my name is oliver and I am here

Visiting the Aquarium

2010-12-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

It's been a LONG time since i last went to the aquarium, like maybe two years - half my lifetime. Long enough that while i remembered seeing the belugas i had totally forgotten there was a play area there too.

Mom and i played I-spy trying to find all the fish listed in the tropical tanks:

There were a lot of Nemos, and even a shark....and a giant turtle who was as big as me.

The jellyfish were kind of cool, but not as fascinating to me as the colour-changing bubble machines

we saw the beginning of a 4D movie called The Polar Express, but i didn't like it AT ALL, so we left pretty quick. When something splashed on screen you actually got wet sitting on your seat! The train went out of control and was screaming down the track....my seat was shaking, it was really loud and the wind was blowing in my face..SCARY.

We retreated to the safety of the kids area, where i built a tower of foam blocks and had a rest to recover from the experience

All in all a great day out. I can't wait to go back again some day.

A safe place?

2010-11-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

It was nearly time to go to school, and i was done playing, so i went to look for mom.

Eventually i found her in the shower. After I'd weighed myself on the scales, had a little taste of toothpaste, thrown some bath toys back into the bath(narrowly avoiding mom) and moved a few bottles around, i spotted mom's glasses sitting somewhat precariously - i felt - on the top of the toilet.

"Shall i put these in a safe place for you?" i asked. "sure" said mom, "but be careful with them".

Off i went.

Five minutes later mom came out dressed and ready to take me to school.

"Can i have my glasses now, Ollie"
"Oh"
"You put them in a safe place, remember?"
"Ermmm...i know, i think they're on the lego table......no, not there.....erm...maybe they're in my bedroom? let's go and see.......no.....well where else could they be? shall we try the kitchen somewhere?"

"Think where you put them Ollie. We need to leave for school"

"I know...we could go to school and then YOU could look for them. or maybe you could get a different pair?"

Mom and i eventually found them in HER bedroom, about six feet from the bathroom door.

And yes, i was late for school.

pumpkin patch

2010-10-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

Last year at preschool Joel and mom came to Trimble Park and made the morning class their very own pumpkin patch, hiding pumpkins under piles of leaves. I was going to link to the post, but it seems i didn't do any blogging last year AT ALL.
What happened mom?
You can see some photos here though: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=344890&id=773165334&l=b918356de4

Anyway, this year we went on a field trip to a real pumpkin patch. Fortunately the sun was shining as i really don't like getting muddy boots, and there wasn't any really scary stuff although the man-sized singing and dancing sweetcorn and orange were definitely a bit odd!

I made it my mission to find the smallest sized pumpkin i could. In the end the smallest one we found was about the size of my thumb, but it was still green so mom said we couldn't pick it. I carefully avoided the worst of the mud and managed to find a pumpkin for each of us.

Once we got home mom set to work carving our designs. Joel drew a lighting face on his, and dad probably has the only longboarder pumpkin in town. Mom and i had more traditional jack-o-lanterns, although mom's met with a sorry end when a squirrel attacked it over night :(

On Hallowe'en itself we went out into the neighborhood around Joel's school where there were loads of families out trick-or-treating. I put my knight's costume back on again, and Joel dressed up as spiderman. All we had to do was knock on someone's door and say "trick or treat" and they gave us handfuls of candy. Typically now that we have all this candy, mom won't let us eat it all, which may have something to do with the fact that she had to say 'trick or treat' at most of the homes we visited.

Haircuts

2010-10-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

As is readily apparent from yesterday's photos in the park i'm badly in need of a haircut. Part of the reason for postponing was so that Joel wouldn't have really short hair for his school photo this week but now that's done so we're off for a trim.

Mom managed to score a great deal with Groupon so instead of going to our usual hairdresser we went to a special kids salon called Melonheads. Instead of regular chairs there was a choice of all kinds of things to sit on, big screen TVs on the wall showing Treehouse, a bean bag game to play afterwards ..... but just like the other place they still gave us lollipops once we were done.

Preschool fun in the park

2010-10-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Every day it's not raining, and sometimes even if it is, we start our afternoon preschool sessions with 30 minutes or so in the park across the street. Personally i'm not a big fan of 'weather' - rain, wind, cold, heat.....and i'd much rather start class inside. As we approach preschool i look carefully out of the car window for any sign the kids are outside. At the first glimpse of an orange pinny in the park i give a theatrical groan and utter my regular complaint: "Ohhhhhh....we're starting outside AGAIN today"

Once mom's persuaded me out of the car I actually quite enjoy playing in the playground. I've overcome my intense dislike of swings, and quite like swingly GENTLY. No big pushes thank you.

Gymnastics

2010-10-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

Going to gymnastics is one of the highlights of my week. Right now i go with Stephen to Kitsilano community centre on a Tuesday morning - it's not my most favourite place as there's no trampoline but i still really enjoy it. Mom drops me off and goes for a run outside while i run around inside. Afterwards i get to have a playdate with Stephen and sometimes we even do lunch together before preschool.

If we don't have anything else planned, sometimes i get to visit the gym at UBC on a Friday morning too, and they do have a trampoline so i can get some bouncing in. We're planning to go later this week when Joel has a Pro-D day so he can come too.

Bike-a-thon

2010-10-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

Every year Wesbrook Preschool has a bikeathon as a fundraiser. All the kids ride either the school tricycles or their own bikes around a track drawn up for the occasion on the basketball court over in Trimble Park. Despite much reluctance on my part, mom made me go to school today AND she brought my bike.

Of course, once i got started i really quite enjoyed it. I'm finally getting the hang of my balance bike, and instead of just walking along awkwardly with it between my legs, i'm actually sitting on it and zooming along. Ok, maybe zooming's a bit of an exaggeration, but i'm definitely going much faster than i used to.

and i REALLY like my medal
.

Stephen's birthday

2010-09-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

Stephen is my best friend, and today was his 4th birthday, which makes him about six weeks older than me. Another way of putting that is to say he had to wait six whole WEEKS less than me to get his lego star wars watch. Anyway....i've forgiven him because he had his birthday party at one of my favourite places: the Adventure Zone at Granville Island. Joel is going to be mad when he finds out what he missed while he was at school today!

I wasn't too sure about the hot dogs we had for lunch, nor the cupcakes Stephen had instead of a birthday cake, but they did have plenty of icing on top, so i ate that.

All in all it was a very fun way to spend a morning, and now i really can't wait for it to be my birthday!

Back to preschool

2010-09-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

After a week of escorting Joel to and from school (not to mention visiting at lunchtime to eat lunch with him and play in his playground) it was finally time for me to go back to preschool.

Even though i was too shy in my parent-teacher interview to say anything to either of the teachers, i did manage to choose a cubby (next to Stephen's - Yay!) and mom had prepared my earthquake kit, change of clothes, inside shoes, duplicate photos, hand towel (named and with a loop for hanging) and so i was all set...or so we thought.

Somehow when it came time to get dressed all my trousers had shrunk about two inches. Hmmmm...... Out came the age 4 trousers, some were good, some were on the short side. On to age 5. Hoorah for Next! My Levis fit in the waist, but i can't undo the button to go to the bathroom on my own, so they're no good for preschool. Anything that doesn't have an adjustable waist is hopeless...even though some of them are seriously cool skater gear. All i can say is Joel must have had a seriously big bum...none of my pants stay up at all without help.

So finally, dressed and ready, we made it. Our last year as a family at Wesbrook Preschool. Here's hoping it's a good one! Mom;s already enjoying just being secretary instead of being the President or responsible for enrollment. Now she just gets to tell everyone else what to do..It's called writing minutes apparently.

Finally....we get to go to IKEA

2010-09-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

For the last few months mom and dad have been trying to coerce me into giving up the diapers and using the toilet.

First off they just asked nicely. Next they got cross and didn't ask so nicely. When that didn't work they tried bribing me with a candy machine (Joel was particularly keen on this approach), another failure there then led to blackmail.....but finally, almost by accident, they hit on the proper motivation.

On a family trip to IKEA Joel got to go and play in the kid's playroom, while i had to go shopping with mom and dad. NOT FAIR...but kids in diapers weren't allowed.

Thus started several weeks effort on my part to try and work out exactly how to go pee. Mom and i spent hours in the bathroom. I knew i needed to go...but how? Once mom tickled me until i got hiccups..unorthodox perhaps, but it worked! And then, while we were away at camp on Anvil island, i got it. Instead of sitting for 5-10 minutes, getting up, sitting down again, waiting some more..repeat as necessary...it just happened, straight away.

Phew.

Of course, since we were stuck on an island there wasn't an IKEA anywhere near by, but we got home on Saturday at the start of the holiday weekend and today we finally went. Not only did i get to go in the playplace, we also had meatballs for lunch, and ice-cream afterwards, and our friends Ethan and Stephen came too, to help celebrate.

What a great day!

wednesdays at granville island

2010-04-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday afternoons mom and I hang out at Granville Island while Joel has his art class at Arts Umbrella.

Sometimes we go for a snack at PICA (Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts). Ssshhhhh...don't tell Joel. This is a 'snack' in the same sense that dad's grande extra-hot triple white mocha, no whip is a 'coffee'.

Occasionally - when it's raining - we head inside to the Kid's Market and play with the train sets and other toys there.

But my favourite things to do at Granville Island are watching the ball tracks in the studio and at Ocean Cement and going to the playground

Of course even just walking around is pretty fun ....

the hour usually passes pretty quick!

Play Place

2010-04-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite places to hang out in the mornings, when i'm not at preschool, is the West Side Family Place, known in our family as the 'play place'.

Outside there's a huge sandpit to dig in, swings, toys and a really cool climbing frame and slide built around a tree.

I've been coming here a long time now. This was back in March 2008

and September the same year.

I used to be kind of wobbly around the slide and crossing the bridge, but now i've totally got it sorted.

Inside you can do painting, some kind of craft, more sand, dress up. There's books and baby toys (which i actually think are kind of fun still)

but best of all, upstairs in the kitchen, they have snacks from STARBUCKS. YUM.

snow fun?

2010-04-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Mom and Joel had so much fun skiing on Friday that it was decided we would ALL go up the mountain on Sunday, which was not MY idea of fun AT ALL.

Mom and I spent the morning in the cafeteria, doing puzzles and colouring and stuff while dad and Joel went skiing. From time to time i glanced anxiously out of the window, but the skies were definitely blue, and there was no chance it was going to snow. Phew. Mom got up and looked out of the window from time to time as well, but she didn't force me outside or anything, and she brought a great picnic for lunch. I started lunch early...but did leave one or two things i didn't like all that much for Joel.

Once dad and Joel had finished up the remains of the picnic mom had had enough. She bundled me into all my clothes and out the door.

I watched mom and Joel for a LONG time. They seemed to be having fun.

I was good too, just hanging out...watching

but finally i decided to try it, just once...and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!

dad got involved in the action too

setting me up for a run through the trees

joel choosing his route

and crashing

which was pretty funny

although joel had a few choice words to say about my laughing....

I'm not going to tell you what happened when it was time to leave. You might be as unamused as mom, who'd spent a glorious morning stuck inside a concrete shell. Let's just say i wasn't quite ready to go home yet.....

Field trip to the Buswash

2010-03-31T13:53:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of years I've tagged along with Mom and Joel on various preschool field trips. This time it was Joel's turn to come with me. He knew that a trip to the bus wash would be much more fun than a morning in kindergarten!

There was only one disappointment about this year's trip.....after we'd seen a bus in the workshop, been on a tour of the yard, been through the bus wash not once, but twice, we finally went upstairs to the cafeteria to be rewarded for all our hard work. Not really being a fan of watery activities, and really liking food, this for me was going to be the highlight of the fieldtrip: icecream. Except this year they didn't give us any. That made me very sad...especially because mom only brought one small banana which we had to share between three of us. She was expecting there to be icecream too.

Sunday in Seattle

2010-03-28T09:25:00.000-07:00

After another enormous breakfast, mom decided it was too soon to go swimming again, so we went out instead.

It appears that instead of going to church on Sunday mornings, people in Seattle all go to REI. REI is an outdoor adventure kind of store, like MEC in Vancouver, but bigger.

Outside there are trails to try out mountain bikes, there's a huge climbing wall inside the store, more like a mountain - apparently there are great views from the top, but I didn't climb it, there are trails to try out hiking boots.....even a kids play area. We did play there for a while, but we had more fun trying on helmets and testing out tents

On our way back to the car we got a bit distracted by a skateboard/snowboard shop, but dad was vetoed from visiting the Kurzweil store. We need a reason to come back again, right?

Our journey back to Vancouver took a really long time, because mom wanted us to fully experience the American shopping experience. This meant stopping at KMart, Target, Walmart and other cheap and cheerful places. The car was pretty full by the time we crossed the border. We got new Techdecks, a GPS so dad could find the way home, a load of cheap cheese and milk, and some stuff you can't even get in Canada, like chocolate cheerios. Yum.

By staying away 48 hours we could have taken $800 of stuff duty free back into Canada. Our haul didn't even come close, much to dad's disappointment. He still wanted that HDTV!

Exploring Seattle

2010-03-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

As ever, mom had done her research and knew that what we needed to explore Seattle was a one-day travelpass valid on both the bus and streetcar. The streetcar left from right outside our hotel, but you could only buy the ticket we needed on a bus. So off we went, looking for a bus in Seattle......it actually proved quite challenging! We did find a busdriver in a coffee shop buying his morning coffee, but he didn't have any tickets, and then we found another streetcar stop, but they didn't have any tickets, and THEN we finally saw a bus. Hoorah. Dad felt a bit silly stopping a bus to buy a ticket, but not actually getting on...and then we were all set.

It's our first trip to Seattle and we all had places we wanted to visit. Mom got to choose first, as it was her birthday, so we all went down the hill to Pike Place Market. It was kind of like Granville Island, but with guys throwing fish.
Next up was dad's choice: the original Starbucks
there was a pretty long line, so we were there quite a while. Fortunately we had some monster trucks with us, and Joel had his sketchpad to draw a quick sketch of the store, so we weren't too bored.

Joel's choice was to go up a tall tower, but mom and i didn't fancy that, so we found a really cool toy store instead. it had flying monkeys and everything. Nothing could have torn me away apart from the fact that i was rather hungry! After lunch we got back on the bus...it was easier to find this time,although we did have to make it stop and we finally all went to my choice - the Space needle.

Mom's birthday

2010-03-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

It was a really smart move sleeping in the car all afternoon on our drive to Seattle. By the time we arrived it was obvious there was no point trying to put us to bed at our usual time. Joel and I would just be totally sleepless in Seattle.

Instead, mom and dad piled us back into the car and we drove across a really cool floating bridge to the Factoria shopping mall in Bellevue. Mom was pretty excited about the shops, and it wasn't long before she abandoned us boys and went to do some shopping. Dad didn't get the new TV he wanted, but mom bought herself some stuff, and Joel and I had really cool new T-shirts.

For once we didn't mind how long mom took in all the various stores as we were getting cultured at the children's museum. As museum's go this one was kind of strange. The oldest thing in it was probably dad, and there wasn't all that much culture, but there was loads of stuff to play with. It was a bit loud for dad, too ........

We did eventually get back to our hotel where Joel and I each had our own bed. Joel had a sofa that turned into a bed, and i had a chair that folded down, too. We waited until it was all quiet in mom and dad's room - they went to sleep pretty quick after such a long day - and then we finally went to sleep as well. Lots of exploring to do tomorrow.

an unexpected adventure

2010-03-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

it was bound to happen eventually - joel and i like to race to be first at just about everything.....eating, drinking, getting dressed, getting out of the car, pushing the elevator buttons.....joel usually wins, and on the rare occasions he doesn't he declares "that wasn't a race". it's tough being the little guy sometimes.

so today we were at safeway and i was first to the button to call the elevator..yay! the doors opened and i darted around the people getting off so that i could be first to press the button inside too.....yay, i did it, a double victory for me today.

there was just one little problem - mom didn't push her way through fast enough and so i was off on my first solo adventure!

the end of an era

2010-03-07T09:40:00.001-08:00

i had my last gymnastics class with mom today. When we restart after Spring Break, my friend Stephen and I will be with all the big kids in class, instead of the toddlers and their moms. I'm a bit sad that mom won't be there to play ball with me at the start of class, but i'm hoping we get to spend a bit more time in the foam pit. Mom always tries to distract me with the trampoline and the balance beam, but i usually manage to sneak up the stairs and leap into the foam blocks eventually.

Mom's hoping it goes a bit better than my swimming lessons i supposedly do on my own. i've just finished my first set of classes and i didn't even manage to pass the "getting wet" item on the syllabus. ooops :)

At least mom knows she won't need to get wet while she's watching me do gymnastics. See you through the window, mom - don't forget to wave!

the planets....

2010-02-12T13:25:00.000-08:00

it' s tricky being bilingual

2010-02-05T10:07:00.000-08:00

mom's suggested activity for the morning: "why don't you play with your garage?" Ollie: "what garage?" "the one with the cars and the ramps" "where?" "on the playroom floor - where you drive the cars down the slopes". ollie goes to look.

"Ohhhhh....you mean the parking lot with the elevator!"

many, many bloggable moments have been missed in the last 18 months......here's hoping i can catch a few from now on :)

My Great Granny

2008-05-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

I was really sorry to hear today there'd be no more visits to see great granny. I only met her the once, when i was 4 months old, but she sang me some lovely songs and nursery rhymes while we were there.

Goal!

2008-05-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Not the greatest of photos (very difficult lighting, apparently) but my pleasure is still very evident. "Goal!" is one of the few words in my vocabulary. You might consider other words more important to learn first but then your brother isn't Joel.

Mmmmmm....

2008-05-05T22:03:00.000-07:00

Salsa is one of my favourite things. I'm very reluctant to eat corn chips without some. In fact, i start looking around for the bowl to dip in as soon as the chips appear.
Num, num, nummm

I love preschool

2008-05-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

Taking Joel to school is definitely the highlight of the day. I get to stay and play for about 20 minutes before Joel and the rest of the big kids have circle time. Mom doesn't like me doing painting on my own, but other than that i pretty much have the run of the place.

I'm there so often that back in January i even had my 'school' photo taken:

My first haircut

2008-03-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

given the fuss that was made, i was expecting this to be rather an ordeal - however, once i'd screamed sufficiently to have the ridiculous white cape with dinosaurs on removed, it was just fine.

Dad takes a day off

2008-03-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

While Joel was at preschool, dad and i took the opportunity to hang out a little:

it's good to share

water fun

2008-03-03T20:48:00.000-08:00

the only good thing about persistent rain is that it does eventually stop - and then the fun really starts!

what's better than chocolate?

2008-01-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

dates!!!

i know i shouldn't

2007-08-08T22:23:00.000-07:00

it's just too tempting.....mom wears these really shiny glasses on her face, and i just LOVE stealing them

but at least i didn't drop them in the water

a room of my own

2007-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

finally, after hours of work cleaning and painting, not to mention the dismantling and reassembly of my bed......i have a room of my own. i've got animals on the wall above the change table and by my bed, a bookcase for my books (eventually), somewhere to keep my clothes, and some seriously funky curtains: soccer star and electric guitar player no less. mom even made me a wooden curtain rod to hang them. thanks mom

nanaimo for lunch

2007-06-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

given my 'not so varied' diet currently, i don't really mind where we do lunch right now, but even so it did seem a little excessive to go all the way over to nanaimo - on vancouver island - just for mom and dad and liz to have lunch. after a long walk from the ferry pushing joel and i in strollers, they found a cute little mexican place floating in the harbour area with great food - although the lack of roof was a bit of a problem when it started to rain. rather than playing in the park or going for a swim we ended up hanging out in the shopping mall for joel to have his promised icecream while mom fed me. going on the ferry was fun though, although we didn't see any orca. plenty of snacks made up for that though as far as i'm concerned, and joel kept me entertained by pretending to be a bird, by climbing on the railings and furniture on deck, and by being a fireman using the hosepipe. when mom and dad couldn't stand it any longer we went inside and turned joel loose in the arcade while i posed for photos for the japanese branch of my fan club

jumping....

2007-06-20T21:57:00.000-07:00

what do you mean the playground's only for the big kids? since mom bought me an extension chain for my jolly jumper it goes everywhere with me. you'd be surprised at the places it's possible to jump,especially when doing so is one of the few things guaranteed to make you smile. mom even found a place for me to jump at historymaker when we visited for the day. it was a bit chilly as it was outside under a staircase, but lots of the big kids were there jumping in time to the music too.
that was a pretty successful day trip actually: we all got up early(no problem there, except for mom) and made it to chilliwack in Kris's little red golf in time for the first session. Darlene came with us to help look after joel, or maybe she just wanted to check dad was looking after her two boys OK??

one of my favourite jumping spots is under the apple tree in our back garden. there's just the right amount of shade to be really pleasant on a hot day, although it can be a bit dangerous when joel has a ball or a hockey stick or a golf club or a krispie (frisbee) or pretty much any time joel is awake really.

smarty pants

2007-06-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

liz very kindly volunteered to look after joel for a couple of hours while mom and dad took me to a wedding. being the bright kind of girl she is, i expect she realised joel would be asleep most of the time we were away.

mom and dad ate enormous platefuls of food, lots of people told me how cute i was, my new little friend lucy came out too( even though she was only a week or so old) and everyone looked very smart.

oh yes, and cory and jess got married. hoorah.

i know, i know......it's traditional to show a photo of the bride and groom, but be honest now, you're far more interested in what i was wearing, aren't you?

company again

2007-06-14T21:54:00.000-07:00

mom and dad eventually got fed up with me singing at 3am, and for about a month now i've been sleeping in the playroom. joel's not entirely happy about this, considering it HIS territory, but a guy's got to sleep somewhere you know.

(only one of us is actually asleep)

anyway......after a few sleepless nights on the sofa in the living room: a combination of jetlag, combined with joel's midnight screaming and early morning wanderings has led liz to seek refuge in my room.

if she promises not to snore, i'll only sing really quietly and i'll do my best to wait until daybreak.

it would be really great if in return she could carry me on her back on some exciting adventures

mom's library book

2007-05-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

about a month ago mom got a book out of the library: "sleep solutions for your baby, toddler and preschooler". ironically of course, mom's too tired to read and it's just sat on the window sill, but joel and i had a little look. frankly, some of the suggestion 'solutions' sound barbaric.

a couple of days ago the renewal notice came through from the library which seemed to inspire mom towards picking the book up again. i warned joel that a new regime was in the offing, and perhaps the time had come to sleep a little bit more consistently. we tried it out on wednesday night, both sleeping from 11pm to 7am. mom looked a bit dazed and confused in the morning, so we tried again last night. joel cheated and got up at 6.40am while i slept until 7am again!

now all i need is a '12 hour' diaper so that my sleeping bag's not wet in the morning and it'll all be good. it's a good thing mom likes doing laundry :)

finding nemo - spot the difference

2007-05-07T22:23:00.000-07:00

the same .......but different

2007-05-07T21:20:00.000-07:00

now that i'm six months old, mom has had a while to discover i am definitely my own man. i will admit though, there are some similarities with my big brother:
both of us are somewhat reluctant to sleep all night, preferring to check mom's still around from time to time (and while you're up mom, a snack would be nice).
we both consider the jolly jumper to be the greatest invention on the planet
at age 6 months we still don't really have enough hair to warrant washing it
splashing in the bath is serious fun
vegetables are OK, but fruit - especially pears - are GREAT
soothers are good in theory, but they won't stay in my mouth. like joel, i'd rather suck/bite an adult finger as i go to sleep

however, unlike joel:
i wasn't born with a receding chin, and found nursing relatively straightforward from the start
i've never suffered from diaper rash, although i do have eczema flare ups from time to time, particularly on my head
at age 6 months i wear 'age 6 months' clothes. joel on the other hand was already into his 1 yr old stuff
i consider napping to be over-rated and routine is for other people
there's no chance of cutting my finger nails while i'm asleep, or transferring me into my bed from the stroller - i'll be wide awake in an instant

i can do it

2007-05-01T21:31:00.000-07:00

as long as i'm concentrating

and despite appearances to the contrary, my hair IS growing. it's almost an inch long in places but i don't think i'll be getting it cut any time soon

and then there were two

2007-04-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

despite doubling my number of teeth, i'm still thoroughly enjoying investigating my toes at every opportunity, although sometimes they don't taste so good. that could be because i've been jumping in the jolly jumper on the kitchen floor with no shoes on, and joel does like to share his food with me. mom came out of the laundry one day to discover joel feeding me rice krispies and saying 'good sharing'.

are daisies good to eat?

2007-04-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Mmmmmm........

2007-04-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

to celebrate the arrival of my first tooth, mom's finally relented and let me have some of the good stuff. i've been eagerly eyeing up everyone else's food for some time now to no avail. i'm not too sure about orange food though :( carrots are pretty gross, but i do eat sweet potato, mostly because i've discovered that this is usually followed by pears, which are far more yummy.

i tried to snaffle some of dad's hot dog at a BBQ tonight. i managed to break a piece off his roll without him noticing, but unfortunately i dropped it on the floor before i could eat it. shame.

for those of you who think it'll be a long while yet before i'm feeding myself, i just want you to know it wasn't me who put sweet potato up my nose. i guess mom wasn't helped by the fact i was bouncing in my chair while she was trying to feed me. i was just passing time really until the pear arrived. it took me a couple of days to get the spoon in my mouth by myself, but by day 3 i could do it......there wasn't any food on it at the time though which was rather disappointing. all things being considered, i think i still prefer milk for the moment. sorry mom. i know you're looking forward to sleeping again one day.

morning rituals......

2007-04-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

at 8am monday to friday dad takes a shower and hands the childcare over to mom for the day.

mom turns the kettle on for a nice cup of tea, and the tv on for 30 minutes peace - with a brief interruption after 12 minutes for a rallying cry of "want more monkey, do".

it's 8am - it's Curious George - George is a good little monkey, and always very curious.

jumping...

2007-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

with a little help from my big brother, i've mastered the jolly jumper. first of all joel demonstrated by jumping up and down on his bed. i tried to copy him and ended up hopping from foot to foot and going around in circles. Joel got mom to put some tunes on, and he encouraged me by shouting "dance, ollie, dance".

after a few more attempts, with joel helping by bouncing my support bar, i finally got it. i'm now expert at jumping, and i love it.

joel meanwhile has mastered pedaling the tricycle up and down the garden path, although he does have a tendency to put his bob the builder helmet on backwards, which looks pretty funny.

it's NOT raining

2007-04-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

it's a good job we brought this sun tent thingy back from england with us. i get the feeling i might be spending quite a lot of time outside this summer.
joel asks (with varying success) to eat just about every meal outside. when it's raining he just says he needs a hat and his coat and boots and gloves.... granny is somewhat amused by our weather forecasts: light rain, heavy rain, showers, few showers....

are we nearly there yet?

2007-04-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

hey - if this is travelling economy class, how good is first class?

my greatest granny

2007-03-28T20:23:00.000-07:00

i met lots and lots (and lots!) of new people on our trip to england, but this is me meeting my greatest granny

debut performance of chopsticks

2007-03-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

this isn't actually as hard as i thought it would be. i guess it'll be easier still when i can sit up on my own

going to australia?

2007-03-08T13:56:00.000-08:00

right now, it looks like i won't be going anyplace soon, as my passport still hasn't arrived. that's another whole story mom might tell later. when it's been resolved.....
however, while dad was on the phone to australia i made the most of the opportunity to roll over and see how the world looked the other way up. it was pretty exciting - until i realised i was stuck

down to the last one

2007-03-05T15:58:00.000-08:00

Two down......

2007-03-05T15:54:00.000-08:00

two to go!

specialist help

2007-03-03T15:54:00.000-08:00

mom and i went to see Joel's old friend dr verity livingstone yesterday, at the vancouver breastfeeding clinic. i've not put on any weight this month, so we needed some help. hopefully she'll be able to help us on the eating front, but in the meantime she prescribed some antibiotic ointment for my itchy head. it's working amazingly well - after just one night i'm looking a whole lot better. maybe dad will start taking photos of me again soon

singing

2007-03-02T15:50:00.000-08:00

it's taken a while, but i've found my voice. singing's great. mom and dad don't seem to appreciate it as much as i expected though. first of all mom said "shhh", then dad came in and said "shush, oliver". after another hour dad finally got a bit cross and said "oliver - will you just SHUT UP". perhaps 3am wasn't the best time to start?

four hours?

2007-02-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

what do you mean, you want me to wait four hours before i have some more milk? that's not fair. mom doesn't have to wait four hours for a cup of tea!

other than that, and the fact i'm being forced to sleep at regular intervals for extended periods of time, everything's good in my world. i'm not all that good at taking naps, although joel tries to help by putting my tiger on my head and saying "shush baby, go to sleep".
i've moved to a bigger bed and need bigger diapers, which may be because i now weigh 14lbs 5oz (6.5 kgs) and i'm 66cm tall. i can hold my head up well enough to play in the exersaucer, and when i'm under my gym i can simultaneously grab a duck with my hand and kick the cow with my foot. good, eh?

three months old

2007-02-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

happy birthday to me! what do i get? FOUR injections in my legs and a new bigger bed to roll around in agony in. thanks mom :(

Passport photos

2007-01-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

Unlike Joel, it only took me two attempts to pose with a 'neutral expression' with my eyes open and my mouth shut. i guess it helps that at this stage i can't say 'cheese please'; this producing a dimpling grin.

given that 20,000 canadians a day are currently after passports in order to visit the US - that's a lot of people wanting to go shopping - we're in rather more of a hurry to get passports for our trip to visit the grannies than we might otherwise be. hope they arrive in time

so much to say - so little time

2007-01-15T21:18:00.000-08:00

being reliant on others to type for me does make it difficult when it comes to updating you. whilst there's nothing specific i want to say right now, there's all sorts of things i've fogotten to tell you along the way. for example, did you know i've been smiling since birth? no, it's not just wind - i even recognise the pillow mom uses when it's time to do some eating.

i like a nice chat when i get the chance to get a word in edgeways. joel is a noisy chap, you know. this generally means either later in the evening or when i'm having my diaper changed.

i love my 'symphony in motion' mobile, but don't usually have it on in my crib as it's a bit too exciting for a bedtime activity. it won't be long before i need a bigger bed. i keep hitting the sides of the bassinet and waking myself up.

thanks to the kind people who sent mom money when i was born and for christmas, i have some new clothes all of my own. my favourite is a pair of 'moose on the loose' dungarees. mom had to take the 3 month size back and swap them for the 6 month ones though

my new car seat is already in the playroom waiting for me. it won't be long now before i'm too tall for the infant one. mom's postponing the moment of transfer as it's going to make grocery shopping pretty complicated for a while. all you brits out there, please don't suggest she does it online. unfortunately tesco don't deliver this far.......and canadian supermarkets probably don't even have computerised stock control

urban baby

2007-01-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

being a second child means you go on adventures rather earlier than a first baby. apparently i went back to the aquarium last week, but since i fell asleep in the car on the way there, and woke up again at home, i can't confirm that fact. yesterday though i was definitely an urban baby. first of all mom fed me sitting on the floor of the seabus terminal in the ten minutes we had whilst waiting for the boat to dock, and then she changed my diaper on the floor of the glass panelled walkway leading back to the skytrain terminus. joel managed to distract everyone from my nakedness by dancing frenetically to the busker who was playing there. thanks joel.

I did it!

2007-01-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

i realise that most of my posting's thus far have been about my physical self, but up until now i haven't really done much for myself. that all changed today.

today i discovered i can swipe at the toys hanging above me in my gym, and they move, rattle and swing. how cool. i've also been playing with joel's 'bob the builder' balloon. bob lies happily on the ceiling until i pull on the string, and then he kind of dances. he makes a great crinkly sound when i cuddle him, too

not long now before i'll be able to play the piano......

taking after dad

2007-01-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

mom was once famously described as 'having legs up to her armpits'. while i doubt this is strictly anatomically correct, i understand the sentiment. me? not so much. i have a big head, a long body, and really big feet (nearly outgrown my 6month shoes), but my legs? they're kind of average, i guess, but in the context of the rest of me, somewhat lacking :( hence, i must take after dad. i am starting to look more like him, too.

but where have my ear lobes come from? i've made a careful study of mom and dad and joel and all of them have ears which attach to their face at the bottom, but mine don't. they kind of turn a corner first. if any of you other rellies out there would like to claim this genetic deformity, do let me know.

my first christmas

2006-12-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

christmas......an over-rated experience if you ask me. joel opened my presents for me, and while he found it terribly exciting i took the opportunity to have a little nap. i did the same when we went on the train in Stanley Park. and while mom and dad ate turkey and ham and vegetables and pudding and all that stuff on christmas day...... i only take little naps mind you. it wouldn't do for mom and dad to get a good night's sleep and feel rested now, would it?

6 week update

2006-12-14T14:41:00.000-08:00

as promised here are my latest measurements: i'm 11lbs 12oz, 59cm tall, with a head circumference of 42cm. that makes me not quite as brainy as my big brother, but i'm definitely feeding better - i'm a whole pound heavier than he was at this stage!

mom's happy because her pre-pregnancy jeans are falling off - time to find that belt again for the first time in a long while

dad's as happy as can be expected for someone who's slept (or not) on the sofa for two weeks, in order to intercept night-time wandering two year olds

joel's happy when he has a cookie.......

been busy

2006-12-12T11:53:00.000-08:00

i can't believe i'm almost six weeks old already. sorry i haven't posted much, but i've been SO busy, and not just eating and sleeping (or not sleeping, as the case might be). take this morning for example, i went out with mom and joel and saw not one, but two diggers just down the street on our way to the park. yesterday i went to Costco to buy cheese for christmas, and went downtown to look at lots of christmas trees in the four seasons hotel. it's hard to say which was joel's favourite: the one with free lollipops, the one decorated with toy monkeys, the one with a tiger on top or the one with diggers and construction tools.
i've been to the aquarium not once, but twice, been up a mountain, seen vancouver's heaviest snowfall for years, survived twelve days when mom couldn't drink the water out of the taps (and was thus seriously deprived of cups of tea), been to starbucks (of course), church, safeways....loads of places. admittedly i slept through most of these adventures, but sometimes i made my presence heard.
i'm back to the midwife for my final visit in a couple of days, so i'll check in again with my latest vital stats then. bye for now

angel style peace

2006-12-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

according to one famous and helpful child expert there are 4 classifications of baby - textbook, grumpy, spirited and angel. joel my lovely older brother has proven to be textbook over his 2 years. in week 5 i am showing every sign of being an angel - eating well, sleeping consistently, and waking up "cooing". i'm still a little mixed up with my day/night thing, but other than that, proving to be rather adorable. this is making parents breathe big sighs of relief. joel and i got together on thursday and decided to be really nice to mom and dad and give them 2 nights of reasonable sleep. now to the world out there without babies and toddlers, those two nights would probably be classed as "terrible" with 11.00 bedtime, 2 hours of being woken split over 3 occasions, and an early start at 6.10.. but by our standards of the last week, that's incredible .. we are being very generous. mom and dad feel like they can conquer the world right now.

hopefully joel will give dad some time to sort out and publish my photos VERY soon .. in the meantime, here's a little taste of my gorgeous angel-like smiley dreams.

the weigh in

2006-11-10T18:21:00.000-08:00

that really is me in the picture, honest.......you can tell by my big feet and long toes. the midwife Shannon is very generously protecting my modesty as she weighs me at one week old.

despite best intentions not to make comparisons with my big brother, here's a few interesting facts: at birth i was 1.5cm taller than Joel, but my head circumference was 2cm smaller. i was 6oz heavier at birth, despite being born ten days earlier.

due to his reluctance/inability to eat, joel took three weeks to regain his birth weight, but here i am at one week and ten hours and already i'm 9lbs and 4oz. hoorah.

what was that?

2006-11-10T00:12:00.000-08:00

it's one hour before i'm a week old. here's how i celebrated a few minutes ago:

feed feed feed .. mmmm .. nice .. eyes closed .. ahhhhh .. yes this is the life .. a bit wasted really. thanks mom .. wipe out ..
.. swaddle swaddle swaddle .. "what a work of art" thinks mom .. lie down in crib ..
.. wait for it .. wait for it .. warm parents huddle in bed .. everyone just about to doze off .. wait for it ..

THBUUUUGGHHGHHHUUUGGGHHHHH .. pause .. farrrrttt

.. pause .. snigger snigger snort. at this point dad tries to invent some rule about the first person to giggle deals with the evidence. mom definitely giggled first. however, as she pointed out she had been the one feeding me for the last 20mins while dad lay half asleep. dad deals with the "yellow thai bean curd curry" that is my current excretion of choice.

[comment from dad: "I don't know if you've tried to play calvin ball with someone who gave birth within the last week, but there's only ever likely to be one winner, and it won't be you!]night night all, we intend to be asleep for my one week anniversary.

chinese?

2006-11-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

today i'm a little jaundiced, my eyes are mostly shut, and i've spent some time crying. nothing to worry about, just part of settling in. however dad has given me a special new name for today

"sun wai ling"

looks

2006-11-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

related?

2006-11-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

oliver --- day two --- joel

party

2006-11-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

given the short notice, mom and dad did a really good job of organising not one but two welcome parties for me on sunday morning. both had bands with live music, people dancing (well, joel dancing at any rate), lots of adoring fans wanting to say hello and snacks appropriate for the time of day - meaning plenty of caffeine for dad and milk for me. joel got to snack on bagels, hang out with some of the youth group, and play with some toys too. after mom had shared a few words of appreciation it was time to go home to bed. aaaah......what a busy life i lead.

saturday

2006-11-05T07:43:00.000-08:00

after a fairly long night, when I caught up on all the eating I missed during the day (too many other exciting things were happening to me then) another wet day dawned in Vancouver. we were visited in the morning by another midwife, Julia. now there's a lady with an obsession about bowel habits! she asked after the whole family, except dad. she took a close look at me, stuck a very sharp piece of metal into my foot in order to make it bleed, and pronounced mom and I as doing very well under the circumstances.

dad and joel went out and jumped in a few puddles in the afternoon, whilst mom and I sat in a bath of much warmer water. I was actually still fully dressed and sitting on her shoulder for much of the time, until I fell asleep, and then she put me in my chair and added a load more water to the tub.

having fed pretty consistently during the day, I only wanted to eat every two hours during the night, much to mom's relief. I didn’t really do much crying either, other than between 3am and 4 am, so all in all we were in pretty good shape on sunday morning.

3 labour quotes

2006-11-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Tradition dictates that the labour room is a sanctuary, and what is said there should really not be repeated elsewhere. However, some things are too funny not to share ..

1) Shannon the midwife: addressing Susan the nurse, and Tom the husband, as they continue to hyperventilate into each of Liz's ears in an effort to get her to pant and stop pushing.

"Nice job you two!"

Liz heard that, and was ever so slightly put out

2) Liz the mother: as another contraction follows rather quickly after the previous one. "That was never 6 minutes". Tom responds, "it's not supposed to be 6 minutes"

Liz says: "ohhh, I liked 6 minutes"

3) Tom the husband: within an hour of birth, after sitting with Oliver on his bare chest for a while, he returned Oliver to Liz.

"Can I put my shirt back on? I'm feeling a bit self-conscious."

All the girls thought that was particularly amusing somehow.

settle

2006-11-03T20:53:00.000-08:00

so this is where I get to live now. warm, dark, kind of noisy. not all that different from where I've been for the last nine months. the same soundtrack seems to be playing too, largely comprised of variations on a theme of "joel, no".

it took us a while to escape from the hospital. having initially been keen to throw us out onto the streets in a typhoon at 3am, by daybreak the nurses on day shift were feeling kinder. first of all we had to wait for mom to have a needle stuck in her shoulder – something to do with my blood type. I'm a positive baby, as you’d expect, but mom's negative. not good. I felt sorry for her. someone stuck a sharp piece of metal into me last night, and it hurt.

the next delay was due to the fact my temperature was a bit low. I needed to spend an hour snoozing on dad's bare chest to warm up a bit, and then I was ready for my first bath. more minor trouble then ensued as I started bringing up rather a lot of mucous. this combined with a certain jitteriness possibly caused by having a low blood sugar was enough for the nurses to call the midwife back in. by 3pm Shannon had arrived to take a look at me, and after checking a few things she pronounced me fit enough to go home.

we hadn’t been back all that long before I got to meet my big brother Joel. I think he's going to be a lot of fun. he's been practising rocking my crib in preparation for my arrival, and does it really well. I think he'll appreciate my kicking skills more than mom has thus far, too. my next fans to visit were Melissa and Tracy. they actually went to the hospital to see us, and couldn’t believe we were home already. they brought mom some really pretty flowers and Melissa gave me a lovely cuddle – that's all a little guy really needs.

announced

2006-11-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

Oliver Sopwith

(Thomas Oliver Matthew)

Nov 3, 2006 - 00.55AM

9lb 0oz

click image for large pic

home

2006-11-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

home was dark and warm and easy
home became bright and fuzzy and noise-filled
home moved through streets and lights and weather
home is welcoming and safe and special and now and future and family and ..
.. i like it here

line
1) Feb to 00.30, Nov 3
2) Nov 3 - 00.55 to 17.30
3) Nov 3 - 17.30 to 17.50
4) Nov 3 17.50 to now

begin

2006-11-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

I have to say life in the big wide world is really fun so far. Last night about 6.00pm something started happening around me. Things changed and my head began to move.

At 00.55 this morning, I popped out to meet the people behind some familiar voices - they're nice people.

I'm 9lbs heavy and looking mighty fine :)

I'm already feeding .. Nice. I'm sleeping of course. Amazingly Mom and Dad have had some sleep too. It's now 10.15 and we sit in our pine panelled private suite in the place I call home -Vancouver, BC.

Hello everyone, I have arrived, looking forward to meeting many of you soon. Oliver.