Category: Family

An update on Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger

Yup, that’s right Ollie’s full name is Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger and YES I do call him by his full name when he does something bad.

Like peeing on my carpet.

Or stealing Jack’s plastic screwdriver and chewing the end of it so that it no longer screws or drives.

Or sneaking up on me when I’m using the bathroom and LICKING the side of my butt during my private twosie time.*

But let’s start at the beginning so that this update seems a bit more updaty.

image_2 Ollie joined our family on August 14th so as of today he’s been with us 7 weeks. When he first became a part of our family he was really, really shy and pretty much scared of everyone. We think that he had been abused (yelled at and hit) by a man in his original home because he was most fearful around men and would cower at any slightly raised voice.

He has warmed up to us over the past month and a half and likes me best. Yeah, that’s right I’M the top dog so he wants to be by my side at all times. While this is extremely flattering, it can also be a bit annoying (such as the bathroom intrusion). We’ve been working on him becoming closer with Travis so that when I leave the house Ollie doesn’t just whine and whine until I come home.

For the first couple weeks, there was a huge jealousy issue between Ollie and Jack.image_3 Jack was quite used to receiving ALL the attention in the house and couldn’t quite understand why we felt the need to even look over at the little dog. So, he did what any toddler would do and try to smack the crap out of Ollie when nobody was looking. As you can imagine, Ollie was NOT cool with that. He was also not cool with the fact that his new mommy was pushing him aside to play with a giant child who enjoyed smacking him. Thank god that phase passed and now they are fine with each other. Jack likes to GENTLY pet the dog and Ollie feels confident enough to jump up on my lap while I’m reading Jack his bedtime stories.

Ollie also decided to test my love for him about a month after he joined us by running away. When the nanny was over, Ollie slipped out the front door and our short life together flashed in front of my eyes while I was waiting to hear if he had been found.

It’s pretty obvious that Ollie is spoiled at our house. Partially because I feel bad that his last family didn’t love him much and partially because we just like to love the crap out of our dogs (and each other). I’ve taken the big step and whispered the words, “I love you” into Ollie’s over-sized ears, but my husband is still on the fence about declaring his love. I can honestly say that I don’t love Ollie as much as I loved Potter… but Potter was with me for almost 10 years so I’m assuming my love for Ollie will grow.

imageOh yeah, and he’s not totally housebroken. He does really, really well but still has had a few accidents in the house. Most recently, he decided to pee in our office and when I (admittedly stupidly) caught him mid-stream and yelled “NOOOOOoooooo!” he did a crazy startled peepee dance that resulted in me scrubbing the carpet in the office, the hallway and 4 of the steps going downstairs. I was definitely NOT loving Ollivander Rutledge Dellinger in that moment.

Ollie-isms:

Ollie’s Biggest Dislike is Baths – Ollie is apparently part cat because if you try to bathe him, he fights you like a rabid monkey ninja. The only way I can get him clean is by filling the sink up and then trying to throw as much water on him as possible before he climbs up my arms to catapult himself back across the room. It’s a thankless job, but it has to be done because otherwise he gets kind of stinky. And frankly, I already have ONE stinky boy in my bed with me at night.

image_1
A typical weekday night: Jack has decided that he wants to sit on my boobie and Ollie is standing on my head.

Ollie’s Biggest LIKE is me – Yup, I’m Ollie’s jam. In Ollie’s ideal world I would wear him as a scarf and bring him with me wherever I go. That’s right… AS A SCARF. Because when Ollie is feeling the most excited to see me he pretty much would like to crawl up under my chin and stay there. I’ve also woken up in the middle of the night because Ollie has crawled up the back of my t-shirt. Let me just tell you, this is a very odd way to wake up because in your dream-state you have no idea what is happening and why there is a furry hot animal inside your shirt with you.

So there you go, a little Ollie update for y’all. He’s been with us for less than 2 months, so I’m sure that he’s just getting settled in. I’m hoping that he and Jack get closer (and maybe someday he can curl up in Jack’s bed instead of mine!!) and that he stops with having accidents in the house. Yup, that would be great if they could stop NOW because I’m kind of over it.

Do you have any Ollie-related questions? Have you ever adopted a shelter dog and realized that it would be happy pretty much living inside your skin?

*Ok, that’s not so much BAD as it’s weird and inappropriate.

My Best Birthday Gift

If you’ve been a follower of my blog – and my life – you know that it’s been driving me simply MAD that my son refuses to walk.

In fact, I posted way back in June my theory that he was totally messing with me and was actually a walking master… as long as I wasn’t looking.

My emotions on the lack o’ walking went careening from “oh it will happen when it happens” to “holy poop on a cracker, this kid HAS to walk soon because it’s like carrying a 30 pound purse everywhere!” Oh, and add in a little bit of, “if I see one more tiny 7 month old girl walking like a champ I’m going to freak the frack out!!”

So yeah, I was handling it pretty well.

At our 18 month check up with the pediatrician, she determined that he was ready to walk at any time and there wasn’t anything wrong with him. So, I tried to chill out a little (yeah right) and just give it time.

Which is why I was unimpressed when my mom called me last Thursday to say Jack walked 8 steps at her house. I mean, the little booger has been faking us out for MONTHS! He runs like an Olympian as long as his hand is grazing furniture and would even do a crazy stumbling walk between obstacles. Eight steps…? Eh. Maybe he was just falling from one thing to another.

So when Travis brought Jack home (with beautiful roses in hand) on Thursday night, I was just a teeny bit hopeful. And then this happened…

He WALKS! HE WALKS!

My 19 month old son FINALLY WALKS! And he decided to bust out his mad walking skillz ON MY BIRTHDAY!

Can you sense my excitement from my abundance of capital letters? Because it was all I could do to keep from bursting into happy momma tears!

Part of me was afraid to acknowledge (or announce) the walking. Like maybe the moment I finally took a deep breath of relief that it had finally happened, he’d decide to go back to crawling. I mean, I obviously immediately posted it on Facebook like a good blogger. I’m just saying I felt like knocking on wood when I did it (that works, right?).

Luckily Jack has decided that walking is what the cool kids are doing and has been getting better and better at it over the last few days. Well, maybe not better AND better at it… he still walks like a drunken monkey, but he’s WALKING!

Contrary to popular belief, Jack walking has not made my life more difficult. And by ‘popular belief’ I mean pretty much every parent out there who has been very sweet in telling me to enjoy the crawling stage while it’s happening. I did enjoy it… for over a YEAR.

What’s funny is that I’m actually finding life easier with a walking toddler. Instead of me hefting his solidness everywhere, he’s pretty content to walk from place to place holding onto my finger. Also, it makes playtime at the park much more fun!

So yes, my kid finally walks and it was pretty much the best birthday present I’ve ever received.

Feeling a Bit Like a Hippie

Yup, I just might be a bit of a hippie. Or wait, are there still “hippies” or are they called “hipsters” now? I’m certainly NOT a hipster…

Let’s stick with hippie or maybe just a hopeful (possibly naive) mommy.

When we went for Jack’s 18 month checkup, the doctor said how most children start sprouting their 2 year molars anywhere between 18 months to two years. Then, she reminded me that since Jack was born two months early, he most likely won’t have to go through the ouchyness of molars for quite a few more months.

Then, she stuck her hand in his mouth.
And found that he has ALL FOUR molars trying to break through at once.

Yeah, that’s right. My kid is in the middle of some horrific teething and I kind of didn’t notice until the doctor pointed it out. I mean, he was a bit more slobbery than normal… and whiny too. But isn’t that kind of the norm for a 1 ½ year old kid?

Well, once we realized that Jack was probably suffering from a 24-hour ache while those teeth slowly pushed into place it was like HE realized it too. A slight whine turned into sticking EVERYTHING he could find into his mouth and giving me a sad pitiful look. And OH the tears. The kid hurts.

I’d really prefer not to dose him with pain reliever medicine all day long and the teething tabs are no longer enough to take care of the pain. So, I rustled around in his drawer and found the Baltic Amber teething necklace that I had purchased about a year ago.

The theory behind the necklace is that the amber contains succinic acid, which is a natural pain reliever, anti-inflammatory, and central nervous system calmer. It is supposed to ease teething pain with no drugs and no side effects. The necklace is made to be worn against your child’s skin (it’s short so they can’t easily grab or chew it) and is meant to break if pulled too tight. Also, each bead is individually knotted so that they don’t break free from the necklace and become a choking hazard.

So when we used the necklace a year ago, did it work?
I have no idea.

Will it work now?
Who knows, but we’re sure as heck going to try it out!

amber necklace picI put the necklace on Jack a couple days ago. When I have my eyes on him, it goes around his neck and I tuck it under his shirt. When I leave him with someone else, I wrap the necklace twice around his ankle. You’re supposed to leave it on your kid all day and night, but I take it off while he’s sleeping.

I do feel a bit like a hippie. But frankly, if it helps my kid feel better I will have the “he’s not a girl, it’s a teething pain necklace” conversation 10,000 times.

If you’ve tried one of the amber teething necklaces, do you think it worked? Or is it just a bunch of superstitious malarkey that I paid too much money for?

9/10/13 Update: So I’ve left the necklace around Jack’s ankle (wrapped twice) for the past couple weeks — even during sleep, the ocean and baths — and I SWEAR it’s working! His top two molars cut through during the last week and he wasn’t even any crankier than normal. Actually, he hasn’t been very cranky at all lately and FINALLY went back to going right to sleep when I put him down at night. So YAY for teething necklaces! Now I need to go and knock on the biggest piece of wood I can find because I think I just jinxed myself and he’s going to fight me for 3 hours when I try to put him to bed tonight…