What's coming in 2018

Big things happening this year

It's only a month into the new year but already I can tell it's going to be a big one. And not just because I'm going to complete my Paw Patrol toy collection when I finally finish that reward chart Mummy made (still 20 stars left to earn - arggh!).

Mostly this year is going to be big because I'll be turning five. Woah, that really starts to feel like getting older. Only a couple of years ago Mummy was dropping me off at daycare for the first few times and I was howling like, well, like William when he wants food. Loudly and with lots of tears, I mean.

And of course, turning five means also starting school. It was exciting when Daddy said he was going to go back to school too to be a teacher (maybe we might go to the same school!). And then it was exciting when he said he wasn't (he can just be Daddy now, instead of teaching lots of other kids). So in a few short months I'll be putting on those scruffy secondhand uniforms which have hopefully been fully washed and de-cootied, and walking up to the nearby primary school.

I may not completely have the right idea of what school is going to be like yet though. Each time when I talk excitedly about going it's because they have cool playgrounds there that look fun to zoom around on. Apparently there are also long hours in classrooms in between. But learning to read will be awesome, because then I'll be able to start reading my books to myself! I even offered to help Mummy and Daddy with road signs while they're driving if they're not able to read them.

Something else which will make 2018 a big year is William starting talking. Finally. At the moment it seems like an equal chance between whether he or one of the cats will start speaking first. It'll be nice to know what he's been meaning all this time when he points at an object and says something which sounds like "ang-weh".

What else? Oh, hopefully another family holiday away somewhere fun. Ideally with a bit more beach and a bit less stinky mud pool. And if it's later in the year I'll be able to read the signs and chat to William along the way. So bring on the 2018!

A Beachin' Break

Fun fun fun in the sun sun sun

The Summer holidays are here; or, as I like to think of them, the Oli-days. The sun is out and I have three weeks away from daycare, so what better time than to stay indoors snacking while watching Paw Patrol and PJ Masks for hours on my iPad? Unfortunately Mum had other ideas, so we headed out to some places instead.

One of our first day trips was to the beach at Rothesay Bay. The water was lovely and warm, plus we found some cool rockpools with starfishes in them. There was even a cave around the corner from the beach; Daddy and I explored right to the back when we first saw it, and then a few hours later when we went back the water was rushing in and I had to cling to his shoulders. It felt like the sort of place a dinosaur or monster could be living in.

Only a couple of days after we visited that beach, there was a big storm that lasted for days. When we went back to the beach a week later, all the sand where we had been sitting last time had been washed away by the tides, leaving only big rocks where we'd been; needless to say, we sat somewhere else for our return visit!

Another day we did a coastal walk from Milford to Takapuna. This was sold to me as a walk along the beach with ice cream treats halfway, but actually meant we all had to scramble over rocks like some sort of mountain goat just to follow the path. Not so hard for Mum and Dad, but harder for me with my little legs. Lucky William was carried all the way, so all he had to do was look around and hold his hand out for ice cream.

It was cool learning about the Rangitoto volcano though, even if I didn't quite understand the timescales involved. I get that the volcano didn't erupt when I was a baby, but doesn't that mean that it must have happened when Mum and Dad were babies instead?

One day we visited Grandpa and Nana to go to Orewa beach together. As well as having a fun swim, Grandpa showed me how to ride a boogie board in the waves. The first attempt wasn't a big success - I was barely on it before I immediately came off it and face-planted in the water. But I got the hang of it; I reckon I'm a natural!

It's been a great beachy summer; lots of swims at cool different beaches, and at Grandma and Grandad's pool. Maybe it would have been good to have a few less stormy days, but at least then I was able to do my snacking and iPad watching!

A Cracker of a Day

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Because Christmas is such a great day, I wanted to really get into the spirit this year. So a couple of days before Christmas I was allowed to stay up late until it got dark, then we went out to look at some houses decorated with colourful Christmas lights. One house had a great snow machine, and I danced around as the snow fell all around me.

Another house had thousands of lights; we walked down to it through a tunnel of sparkly lights, and at the end were glowing reindeers, a huge Santa, and a strange black car that Daddy was especially interested in. Maybe it's the car he wishes he drives.

If you've seen my video, you already know that Santa did a good job with my Christmas present wishlist. This year was the year of Paw Patrol - I got lots of awesome toys, including a big Lookout for the pups to play in, plus most of the Paw Patrol pups as well. So far, every day after Christmas when the sun comes up on my clock, I get straight up and start playing with it.

Christmas Day was at Grandma and Grandad's house, with my cousins as well. Grandma had set up her garage as a kids' room with toys, balloons and a special kids' table for us to have our Christmas lunch on. Pretty soon the garage looked like a delivery of toys had crashed and spilled toys everywhere.

The weather was so good we also went swimming in Grandma's pool. I was so excited about it that as soon as we got to the pool area I jumped straight in - right on top of the big mat that covered the whole pool! Well, if they didn't want people jumping on it by mistake they shouldn't make it blue like the water!

Thanks to my swimming lessons I'm super confident now, and loved jumping off the edge. Daddy kept hanging around trying to catch me, but I told him I didn't need it - I'm a big boy now.

It was a great end to a great Christmas Day. Just a few days later it was New Year's Day, but this isn't an occasion I'm quite as interested in. First thing that morning when I went into Mummy's room she said "Happy New Year Oliver", but all I said back was "Yep, but can you wipe my bum please.".

All I Want For Christmas (part 2)

What did Santa actually put on his sleigh?

He's been! Santa arrived during the night and left a bunch of presents in thoughtfully tidy piles under our Christmas tree. More importantly, the largest number of presents seemed to be for me. And most importantly, the biggest one was addressed for me!

So here's me explaining exactly what I received from Santa first thing on Christmas morning 2017.

Seems like he followed my wishlist pretty closely; I'll have to write an even longer one next year since this strategy obviously works.

But the best thing of all is that we still have a yummy Christmas lunch and even more presents to come later today. Merry Christmas!

All I Want For Christmas (part 1)

Oliver's Christmas wishlist

Yay - Christmas time! It's the time of year to put up a big tree in the lounge, play some jaunty music, anticipate loading up on chocolates and other treats, and get ready for Santa to arrive.

This year I'm pretty certain about the things I'd like to get for Christmas, so I've made a present wishlist and videoed it - just to be sure Santa knows exactly what I'd like.

Now we'll be able to compare what was on my wishlist with what I actually get on Christmas Day! I sure hope Santa sees the video; maybe next year I'll write a letter too...

By the Book

Ollie's Book Reviews

Books have always been one of my favourite things. Every night before bed I need at least two books read to me, and every weekend morning I sit with Daddy in bed and get him to read as many books as I can before he tries to get up and do something else.

I've got quite a good collection of books in my little bookshelf (I used to have more but now they've been given to William), and Daddy is always getting me more out of the library. With reading so many, the books I love most can change a bit sometimes. But I've given it some thought, and these are some super-short reviews of some of my absolute favourite books of all time (so far).

Digger and Skip - I like this one because it has lots of cool building site vehicles

Hairy Maclary - I especially like the ones with Scarface Claw, and get all mock-scared when we're about to turn the page to show him there.

Bedtime Bear - this one has lots of flaps to lift up and reveal hidden things, plus it's a good "finding book" where Daddy gets me to search for things in the pictures.

The Little Yellow Digger - I like this one because it has lots of diggers in it, and some I've never seen before; I also like the "constructions".

 

The Last Tiger - this book is one I've had for a while, but I like the tiger and the beautiful garden at the end of the story.

Anything by Richard Scarry - I've recently discovered all these books about Busytown, and love reading the stories and finding things hidden in the pictures. Luckily the library has lots of these books, so it looks like I'll be keeping Dad pretty busy with trips to get me more out to read.

A Holiday That Stinks

Roadtrip to Rotorua

Exciting news: we're off on another family holiday! Hurrah, it feels like ages since we had the last one. Somewhere new to explore, somewhere new to stay with new toys to play with... But hang on - we're going on holiday to a place that smells of farts? Is this some sort of joke? I can get that smell at home without leaving the house.

Anyway, we packed up the car and headed off on what turned out to be a very, very long car ride. We hadn't even left Auckland behind before I asked if we were nearly there for the first time. But it certainly wouldn't be the last time I asked that favourite roadtrip question...

This holiday would be a bit different though as we were going with family friends and their little girl, all staying together in a big house.

Hours later when we arrived we went out to look at some boiling mud pools in Kuirau Park. It was actually a bit hard to even see the boiling mud through all the big clouds of hot, smelly smoke that came out of each pool. After the first couple of sniffs I decided the smell was "gross"and took to holding my nose to keep the stink out.

Paradise Valley was a cool place we visited where we could walk around some tracks looking at animals, birds and fishes, all surrounded by huge trees and a river. We even saw some lions and got to hear them doing a fearsome roar.

The water comes up out of the ground from natural springs, and I was able to drink some of the water by kneeling beside the pool and scooping up water in my hand. All the pools were so clear you could see the bottom and any fishes swimming around so clearly.

We'd bought a small bag of animal food, so when we got to the wallabies I gave them some food to eat from my hand. I wasn't so keen on feeding these big horn-headed goats when we came to them later though.

One thing you can tell from the photos is that it rained almost the entire time we were in Rotorua, so everywhere we went we needed to wear these plastic ponchos. They covered me from the neck all the way well past my toes, so I may as well have stayed in my cosy pajamas.

In fact, the only time it didn't rain was part of one afternoon when we all stayed indoors while Mummy and her friend went to sit in some thermal spa pools. They chose the one time it wasn't actually wet to go and sit somewhere wet!

This holiday was the first time I shared a bedroom with William; I had a bunk bed and he had his portacot. Luckily neither of us made any big noises or woke up wondering where we were, so we both had great sleeps.

By the end of the holiday we hadn't seen as many thermal places as planned because of the rain, which was fine by me because of the gross smell. But even before we had left Daddy was threatening to take us back again another time; I'll need to be prepared and plug my nose up with something next time.

It's All Going Swimmingly

Making a splash

The last time I tried some swimming lessons it didn't go well. I resisted getting in the water, and when I did get carried in I spent more time crying than participating in the lesson. In fact, turning on my waterworks was about as close to an aquatic experience as I had then.

So it was probably with some trepidation that, two years and some cool Paw Patrol togs later, Mummy and Daddy enrolled me in another series of swimming lessons in this new pool complex close to home.

Fortunately for everyone, I'm much more confident around the water now. I look forward to my lessons, eagerly hop into the pool and am always putting my hand up to go first with practicing something. In fact, I'm so excited about it that my biggest problem is not always being attentive to the teacher, as Mummy and Daddy often call out to me from the side.

So far I've done lots of fun things with paddle boards and noodles. The teacher has also had us practicing diving from the steps towards her, although when I do it I always seem to go for height instead of distance, and end up jumping at her rather than diving!

I'm also likely to get a bit carried away with over-splashing when kicking my feet; quite often when I've finished this, the teacher has to wipe water off her face like someone's thrown a bucketful of water at her.

But one of the most fun parts of the whole swimming lessons experience is being able to play in the big pool and go down the waterslide afterwards. Now if only we had a pool at home I could practice in too; somehow the bath just isn't the same.

Go Your Own Way

Things William does that I never did

You'd think William and me would have a lot in common. We both have the same Mummy and Daddy, both grow up in the same house, both are slowly taking over that house... But as William gets older it turns out we have quite a few differences as well; things that William has started doing that I didn't when I was his age.

Like the fascination he seems to have with the toilet. Not that he's a fast learner and is keen to use the toilet like a big boy. Oh no, he's fascinated with putting things into the toilet. Any time the lid is accidentally left up, you can be sure the next time you check there'll be a little surprise floating in the water. It could be his bedtime cukky, or any one of my toys.

One thing we both do is make a bit of a mess with our toys, normally just because we've been playing with them and they've got spread around the house a little. But William takes this even further and actively seems to want to create mess where there isn't any, like with his habit of unpacking cupboards, shelves or toy boxes to throw the contents all over the floor.

When he's not putting things in the toilet or strewn across the floor, William also loves putting things in his mouth. Pretty much anything he can get his hands on is a target, from toys to bottles, but his favourite is his cukky. It's been in his mouth so often that it's now permanently discoloured.

I wonder just how similar or different we'll be as we keep getting older? Only time, and my blog, will tell!

Learning From the Best

Things I'm teaching William

Just a few weeks before my birthday, little William had his first birthday. A whole year has flown by since I first visited him in hospital and we packed him up to come home. He's been growing and learning so much since then, but it's important that he gets the best tutelage and learns from a master. That's where I come in; I'm training tomorrow's rascal.

Walking is something I'm helping with. Well, encouraging. After a few weeks of faltering steps made while holding onto the couch, coffee table or people, William is getting more confident every day, while I egg him on. True, I do sometimes tell on him if he's tottering his way over to something he shouldn't (like my breakfast), but soon it'll be a case of look out every ornament that's within reach!

I'm also helping encourage him with some new tricks. Mummy has taught him what the answer to the question "What noise does the lion make" is (answer: "rarrhhh"), and we're now moving on to clapping hands and waving goodbye. He hasn't quite got the waving right yet - when he tries it looks a bit like he's trying to get something sticky off his hand.

People have told me that my vocabulary is pretty good, so this is something else I can try to pass onto William. He's only just said his first word ("mama") though, so that could be a long road.

Mostly though, the things I'm teaching William are those things Mummy and Daddy wish I wasn't. Like when we're eating dinner and I slouch back in my chair, letting bits of food fall off my fork onto the carpet. William looks across at me, finds it hilarious, and before you know it there's food being dropped from two sides. Which is normally where threats and curses ensue from Daddy, but neither of us pay much attention. Being a rascal is just far too much fun.