Nightmares
Last night Ollie had his first bad nightmare. He went to bed like usual, with only a little fuss, but then a couple of hours later he woke up very upset. He couldn't calm himself down, so Eric went up to see what the problem was. Ollie was crying and asking Eric to stop people from biting him and pinching him. Though we assured him we wouldn't let that happen, he didn't calm down for two hours or so. Poor guy. I used to get terrible nightmares as a kid and want to sleep with my mom and dad. And we tried that, last night. The good part was that he didn't want to go to sleep so instead he snuggled up close and kept petting and kissing me. The bad part was there was no sleep happening for him, so he eventually got moved back to his bed. But he was ok by then.
Not much else happening in the world of Ollie. His cousin Ben recently left. Ben visiting was an interesting thing for Ollie. In some ways he totally loved it. He didn't love that Ben wasn't the greatest sleeper and his room was right next to Ollie's. The first night when poor Ben was jet lagged you could hear Ollie over the monitor saying sleepily, "Go Sleep Ben. Ben, just go sleep!" and then the first night Ben was gone Ollie was muttering, "Ben no crying." I think if Ollie had been getting less interrupted sleep he might have been a more charitable host and less grabby about his personal belongings. Who knows though.
In the last few weeks Ollie has gotten really into telling us long and complicated stories about things that have happened. For example Ollie and Eric were out at the playground by Central Market and they ran into a kid Ollie knew from school, Gibson. For weeks now Ollie has been telling me about how he saw Gibby from school and how they took turns banging on the gong. He also wants to tell me in detail over and over about how he had a bandaid (he got a blood test to check his lead levels) and then we took the bandaid off. I have no idea why these two minor events have made such an impact on him, but they have.
Another thing he does I find fascinating is that he tells me his moods by relating himself to literary characters. When he's feeling crazy and has too much energy he tells me he feels like Max (from Where the Wild Things Are). Oh! And I forgot! He also hides his face and asks in a really good imitation of my voice, "Where did Ollie go? Where did Mama go?" It's hilarious.
We caved and let him watch fifteen minutes of television one day when he wasn't feeling well (and we weren't either). It was Playhouse Disney and he was very into going to Mickey's house. We determined that TV was no good (he started whining and crying when we turned it off), but told him we were going to Mickey's house this summer. In general I think we're going to try to stick to no TV as a means of entertaining him, but be less uptight about it being on for a special occasion (like I like to watch red carpets for events and parades).
That's about all. None of us have been feeling well for awhile around here. First I had a massive allergic reaction to poison oak. Then I had a stomach bug. Then we all had a really bad cold. It will be nice if we just all feel well for awhile.
Not much else happening in the world of Ollie. His cousin Ben recently left. Ben visiting was an interesting thing for Ollie. In some ways he totally loved it. He didn't love that Ben wasn't the greatest sleeper and his room was right next to Ollie's. The first night when poor Ben was jet lagged you could hear Ollie over the monitor saying sleepily, "Go Sleep Ben. Ben, just go sleep!" and then the first night Ben was gone Ollie was muttering, "Ben no crying." I think if Ollie had been getting less interrupted sleep he might have been a more charitable host and less grabby about his personal belongings. Who knows though.
In the last few weeks Ollie has gotten really into telling us long and complicated stories about things that have happened. For example Ollie and Eric were out at the playground by Central Market and they ran into a kid Ollie knew from school, Gibson. For weeks now Ollie has been telling me about how he saw Gibby from school and how they took turns banging on the gong. He also wants to tell me in detail over and over about how he had a bandaid (he got a blood test to check his lead levels) and then we took the bandaid off. I have no idea why these two minor events have made such an impact on him, but they have.
Another thing he does I find fascinating is that he tells me his moods by relating himself to literary characters. When he's feeling crazy and has too much energy he tells me he feels like Max (from Where the Wild Things Are). Oh! And I forgot! He also hides his face and asks in a really good imitation of my voice, "Where did Ollie go? Where did Mama go?" It's hilarious.
We caved and let him watch fifteen minutes of television one day when he wasn't feeling well (and we weren't either). It was Playhouse Disney and he was very into going to Mickey's house. We determined that TV was no good (he started whining and crying when we turned it off), but told him we were going to Mickey's house this summer. In general I think we're going to try to stick to no TV as a means of entertaining him, but be less uptight about it being on for a special occasion (like I like to watch red carpets for events and parades).
That's about all. None of us have been feeling well for awhile around here. First I had a massive allergic reaction to poison oak. Then I had a stomach bug. Then we all had a really bad cold. It will be nice if we just all feel well for awhile.
