Oliver and Alaina

Oliver has known Alaina since he was very little.

Alaina is pretty wonderful and Oliver really likes her.  He made this a few weeks ago:

Today he went with me and Tim to see Alaina and some other people that he likes very much.  

After that, we went to Alaina's basketball game.

Oliver did not like it when the other team won.

Oliver Wrote a Story

Here is the story that Oliver wrote:

Today my friend and me went for a walk.

I want to be at my friend's house.

My friend wants to be at my house.

My friend is sad.

I am sad.

Finally, me and my friend can be together.

The end.

Dinner at Papa Mick's

Building Legos with Tim

Tim got Oliver a very large Star Wars ship for Christmas and they are working on it together.

Party at Molly and Tim's House

Oliver's Robot

When he grows up, he is going to be a scientist and an engineer, and he is going to build a robot. Not a toy robot -- a REAL robot. This particular model has a very complicated series of small buttons, and if you push them in the right order, the robot will put his arm up.

Wii love Oliver

Oliver loves to play Wii games.  Some people might say that he is a little bit obsessed.  He thinks that Tim and I have the best games, and as a result of this, he loves us a lot.  We know that there is a cause and effect relationship between the games and the love because he tells us that there is.  It's possible that we should not encourage this, but we do (because we are suckers).  

Dinner at Papa Mick's

Oliver with his oldest cousin, Mickey.

Aunt Ginny's Funeral

Aunt Ginny was Papa Mick's sister; she lived in Fairfield, Iowa.  She wasn't very old, but she had been sick for a long time.  

After she died, Oliver went to her funeral in Fairfield.  He cried a little bit (his mommy cried, Molly cried -- there was plenty of crying).  Oliver wasn't crying because he missed Aunt Ginny -- he had only met her a few times -- but because it was just a little scary to see a body without a person in it anymore.  His mommy took good care of him, though, and he was okay.

Fairfield is a beautiful little town.  After the funeral, we took a walk to the park downtown.

Here's Oliver's mommy with Mai:

Molly with Papa Mick:

And Mai, Papa, and Jen:

Oliver very often declares that whoever is handy is a bad guy and he, of course, is a good guy.  Nearby (or imaginary) objects become guns or swords or whatever the weapon of the moment is, a brief battle ensues, and then he announces, "I killed you.  You're dead."  It occurred to me that having an actual experience with death might have an effect on this, but it didn't seem to.  A few days after the funeral, having been defeated and pronounced dead once again, I asked him, "I'm dead?"  

"Yeah," he said (very cheerfully).

"Should we put me in a box?"

He seemed very slightly alarmed at that idea.  "No, it's just for pretend."

P.S. I'm sorry if the picture of Aunt Ginny seems creepy or disturbing.  I thought she looked beautiful and I really liked the fact that she was in a cardboard box.  

Red Icee and Blue Juice

Oliver and I had lunch at Sam's Club today.

Oliver the Lion King

Oliver took a dance class after school and they learned a dance to a song from The Lion King.  At the end of the school year,  there was a recital.  He is quite a performer -- he added facial expressions and little extra wiggles that made the whole audience laugh (and there were a few hundred people there).

After the recital, Oliver's mommy asked him, "Did you know that all of those people were clapping for you?"

Oliver said, "Yes."

Then she asked, "How did that feel?" and Oliver said, "Awesome!"

Oliver the Tiger

At the zoo today, Oliver's mommy let him get his face painted like a tiger.

As we walked around, people would say, "Oh look -- it's a tiger!"  Oliver would say (with varying degrees of patience), "I'm not a REAL tiger."

Lelo bird

Oliver's Papa Kevin got a special license plate so that we will always remember the way that Oliver pronounced the word 'yellow' when he was four years old.

Birthday Pool Party

Happy 4th Birthday, Oliver!  I am really sorry that I did not bring extra batteries for the camera.  Your mommy threw you a great party at the JCC swimming pool and a lot of your friends from school came.  Here's a picture of Mook; right after I took it, the camera died.

California cousins

We are really excited because Oliver's cousins from California -- Emmet and Ellie -- are visiting.  While they are in town, family gatherings are way more fun for everyone, especially Oliver.

Here, Oliver and Emmet were watching "Tron: Legacy" in 3D.  They were totally not impressed with the 3D thing and I was lucky to get a picture of them with the glasses on...

There were actually other people at our house for dinner -- Grandma, Papa Kevin, Uncle Peter, and Oliver's Mommy -- but I'm not so good at getting pictures of adults...