Christmas 2010

Oliver had a great second Christmas. He was, once again, a very good boy this year and got quite a few toys, including a tricycle and an easel. His favorite toy, however, was the train table that Santa brought him . It (obviously) wasn’t wrapped and became the toy that all the other toys had to be introduced to as they arrived. While he was more into unwrapping gifts this year than last he still didn’t have the stamina necessary to make it through a Jordan/Contine/Erickson/Barnett/Berger Christmas. He would run off and play with his trains and we would ask him: “Oliver, do you want to open another present?” and he would answer: “No!” He was plenty content with what he had.

Christmas morning got off to an early start (I thought we had a few more years before he started waking us up super early on Christmas morning but I guess I was wrong) but it was such a fun day. We opened gifts, visited, ate (Christmas dinner was AMAZING and, unlike last year, served before 10:oo PM) and had an awesome time. 

And even better we’ve actually been able to make room for all of the toys Oliver brought home in our little house. The train table has become our coffee table and is still the first thing Oliver wants to play with in the morning. In fact, most mornings I hear him in his room calling: “Mommy! Mommy!” but when Brian walks him through the living room on the way to our bedroom, he sees the train table and says: “Down please!” Guess I know where I rank!

I Love You a Green Bus

Oliver loves buses. Loves loves loves them. The first real phone conversation he had was with Brian a few weeks ago while Oliver and I were staying in San Antonio and it was all about the school buses he had seen at my mom’s school. He especially loves green buses like the city buses in Austin. Green is his favorite color.

One of his favorite gifts this year at Christmas was a toy school bus. Here’s how much he loved it:

The other day my mom and I were talking to him and I asked him: “How much do you love Grandmama.” His answer: “A bus.” A few hours later I asked him how much he loved me. His answer: “A green bus.” High praise, indeed! Mom was quickly upgraded to green bus status and now he tells us all when we ask that he loves us “a green bus.” It may completely screw up his verbal development but I tell you that from here on out I will be telling that little boy of mine that I love him a green bus every night when I put him to bed.

Learning the Important Things

Oliver can now tell you the noises that all sorts of animals make - cats, dogs, ducks, cows, horses, turkeys, seahorses, etc - and he can pick out most of his colors - orange, purple, blue, red, green, brown (with accompanying words for some of them) - and he can point to numerous parts of his body - nose, ears, mouth, dimples, chin, belly, knees... but I couldn’t be prouder of any of those than I am of the following:

This is by far the coolest thing he’s ever learned. Maybe he will fulfill my lifelong dream of being a referee in the NFL. Fingers crossed!

November 2010

So, according to my photos, November of 2010 was dominated by our weeklong trip to Los Alamos to see Grandma and Grandpa for Thanksgiving. I spent countless hours preparing for and stressing about the flights out there but everything went fine (especially because I got great advice from Laurie and Jessica about how to handle a toddler on an airplane). We sprung for a separate seat for Oliver on the plane since I felt that the best way to keep him still during the flights would be to have him strapped into his carseat.

It worked. He stayed relatively calm the whole time helped in part by crayons, new toys and a few episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba on my iPhone. He was super excited to be going on a plane but wasn’t too excited about the idea of leaving the ground once we took off. He immediately grabbed my hand and demanded that I close his window shade. 

We got to Albuquerque late and then had the long drive to Los Alamos but O did great the whole time. He woke up a little early for my taste the first morning we were there but for the most part he was a really flexible easy-going traveler. We are so lucky for that.

We had a great time visiting with the grandparents. We went to the Santa Fe Children’s Museum and to the Caldera and the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos. Oliver had a blast coloring with Grandma (she even managed to teach him his colors - he could recognize them all by the time we left and could say “blue” and “purple”). He also went on a few walks with Grandpa. (There are tons of pictures of all this in the November 2010 album).

Thanksgiving Day was also lots of fun. Oliver got all dressed up for the occasion but didn’t manage to actually eat any of the food that was prepared - in fact, he didn’t even manage to stay seated at the table for more than a few minutes. Oh, well, maybe next year. But look how cute he looked:

Before we knew it, it was time to head back home. Oliver did fine on the flights home but since they were so late he ended up spending the last half of the flight from Dallas to Austin in my lap trying to sleep. I’m not one to pass up cuddle time when it’s offered to me, though, so I didn’t mind.