Bruce and Em and ALL of Them: Birthday

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Oliver's 5th Birthday Bash

And so we made it. Oliver is now 5 years old and I still remember the look on his little face when I first saw him. He was this cute little chubby rolly-polly with a goofy toothless grin and the biggest round eyes I've ever seen. He was 6 months old and had captured my heart.

Every day since that first day has been intriguing. Living with Oliver is a chaotic joy. He has taught me that "normal" is subjective, seeing details is important, and everyone bonds differently. This little boy has opened my eyes to so many new things. I love hearing his version of a story or his version of seeing something new because Oliver's synopsis of something is usually entirely different than his brothers' versions. Not because anyone is lying, but because Oliver simply sees details that most others would miss. And trust me, if Beau or I can't remember some mundane detail (mundane in our simple opinions), we often refer our questions to Oliver. Almost always Oliver has an answer for us. You can usually hear us saying, "Oh yeah, I remember that now. Thanks Ollie."

Living with Oliver has had it's mysteries. But once the mystery is solved, then everything finally makes sense. It's just getting through the solving part that is so hard. Once I can see things through Oliver's eyes, then I understand. However, while we are working through solutions, times can be very exhausting, confusing, frustrating, which all causes impatience. But, we are learning as a family how to become more tolerant and more accepting.

These days, Oliver is fascinated by dinosaurs and loves to watch documentaries. He knows many of the dinosaurs by their names and can tell you many facts about each one. He even has an awesome dinosaur walk that he can imitate so well. I can't tell you how often our conversations are about his newly learned facts about dinosaurs. During dinner, driving to school, while I am trying to dry my hair, through the door while I am trying to use the bathroom, while I am gathering the garbage.......dinosaur talk constantly. His new interest is creatures of the deep ocean. I am thankful for Netflix because he can stream new documentaries all the time as he is learning about this topic. One of his favorite books to read is a children's dictionary (with pictures). He can literally sit for hours sometimes "reading" the various subjects.

Oliver is also a natural at figuring out electronics. I have had to frequently ask Oliver which remote to use for which gadget and when do I use the source button and he always figures it out for me. Oliver likes to do a new Lego project one time using the directions but then he likes to take it apart and figure it out after that without the instructions. Sometimes this takes only minutes and sometimes much longer. Either way, he stays at it until he figures it out. I love that about him.

Our family has had illnesses being passed around for the last 2 weeks and finally this past weekend, 5 out of the 6 of us were sick at the same time. Oliver was the ONLY one that didn't get sick. I was actually going to try to make a cake and even decorate it this year. I was inspired to take my normal ugly cake and attempt to actually decorate it. But when you're not feeling well, taking on a new project like decorating a cake and trying to make it presentable is just too much. So, I bought a cake instead. Can you just hear the sigh of relief? Oliver requested spaghetti, his favorite food for his birthday meal. We had a sweet friend from church bring us dinner because she had heard of us all being sick, but because I had already promised Ollie his spaghetti, we still had to cook last night. But tonight, we have a homemade lasagna waiting for us. Can not wait!!!