Water

Oliver, like most children, is drawn to water. If he doesn't have to put his head under it, then he LOVES it! He especially loves helping water Daddy's trees.

Daddy taught him how to squirt the water out of the hose recently and now he loves doing it. Surprisingly he hasn't soaked himself or me yet...I'm sure that is coming!

I thought this picture of him relaxing in my chair was so cute! This is seriously the only type of chair that is comfortable for me right now. Sitting in this hammock type of chair removes any pressure on my joints and feels heavenly; never mind how difficult it is to get out of the chair! :) I think if I could sleep in a hammock all my sleeping aches and pains would be gone. Oh well, less than six weeks to go! :)

My Big Boy, Oliver

This cute little guy asked me to take his picture today, seriously, how could I resist???

And besides, it gives me an opportunity to post about something that I have been meaning to write about for a while. Normally I don't like to post without pictures, and Clayton has refused to let me take any pictures of Oliver going to the bathroom, so these pictures will have to do. I can't say enough how happy I am that we waited until Oliver was ready to do any SERIOUS potty training.

As I have previously posted, Oliver came to us on the day he turned three and told us that he needed to go poopy, that he wanted to do it on the big boy potty, and that he wanted to wear underwear since he was now a big boy. I can't deny that there was A LOT of preparation for this moment: I purchased his first potty when he was 18 months old. We sat on the potty for a long time clothed and then finally he would actually sit on it bare bummed before bath for at least a year before he wanted to do it during the day. The first time we tried going without diapers during the day was because of a diaper rash. He was NOT ready, I think we had six accidents in just a few hours. The only other time we tried, he was willing to sit down on the potty every 30 minutes, but that seemed like way too much work since he never told me he needed to go and then he had an accident 2 minutes after he got off the potty. He was still NOT ready. His birthday was a couple of months away and we had a vacation coming up, so we decided we would try again after his birthday. During those two months we would often talk about it and he would tell me that he was going to be a big boy when he turned three and wear underwear. He turned three, and boy was I surprised that day when Clayton told me what had happened. The wonderful thing is that Oliver has never looked back! I could maybe count his day time accidents on one hand and those have all been because he was too busy playing and didn't want to use the potty. I do have to remind him to go often, so we are still working on that! :)

For a few months he still wore diapers to nap and bed, and this was mainly because of me. He was/is still in a crib, and I didn't want to have to interrupt his sleep for bathroom breaks. When we returned from Salt Lake in January, I thought it might be time to try no diapers at nap time. We got off to a wet start within twenty minutes of the first nap time, but we persevered and in four months, Oliver has only had two accidents at nap time.

For a couple of months we were having a severe problem with his diapers leaking in the middle of the night. I tried a bigger size, a different brand, and finally the only thing that kind of worked was limiting his fluids after dinner. Oliver often complained of comfort issues with his diaper, and once even told me that his diaper was "driving him cashews" -- which was HILARIOUS, and actually gave me a good laugh during a time when I really needed one. He wanted to wear underwear to bed really bad, but I kept telling him that as soon as he woke with dry diapers for a few nights in a row, he could wear underwear to bed. Not too long after limiting his fluids after dinner, it all started. I can still remember how excited he was the first morning he woke up dry; we all were. Well, we waited five days and despite my own hesitation, the first night went off without a hitch. In fact, we went another five days before he had an accident in the middle of the night. But since then, he may have only had two or three accidents and he has been in underwear 24 hours a day since the 25th of March. Oliver doesn't sleep in as long any more (which being pregnant I really miss!). He used to go to bed at 10 and sleep until 9 or 10. Now he wakes up right around 7, which means we have had to start pushing his bed time up earlier. But I certainly don't miss leaky diapers, and I now I can say I was without diapers for a few months before the baby arrived! :) And besides, an earlier wake-up time will help with preschool in the fall.

So it took three years and almost six months, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. Way to do it yourself Oliver! I am seriously one proud momma! I would be happy if Oliver's little brother's potty training progresses in much the same manner.

And finally, we tried to take an impromptu family picture outside this past weekend and this was the best we got: Clayton squinting, and my hair covering half of Oliver's cute little Elvis face he is pulling. Oh well, better luck next time!

Outdoor Exercise

Go ahead, laugh. I do every time I see Clayton wear it. This is Clayton's bee keeper/running hat. He asked for it for his birthday a couple of years ago and I just had to take his picture in this ridiculous looking, albeit very smart, hat. It is great for protecting the skin on his back and neck while he runs in the full sun. Our neighbors walked by the alley while he had on his hat and they got a good laugh. After that, he said although he really likes his hat, he appreciates the level of anonymity it provides at the track because no one can see his face! :) Oliver had to try it out too!

like father, like son

My favorite part of this post is this video. Grandma and Grandpa Royal bought Oliver his first two-wheeler bike for Christmas last year. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture Clayton teaching him how to ride on my digital camera because the batteries were dead so I have never posted any pictures of him riding (don't worry, I have that memory on my actual video camera! ). He has really only rode it a few times because he doesn't like wearing the helmet (and I insist), and the seat has been too low and the pedal wasn't rotating properly so his foot was pushed off the pedal every time he went around. Well anyway, Clayton fixed those things today and here he is riding and loving it! Look at my big boy!

Happy Earth Day 2010

I am so proud of my little artist. We were painting and decided we should paint a tree since it was Earth Day. Oliver watched me draw a tree on my paper with a pencil and I gave him some pointers for how to do it. This is what he came up with:

I started by helping him with the trunk, but then he wanted to do it himself. I am so incredibly proud of what he produced. GO OLIVER!

Here are some pictures of Oliver playing in Daddy's raised bed garden later that day:

And finally, here is my tree. This is my Japanese Maple outside of Oliver's bedroom. It is absolutely gorgeous this time of year and this year it is huge!

Happy 3 1/2 Oliver!

Oliver's 3 1/2 year old birthday started out great with Grandma & Grandpa Royal coming for a visit. We went to breakfast at Breadwinners and Oliver had a piece a chocolate cake for desert that he just LOVED!

Afterward we went to his last swimming lesson and then it was off to Toys R Us to pick out a present for him. He picked the Central Terminal for his GeoTrax train set and was very happy to set it up after we arrived home (I haven't taken any pictures of it yet). He spent the rest of the day playing outside with Grandma and Grandpa and then we had an early dinner with brownies for desert. Since it was his 3 1/2 year old birthday, we sang to Oliver and had a candle.

video of Oliver singing Happy Birthday to himself!

can I eat the brownie now please Mommy??

stirring around his ice cream -- Oliver is my chocolate monster...he would do anything for chocolate!

Because of all the construction we have had for the last two weeks, Oliver was able to see cement being broken among other great things. As a result, Oliver has loved pretending to have a Jack Hammer along with all his other construction equipment he has already. After dinner, Grandma and Grandpa were about to give him a present they surprise bought him while we were at Toys R Us and Oliver says "is this the Jack Hammer?". We were all surprised he knew what it was because it was in a sack and when we asked him how he knew, he said "I Peaked". We all had a great laugh!

My 3 1/2 year old big boy with his new Jack Hammer

Happy 3 1/2 Oliver! We love you!!!

working on a banana

Oliver is a worker, so I thought I'd give him a knife and a fork to use to "work" on his banana while he ate it. He did so well, I was very impressed!

this video is at the end of the banana, but still cute!

Chuck E Cheese

On the day I came home from SLC, Oliver's little friend Jordan was turning three and having a party at Chuck E Cheese. Oliver was totally excited and so looking forward to the event since he has never been to Chuck E Cheese. Unfortunately, my plane had problems mid flight and had to be re-routed to SLC. We then boarded another plane and started all over again about the same time we were supposed to be landing. Clayton was so great and brought Jordan's unwrapped gift to the airport along with my wrapping supplies and I was able to wrap the gift in the airport parking lot. We made it to the party about an hour late, but we were still able to wish the birthday boy happy birthday and then play some games.

Driving the car with Clayton was Oliver's favorite...these cars have always been my favorite too!

Adios Mama!

A couple of weeks ago, I went to see my Mom & Dad in SLC. Clayton was an excellent Daddy and kept Oliver for a couple of days and they had a fantastic time together at Spanish School, swim lessons and of course playing galore.

Here we were waiting outside security

Oliver was being very creative and tied my shirt tie to my necklace. He loved it so much I couldn't untie it until I had gone into the airport.

Unfortunately, I was a total slacker and didn't take any pictures with my parents while I was in SLC. My sister took this of my parents and her cute girls a couple of weeks before I was there and I love how great my mom looks! Thanks for letting me stay with you Mom & Dad; it was great seeing you!

Oliver loved the suitcase ride when he and Daddy came to the airport to pick me up.

Happy Easter!

Late Saturday night, just before I went to bed, the Easter Bunny knocked on the door and wanted to deliver a basket for Oliver and hide some eggs. I told her she could hide them anywhere but Oliver's room and boy was she quick.

She even left a trail of eggs leading into Oliver's room

Oliver running past several eggs to collect his first egg: a turquoise egg (his favorite color)

checking out what was inside some of the first eggs

Oliver was so cute, he would shake each egg as he found it and guess what might be inside

My favorite part of Oliver collecting eggs was him shouting "EGG" every time he found an egg. It was hilarious and I loved it! Check out the video above to hear him finding eggs.

Pleading to dig into his Easter basket

His favorite part of his basket: A train. Who would have guessed???

Oliver with his Easter loot.

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter egg coloring

This little guy loved coloring eggs this year! I bought a dozen, but sometime between selection and dyeing, two were broken, so we only colored ten. I think Oliver could have colored about four dozen and still been going strong. Unfortunately he will not eat the eggs, so we have to limit the coloring to what Daddy and I will eat. They were a yummy part of our breakfast on Easter!

I can work construction too!

We woke up to some sidewalk repairs on Friday morning. After watching them dig up a piece of our sidewalk, Oliver had to go get his tractor too. Too bad the truck and tractor had already gone by the time we got back.

But he was still content to sit on his tractor for a while and watch them to the prep work for the cement truck that was coming later that day.

Fridays are Spanish Schoolhouse days

Oliver loves singing songs that he learns at the Spanish Schoolhouse. Here he is singing one I can actually understand: Los Números.

This is a video of the other favorite song he mentioned: Periquito Azul

And finally, an encore video of Los Números also with numbers in English.

Ready, set, hunt, play, swim

Saturday the 27th, we started our day at Oliver's first Easter Egg Hunt. It was divided into age groups, Oliver was with the 2-3 year olds. To be fair, there wasn't much hunting...more like an Easter Egg round-up if you ask me. The parents stood around in a big circle and the children ran around and picked up eggs. At least that was the idea...

Oliver getting ready for the hunt

Love this picture of my little guy!

And he is off...or is he?

First I want to add a disclaimer about this video. Sometimes I hear myself on video and wish I could figure out how to mute the audio portion and this is one of those times. This video is of Oliver starting his egg hunt. He really didn't know what to do and I barked orders to Clayton to go help him. Oops, sorry Clayton. If it is any consolation I'll only be pregnant for a couple of more months and hopefully I'll be a little nicer afterwards!

After picking up a few eggs my little guy was enamoured with the Easter Bunny and stopped hunting to chat with the bunny.

Look at that face, he loved the Easter Bunny. She didn't talk though so it was kind of weird.

He even got a hug!

When all was said and done, he collected 12 eggs about nine of which had candy. He was happy with his loot!

It was WINDY!

There was a park nearby and we had some time before our next activity so Clayton and Oliver explored the tank. It was pretty cool!

They went for a little run on the track. Like father, like son.

Next we went to the Plano Aquatic Center so Oliver and Daddy could attend their first WaterTots class together. Here they are waiting for the lesson to begin.

Daddy easing Oliver into the water

Oliver would have preferred the water to be a little warmer

I thought Oliver would be the oldest in the class by far, but the class was for ages 6 months to three years and there was actually a wide variety of ages.

This may be the only smile we caught on camera and it was because Clayton suggested it. Oliver is really hesitant around water and why wouldn't he be? This is only his second time ever to a public pool and we have only used a wading pool in our backyard a few times. Hopefully these lessons will help get him a little more comfortable.

They practiced kicking and played a few games.

In this video, Clayton is crouched down in less than 3 ft of water while wading Oliver across a pool so he can practice kicking. What a great Daddy!

This may be the only video of the head under water that we get this session. Oliver was terrified when he came out of the water and has told me he doesn't want to do it again. Hopefully his next swim instructor will have a plan for a more gradual introduction of putting your head under water.

I think this may be the first time I can say I am actually happy with my decision to buy a super zoom camera. All these shots and videos came from my position on the bleachers and most of them came out surprisingly clear.