Birthdays and Turkeydays

Olie had a great second first birthday with the Cape contingent on Sat. Nov. 18. Auntie Steph, hosted a gathering of Gram Bird, Great Gramma Sylvia, Mom, Dad, Pat, Marnie and R&E. A big hit of the day was the plastic piano from Auntie Steph. Olie quickly accertained how to play it and danced to the music much to the entertainment of his guests. As he did with his first b-day party, Olie spurned his delicious b-day cake, made by Great Gram. Guess he's trying to keep his positive weight/height ratio. Can't say the same for the rest of us, who enjoyed cream of tomato soup, BLTs and Olie's Dom Econ cake.

After we got back on Sunday, Olie rushed right to the window to look for his beloved sirens. Now whenever he hears one, he drops everything and puts his arms in the air so you can pick him up and rush to the window. He understands that ambulances have sirens, too. Now when he sees a picture of one he makes his siren noise (which is very close to the elephant noise.)

Olie also had a nice Thanksgiving at Randal and Erik's. Uncle Chris joined us from New York for the weekend, and Grampa Fish (Charlie) also came for a visit. But turkey, good friends and family aside, what really got Olie's attention was Hope's cat (Hope is Randal's sister). O kept following him around and was surprisingly gentle, given how he treats Bella. By the end of the weekend O had added cat sounds to his repertoire. Not exactly a meow, it's more a shortened version of the siren/elephant sound repeated a few times: "Rrrr, rrr, rrr." Olie also got a big treat when we walked by the Jamaica Plain fire station. Seeing us peering into the windows, the firemen rolled up the doors and invited us inside. Olie got to walk around the huge fire engines, and the firemen even put the lights on for him.

(Ok I'm getting a little tired of always writing prose, so for the rest of this post, I will simply be listing cool new things that Olie does.)

- Puts his arms over his head and inhales audibly whenever excited. Olie started doing this the Friday before Thanksgiving when I took him to the Chldrens' Museum. He was thrilled with the ball pool.

- Has started bringing us the books he wants us to read. His favorite is about a boy who loves fire trucks so much that he becomes one.

- Just before Thanksgiving he started putting one block on top of another to make "buildings." As an adult it's difficult to fathom how hard this is. But when you watch a baby, you can see that it takes enormous control and understanding of how surfaces fit together. For example, Olie often slams the blocks down too hard or tries to put the corner down. So far his buildings get to be 2 to 3 "stories" tall before they tumble to the ground.

- Makes engine noises when playing with cars, tractors and anything with wheels.

- Plays by himself with cars, trucks!

- Can unscrew the top of a water bottle.