Five funny things about Oliver

1.  Oliver is currently very attached to the gray, plastic step stool that we keep in the downstairs bathroom so he can get on the potty and wash his hands.  He takes it everywhere.  He gets up in the morning, wants to see me pour his cereal in a bowl up on the counter, so he goes and gets his step stool.  He puts the step stool next to the couch so it's easier to climb up on it.  He places it in the middle of the rug in the living room and jumps off of it or sits on it to read a book to the babysitter.  I don't know if he has Napoelon syndrome or just likes being as efficient as possible, but the gray stool -- hilarious.  I actually used it this morning as a side table to hold my tea.  Really, very handy.

2.  Oliver is learning lots of new phrases recently.  Last weekend, he told me something was funny -- only it wasn't.  He was misbehaving, and I told him, "No, it's not funny."  Since then, he'll periodically get a really serious look on his face and say, "It's not funny mom."  Last night he was chastising the dog for tearing up the trash in the bathroom ("Lucy messed up the toilet paper") -- on Saturday -- and told her, "It's not funny, Lucy."  Which was funny.

3.  Oliver has been trying to learn to temper certain behaviors that keep getting him in trouble (look, people, he's two, okay) -- namely, spitting and screaming.  The spitting thing is just plain defiance.  He usually even looks at me when he does it.  But the last day or two, trying to be the good boy that he is, he'll say, "I'm keeping my spit in my mouth."  Good job, buddy.

4.  Ollie has also been projecting his misbehavior recently.  Several times we've gone to put him to bed and been told that Cookie Monster was being bad.  One day Oliver told us that Cookie had been spitting, and so Oliver put him in time out on the bookshelves.  (It seems worth noting that Oliver had himself been in timeout that day for spitting.)  Last night, Ollie was going to make Cookie sleep on the floor because he'd been hitting (which Oliver had been doing part of the evening).  I don't know whether I should be happy that Ollie is recognizing these behaviors as inappropriate or worried that Cookie Monster is being such a bad influence on him.

5.  In between the spitting and screaming and chastising the dog (while standing on his gray stool), he's just so darn sweet.  He wakes up every day in the best mood.  He asks lots of questions.  He likes to go in the yard when the bunny or possum are out, but once there, he gets nervous about going too close.  He cries about the most random things, laughs when I read him the refrain from Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, and eats "red" (Lucky Charms) every day if available and "orange" (Mini Wheats) if not.