"Did I ever eat rice cereal?," Oliver asked recently. "Why, yes, you did." The photo above proves that he ate (mostly) some gloppy whitish stuff anyway. This question was prompted by the eating adventures of Sebastian, who, whilst he does eat rice cereal (reluctantly), is shown below during a meal of sweet potatoes. So, those of you who enjoy weighing in on their relative resemblance to one another, have at it. We look forward to your observations!
"He's big, mama!," proclaimed dear Oliver this morning. Big brother still moves to the couch to hold little brother, but he no longer needs a pillow for a prop. The little dude also eats food now (we got tired of his screaming protests and dangerous swiping at dinner time).
Seba spent a great deal of time in the sling during his first major traveling experience, which included airplane, metro, urban walking, and lots of socializing. I wonder, how big would a person need to be to support my travel in a sling?
Needless to say, he delighted all with his festive spirit in the midst of an academic conference.
At this point it's clear who is who. Anyone care to weigh in on similarities and differences in appearance?
going, going...
GONE!
Will Seba like footie as much as his favorite person, namely his brother, the OP? He's full of smiles for the ball and for the Oliver. Lots of fun--gaining important skills, such as holding his head up, and putting on weight.
Just to prove that the wackiness continues (and grows) with our number 1, here is a shot from the getting-ready-for-Wacky-Tie-Day process. For the record, the tie did begin around the neck, but was relocated after having been judged too scratchy. We rather like this look. He defended it to the teacher and kept it on all day. After this photo was taken he added bright yellow soccer socks. Alas, camera was safely stowed away by then.
Today was Oliver's first day of first grade at his new school. Upon meeting Philip at the end of the school day, Oliver's teacher, Mrs. Cole, related that our Oliver was her first in 20 years of teaching. She added that Oliver had been filling her in on his advanced reading skills as well as his worry that the first grade reading will not be challenging enough. Good to know he's asserting himself. Of course, there were assertions of other stripes today too--the baseball shirt (larger than life size! with raised stitches!) and the very impressive shoes I unimpressively failed to include in the photo. The shoes are navy Puma sneakers with velcro tabs. The pumas are orange and light up on impact, showing, to the keen onlooker, a puma skeleton. As light up shoes go, these are pretty rad.
Above: Oliver reads to Sebastian during sunshine time.
Proud and loving big brother Oliver "pets" Sebastian for the first time. "He's so soft and warm!"
My boys--now a 3 pack.
First Family of four portrait.
I've said for years that it takes a family to get a PhD, and I can tell you now that I'm almost the other side of it that I still find it to be true. My boys have offered support and made sacrifices for a long time to get me across the stage with my Medieval academic garb. Thank you, my boys! I love you!
Oliver and his principal, Mrs. Maglione, pose for a photograph at Kindergarten graduation.
They wore caps. "Pomp and Circumstance" played. Nearly 90 kindergarteners and their various family members squeezed into the kindergarten playground to see the children receive their first diplomas. It was a long time to wait. Periodically Oliver waved to me from his seat.
Above he poses with his teacher, below with me. Interesting that he chose his new "Cal Lutheran" shirt to wear for today's proceedings...
Here he happily passes on the cap to me: "My mama's graduating." Sweet boy. And yes, it's true--the graduation I mean. Then I'll finish the dissertation.
It's true: we really are moving...in about a month. So it's time to start having some lasts before we start having some firsts a little farther south. Here is OP at his last lesson with South Coast Karate. He has loved the energetic, fun setting of this karate dojo. Though he lost a bit of his discipline for practicing during baseball season, he did not lose any excitement for attending lessons. They have helped with his balance and his willingness to try new things in front of others. Up this week: last day of kindergarten.
OP's school is getting ready for the Multicultural Fair--an all-school evening event in which each grade level hosts an area of the school campus that offers a flavor of somewhere in the world. As the tiny print suggests, Oliver's class is helping to host the India section. They'll have food and henna tattoos, and, beyond that, I'm not quite sure. In preparation for the event each class drew/painted chalk images of their countries on the sidewalk in front of the school. Here is OP showing off his Bengal tiger. It's the best work he's ever done--made him feel like a "creative artist." Three cheers for that!
What handsome boys I live with! You can tell that one of them is a cheeky monkey. Don't be fooled by the calm exterior of the other--he is more than able of gettin' your goat (what does "gettin' your goat" mean, anyway? we'll look it up and report back. yes, it is possible to be both cheeky and nerdy; ask any of us ;o)
Yesterday OP was invited to join with another T-ball team to sing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the 7th inning stretch at the Gauchos game. Here Philip catches "...three strikes, you're out..."
Last week we attended the last T-ball game of the season, followed by the team party at the local pizza parlor. OP enjoyed the pizza, as is evident from his marinara, slightly toothless grin, and happily added the trophy to his growing collection. During the party the coach made a few comments about each player as he passed out trophies. After some time, the team mom brought out the coach's present and asked Oliver if he would help to give it to the coach. Once he understood she wanted him to hand the gift over publicly, Oliver staged himself in the center of the room and prepared to make a speech. When we had gathered the attention of those in attendance, he began, "I think we had a good season. It was good for me, and it was good for some of the rest of the players. And I'm glad to say that everyone made improvements during the season..." There were a few more words, but his parents were getting nervous at this point: how long would he go on? was he about to say something uncharitable about fellow players? will he remember to thank the coach? So we both started whispering, "And thank you, Coach," both to make sure the sentiment was included in the speech and bring the speech to a close. Thank goodness our budding orator got the message. He thanked the coach and sat down. Whew!
Over the weekend we pitched our new tent for the first time. We camped for one evening on one of the most beautiful weekends we've had in the last couple of months. It was warmer than we expected, so we were not adequately prepared. OP played in the ocean with shorts and underwear--sorry for the lack of photos, but you can be sure there was much frolicking about. Philip and I were stuck in jeans and closed toe shoes. But we made up for it by having good food, great company with friends, and proper coffee in the morning. Oh yes, and there was, of course, baseball at the campground.
During the first inning of yesterday's game Oliver came tearing out of the dugout toward the stands instead of toward home plate for his first at-bat. "Mom, my tooth, my tooth." It had finally come out--persuaded, no doubt, by not a little wiggling while waiting for his turn to bat. I put the tooth into my pocket and returned to watching the game. His pronunciation is mostly unchanged, but certain words do seem to require a little extra effort, such as "toothless." He's a happy boy. In his mind, losing a tooth is the best, most important thing to have happened to him since getting a new baseball glove.
Happy boy before his birthday. He loves carousels. His face launches a thousand ships with his joy when he is on one. The first summer we took him on a carousel he was 2 &1/2. He didn't want to leave. We were broke. We paid for three trips, and then we had to go. He cried for an hour.
So here we are in front of the castle in the Magic Kingdom.
Apart from the carousel (above) and the Jedi Training Academy show (below--Star Wars is the current obsession, along with Harry Potter!), OP's highlights from the happiest place on earth were Dumbo and It's a Small World. He talked throughout the day about how Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and Pirates of the Carribean had really been too scary. And he would not go near Peter Pan: "it's dark in there."
On his birthday morning he opened several packages--from Glendora, Washington state, England, and Germany. At one point he looked at us and said, "I just feel so special today." Thanks very much for helping to make him feel special. We love our family & friends!
