Happy 2012! It has been a year since I last updated Oliver’s Blog, but that does not mean that I have not thought about it a hundred times. Life has flown by, as it always seems to do. It has taken me a day off from work, Oliver paying by himself with his new Transformer toys, and a big storm in Newport for me to get the occasion to update the world as to what is going on in Oliver’s life.
Oliver is now 4, and since posting in the Blog last we have been on amazing vacations, spent time with great friends and family, and enjoyed watching Oliver grow smarter and funnier every day. Oliver’s dad is now a Commercial Fisherman and is working along side his brother Alberto on a boat based out of Newport. We sometimes go days without seeing him but Oliver seems to be adjusting to it okay. He does tell me all of the time that he misses his daddy. We are hoping with the increased income that next year we can buy a house and give Oliver more room to grow.
The highlights from Winter 2010/2011 were spending Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Years with family and friends. Oliver was still scared of Santa, so no pictures. And no snow, just a lot of cold weather and they type of storms that the Oregon Coast is famous for. It was a long winter with lots of coloring, playing toy cars, and reading books. Oliver started attending a Toddler Time at the library. Every Friday he still goes with his grandpa to the library to a reading and craft time.
The best part of our Spring 2011 was our vacation to California to visit Megan‘s good friends. It was so much fun! First we went to Laguna Hills to visit Amy and Jeff. Oliver loved it there! I think his favorite part was going to the beach (even though he was too scared to get into the
water) and going on a wagon ride and strawberry picking at Tanaka farms. Next we went to Bakersfield and visited Tiffany and her family. Oliver made friends with her two sons and loved playing in their pool. Out last stop was visiting Michaela and Chris in San Francisco. It was great. They live right down town and Oliver went a lot of time looking out their window at the city and the trolleys passing by. We went on a Trolley Ride to the Pier and even though Oliver got scared of the Bush Man and the human statues he had a fun time looking at the boat and eating ice cream. We are hoping to make a repeat trip this summer.
Spring in Oregon also many trips to the parks and the beach. Oliver loves playing outdoors, so when the weather is nice we always take advantage of it. At the beach Oliver likes to make sandcastles, play with sticks, and fly kites. We also had a great visit from Oliver's Great Grandma Myra .
For the 4th of July weekend we went on our annual camping trip to Loon Lake. This year there were 9 families that went, but Oliver loved the chaos and all of the kids to play with. Also during this summer Juan Carlos and Oliver went fishing a lot to our local lake. Oliver even got his own Spiderman fishing pole. The excitement in Oliver’s eyes was priceless when his dad would tell him that they were going fishing.
In August we got the surprise vacation of a lifetime! Oliver's Great Uncle Harvey took Aunt Becca, Oliver, and Megan on a Mexican Riviera Crise along with much of the Terry/Schwartz family. The only word to describe it
is amazing. Not only did we get to reunite with 12
of our family members from all over the world, but we got to go on a Carnival Cruise to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. In Cabos San Lucas Oliver loved playing on the beach and in the warm ocean. He was thrilled when he figured out to say "no gracias" to the vender's trying to sell us stuff on the beach. We even got a bike taxi and a water taxi, and for both trips Oliver had a permanent smile on his face. In Puerto Vallarta we explored the city and Oliver found his favorite Mexican candy in a store so he was very pleased. We went to a huge flea market and a really neat
Tequila Factory. It was the type of vacation that you wish would never end (minus the fact that we missed Juan Carlos).
The first part of September we took Oliver to the Zoo for the first time. We
spent the most time visiting the Lions and the Elephants. He loves animals, so the day was perfect
and Oliver had a great time.
Two weeks later it was Oliver's 4th birthday. We had a small Spiderman themed birthday party for him at our house. Even though it was small,
Oliver had a great time playing with his cousins and hitting the pinata.This Fall Oliver started a bilingual part-time preschool with his cousin Brisa. It is a neat program that is only 2 days a week but it seems like he has been a great advantage to him. Since he has been going there his language and vocabulary in English and Spanish has greatly improved, along with his socialization skills. He has made a few new friends, but he still sticks pretty closely to Brisa. Next year he will be in a full-time preschool program, but for right now it is a great introduction to what is to come.
Oliver did not want to dress up for Halloween, so instead of going Trick-or-Treating we went out to dinner with Aunt Becca and then visited Oliver's
Great Grandmother Evie. This year however Oliver was very excited to see Santa Claus. He even sat on his lap and energized on Christmas Eve because Santa was coming after went to sleep. We lit the menorah with Oliver’s grandparents on the first and last night of Hanukkah, and Oliver understood the reasoning behind not blowing out the candles. Such a big change from last year, it really seems like he is growing up.
Oliver still loves super-hero’s, especially Spiderman, Iron Man, and Batman, but he also has a new devotion to Transformers. He is currently working on learning the alphabet, and loves singing the ABC song. He can write his name and loves to write it everywhere he can. He likes coloring, playing with Play-Doh, Legos, cars, dinosaurs, and animal toys. He is getting more and more into puzzles and playing board games, like Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land.
Oliver is now becoming a little jokester and has a enormous sense of humor. A recent joke that created is that he named his grandparents new cat “Lassie“, and the fish that he got for Christmas from Aunt Becca “Kitty Cat” and his new toy crocodile “Bubble Bee”.
It has been discovered that Oliver is an insightful and very empathetic boy. He wants every body around him to be happy like he is. He gets upset when he thinks that people are angry with him, or they are hurt physically. He used to be terrified of Doctors, but now he says that he would like to be a doctor, Iron Man, or a Police Officer when he is “bigger” so he can “help people”. It is so remarkably heartwarming to see our little man care about other people the way that we do.
