Oliver: “Daddy I really want to ride a duck.”
Daddy: “A duck?”
O: “Yes. With a swimsuit.”
D: “Why a swimsuit?”
O: “In case I fall in the water I can throw my clothes to shore and then swim.”
The Bright Side
Oliver: “Daddy, maybe it’s not pee. Maybe Piper came down and took a shower and then accidentally dripped on the rug while she was drying off.”
Superior Nap
True Love
Oliver: “Daddy, why are you closing the garage door?”
Daddy: “So that Piper doesn’t run away.”
Oliver thinks for a bit and then says, “But we could just buy a new dog!”
Shopping List
This morning, Oliver offered to help me write the shopping list. He dictated the following:
- watermelon
- salad for Daddy and Mama
- pineapple pancakes
- pie for lunches
- cereal for some dinners
- And, some day can we see some whales?
Puppy, Week 2
We’ve had our puppy for two weeks now and we want to tell you about the second one. She has gotten to like us much better and is way more attentive. She loves playing with Coco, the dog across the street, but is scared of Josie the Great Dane. Piper has gotten bigger. She also has more of an appetite. She loves the liver treats and also she goes on some walks. We got her a bigger crate also. She is still the cutest thing ever. And she gives us delight. What else can a person ask for?
Invincible Tick
Warning: This is a bit grosser than the average post on this blog. Skip it if you’re squeamish.
Once upon a time our puppy had an engorged tick in her ear. We saved it in a plastic bag for a few days because we thought it might be a Lyme disease transmitting tick but we think it’s a dog tick. And it didn’t die so we drowned it in alcohol and it still didn’t die so we pinched it in a clothespin for a few days BUT IT STILL DIDN’T DIE!! And it is still alive today. We might pop it but it would get too much blood everywhere so we named it the invincible tick.
Introducing Piper
The latest addition to our family is Piper, an eight-week old goldendoodle puppy. We picked her up on Monday, June 15. Griffin and Maggie describe her like this:
We just got a puuuuuppppy!!!! She is a goldendoodle and she is a really great sweet dog. We named her Piper and she loves to play but doesn’t really like her crate yet. Piper loves outside, especially the bush. And she loves digging besides the house. She sleeps a lot and she rarely barks unless she’s scared. She is the cutest thing ever!
The “bush” that they mention is a clump of phlox at the edge of our yard; she likes to nap in the shade there, nearly invisible.
We had been idly considering a dog at some point in the next few years, but were in no rush. Like many people during the pandemic, however, we realized that the requirements of social distancing and a summer without many of our usual activities is an excellent time to focus our energy on a new project. Puppies are a lot of work, but we’re enjoying the journey so far.
Pictures from our first few days together followed by two short video clips:
The Day After School Ended
Hi there. Today was an awesome day! We woke up at 7:30. We did our video games. Then we had an awesome breakfast of waffles, eggs, sausage, and raspberries. After that we went to SPA (my dad’s school) and my dad went into the building while we played in our hammocks. Then my dad went home with Oliver and made a picnic lunch. Then they came back and we had made a caterpillar home! Then we rolled down the big hill and went home 🏡.
Oliver 3.5
Oliver is nearly half way through his fourth year. As such, he is changing even more rapidly than his siblings. This post is a summary of things we have observed recently.
- He talks. A lot. A tsunami of words at all times, often preceded with, “Hey Mama!” or “Hey Daddy!”
- He likes to tell stories that meander from place to place with very little rhyme or reason.
- He says “last night” to mean anytime in the past. For example, when referring to a trip we took in December, he might say, “Last night when we were at Grummy and Grandpa’s house.”
- He prefaces many sentences with “I think so.” For example:
- “I think so, Mama’s at the store.”
- “I think so, tomorrow is a school day.”
- “I think so, we need to buy some more bananas ‘cuz I like bananas.”
- “I think so, we need to buy a new house because we have a hole in the wall.”
- He regularly comes up with linguistic gems that we imagine we’ll remember, but then can’t quite reconstruct. I recall one from this morning when I think he was trying to describe something evaporating: “Maybe it just winded away…”
- He loves it when we set timers. Before bed, he will often ask for a timer so that he can have “five more minutes!” to play. Usually, when the timer goes off he is happy to go upstairs.
- He has ups and downs with emotional regulation. Sometimes he is easygoing and chill with changes of plan. At other times, he is stubborn and gets wildly upset over minor things: “But I wanted to put my toothbrush away MYSELF!!!!”
- He loves to help in the kitchen and is getting better at it. He can often pour things into mixing bowls, stir things, count things out, or chop vegetables with his special chopper.
- He is entirely potty trained except when he isn’t. We have trouble understanding what the key factors are. Sometimes he has no trouble for many days in a row. At other times, he’s on his third pair of pants before lunch. He can’t quite clamber up on the big potty yet, but loves to use his little one.
- He still naps for 1-2 hours in the afternoon. Naptime and bedtime routines are straightforward: read a few books (or chapters from longer books) and then say goodnight. He often asks me to stay for “a little bit.”
Some additions from Griffin and Maggie:
- He’s really annoying.
- Maggie: He hits, kicks, and pinches a lot for no reason. (Griffin adds, “Actually, for a reason, because you do it.”)
- Maggie: “This morning, Oliver was kicking me on the bed while I was doing HouseParty. I didn’t do anything!”
- He interrupts a lot, saying, “But I’m talking!”
- He’s a DUPLO master and is pretty good with regular legos too.
- The Mandalorian was too scary for him. She-Ra is just right.
- He often doesn’t finish his food and says that he wants us to “save it for tomorrow” but then never eats it.
- He always wants to play with you in the least convenient times.
- He always touches the screen when me and Griffin are playing on our iPads.
