Different ways of waking up

On Sunday afternoon, Oliver woke up from a 2.5-hour nap and was seriously upset by ... something. He didn't want to be held, he thrashed around on the floor and would ask for things and then refuse them. At one point he kept saying 'Bus schoolbus!' and 'Schoolbus bus!' but he didn't want either of those toys.

We decided to let him calm down on his own, which he did eventually. I can only guess that he had a nightmare of some sort.

This morning, he woke up in a good mood and asked me 'Sleep ... well?'.

Back to nature

A few days ago, Oliver was fascinated by the sunlight passing through the trees and the light and shadows moving on the side of his playpen as a result (he was not in it at the time). Late in the afternoon the next day, as I carried him on my shoulders in the park near our house, he directed me here and there ('That waaay!') as he was searching to find that effect again on trees, lampposts, shrubs, fences, etc. I could only tell that I was not in the right place whenever he would say 'Sunnn!' in a pleading tone of voice.

It's nice to know that he enjoys simple things and that, for a while at least, he can forget about wanting to go to the corner store in the hope of getting to play with the spare change dish on the counter.

I guess it looked like chocolate

Oliver was probably still thinking about his birthday party when we were at the park later. I started a sand castle on the edge of the sandbox and when he noticed it, he pointed to it and said 'Cake? Party, party?'.

Not a winning ticket

These things really are just for babies ...


Oliver expects lottery tickets to produce 'sumic' (music) when they are checked on the terminal at the corner store. It's not about the money for him (although he remains fascinated by coins).

He's moving away from using his name when making a statement or asking a question (as in 'Soccer ball Oliver' or 'Sit Oliver?') and starting to use 'I' instead ('I see you, Daddy!'). This past weekend, as he struggled to climb into a sandbox, I heard him say 'I can do it, Oliver'.

He's also beginning to find that adults enjoy coffee in various forms, as we discovered when we went out for brunch on Sunday: 'Mommy cappu ... cino?'

Toddler news

You want trucks? You've come to the right place.


I'm not sure I really want to go down this slide.



Oliver now knows a new form of transportation: the 'lemonzine'.