Cutest little potty trainer on the block

Ollie decided to use the potty today while we were in the office.  He tried several times and it seemed promising until I came in to find that he had stripped himself naked and tried to flush all his clothes (except his shoes, thank goodness!). Its a good thing he's cute!

How not to use a power saw

So Ollie got a new toy saw for Christmas. He loves it. He may need a bit of help using it though.

Natural consequences

    So we're trying this Montessori "natural consequence" thing  and so far, its going well.  For instance, if you throw your food in the floor (in anger), you don't get any more food until you pick up what you threw or if you spill water, you help clean it up. Oliver is grasping the concept well.... perhaps a bit too well.
         On Christmas day, we were blessed to have all of our children and their SOs (significant others) join us for dinner and gift opening. Ollie decided to be a "dinosaur" and Liam (Kayla's SO) graciously played along. Ollie chased him round and round the house for what seemed like hours while Liam feigned fear and ran.
         Just  as our guests sat down for dinner, (and as I was putting the final dishes on the table) Ollie turned his attentions to Issac (Abbey's SO). "Run, dinosaur eat you!" He proclaimed to Isaac (who proceeded to ignore him). "Run, dinosaur eat you." "Run" "Run". Suddenly (but after several warnings), the "dinosaur" (aka Ollie) bit our guest!! "Oliver! You don't bite Issac!!" Abbey scolded him firmly.  Ollie gestured with his little hands upturned, shrugged and exclaimed "No run, dinosaur eat you!" as if it made perfect sense to him. And so there you have it... natural consequences. If a dinosaur comes after you, you'd better run!!!

Dinosaur gift to Ollie from Kayla

 
   

   

CPR anyone?

We had NRP Training at the birth center today and Ollie really got into it. He loves giving mouth to mouth, compressions and listening to the babies with the stethoscope.

Charlie Brown!

It was a cool Halloween night in 2014. We walked our favorite street in Charlottesville behind our kiddos while they collected candy. Our last Halloween as a family, though we didn't know it then. We had just started dreaming of another little one to fill our hearts and home and we decided that when he came, we'd dress him as "Charlie Brown" for Halloween. Happy Halloween, Chuck! You're adorable!

Hey, There's no cake in this box!

Oh the joys of toddler messes!! Folks, there's no cake in this box (despite the picture) and I can assure you, Ollie looked thoroughly!

"Cake alllllll gone"

Is it cold in here?

I'm at my desk doing work on this sunny day when I hear Ollie calling from the kitchen. "Mommyyyyyyy, I'm Collllldddddd. Mommeeeeeeeeee, I'm colllldddddddd". I tried to ignore him but he persists and thus I go to see what the problem is. I find sweet little Ollie has climbed into the refrigerator but alas, cannot get out!