Daily Ollie

This post is for our most devoted Ollie and Elliot fans (oh, you know who you are) so apologies to everyone else. I have been sort of distracted/preoccupied...more about that in another post.

Sorry for not posting Halloween pictures sooner, as you can see, those didn't turn out so well. The preschool Halloween parade was somewhat traumatic, I guess it freaked some kids out that there were so many parents staring and taking pictures, and then when a couple of them started crying it caused a chain reaction.

Oliver was excited to be a fireman but he didn't want to wear the helmet. Which is funny, because he wears his "helmet" and puts on his "face mask" every time we read his Fire Engine book. See below.

Elliot also likes reading (and drooling over) the Fire Engine book.


Here are some more pictures...I don't have time to write pithy comments. In fact, the rest of this is going to be super boring to everyone except abby and mom...don't say i didn't warn you.

Even though most of what Oliver says is incomprehensible to the untrained ear, what does come out is often pretty funny. I thought I'd record some of his little expressions and funny moments.

Ollie pulls his hand inside the sleeve of his shirt and then asks, "where hand go??" I say "Oh, Ollie, where's your hand?" "Hiding" he replies with a grin and then shows me his hand, like he is revealing the secret to a fabulous magic trick.

Oliver really loves applause. When he does something really great we clap for him and say, "yea!" Instead of saying "yea!!!" he says " laai! laai!"

"Dok bak yaa" = Dark Back Yard ~ What he really means is: Hey, check it out, the sun is going down. He says this every night when the sun begins to set. It sounds like he is speaking Vietnamese.

The other night he was doing something that he thought was pretty funny. Elliot was lying on the ground on a blanket. Oliver shouted over to him, "Eddie, turn 'round! Watch DIS!!" Of course Elliot is still working on the finer points of vestibular control and can't exactly turn around on command.

He calls sneezes "bless yous" so when he takes his allergy medicine (which he calls his vitamins) he says, "bidamins, no bless you, no neezes."

What I hear about 100 times a day: "MOH cha cha milk!" (Please, mummy, I'd like some more Pediasure.) "Watch race car now" (Can we turn on CARS the movie, again?)

"Oh VOW! Loo da dat!!" Translation: "oh, wow, look at that!"

"Oh say, uh huh, right now." Translation: "Roger that. 10-4. I'm on it."

"Hoo-die! Hoo-die!" = "hurry, hurry!" He must hear this a lot as we are frequently running late. Sad testament to life Chez Halverson.

"Free mimis." Literally: Three minutes. Translation: Let me play/splash in the bath/watch CARS for three more minutes. He usually requests "free mimis" and holds up three fingers on both hands to underscore the earnestness of his petition. If he is really serious, he will hold up both hands with all ten fingers splayed...but he'll still ask for "free mimis".

"Dis one is?" = "What's your name?/What's that called?"

"New baddies" = "new batteries" In Oliver's world view there's not much that new batteries or tape can't fix. In a way, that's fairly accurate. I have become an expert library-book conservator with my tape roll always at the ready.

"Makin fidah." Literally: Making fire. Translation:look at that steam/smoke/exhaust/dust/condensation, which looks like fire"

"Makin fidahwooks." Literally: Making fireworks. Translation: "I have explosive diharea."