February - so short, and yet so long

Let me try to think what's new... well, Andy was in Germany for meetings last week, then spent the weekend in England with family and friends. Oliver and I did ok here, not great... I think he's starting to take the whole "terrible twos" thing to heart, but it definitely comes and goes. Just normal things - being a monster when we're out anywhere, unless I give him a lollipop, not paying any attention to simple things I ask him to do (like hurling his toys at me), and especially, being really, really difficult at nap and bedtime. Not sure what's behind that, because until recently he was great with both of those. Bedtime got all screwed up because Andy was away, and he listens to Andy's "BACK TO BED!" more than he does to mine... so he ended up losing as much as 2 hours of sleep a night for a bit until I gave up and took him into my bed, stayed with him till he fell asleep, then left. Maybe his whole sleep pattern is just off now, and he's overtired, so nap/bedtime don't feel right to him. Whatever, hope he gets over it soon.

On the flip side, when he's not being a tyrant, he's lovely and wonderful. Which is most of the time, truth be told. Sort of. :-) We went to a birthday party over the weekend- his friend, Brandon, turned 2- here's a photo of Oliver next to Brandon, watching a puppet show intently. He even sat at the table with the other kids, enjoying the cake, even though he's not much of a "sitter." Today we went to our favorite park, Kittatinny State Park, just north of Andover, NJ, where we walked along Lake Aeroflex and down to the little airstrip at the end, where we watched 3 little planes take off and a big helicopter land, very cool. I was glad Oliver was wearing his wellies, as it was really muddy in parts and he LOVED playing in the puddles! We talked to lots of dogs, too. It was 70 degrees out today- 70 degrees!! They predicted mid 50s, I don't know what happened, but I was glad we were outside.

Otherwise, not too much to report. I'm working on the nursery for our girly-girl on the way (she gave a kick just as I typed that, not kidding!). We got a gorgeous rug on sale from Pottery Barn, and lovely pink blackout curtains. I like going in there, even though we still have to move out all the "guest room" furniture and it's a bit crowded right now. Less than 2 months to go... we're bracing ourselves!