The many sides of Oliver

Olie feeding leaves to Gila

So I forgot to mention in my last post that Oliver has grown an inch since fall and is now 40" tall!

He's turning into such a boy. In AZ he was obsessed with snakes and lizards, insisting that we acquire for him one of each that became known as Gila and Hissy. (These joined Chamel - previously purchased in CA.) AND whenever we take a walk now Oliver comes back with a vast collection of rocks and sticks.

But Olie also has a sensitive side. Lately he becomes very concerned if anything is captured. While recently looking at a book of fantastical beasts, Oliver really liked the Griffin, and was sure that it was absolutely going to let the fish in its talons go. Then the other day he came running into the kitchen, because Kipper, the world's MOST benign English cartoon dog, had captured a butterfly in a jar. Luckily Kipper did let it go (told you he was nice). Similarly ALL Olie's meat eater dinosaurs are "nice" and prefer plants. Oliver also takes it very personally when Bella wont hug him goodbye or once when his shy friend Oonagh wouldn't say "hello."

Similarly Oliver is also exploring taking care of other people. As I make dinner in the evening, Oliver frequently does the same. In his play kitchen, he'll prepare pasta and salad for Dad with lots of salt and pepper "because that's the way Dad likes it." Oliver will also let me know that he'll be sure to take a nap so that I can also get some sleep too. (Solvi Dear is still NOT sleeping thru the night!)



Which is not to say that Oliver isn't tough. While on the playground the other day, Chad and I were discussing the complicated psychology of raising boys. Obviously you want them to be tough but not too. I could see this with the father of a boy Oliver was playing with. That boy whined when Olie put the wrong leaf "flag" on the castle mound they were building. He whined when Olie put a foot print in the side. He whined when Olie accidentally got sand on him. While I noticed how quietly and nicely the boy played and was desperately trying to contain Oliver, the boy's father really just wanted his son to suck it up. So later when Oliver got into a little fight on the playground, Chad related the story to me with a certain gleam in his eye. "You’re proud!" I said. "Yes!" said Chad. "The kid was five and he'd been picking on Oliver, trying to bait him using big words like carnivore (which of course Oliver told him straight out meant meat eater), and then wouldn't share his bacon snack (Bacon snack? Whaaa?), and when Oliver grabbed at the bacon, the kid elbowed him right in the face so Oliver took him down. Let's just say it wasn't Oliver who came up crying!" Men!

Oliver also clearly has a way with words, so much so that he often makes them up. The other day when looking at aforementioned book of beasts, Oliver said of the Ogre. "He's 'Metty.'" "Metty?" I asked. "What does that mean?" Oliver pauses, "I means very fierce."