I wasn't sure whether we'd make it trick-or-treating or to the Halloween party at the park. After spending part of his day in the costume last Friday at day care he decided he'd had enough.
I had to bribe him with a cookie to get him into the costume on Sunday--the day my dad came and we all carved pumpkins.
I've taken a picture of a costumed Oliver with our carved pumpkins for the last two years and I was determined to do it again!
Oliver surprised me and was actually excited to put on his costume again on Halloween, maybe because I told him we could go play outside.
The local rec center at the park was having a Halloween party with little stations set up where kids could trick-or-treat. Oliver thought that was pretty cool, here he checks out his loot.
Then we met up with Oliver's buddy Henry to do a little trick-or-treating.
Oliver had been practicing the phrase "trick-or-treat" and did pretty well! In fact, after the first house he caught on and I had trouble keeping up with him as he marched to the next house!
Oliver got tired of trying to get out the entire phrase "trick or treat" so he shortened it to "treat please" and then said "thank you" every time!
Here is the whole crew, aren't they cute!
Then when we got home we had the classic yet not-so-cute post-sugar enduced meltdown. Here is what happend when we put the candy away I call it Oliver's "Monster meltdown":
In case you didn't catch that he is saying "Ollie trick-or-treat."
Oliver and I took a trip to an apple orchard recently on a cool and sunny day.
Oliver was immediately drawn to the pumpkins--he loves pumpkins.
Then he got busy collecting rocks. He filled up the pocket on the hoodie, and both of my coat pockets. "Look Mama, another rock!"
I just love the colors in this picture.
They had a little mini farm set up--Oliver loved sitting on the tractor (but he wasn't quite strong enough to move it).
Here he is checking out his shadow--so cute!
Then we took a hay ride behind a real tractor out to the apple orchard!
I don't have many pictures of the actual apple-picking. I was trying to tote a camera, a diaper bag, a basket for apples while trying to keep up with my toddler which is difficult enough without the gear due to my growing belly!
Here is is my favorite,
Oliver showing me the apple he picked himself ("Ollie do it!)
Doesn't he look proud!
Actually it looks like he is scoping out more apples!
Oliver leading me back to the main trail.
We picked regent apples and we've made apple pancakes, apple muffins, apple pie and apple crisp with our harvest.
We also took home some honeycrisp for eating. Yum!
You can be sure that if you play an upbeat tune, Oliver will bust a move. We were dancing in the kitchen the other day while I was making dinner, and I was teaching Oliver the classic "shake your booty" move. When I stopped to get back to cooking Oliver said "Peas Mama! More booty shaking Mama!"
He didn't understand why I thought that was so funny.
Here is Oliver showing off some of his dancing skills this summer.
One of Oliver's favorite things is to be outside. They daycare provider that Oliver goes to has the kids outside almost everyday, and he just loves it.
Here is a random collection of warm-weather snap shots:
Oliver helping to shuck sweet corn Grandpa Mike (a.k.a. "Grandma Pike") grew. (Love the look of pure concentration in this photo! Oliver can't get enough corn on the cob. My dad would come over toting a big blue cooler full of sweet corn and we'd have fun peeling it open. When Oliver finally got to the yellow corn he would squeal with delight! Now, when Grandma Pike comes with that blue cooler Oliver asks him if its corn!
Grandpa Mike brings us lots of good stuff from his garden. Oliver liked the ground cherries almost as much as the corn (ground cherries look like small tomatillas and are sweet).
Here he is hiding in the flowers with his bag of loot. As you can see, I still can't bring myself to cut his hair... it took him so long to grow it!
After carrying the ground cherries around the yard, he found the perfect spot to stop for a little snack. Ground cherries are a very fun snack because you get to unwrap each one individually (which means we are working on those fine motor skills that I can't get him to slow down long enough to work on!)
I can't believe it has been so long... but we've been really busy here at Ollie's House. Oliver turned two at the end of September and we had a small birthday party with family and close friends. Oliver had a blast! His favorite part was when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He kept demanding more... we'd finish singing and he'd say "more happy dirt-day!" and we'd sing again.
And again.
And again.
Oliver requesting an encore.
And for the record, he is the only person in the world who actually wants to hear me sing more!
For kiddo-entertainment we blew up a bunch of balloons and let them run through them, they loved it! Best $6.99 I ever spent.
After all the festivities Oliver was tuckered out. So, he took a nap in his new big boy bed, which he loves! Sometimes he takes me by the hand and drags me upstairs to "Ollie's bed" and says "Mama sit Ollie's bed" and we do.
It goes without saying, because moms everywhere say it, but I just can't believe my baby is two. He changes and grows and learns more every day.
