There is nothing Oliver likes better than tickling. He just can’t help himself! If he sees some feet, toes, exposed skin, anything, he’s right on it. “Tickle, tickle, tickle!” he crows, or sometimes it sounds more like, “liggle, liggle, liggle!”

It’s not just people either. He’ll tickle anything: the bathtub, closet doors, clothes from the laundry basket, whatever needs tickling. Whenever he’s feeling silly, something’s got to be tickled. Whenever his sister body-tackles him, she’s getting tickled.

It’s almost become just an expression of emotion; I’ve seen him tickle in anger. Someone will be doing something he doesn’t like and he’ll be sobbing and just get this look on his face and you think, “Oh man, here it comes!” and then he fiercely grabs you and says, “Tickle, tickle, tickle!” It is absolutely adorable, and it makes it pretty difficult to take him seriously.

The only thing he does that even approaches the cuteness, is when you ask him, “Oliver, what does a cow say?” and he says, “Mooooo!” He also says “more”, “Nala”, “ball”, “banana”, “book”, “shoes”, “uh oh”, and “cheese” (and “mama” and “dada” of course). He signs “water”, “milk”, “more” (although he doesn’t sign this much now that he can say it), “book”, “night-night” and “train”. He shakes his head for “no” (usually in connection to not eating whatever food you’re trying to give him). He will occasionally blow kisses and wave hello or bye-bye (usually only when the person he’s waving at isn’t looking). Obviously though he understands a lot more than this, because he’s able to follow complex instructions, such as “Oliver, go find your shoes and bring them to me,” or “That looks nice, go show dada!” He loves necklaces and getting dressed, and will take any article of clothing or necklace and put it on as fast as possible (especially hats). His desire to do this outweighs his ability to do this, so he usually just ends up with clothes on his head, or upside down hats. Once he gets a necklace on, it stays on for the rest of the day.

On the other hand, the thing he does that is not so adorable, is bite everybody. Constantly. Biting is not really something Evie ever did. I’m starting to learn that second kids do a lot of things that first kids didn’t do. It hasn’t really been a problem yet, but you do have to be aware of where his mouth is at any given moment, and sometimes we have to tell Evie, “Get away from him fast Evie, he’s trying to bite!”

So if you come ’round these parts, expect some ticklin’. Oliver has no other mode. At least if he’s tickling you, he’s not biting you!