A little bit of Ollie

Ollie is joining the ranks of the noteworthy moments- to which we couldn't be more pleased. A couple weeks ago my sweet sister in law held a "boys camp" at her house for a week, during which all the Madsen boy cousins could come play. So we shipped all 3 boys off for an entire week! The point of this is that Ollie came back talking so much more often and more clearly than he had left a short 8 days earlier!

So on that note, we were driving the other day and drove past the temple. He always points them out, very excited about it. SO I ask who is on top, to which he replies "Moroni!" (before going to cousins camp he called him "mona"). I ask what Moroni is holding in his hand and he replies, "a french fry!" I have heard many kids interpret what Moroni holds- a gun, a lightsaber, a sword (clearly I only speak to boys), but french fry is new.

He has really enjoyed the fireworks this year. The first time we saw them this year was at our city celebration, and I don't think he remembered them at all from last summer. We went to the big concert they do in the evening and then afterward they start fireworks. He was SO excited when they started that he began fumbling around for the word for them and settled on "pokies." I absolutely LOVE hearing him call fireworks that. He has seen enough in the last month to where he has started to call them fireworks, but if they catch him by surprise or they are close by, he still gets overexcited and calls them "pokies." This is one I wish he would never stop using!

He has started using the bathroom! HOORAY for us! We are a LONG way away from being fully trained, but he has gone all day today with no accidents yet (it's only 2 pm) and yesterday he only had one. Maybe the end of diapers is in sight for the Madsen's!
He has now permanantly added the "rrr" sound to his pronunciation of truck. I am so relieved- given that "t" has been given the "f" sound. I can handle "fruck."
I know there is one more thing he has said I wanted to add... I may have to go back and add it later.
The last thing to add is a boy moment we had in our home about a month ago. Of course anything of epic proportions at our house includes Emitt, and this is no different.
I was on the phone taking care of some business one morning and the cordless phone began to die. I had to then resort to the corded phone in my bedroom upstairs, which I had done many times before. Keep in mind that as the phone rings for this particular call, I am currently mopping the kitchen floor. I quit mopping to go upstairs to finish the call. When I return downstairs about 10 minutes later, I walk into the kitchen to see Ollie licking the floor. My first feeling was, "at least it is freshly clean..." but I should have looked a little closer. There was this red liquid all over the freshly mopped kitchen floor. I stand there and try to put the puzzle together- where did this mysterious red goo come from? Then I see the pair of scissors. It is getting worse by the second. I see a piece of clear plastic, then another, than about 15 more. I realize this is an Otter Pop wrapper that has been cut into about 30 pieces. Ahhh! We really aren't out of otter pops like I thought! Apparently there was an unfrozen one somewhere that Ollie happened upon and decided to treat himself to. I curse my dead phone battery and grab a rag and go down on my hands and knees to clean it up, and then re-mop. This is when I notice Emitt sitting under the kitchen table, a smug smile on his face and bright blue all around his mouth. Right. Those adorable cinderella princess cupcakes the neighbor shared with us. Oh wait... is that one stuck to the bottom of the table? YUP. Emitt heard me coming and knew he would be in trouble, so the only thing he could do was reach up and STICK IT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE KITCHEN TABLE! This cupcake is just dangling there! It is then I decide to more fully take stock in the status of my kitchen. I find blue frosting down the microwave door (this should be a clue for my future), on the stovetop, down the oven door, and along the countertop by the sink. Now that I am seemingly focused on Emitt, Ollie decides this is his chance to run. He stands up and then I notice the remainder of his scissor skills... 4 large holes in the legs of his shorts. At this point I am so beyond even knowing who to scold or what to clean up I just take a seat. Luckily no cupcakes fell from the table. After recovering from that light headed please-tell-me-this-is-a-dream moment, I got to work cleaning up. I thought the moment had passed... that is until I tried to thaw the meat for dinner. Apparently along with eating a cupcake, Emitt needed to know what would happen if he put one in the microwave. Well, in case you are interested, the light blue frosting turns to sticky impossible to clean goo and the cupcake explodes and then bakes itself onto the walls of the microwave.
You have to have these moments to appreciate the pokies, don't you?

Emitt's Bits

Ahhh, Emitt. Nothing I could say about him could explain the joy... and the pain... this child brings into our house. Luckily, it is much much more joy than pain. Anyway, he has something highlight worthy to record pretty much every day and of course I always say, "I should write that one down," but I don't. So here are some of the ones that actually made paper and I will try a little harder in the future.
One day we were eating lunch and after quiet for a couple minutes, he said, "Mom, did you know that food goes all the way down to your feet and toes? Yeah. That's what is gonna make me longer than Tyse." Sorry little dude, I don't think it is in your genes, but in his daily sing song words, "mom, I am getting big-gah!"
He has stopped allowing me to give him kisses. He told me one night at bedtime when I requested a kiss, "But mom, you are a girl!" So I said, "But Emitt, I am your mom!" to which he replied, "but mom, you're still a girl."We were preparing the other day to give the boys their annual summer haircuts. I had just asked Tyse if he wanted a buzz, to which he replied, "I will be ready for a haircut on friday, mom." Well, ok then. So then I asked Emitt if he wanted a buzz. He replied, "no, mom, I want a woody."
A couple weeks ago after church, I asked Emitt what he had learned in primary that day. He was so excited to share- he said, "let me show you! Put out your hand. Now, we high five, and then bump!" So glad stories about jesus are sneaking their way in there.

Also on the primary note, during singing time they played a game where you had to identify and sing songs that were chosen. I don't know if they were program songs or just your standard oldies but goodies, or what, but he knew and sang pretty much every song on the list- more than even the 6 year olds in the primary!
Emitt loves swimming and has absolutely no fear of the water. He has been fished out of swimming pool at least 5 or 6 times (more than once by the lifeguard) after just jumping right in off the side and not being able to swim. Unfortunately,he considers himself a proficient swimmer more than able to swim in the deep end with his brother. He now declares, "I am NOT a baby swimmer. I am a big boy swimmer and I won't go if I can't go in the deep end. Now he wears his lifejacket all the time, no matter how many adults are watching, and swims in the deep end all the time- kicking and paddling as much as his little body can. It takes him a good 10 minutes of all out kicking to get across the pool but he does it! Unfortunately, that same stamina does not carry over to emptying the dishwasher.On sunday we were walking to church. It was 10 am on the first mid-80's day of the year. We live 1/2 block from our church house, but poor Emitt couldn't make it. We made it 2 houses when he had to sit down and said, "Mom, it is just TOO HOT! Can't we go somewhere that it is freezing?"

Emitt is getting to be a better eater. He has started to actually eat some of whatever I make, of course after giving me the intial "ewwwww." His new favorite thing? Chip sauce. Not salsa. Chip sauce.

Find the common factor

What do the following events all have in common?
A sliver 1/2 inch long
6 fillings
1 wisdom tooth removal
one bottom lip bitten completely through
3 days of vomit
1 dislocated elbow
2 VERY sunburned heads
one set of fingers slammed in a door
3 bloody toes
1 VERY sunburned back, shoulders, and arms
An eye infection causing an 8 DAY headache
Any ideas?

Unfortunately for the Madsen family, the common thread is that they all happened to our family in one week's time. SERIOUSLY!
The winners of listed events:
Kent- Kent visited the dentist for the first time in 5 years. I know, appalling- especially to our dental minded friends ( or maybe you are just jealous that you didn't get the payday!). Anyway, he went in for his cleaning and xrays and came out with 6 fillings and a wisdom tooth removal. He now believes he is a superior specimen because he had all that work done in one morning and then took one tylenol and spent the whole day in meetings at work. Then he came home demanding steak for dinner.
He also spent the weekend at youth conference and opted out of the sunscreen he packed- leaving his back, shoulders and arms fried! On the good side, we actually emptied the bottle of aloe that had been sitting in our fridge for the last 3 years. One more bottle out of my fridge!
Tyse-
Tyse was the one lucky enough to spend 3 days vomiting. There was a good side- it is the first time any of our kids have actually made it to the bathroom in time, so I didn't have to scrub any puke out of our carpet. The other good part is that no one else shared in the festivities.
He also had 2 of the 3 bloody toes- those genetic dry feet he gets from Kent. They look so painful when the crack open and bleed.
He got to claim one of the sunburned heads- Kent buzzed the boys bald last week and mom forgot sunscreen as well during the soccer game.
Lastly for Tyse, he had the giant sliver stuck in his hand. We were at the ladybug release party in our neighborhood and he got bumped by Ollie. He tried to catch himself on one of the garden boxes and slid his hand along it, leaving a GIANT sliver that had to be dug out. Dad was at youth conference, of course, so mom had no assisting surgeon and it took about a half hour to dig a ditch all the way around the sliver, then raise it up from underneath with the needle and removing ever so slowly with the tweezers. He was very brave.
Emitt-
Emitt got off easy for the week. He tried to pull a hanging toenail off and ended up with the other bloody toe, which really does hurt a lot. He also had the other sunburned head. I felt terrible because he kept saying to me over and over, "Mom, why did you forget my scun screen?" I do feel bad, but I am comforted by the fact he did have a hat and just flat refused to wear it. He also fell prey to his big brother on the sunburn. Sunday morning we were getting ready to walk out to church and I noticed 2 spots on his head that looked like they had literally peeled off the top of his skin. Luckily it didn't really bleed- just had the glossy weepy look to it, and apparently it didn't hurt because he didn't even notice they were there. The appearance was enough to make my stomach flip, though. Anyway, I asked him what happened and Tyse said that he was just trying to pick the dead skin off of Emitt's head (due to the sunburn.) Tyse was then informed that you have to wait for the skin to initiate the peeling itself- you don't just start scratching a sunburn until what you think may be dead skin finally scrapes off.At least his brother didn't notice.
Ollie-
Ollie had the roughest week of all. The same day as the filling/wisdom tooth event and puke day #2, Ollie fell on his carseat, hit his lip on the only hard plastic part on the front of it, and bit entirely through his bottom lip. Oh, the amount of blood. It looked like one of those Monte Python scenes where "blood" is being squirted through a watergun type thing for a great effect. I thought at first it had only cut the inside and that the blood from inside was just dripping underneath his lip because I couldn't get him to let me even come near his mouth. No such luck. Of course we weren't home- we were at Target- so I decided the better choice was to take him in the store to get some water and ice and then find a little bit of distraction. Unfortunately that didnt work either- and the wonderful Target employees brought us every item from their snack bar for free hoping that he would find something to cool or wash out the mouth. He wouldn't touch anything, but Tyse and Emitt loaded up on all the free everything. I think it was their favorite target trip ever. Anyway, the cut under his lip is almost all gone and not noticeable, but he still has a big white sore in his mouth from the inside cut.
A couple days later, we were at the children's museum and Ollie decided that he didn't want to stick with the group. I grabbed his hand and held it tight as we were walking back to the group. He decided to just pick up his feet so I would have to drag him, and POP! out went his elbow. Insert screaming. Luckily last time this happened I had the dr teach me how to set it myself, so after finally deciding it must be dislocated, I sat down with him and sure enough, POP! back in it went. I am still amazed how quickly he can recover from this- I am sure it stays sore for a couple days, but the crying stops almost instantly and he once again begins climbing and running and just being 2. Hopefully he grows out of this soon!
A couple days after that, he got his fingers stuck in a cabinet drawer. That was much less exicting.
Beka-
I had the "least" exciting week, with the most action. I got an eye infection, which is a side effect from my disease. These infections are placed way back behind the eye and cause MAJOR headaches that last as long as the infection lasts. Unfortunately, since it is caused by the autoimmune system, antibiotics nor any other medications really help. It lasted almost exactly 1 week- from a friday evening until a Saturday midday. That alone is miserable, but I had to deal with all the above items that same week.
I never thought I would wish for boring weeks, but may next week be much more boring.

Tyse's Bits of paper

I have all these little bits of paper that have been lying around my desk. On them I have written a load of cute and adorable things about my kids that I keep meaning to post about so they are written somewhere (other than on my many little bits of paper). Here are the ones that have to do with Tyse.

Tyse is getting older and more ...something... not sure the right word... every day. He is serious about every thing he does- school, sports, games, you name it- it is a BIG deal. A couple months ago he came home from school visibly upset. The first thing out of his mouth was, "Mom, I've really GOT to have a haircut." Upon asking why, he informed me that the kids in his class had been teasing him about his hair. I must have given him the "huh?" look, because then he said, "well mom, not ALL the kids. Just the girls." Again, he got the "huh?" And then almost in tears with his voice quivering, "mom, they just say how CUTE it is. Over and over. And ask if they can touch it!" Well, that was the day we went for the almost buzz in the wintertime.

He is also completely obsessed with Chess. He wants to play all day, every day. I, myself, don't even know HOW to play chess. He keeps volunteering to teach me, sweet boy. I keep trying to find good excuses to NOT learn. Luckily, Kent enjoys playing with him, and just a couple weeks ago, he got his first victory over his dad! He was so excited- and Kent didn't even see it coming. He brings it up every time they get the chess board out. It is the only game I have ever seen him continue to play even though he loses almost every time.

Sports continue to be his first love. Soccer season is in full swing and his team is 3-0, and his goal count stands at 17. We have really been working on getting him to pass to his teammates instead of just dribbling it down and scoring himself, and this past week he showed it is finally sinking in! This past week at lunch he had been quiet for a while and finally said, "mom? I have been thinking about my game this week. Sometimes when I am getting ready to score I have 2 or 3 guys guarding me and I have to be pretty fancy to get it past them. But... what if I just passed it to the middle? Tate is always standing there, and then HE could bury it! I think it would work!" I was very proud to hear his brain starting to work in a bit of a team fashion- and then to actually see him tell Tate the plan and then try to execute it was even sweeter! I was so proud of him!

His last great moment of the past few weeks came one morning when I was downstairs getting Kent off to work. Tyse stumbled into the kitchen straight out of bed and instead of saying his usual- "can I have breakfast now?", he uttered 4 words that I didn't expect to hear at the age of 6- but now plan on hearing every morning for the next 12 years. They were, "Where's the sports section?" My boy is getting big!

Rah Rah Rahrahrah

A couple weekends ago Kent actually worked from home for a few hours so we decided to head to Provo and take in a Men's Volleyball game- our first of the season and ONE of the best things about march! I started to make dinner before we left, but we then decided that if we were going all the way to provo....

why not visit Los 3? (Note to those with UC: NOT a good choice, unless you are willing to have a rough couple days... which I guess I was!) This is our favorite mexican restaraunt EVER! The boys have been a handfull of times, and the thing they remember the most is the jukebox, which is no longer there. But never fear... they have a new "balloon distractionist!" did you know these people have a title? She was probably the best we had ever seen- she made a helicopter for Tyse, an adorable little monkey for Ollie, and Emitt requested the coolest...

MOTORCYCLE! I had never seen one done by a balloon artist before-but it was ultra cool!

After dinner, we headed to the volleyball game where Tyse and Emitt hung out with Cosmo.

Ollie, of course, would have nothing to do with him when he was close, but his finger followed him around the field house anywhere else he went. He is just like Tyse was at this age- petrified of anything in costume. (Side note- He can't stand Chick Fil A's cow, but Harmons has an adorable purple hippopotamus that he actually accepted a sucker from- I think it is the "anything for the sugar" mentality!)

Anyway, at the game we asked the boys where they wanted to sit- it was a pretty low key crowd- and of course they couldn't agree, so we let them sit apart. Tyse chose...

I know, shocker- he had to be in the front row. Emitt, on the other hand, chose...
He wanted lots of his own space!
Anyway, the game was a lot of fun and the boys had a blast! Of course we won, so here is a (sideways) video of Emitt finishing the evening with the cougar fight song!

GO COUGARS!

Ollie at 2

Ollie at 1 yr and at 2 yrs.

My sweet Ollie is two! You may say, "Beka, he turned two almost a month ago," and you would be right, but I am just getting to writing a little about our baby.
I have posted before about how he is a bit of a neat freak and likes things to go in patterns. Everything has its place- and it can't wait until I am ready to get it there, even if the item is currently in use. Things run on HIS time frame- or he will scream and scream until it does. He is super picky about which bins his toys go in, where his books lay, and most pointedly, how his blankets are folded and hung over the side of his crib in the correct order and then his taggie and stuffed animals placed on top. Then it is time to get dressed. It can't wait for later- it happens immediately. I think maybe there is a bit of Grandpa Kirt in him!

Ollie loves to play in my makeup. Unfortunately, he also knows how to unscrew things. He also really likes to suck on my makeup brushes and stick his fingers in my chapstick and deodorant. One morning I got out of the shower to find that he had unscrewed my mascara and brushed it up and down the sides of his face from hairline to chinline- vertically over his eyes. I now wake up an hour and a half earlier so that I can make sure all grooming on my part is finished before he even thinks about waking up. I know you are thinking- "an hour and a half? Yeah right, I see you often enough. There is NO way you spend that much time in the bathroom." Which is true. I don't think I have ever purposefully spent that much time in the bathroom. But I have found it nice to get some of the other things done that Ollie is not so helpful with... that list is neverending!

Ollie has NO volume control. It reminds me of that part in Austin Powers when he says, "I am having trouble controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE!" Almost every word he speaks comes out a yell- and if you don't acknowledge that he spoke, he will keep yelling louder and louder until you do. It was really pleasant just today in the middle of the sacrament prayers when he noticed daddy helping pass the sacrament. The congregation loved the repeated scream of "DADDY!"

Ollie CANNOT be distracted from what he wants. The whole parenting technique of trying to channel the child into a different distraction is pointless on this boy. Yesterday he began a screaming fit in TOYS R US- and we weren't even making him leave! Anyway, he was screaming so we finally gave up and headed out of the store. He also hates the car, so buckling him for the 20 minute ride home was fuel for his fire. I tried EVERYTHING- toys, suckers, candy, songs, windows, pointing out all the construction vehicles- he finally stopped screaming after he had laid in his crib for about 20 minutes. As far as I can estimate, that was about 50-ish minutes straight of screaming, shaking, flailing, red-faced madness.

Ollie is really finally trying to talk. He has been a terribly persistant grunter, which has driven me mad. Some of my favorite things that he says are "kepup"- ya know, for "ries", "cake and ciky (cookie)"at snack time, "hep" when things are a little too difficult, and I know there is trouble when I hear "Oh, boy, mom." He also loves to "-mell" the "wowies"(flowers)and point to the TV and say, "GAME?" His speech often reminds me of my nephew Bryce, when he started to talk. Ollie leaves many of the beginning sounds off his words, so we play "leap -rog" and drive behind "-rucks" as we pass the "-ple" (temple). He has mastered his first knock knock joke- "knock knock," "who's there?" "Banana." "Banana who?" "Banana. Haa Haa Haa!" There are also times when he says things that melt my heart- he is so quick to say "thank you" and loves to say love you on the phone.

Ollie is a terrible eater- unless we are talking about inedible items. Why he can't eat potatoes or corn or apples like he eats mud, sticks, and rocks, I will never know. He does eat suckers, licorice, mnms and pez like they are going out of style!

Ollie is a total adrenaline junkie. Just this week he has gone over the handlebars of his big wheel twice. He has quite the fat lip to show for it. But he gets really angry at me if I take him off the bike, so I guess that bodes well for his mountain biking future? He loves things fast, bumpy, and if there is a chance of getting that little funny feeling in your tummy, he is all laughs!

Ollie is the grunt work in our family. He is the strongest 2 year old I know! I mentioned above about how he unscrews jars and bottles and what not. If he wants into a bottle bad enough, there isn't much I can do about it! He can get into anything! He also is very smart when it comes to getting to whatever it is he can't have. He has taken a chair from his room all the way downstairs to climb onto the countertop after various whatnots. This is when we finally stopped tying the chairs to the table. There was no point to it anymore!

Ollie loves music! He was my first to actually enjoy and ask for more opera to be played in the house and often asks for songs to be played "adain". I think his favorite songs are pretty standard for his age- Old McDonald (yah-yo), Popcorn Popping and A You're Adorable. He also loves the Cougar Fight Song and can clap along, knows when to stand up, and can do the Rah Rah part all on his own. On a not so great side note, I have been singing "I Am A Child Of God" to him every time he goes down for a nap since the day he was born. Now every time he hears this song he bursts out in tears. I think I have scarred his primary years to come!

Ollie has finally discovered toys! HOORAY! He has never really paid much attention to toys in the past- but now he can't get enough! He wants his trains and trucks and "guys" and blocks and stuffies and on and on... all the time. What a great milestone!

Best of all, Ollie is my only cuddler. When he gets out of bed, he just wants me to rock him for a couple minutes while he lays on my shoulder and then wants me to read him a couple books before he braves his brothers. His smile melts our hearts and his peekaboo and eyebrown games at the dinner table keep us laughing over and over. He is a little piece of happiness in our family and will keep us on our toes for years to come!

Other random facts-

Favorite food- cheese, bread

Favorite color- Red. Unfortunate.

Favorite book- NFL opposites or A You're Adorable

Favorite animal- Cow

Favorite thing with a motor- tractor (tihtoh)

Favorite things to do- playdough, Play Don't Break The Ice, trains, paint, bubbles, stack plastic cups, swing on monkeybars, play catch

Favorite things to wear- hat, snowboots

Fears- the dark, being alone, charlie biting him

Favorite playmate- DAD!

We love you Ollie!

Old McMadsen walks the plank

Ollie loves everything about farms and farm animals, so we had decided on a farm party for his birthday. The first go around got canceled, so we ended up with a million different plans for the next week. Origionally we were going to have a traditional madsen birthday party at our house with all sorts of farm games and what not. But... after the duration of illness, I wasn't up for such an event. So we decided to haul the party down to the farm and Thanksgiving Point instead. Enter the 6 inches of snow we received the day before the party. Although we love winter, our guests don't, so we showed pity and planned for a sledding party instead (Here is where the theme becomes nonexistent). Apparently we were getting a little more Colorado weather, because by the time I returned home that evening, all 6 inches were gone! So we were out of luck again. I still didn't want to try the farm because of the mud, there was no snow for sledding, so....

we decided to give it a go at Pirate Island instead. We had never been here before, but it ended up being great! It's pretty much a combination of Chuck E Cheese and Casa Bonita. Despite the fact that Ollie was PETRIFIED of the skeletons they had all over the place, the boys and the few friends that were able to make it had a great time!

The boys loved the balloon swords that the balloon guy made.

I think we had all the little pirates in the joint up on this stage having the grand master fencing battle of all time! Ollie also found a worthy foe in the balloon bouquet grandma brought.

Of course, there were more candles to blow out- and Ollie shared this one with his best buddy, Great Grandma Ruth. He also had a great time in the arcade! He got to...

But his favorite of all was the basketball shooting game. This is Luke, Emitt, and Ollie all doing it at the same time. They found this a great way to stretch their tokens!

Thanks to all who joined us for a great celebration!