Tubes in, adenoids out!

It is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and I am updating from work at 4:00. Yes, that's right, I'm working the day after Thanksgiving and am still here at 4:00. Sigh. You can't win 'em all. I will post more about the Thanksgiving holiday next time, but first, we've got other ground to cover!
Oliver got tubes in his ears for the 2nd time last week. He has had fluid in them non-stop for about 6 months now and it's to the point where hearing loss and speech development are becoming a concern. The ear doctor went ahead and removed his adenoids at the same time. Poor guy! O was such a good sport heading into the procedure. We had to be there at 6:30 am and the procedure was scheduled for 7:00. Everything went really smoothly. Oliver happily went off with the nurse (turned and gave us a wave and that was it). So trusting....45 minutes later, he was one pissed-off dude. After several hours of being zoned out in front of the TV, the little guy finally shook off the pain and the meds and was pretty much his old self.
Grammy & Grandpa Coles came to visit last weekend to help out, so they were able to keep him entertained enough to distract him from his discomfort.
In fact, Grammy and Oliver's favorite activity during their visit was to cruise YouTube and watch different Christmas videos. I think we unwittingly turned Oliver into a YouTube addict. Matt found a toddler flashcard video on YouTube the other night and filmed Oliver. It's pretty awesome. So, we now have a YouTube video of Oliver watching a YouTube video. :)
More to come! Gotta get back to work. Slave to the man and all.

Watching Christmas videos with Grammy

Oliver does animal flashcards from YouTube

Halloween 2012 - We laughed, We cried, we took off our tail...

Boo!
Halloween 2012 was a big occasion at our house this year as Oliver was old enough to kind of "get it" this time. He was a zebra! To be specific - Marty the Zebra from Madagascar. It was the first thing that came out of his mouth when I asked what he wanted to be about a month ago, so I just ran with it.
He is a really cute zebra, but not the most docile one.

Halloween festivities started on the Sunday before Halloween, at Stepping Stones' (daycare) Annual Halloween Carnival. He did really well at this event, even with the tons of people that cram into the hallways and classrooms. He was able to participate in the games this time, and was happy to win prizes, but mainly just wanted to walk around and show off his costume. Here are some pics from the Carnival. The little baby chick in the first pic is our friend Samantha Whaley. She was a cutie!

Actual Halloween night was a frenzy. We made it to our friends the Griffiths' house by 6pm, let the kids run around a bit (Noah, Charlie, Oliver, Madeline and Sam Whaley made up the group), ate pizza (well, some of us ate pizza. Oliver took 3 bites). Then, it was time for group photos before we went off to treak-or-treat around the neighborhood. And, that's where the slow and steady downhill of the evening started. Oliver, it seems, is not into getting his photo taken these days. Like, starting on Halloween of all days! Grrrr. Lots of tears anytime a camera was pointed his way.

He did enjoy the trick-or-treating part of the night, but was actually more interested in trying to get into people's homes than receiving his candy. Seriously. It's probably my fault. I watched WAY too much HGTV when I was on bedrest those 7 weeks. :)

We made a quick stop at our friends the Gudgells' house (where they were dressed as a hockey player and cheerleader, respectively), and then our last stop was at Mike Zerr and Tara Davidson's house, for their annual Halloween Open House.

Now, we have had an annual pic of the three boys (Oliver, Charlie, and Noah) on the same wall at Zerr's house and this year was going to be pic #3. OMG! My son refused to cooperate. Yet again. I think the photos we have of the three of them has him crying in all of them! So, needless to say, we ended the night quickly and took our worn-out zebra home - where he promptly asked for a muffin and yogurt before bed. Not candy! Who is this kid?