the Polar Express!

My parents are in town for my graduation tomorrow and so today we took Oliver to see Santa Claus for the first time at the Shops at Willow Bend in Plano. The theme was the Polar Express and the display was filled with snow globes, train controls and artificial snow to boot. And at the end was Santa Claus welcoming all the children onto his lap for a chat and a picture. Oliver was so patient waiting his turn. He always enjoys watching other children. We had been talking about Santa for quite a while and Oliver told me he would sit on his lap and he knew just what he was going to ask from Santa for Christmas. I really didn't expect him to be so willing since this was his first time visiting Santa, but he surprised me and was so willing and sweet. He sat right on Santa's lap, told him he wanted a car, a truck, a tractor with a trailer, and a train for Christmas and then he even smiled for the pictures. What a sweetie! Merry Christmas, Oliver!

Oliver playing with the train controls

Oliver watching the other children play in the artificial snow, waiting so patiently for his own turn.

All aboard!

Oliver standing next to the big engine in the snow

Oliver was done with the snow and wanted to be held

Oliver & Santa

Oliver playing around after pictures

Oliver Clayton Royal is twenty-six months old!

A couple of days late, but better late than never!

Sending you wishes of PEACE, JOY AND CANDYCANES!

Merry Christmas! Here is my darling little guy on our Christmas card this year.

Yet another truck post...

I was speaking with my brother on the phone this evening as I made dinner and Oliver was playing so nicely by himself that I began to wonder what he was doing. Of course he was playing with trucks! Earlier this morning I had disassembled a small table in our entryway and had not yet gotten around to putting away the pieces. Oliver made good use of the table top on the floor and was having so much fun driving his trucks and animals around.

This looks like a good place to play with my trucks

This morning after breakfast I was picking up the toy room and vacuuming and all the sudden Oliver disappeared. I found him underneath the desk where I study playing with his trucks on the window ledge. I tried to be very quiet when taking the pictures as not to disturb him, but he ended up catching me as you see in the second picture. Why he chose this place to play, when he has so many other options including the car table he got for his birthday, is beyond me. But whatever makes Oliver happy, makes Mommy happy.

The verdict is in...Oliver is tall, skinny and HEALTHY!

Daddy & Mommy took Oliver to his two year old well visit today, only a month and a half late. Here are his stats:

Weight: 26.6 lbs. 25-50th percentile

Height: 36 in. 75-90th percentile

Head: 50 1/2 cm. 90th percentile

The doctor said "He looks good", and that is about as good as you can hope for from Dr. Katz; he is not really the enthusiastic type.

Oliver received a scheduled Hep A vaccine today, and although he was a little sad (from my viewpoint, it really looked like it hurt!), there were no tears and he was fine as soon as he got some snuggles from Mommy. Then the nurse brought him in a little car to take home which made him forget all about the shot.

On an unrelated note, Oliver wanted his shirt off after eating lunch yesterday. He then worked to finally peek his face through the hole (it is a onesie, so it is extra long and tricky to figure out). Anyway, when I saw the picture I thought he looked like a shirt monster.

Our Christmas Tree

This year our ornaments are childproof, most of which are hand made. My Mom still uses hand made ornaments on her tree and I just love it! So, I decided to make some of my own. The reindeer are from last year, and the yarn balls are this years ornaments. I plan to make some new ornaments every year. My favorite part of the tree is my new star. I found it at Dillard's and I thought it was perfect. Here are the pictures.

I stayed up late on Wednesday evening setting up the Christmas Tree. This is Oliver on Thursday morning seeing it lit for the first time.

This is Oliver starting the decorating.

Here are my ornaments.

My new star.

Oliver's Little People Nativity set that he loves.

And finally the finished product!

Oliver's first Gingerbread House

This is a lot more difficult than it looks! I cut the hole in the icing bag too big and my house was a mess! Oliver didn't seem to mind, he just licked the extra frosting right off. He had so much fun decorating his house. He is very proud of his creation and wants to talk about it every time he sees it!

Here is a video of Oliver decorating.

Thanksgiving Gratitude

This year we celebrated our Thanksgiving at home with just the three of us, I am so grateful for my wonderfully supportive husband and my sweet little son and that we were able to spend the day together in the safety and warmth of our home.

After breakfast, Oliver decorated his first Gingerbread house and I think more frosting was licked than actually made it on the house! I am so grateful to be able to share these new experiences with my little one and see him delight in the simple things of life.

We ate our big Thanksgiving meal at lunch time before Oliver went to sleep...Oliver's favorite part was the Pumpkin Pie for desert. I am so grateful for the conveniences of the modern kitchen and grocery store. I was short on time this year and didn't want to spend a lot of time baking/cooking, so a lot of our meal was store bought.

Then, after Oliver's nap, we decorated our Christmas tree. We had a wonderful day. Our little family has so much to be grateful for; thank you Lord for everything you have given us and most of all for our wonderful family and friends.

Grammy, both Mommy & Oliver love the afaghan you made

Oliver loves this afaghan so much I often have to hide it from him. He wants to drag it around all the time to snuggle it and stick his fingers through it and it is just too special for that! Since he was sitting on the couch watching the Seasons of Giving Pooh video today, I thought it would be a good time for him to enjoy it.

And the world record for hanging goes to...

...my two year old, Oliver Royal. Oliver found this bar in my closet a couple of weeks ago and thought it might be a good place to hang. The pictures I had before were quite blurry, so they are no longer on my blog, but Oliver saw the pictures today and he got the cutest look on his face like, "hey, I remember that", then he ran in to try it again. I'll narrate.

Okay Mommy, do you have the camera ready, here I go:

All right, it's tough, but I'll even muster a smile.

Did you get it, I don't know how much longer I can hold on!

This is the longest any two year old could possibly hold onto a bar, I'm done!

OPD's

Oliver has a new trick, he can sing his OPD's, at least that is what Oliver calls them. We have been working on this for a while now where he finishes the end of each cluster of letters: for instance I sing A B C D E F, Oliver sings G, I sing H I J K L M N O, Oliver sings P. But this morning I asked Oliver to sing the Alphabet song and out of the blue, he sang the entire song...I was so surprised and so incredibly proud. GO OLIVER! Here is a video of Oliver singing his OPD's, you may be more familiar with their common name ABC's. Oliver got distracted with his sock as a mitten half-way through and I couldn't get him to finish. I'll switch the video's as soon as I get one with the entire song.

To Daddy's work we go...

Oliver is finally on his way to feeling better, hooray! Since I didn't have class today, Daddy invited us to his work for lunch. Oliver loved going to visit Daddy and had so much fun eating with Daddy and exploring the campus. Thanks for inviting us, Daddy! We love you!

Oliver's classic response to the request, "smile". He'll grow out of this, right?!?

Oliver hasn't been feeling so hot!

Oliver came down with something on Saturday evening. It turned into a pretty nasty cold, poor guy. He still can't breathe correctly and is coughing quite a bit which isn't good for sleep. He has been begging me to go outside the past couple days and this morning I finally agreed with the condition that he wear a coat and hat and we just play in the garage. He had so much fun I could hardly tell he was sick. Sometimes being outside makes everything better!

Oliver loves playing with trucks!

Oliver & his Daddy

Today was a Pajama day for Oliver. That means he gets to wear his PJ's all morning, he loves these days and so does Mommy when I get to participate! :) Unfortunately today was not one of those days. On Wednesdays I have class in the middle of the day, so Clayton comes home to watch Oliver. On these days Clayton usually leaves very early for work, and does not see Oliver in the morning. It is always a great reunion between the two of them when they see each other. I love this picture of them reuniting. Oliver has loved spending this extra time with his Daddy, and I know his Daddy has loved this extra time with his little buddy.

Oliver Clayton Royal is Twenty-Five months old!

So how long can I keep counting months? I originally thought two years old would be the cutoff, but I just can't do it! I had a hard time letting go of counting days, then a hard time letting go of counting weeks, and now I am having an even harder time letting go of counting months. It feels like if I stop counting months, my baby will have officially grown into a big boy. I think it is happening whether I count months or not, but I am still holding out at this point! Regardless of how I keep track of it, I learned this morning that I can no longer wish Oliver a birthday monthly unless I come prepared. After I wished him a happy birthday he asked me where the cake was...too funny! Check out his 25 month pictures.

At some point while playing in the school bus, Oliver stepped out of the school bus and proceeded to run half way across the park. Hardly anyone was around, so I followed further behind then usual and let him be independent and check out whatever had peaked his interest. He stopped at this tiny pink flag. It is funny, what is interesting to a two year old is something we might just look past as adults. I thought he looked so big standing on this hill all by himself!