This morning I had a bit of a rude awakening.
I was sleeping on the floor under Oliver’s crib. When he woke up, he decided to try and reach the enormous duplo house on the book shelf. He had…just…managed to reach it when *BOOM* he dropped it on my face, where it shattered into a million pieces (or 20).
There are probably worse ways to wake up than a duplo house exploding on your face from about 6 feet up, but not a lot.
Oliver and Evie have always gotten along a pretty well. She obviously loves him very much, and for his part, he generally puts up with the abuse. When he got old enough to take an interest in her toys, things went downhill a little bit, but it was still okay. Now, however…I think it is a combination between his greater mobility and interest in objects in general, and her realization of just how much attention he gets, or how much attention she *doesn’t* get.
I tell you, it gives me a much greater appreciation for what it is like to be a younger sibling. I feel like I owe my sister an apology! It’s not just that they get beat up, although they do, but it’s more all the things that they don’t get that the older sibling got. Especially just in terms of amount of attention paid, or amount of one-on-one time. And you just can’t help thinking about him without comparing him to your older child.
With Evie I felt like we just spent the whole time holding our breath, waiting for her to do the next amazing thing. With Oliver, it’s almost like he’ll do something and then I’ll be like, “Oh yeah, that’s amazing, I almost forgot. When Evie did that, I jumped on the blog and put it up immediately.” Evie never had to share the limelight for her big achievements.
The ironic thing is that, in a few years, Evie is going to be annoyed with Oliver wanting to do what she’s doing, following her around, copying her, etc. But right now, it’s exactly the opposite! Any toy Oliver grabs, she has to have it, even if she’s never shown the slightest interest in it before. We will watch Oliver walk over and pull a toy out of the toy box, and then Evie will shout from across the room, “I had it first!”
The past few weeks, whenever Oliver is getting any kind of attention, Evie has to insert herself in there. And 3 year olds are not subtle. If Oliver is crying, she starts fake crying. If we’re taking a video of him, Evie tries to stand in front of the camera. If we’re just not paying attention to her, she will just punch her brother in the face.
Obviously this stuff is not acceptable, but on the other hand, I totally understand where she is coming from. I really feel bad for her. I try to make sure to give her attention when I notice that we are giving him some attention, or when she gets that look in her eye like she is going to push him over.
But isn’t this just another way that older sibling have it better? When she was little, she got all the attention. Now, when it’s Oliver’s turn to get some attention, we have to remember to give her *more* attention, so she doesn’t get upset. It seems like it’s not fair to Oliver, but I guess that’s just the way it is.
So, Rachael, if the 3 year old version of me treated you even a little bit the way Evie treats Oliver, then I apologize completely!
I got my second Honorable Mention from the Writers of the Future contest today!
I think this validates what I was talking about last time I got an Honorable Mention. It took me 5 tries to get my first one, and then only 3 more tries to get my second. That feels like progress folks, and it’s about the only thing I can point to that feels that way.
Now I just have to make sure I finish my current story by September to make the Quarter 4 deadline (I’ve already submitted for Quarter 3). I know any aspiring writer out there would absolutely laugh in my face that I hope to finish 3/4 of a story in 3 months, but I have to tell you, it is about the best I can do at this stage in my life. Writers of the Future deadlines are the only thing that even keep me going. Need I remind you that I only finished 2 stories last year? I’m just happy that I’m more or less keeping the ones I have circulating (and not doing a super job of that either…ones that are destined for electronic-submission markets are okay, but I am doing a very bad job of keeping the ones that are going to postal-submission markets out. I’ve got to get on that!)
Onward and upwards!
I saw the movie Sherlock Holmes the other day. The new one, with Robert Downey Jr. That sound you hear is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle spinning in his grave (to this day, even though the movie came out in 2009).
This movie was so dumb. It physically pained me that they just had to attach the name “Sherlock Holmes” to this otherwise completely unrelated action movie. Seriously, there was nothing in this movie that had anything to do with the Sherlock Holmes mythology as it were; they could have just called it, “Generic Steampunk Action Movie!” and it wouldn’t have changed anything. So I can only assume they invoked Sherlock Holmes to tap into a built-in audience.
So my problems with it are mostly Sherlock Holmes-based. Other than that, it was just sort of your average mindless action movie that just happens to be set in Victorian England. The characters are goofy, the situation is goofy, the whole movie is just generally sort of goofy. (In case you were wondering, Sherlock Holmes is an amazing hand-to-hand fighter who can beat up anybody because he’s so much smarter than everyone!)
But here’s the question: am I just becoming snobby in my old age? Or are movies really just getting worse as time goes on? I tend to think it is a little of both, but probably the former more than the latter. People have probably always been declaring the movie industry is at rock bottom, since right about the dawn of the movie industry.
It seems to me that when I was a kid, I generally liked every movie I saw, more or less. Now it seems like I generally dislike every movie I see. The default has flipped. I think there’s every chance that I probably would have liked this movie when I was a kid. And to be fair, the movie probably wasn’t really marketed at me.
So I don’t really know if it’s just me, or what. What do you think?
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!
Shane Halbach 