I turned a leftover Christmas box into a puppet theater. Oliver was inspired to present this masterpiece. Enjoy.
Ollie Update
The End of Cloth Diapers
We are hardened cloth diaper veterans, after using them through two children. Not only is it easier on the second child, but you’re getting a bigger benefit, since your up-front cost is now amortized over a longer period. I firmly believe in cloth diapers, and I couldn’t really see a reason why we would stop using them, until it turned out we had no choice.
Ollie’s skin trouble just makes it impossible. Even in disposables he has horrible, bleeding diaper rash pretty much all the time. With the cloth diapers there’s just nothing you can do. No matter how often you change him, his skin is just too easily irritated, and it gets bad, fast.
We went through a really bad period of worse than usual diaper rash and reoccurring yeast infections that spread to cover his entire diaper area, to where it looked like he was wearing a diaper cover even when he wasn’t. We would temporarily switch to disposables until we could get it under control, but every time we would switch back to cloth, it would flare up immediately. (Yes, we took steps to kill the yeast from the cloth diapers, repeatedly) The dermatologist made it pretty clear that she was anti-cloth diapers, due to the moisture factor. Ultimately, we just felt like the poor guy has enough to deal with regarding being covered with eczema, and it wasn’t fair to put him through this with diaper rash as well. So we switched to disposables full time.
I’m sad to have to use disposables, but at the same time, I feel like we need to balance what’s right for him with what’s right for the Earth. Still, it really kills me when I have to change a diaper that was hardly used. I just think about how long that thing is going to sit in a landfill somewhere, and for what? Nothing highlights how unnatural these things are more than seeing the amazing way they can absorb liquid and yet feel totally dry. In terms of sheer amazingness, it has to be one of our highest achievements as a species. On the other hand, it couldn’t be less natural. It’s like alien technology or something. When you hold it in your hand, you can just tell there is not one thing that is biodegradable in there. And you generate quite a few of these things.
Oh well. We *almost* made it through two kids with cloth diapers. That’s certainly a lot better than none.
No! No! No!
Ah, that magical time in every young child’s life, when he finally learns the power of the word “No!”
Everything is no these days, even things Ollie actually wants to do. Sometimes he will be saying, “No! No!” even as he rushes to do whatever it is. It’s the age of the classic reverse psychology trick, where the only way to guarantee he’ll do something is to tell him not to do it (this, of course, precedes the age where the only way to guarantee a kid will do something is to bribe him).
And it’s not just saying no either, it’s just a general sense of mischief. He’ll look at you with a twinkle in his eye just as he pushes everything off the kitchen table, or run away from you laughing as soon as you say, “Let’s get your coat on!” Sometimes he just likes to see how fast he can take all the books off the shelf.
I oh-so-fondly remember Evie at this age. I guess that makes it a little easier this time around, since I knew to expect it, and I know it will end eventually. Therefore, it’s more funny than anything, not really annoying. I also remember when Evie would just get so mad that it went beyond anger and right into a textbook demonic possession. Oliver has been pulling that one too a time or two, particularly in conjunction with diaper changes.
Ollie: “YAAAARGH!! BLAAAG! AUUUGH!”
Me: “We’re going to need a young priest and an old priest.”
It’s like he’s hit with a wave of anger that’s just so big and so intense that it overloads his tiny little circuits. After that, he’s just furious about everything. I was whispering “shhh, shhh” in his ear and he was screaming, “NO SHHH! NO SHHH!”
I think it’s all a part of the same developmental milestone of just sort of becoming a little more self-aware. The first part is becoming aware that he has power: the power to say no, the power to not do what you want him to, the power to be disruptive, the power to cause trouble. The second part is being aware that he has ideas about how things should go, and being frustrated when things don’t go his way. And then not being old enough to be able to handle that emotion and calm himself down.
Anyway, luckily when kids go through this stage, they’re still pretty small and easily handled. Otherwise we’d really be in trouble! And it still seems like it’s easier to deal with than a 4 year old. I guess the second kid gives you a little bit of perspective.
Plague House
DO NOT ENTER!
I know it is that time of year, but at the moment we seem to be over our limit as far as infection goes.
We have all been snotty and coughing for quite awhile. Sort of run of the mill stuff, just colds. Starting yesterday, it really took a turn for the worst. Poor Ollie just got hit like a ton of bricks. Double ear infections and conjunctivitis (a.k.a. “pink eye”) in both eyes, on top of the cold he already had. It’s like his whole head just dissolved into a goo. He leaves face prints on everything he touches. It’s less like a sickness and more like being cursed by a gypsy.
I really thought there was nothing sadder than seeing a a little kid with a bad cold, but then I saw Ollie with conjunctivitis. Hoo boy! This morning his eyes had literally swelled shut. At dinner last night, Evie couldn’t stop sobbing just looking at him. “He doesn’t look like Ollie!” she cried. He really did look that bad. We had to keep her from touching his eyes, because she was determined to help him see by manually opening his eyes with her fingers.
If that wasn’t enough, when I went to pick up Evie from school yesterday, it turns out she has an ear infection as well! Keep in mind that I have been feeling terrible on top of all of this. So when I woke up this morning and my left eye was too gummed over to open, I thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” At least my conjunctivitis is so far contained to my left eye. I can function on some human level, so I need only look over at Oliver to realize that I really have no right to complain.
Only Sara seems to be untouched. I can only assume she made some kind of deal with the devil for her good fortune. For the rest of us, we’re just trying to keep Evie from catching pink eye.
The von Trapp family-in-training
Evie has always been into music. She picks up lyrics at the drop of a hat (sometimes when you’d prefer she didn’t), and she sings snatches of songs pretty much nonstop. I wasn’t sure if this would encourage Oliver to sing, or discourage him from singing, since Evie kind of steals the show (what are big sisters for?).
Lately, however, Ollie has started to sing and pick up words to songs. It is so adorable! The thing that’s interesting is that he generally gets the tone exactly right, even as he is mumbling out some vaguely-word sounding noises that generally approximate the lyrics. So far his repertoire is mostly limited to “London Bridge” and “Hello” from music class, but he’ll randomly do snatches from other songs, usually related to whatever his big sister has been singing lately.
Oliver really loves music class, the way Evie did when she was his age (she’s sort of ambivalent towards it at this point). At the beginning they always sing the Hello song, and that’s what Oliver has really keyed in on. He even calls it, “Hello class.” He very frequently does the hand motions and sings, “Hello! Hello! Helllllooooooooo…Boom!” I never get tired of making him sing it.
In fact, his singing is just sort of indicative of his language growth in general. He surprises me at least once a day with a word that I didn’t know he knew. He keeps being more advanced than I give him credit for. For example, when the book has a picture with the label “sky” and Oliver points to it and says, “Clouds!” Or when he’s pointing to dog pictures and saying, “Doggie!” and then he points to a picture of a weinheimer and says, “Luna!” Has he even seen Aunt Rachael’s dog, or did someone just tell him once that the picture looked like Luna?
He’s also picked up one party trick, which we make him perform over and over again. We ask him, “Oliver, how old are you?” and he thrusts his finger into the air and shouts, “One! One!”
I’m not really sure how many words he knows now, but it’s definitely in the hundreds. You would think that with my vast adult experience, combined with being around Oliver all the time, I would always understand what he’s saying. However, Evie is the best Ollie interpreter. She often will explain something that I’m not quite getting. On the other hand, she’s very bad at interpreting things that he says very clearly, confusing him by repeating back the wrong word.
I’m sure there’s a research paper in there somewhere, but the moral of the story is, he’s talking like crazy (figuratively and literally, since most of his talking involves mumbling and referring to himself in the 3rd person).
Shane Halbach 