Santa!

Olli's Birthday Party

So Oliver is two. And with two comes a party. It was a blast.

Summer with the Nielskis

Here are a smattering of pics that show some of the things we did this summer.

Fall

Looking out the back door today, I see fog and there's a chill in the air. Not the chill we had this entire summer; this one has that feel of the cold to come. Nothing new, I suppose, but I do wonder what we're going to do with all of that energy that Olli usually expends outside on the slides and the monkey bars. Maybe we'll have to take him to the gym.



The four kids at our Labor Day party: Bailey, Gavin, Zara, and Olli.



















Unsuspecting Olli...

Germany

Travis and I were fortunate to be able to go to Germany this month. A combination of low fares, frequent flier miles, places to stay in both Frankfurt and Berlin, and grandparents willing to stay with Olli for ten days made it a no-brainer. Here are a couple of pics. I'm going to try to upload an album; I'm still trying to figure this site out.

Here's a link to more photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/PKNielski/Germany2009?feat=directlink

Pictures: Neue Palais, skyride over Rudesheim, Kloster Eberbach, and Frankfurt at night

Almost two

Olli is amazing. His command of the English language is astounding. We tend to think that it's pretty typical, but other people remind us that his language is pretty advanced for his being not yet two. For example, we were on the subway platform and Olli was proclaiming the letters that he knew on the station identification sign (Grand Avenue 0 West and 550 North) and a man standing near us asked his age. I told him two next month and, a bit later, he said, "He's really smart." He seemed like a parent himself, gauging Olli against his own, in a friendly and admiring way.

Is he smarter than average? Possibly. Yes, I teach development; shouldn't I know? Well, number one, I"m not assessing him, so I don't have that precise data, and number two, I know ranges, not precise points-that's too hard and frankly irrelevent when teaching. So that leaves me to either look it up, or just sit with it, and perhaps ask the pediatrician when we see her next month.

At last!

Sorry I've been lax about posting. As many of you know, I got a new job and have been adjusting to working a lot more. While it isn't full time (yet), it's still more than I was working before. It will get even more busy come fall, when I will be at work four days a week.

Anyway, you're not here to hear about that-you want to know about Olli.

Well, as you know, he is going on two and is quite the character. He has lots of words, most of which we can decipher. He is even starting to put two words together, which is great.

I'll write more later, but I want to get up some pics for you starved folk.

This is him wearing my sandals. Cute!

Eating

I'm sitting across from Olli as he eats. Well, as he up-ends his bowl as well as the raisin carton. At least he's eating some of it.

Eating has been challenging, although it appears to be getting better. He has been pretty picky, but we've found he tends to eat more if he has more control (i.e., he gets to feed himself with a fork or spoon or fingers). Makes sense-it's all about doing everything himself.

Oh, now he's dropping raisins and noodles and chicken on the floor. Nice. At least he picks it up if asked.

Here are a couple pics for your viewing pleasure:

The Toddler Years

Yes, we are in them. A mixture of overwhelming cuteness, inspiring learning, and infuriating stubbornness. Interestingly, he really doesn't say "no" all that often; he just says it through his actions. He also whines alot. We encourage him to "use [his] words," which sometimes works.

His language acquisition is incredible. He refines existing words daily, copies new ones said to or around him, and easily uses the ones he currently has. Words include:
up
star
heart
ball
car
mommy
papa
nana (Cheryl)
Bailey
Juju (Juno)
kitties
cat
puppy
choo choo
mine
no
outside (this is a favorite)
gogogo (going down slides)
cheese
cracker
cookie
water
milk
yogurt (gogu)
please
thank you

I'm sure there are more...

Too long

Not sure what happened, but I stopped keeping up with this. I think it's probably because I was so consumed by that presentation for the interview.

Now that I've recovered, I can get back to it. Still not sure if I will keep this or go back to the other. If you have any thoughts about it, let me know.

I'll get some pics up soon. Suffice it to say that Olli is getting bigger, staying cute, and using a lot of words-some I understand and others I don't. At any rate, his voice is super cute (except for when he whines. I hate whining.).

pk

Poor sick Olli

Olli is sick. He has a fever and a cough. He was so out of it that he laid on me while I was on the couch for over an hour watching tv. This is not normal toddler behavior, as you well know.

The fever goes down with ibuprofen, allowing him to sleep. I'm afraid he'll wake up around midnight when his meds wear off.

More later...

Went to the Garfield Park Conservatory this past Sunday, Superbowl Sunday. Guess who we rooted for?

First bang-trim

What a cute boy!

Quick note

Sorry for the lack of posts. I need to go to bed now, but thought I'd see if I can add some pics to this post.

Words

As some of you know, Oliver is starting to talk. Well, let me rephrase: he has been talking for a long time, but in a language no one knows. He is now saying recognizable words.

The list:
Mommy
Dada/Papa
Ball
Car (sounds like he's from Boston)
Hi
Bye bye
Night-night
Thank you (mostly the sound/intonation)
Moon (sounds like boo)
Here you go (same as thank you)
Gee (hard G, means food, particularly food he wants) (I think this came from cheese)
'side (outside)

His receptive language is great. He follows directions (as much as a toddler can/wants to). He can also point to a lot of things-kitty, star, shoes, fish, bear, balloon, etc

Our new blog spot-hah!

Travis just switched us over because recent changes at Microsoft made it really annoying and less easy to use. Their loss.

We'll see how we like this. Hopefully we'll be able to migrate material and pics from the previous one. Otherwise I'm not sure how this is any better.