A few stories...

So, Bryce has a bad back....and recently it was bothering him AGAIN....so he has been laying on the floor, with his legs up and putting ice on his back.

.

.

Oliver LOVES the ice pack, for some reason. When Bryce ices his back...all he wants is to get the pack from Bryce.

So, one day, when Bryce was done, he came back into the living room to find Oliver like this:

.

Yes, Oliver has his legs up and is holding the ice pack.

He must be in so much pain. :)

Look at that face:

Recently, we have been enjoying hanging out with the our friends Tracey and Chris. They have two amazing kids, Emmylou and Leif. Emmylou and Oliver are the same age.

Through MANY tears, Oliver is learning to share.

Side note: recently we hung out with Katie and Byron's 3 kids at our home. Oliver had a REALLY hard time sharing HIS toys with other kids. It was so traumatic for him That night he fell asleep in my arms...I had to change him...and he woke up from total sleep and just yelled

"SHARE"

Clearly, he was still thinking about his rough day.

So, back to today:

I got to babysit Leif and Emmylou.

We took all of the pillows in the entire house and put them on the floor for a jump-fest.

It was a hit. No worrying about sharing...just jumping!

Then we put up our summer shade tent:

Here is Oliver going through the tunnel:

Leif in the tunnel:

Emmylou enjoying dinner:

the jungle:

It was really a great night.

I am learning a lot by seeing Oliver with other kids.

It is a new stage of letting go....

I am learning that you just have to let them figure things out sometimes...even if there are MANY tears and lots of saying the word "mine"

gotta let them figure it out.

i'm a bad, bad Blogger....

So...its been a while since I've blogged. That's what winter does to me....leaves me uninspired. However, I am fiercely trying to accept the cold and just go with it. Oliver is at such a fun age that we have a good time playing games inside. And we even bundle him up for outdoor adventures as well.

So, Brent and Diane gave us this lovely little chair/step stool for Oliver. He LOVES it. He pushes it around all over the place, which has caused his havoc to reach new heights (literally).
Thanks a lot, B & D. :)

Here is our beloved little boy sitting in this heirloom of a chair doing his "forced smile".
To explain, this is the smile that Oliver does when you say "Smile, Oliver, Smile!"

Charming, isn't it?
I laugh so hard every time he does it.

Then we asked our beloved to stand beside the chair for a picture so that you could see the painting on the back of it.
Check out the pose...and the BELLY!

Another pose:

And my favorite.
I call this one....the rock star.
We did not prompt him....
he is self posed.
Please note the non-trust-worthy grin.