5!!!!!

Can't believe it's been 5 years since our boy was born! We love you Olie!





recap of birthdays past...

1st day




First b-day



Age 2



3rd bday




4th bday

5!!!!!

A Cocktail of Memories

Summer Friends

The Rat Pack: Audrey, Olie, Solvi, Tilly

So, obviously, now that BOTH children are whirlwinds of energy, I have little time to update this blog. But I still like to check in just in case some of you haven't heard the latest.

As of my last post Solvi was becoming more head strong. This remains true, but she's still a total sweetie, charmer (or "relational," as Sheila insists on calling her). Her favorite game is making tea or entire meals for me, Chad, or Baby and Dolly. Or she'll put us to bed - a game that consists of having us lie down while she covers us with "blankets", usually a series of many wash clothes. But come meal times, it's hard to get her to settle. One classic interaction that occurred this summer was during a meal when we were trying to coax Solvi to sit still and eat using positive reinforcement. While Oliver quietly ate his entire meal, we tried in vain to elicit the same from Solvi by praising the smallest amounts of time without getting up. Finally, an exasperated Oliver rightly inquired, "Can I get some praise here!?"

Solvi also still bowls people over with her verbosity, subtle understanding and worldly awareness. This summer after playing with Sheila, it was time for a nap. Solvi protested hurling herself around her crib. (She can be quite the drama queen.) Sheila tried to sooth her by validating her feelings, "Solvi, I know you're sad." To which Solvi corrected, "I'm not sad, I'm UPSET!"

Then the other day at the park she moved my purse after a lady sat down on the bench next to it. When I told her to put it back down, she said, "But Mommy, I was afraid someone would steal your money!" How is she even aware that that's a risk?

One of our favorite Solvi-ism this summer occurred whenever you were mad at her. "Daddy," she's state frankly, "open your forehead."

So now after a fun filled summer with Tilly and Audrey and dragons and faeries and mermaids, school has started again. Oliver is in a Pre-K class of kids that were cognitively ready for kindergarten, but age wise, just missed the cutoff. Read, it's definitely pre-academic, with no more free play. Oliver is having a hard time adjusting, "Mom, there are no cars or animals to play with!" Or my favorite: "I say I want to draw, the teacher says I have to play house, I say I want to play house, the teacher says I have to draw." To be fair to the Newton school system, rigorous tho it is, Oliver is a hair's breath from reading.

Cocktails!

(So there's a story with this shot. Every night in the summer my friend, Al, Tilly and Audrey's Mom, makes herself a delicious cocktail. Really they are THE BEST. For the under 21 crowd, she also makes a non-alcoholic concoction of fruit juices. Tho they pack less punch (or more I guess if you want to be literal), they are still referred to by all as "cocktails." So when summer was approaching this year. Oliver exclaimed, "Mom, summer's almost here. That means Tilly, and Audrey, and Alexandra and COCKTAILS!")

A gift from Marnie and Al

Chad, Audrey, Marnie, Nadav, Al, Solvi, Tilly, Balloon, Olie

One more funny note: both kids are obsessed with bling. Last month I took Solvi to J.Crew where she ran around donning everything that glittered. She finally discovered the piece d' resistance: gold sequinned Mary Janes. When I told her she had to remove the $60 shoes, she loudly protested, wailing: "But they're PARKLY!!!" Then Oliver and I made a painting for Tilly the other day after which he proceeded to have an imaginary conversation with her. Oliver, toy cell plastered to his ear, as himself, "Hi Tilly, I painted you a butterfly." Oliver as Tilly, "Is it sparkly?" Oliver as himself, "Yes, yes it is!"

More Summer Friends

Finn and the horseshoe crab

Investigations w/ Tilly

Dashiell and the snow cone

Kassy and Hans!

Hall Monitor and Mr. Hyde

Being two has certainly brought out opposing sides of Solvi’s personality. At times she’s her (here-to-fore) usual angelic self. This side is really evident at times like music class. There she sits among to whirling dervishes of the boys in class, fully engaged, singing the songs, following the every move and obeying the every command of the instructor. You know, the ultimate teacher’s pet. After each activity, when it’s time to clean up, Solvi is front and center, picking up the most toys, reminding the boys that it’s time to clean up, and offering “helpful” reminders (read grabbing the toys out of their hands to put them away) should they refuse to comply. I call this her “Hall Monitor” side.

On the other hand, with the zeal of frat boy given license to party on a spring break, Solvi has fully embraced the concept of the terrible two’s. Food is thrown at the table. She refuses to stay seated. She hits, she spits when she’s mad. She even throws sand at other kids just to try it out. Reports from the park often go something like this: “Mom, Solvi got 6 time outs. I only got 1!” (That's Oliver doing the reporting, of course.) But true to her generally sanguine nature, Solvi doesn’t really mind time outs. She just sits there quietly until "time in." And in Solvi’s defense, it really does feel like she’s just trying out this testing of limits thing. I don’t think she’ll continue to be a challenge. We’ll see...

But a strange thing has happened as a result of Solvi’s defiance. Oliver is now often great! My kid who has an Ed plan for his issues with “impulse control” is now comparatively “good” and “controlled!!” Taking after the the kids in his new favorite Berenstain Bears manners book, Oliver is sometimes quick to obey with an “of course.” And if you bump into him and then apologize he may even surprise you with a magnanimous, “No matter.” Pleased with his new status as “sometimes the good one”, Oliver now sometimes takes on the role of Hall Monitor, telling on Solvi for her every transgression. Of the two however, he continues to be more sensitive. Here’s one of my favorite recent exchanges:

Oliver, who was mad for some reason: “Solvi, you’re stupid.”

Solvi, nonchalante: “I not tupid.”

Olie: “Yeh, you’re STUpid!”

Solvi still unphased: “I not tupid, your tupid.”

Oliver: “Waaaaaaaa! Solvi called me Stupid!”

Olie the Poet

Today Oliver had a great day. He was nice to his sister. He helped me garden. He planted his own garden. He was just so cooperative, helpful and happy. So just after dinner as he was laying on the lawn with Solvi, I said as much, "Olie you had a great day!"

This caused him to state the following:

"I love my sister. I love my Mom and my Dad. I love everybody in my family. I love everybody at the ocean I meet. I love everybody in the world! Even the ones I've never met. I love them all."

In an attempt to brighten your day, Dear Reader, I just thought I'd share.

Solvi turns 2!

Here are my favorite b-day shots of our spirited girl.

Creative Expressions

Solvi on Pleasant Bay Rock

Just shy of two, Solvi is already little miss independent. Her new favorite statement, “I wanna do it my SELF!” God forbid you should try and help her get dressed. Even if you insist that you are only trying to help set her up, she throws a big fit and runs and hides (a charming technique she learned from Olie.) And whoa to the person who wants to help her down some rain soaked, concrete steps or across a busy street. And she is undaunted even if she has no idea how to! The other morning I had to bully her into her coat because she wanted to put her jacket on herself. I tried to show her, but she thought I was trying to squelch her independence. So then I had Olie show her the “pre-school” way. Too late, big fit. Luckily she is quite a fast learner. A couple hours after the coat fit, I picked her up from the Y babysitting and watched amazed as she indeed did put her coat on the pre-school way, just as Olie had just shown her! Was there a twinkle in her eye as she did so? I think so.

Out with Sheila

Solvi’s dexterity also applies to her linguistic skills. Another mother informed me that her pediatrician said kids should be putting 2 words together at least by 2.5 yrs. Well Solvi isn’t even 2 and, despite some issues with diction, she basically speaks at the level of a three-year-old! Single subjects are frequently treated with three or four complete sentences of 5 to 7 words. And she's been doing this for months! Experts and lay people alike continued to be impressed. The other day she said, “Mommy I like your shirt.” “Why, I asked.” “Because it’s fancy. I like fancy shirts.” What pre-2-year-old knows the word “fancy”?! Or consider this treatise dealing with a deaf caregiver at the Y, who Solvi was temporarily afraid of due to the way she spoke. So we’re driving by the Y and Solvi said, “I wanna go to da Y. I not scared at da lady. She’s a nice girl. She just has a different voice.” Solvi also knows all her colors and shapes and can almost count to 20 (with a few missteps). When you try to read her books you often have to wait until she’s taken a breathless tally of everything on the pages. “Dere’s an orange bird, and anodder bird. And a cute butterfly, and a green bug, and a nice dog. He looks like Bella.”

Not to be outdone by his sister Oliver also continues to be verbally precocious. The other day he was narrating our Thomas the Train game with the following, ‘“Ouch!” complained Thomas as Burdy hit him.” Notice the used of the word “complained” instead of just plain “said.” Or “We’re plant eaters!” Stegasaurus and Ankylosaurus insisted. We also had Oliver’s mid term school review yesterday, during which the teacher described the days advanced challenge. That morning she had asked the students to take a person, an object and a vehicle and construct a narrative sentence with all three and draw a representational picture. Now need I remind you that these kids are 4! She admitted that this was advanced kindergarten-level stuff that she’s had not actually expected any of the kids to be able to do. Oliver was the only one who could! Yes, I’m bragging here. But I’m proud! He sentence was: “A girl put a block in the dump truck then drove and dumped it out in a dirt pile.” And underneath, was his drawing of the girl, truck, and pile of dirt.

Whoa Grampa turns 97!

Olie is also just starting to “read” in that he sounds out at least the first letter of words. He is also interested in copying letters. Unfortunately this sometimes results in some graffiti. The other day while staying with Auntie Stephanie, I called Olie down from a time out in his room/Stephanie’s office. When he came down, I asked if he wanted to draw. After a few minutes Olie asked, “Mom, what does this say?” I looked to see that he had written B-O-B on the page. “Bob” I said. “Where did you learn that?” Chad piped in. "Go upstairs..." I went upstairs to find that Aunt Stephanie’s file labelled “Bob” for Bob Keiter now also sported the words “Bob” and “Oliver” shakily scrawled in hot pink highlighter by some youngster just learning to write. Hmmmm. Olie then went on to copy the word “CAT” from Stephanie’s frig.

Easter photos:

Olie’s representational drawing has also really come a long way in the last few weeks. Suddenly he’s moved from abstract forms to complicated things. Today he drew a tiger, complete with stripes!

Tiger!

Oliver is also our effusive child. He frequently gives me enthusiastic praise and hugs for the evening meal - “Mom, I LOVE this meal! It’s GRE-AT!” - sometimes even if he doesn’t like it. After such a reception to dinner, Chad later informed me that Oliver had confided in him that he didn’t actually like it. “But don’t tell Mom,” he said. AND the other morning when I came back from my well-deserved 40th bday night away, Olie threw his arms around me and said, “Mom I love you. I really love you after you've come back from a long trip. But then I get a little bored,” he admitted. “But you’re beautiful whenever.” Ok I’ll take that.

Running around the yard at Steph's

Oh and Olie’s no longer likes blue. This year the girls in class have introduced him to a whole new world of color. In the fall Olie came home and announced that he’d discovered gold. “It’s like yellow, Mom,” he explained, “but shiny!” Then he went throw a brief rainbow phase, following Tilly’s lead. Then pink!. Yes, after the school pajama day we’d had to go to Target and get “pink, monkey pajamas” just like Kylie and Asma had. Fortunately Olie has now moved on to red, which is much easier to accommodate.

Red Knot by Martha (Gramma Birds) and Olie

Favorite Pictures from Vermont

A great time was had by all during our Feb trip to Vermont. Thanks Uncle Rich and Aunt Peggy! (The horses were especially a hit.)