Scaredy Pants

What do all the images below have in common?




They are all meant for kids, but scare the pants off our Willy Pants Pants.
It all started with the tractor tipping scene in Cars. Will would stop watching the movie, but if it kept playing through this scene he would start hysterically crying. It took a while for all of us to figure out what was going on.
Next, Will was watching Monsters Inc. at a two year-old birthday party. I noticed him slowly get up, and move towards me, and then say, "I'm going upstairs, OK Mom?" It took me a little while to put it all together, and then we read books in the kitchen until it was time for cake.
Every morning while Will is doing his nebulizer breathing treatment we watch some cartoon episode on Netflix. He used to get his daily dose of Thomas, but one day even Thomas betrayed him! He explained after calming down, "Spencer whooshed down the track." Even an episode of Kipper the Dog with the "bleeper" aliens scared him. By the time this happened I could recognize the scream from upstairs as his "watching-something-scary-scream". He was hysterically crying and falling on the ground trying to get to me by the time I made it down the stairs.
It's so bizarre. He's so sensitive these days. It was only nine months ago we took him on the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland and he was fine. Maybe it's a phase. Even if it's not, I think it's pretty sweet that he's just a sensitive little guy. I love my pansy boy.

We've Got Company!

The Scarboroughs have arrived! They actually have been here for a while, but as you can tell, I've been a little behind in my posts. While I wish we could live near my family too, I am so grateful to have Britton's family so close by while Britton finishes up school.
The Scarboroughs add two adults, three cousins, and a dog and cat to the mix so that family get-togethers like Thanksgiving really become a big event!
Will has been happy to spend more time bonding with his cousins. Below, Will and Sam are sharing a "Thomas moment". Anybody who's a friend to Thomas is a friend to Will.

The Scarboroughs moved into a cute house situated right on the edge of the Mt. Diablo wilderness! Their backyard has access to hiking trails, which is pretty rare in the bay area, and we took advantage of a family hike over the Thanksgiving break. It's a beautiful area and I can't wait to explore it more when I'm not so large in the belly.
Phil is working for the same firm as before, and commuting to San Francisco by train. We got to pick him up on his way home one day for a temple trip. Erin met the rest of us at the Oakland temple, and we had a wonderful time together followed by a Denny's run.
It's hard for me to find a picture of Erin because she's usually the one behind the camera. Here's a big group of Olsons celebrating Grandma-lita's 89th birthday! Erin let me borrow a bunch of baby stuff. Score! And she surprised me by driving all the way to Palo Alto for my baby shower.
I probably sound like a broken record, but we really are SO grateful to be able to see our Olson family so often.

Potty Success!

It's time to put puke day behind us and celebrate a big accomplishment. Will is potty trained! I didn't want to blog about this for a long time because I wasn't sure if potty training was going to work. After it was working I wasn't confident it was going to last. Then I just lost track of time. I think Will has been mostly diaper-free since October. It's been so nice to not have to buy diapers for a while.
I think this whole process has been more stressful for Britton and I than Will. It's been mostly up to us to remember when Will needs to use the potty, and then we have to convince him to go, or clean up the consequences when we forget. I would like to thank Halloween candy, Jelly Belly, and various other treats for our success. Nothing motivates him better.
The past few days Will has really impressed me by telling us he needs to go, or being totally compliant when we say it's time to use the bathroom. I know there's a chance he could relapse after the new baby is born, but I'm hoping he's been at it long enough to be able to stick with it.

Yay Will!

Puke Day

This picture is to counteract the nauseating topic of this post.
I think the title of this post says it all. I started the morning cleaning up the puke from two nephews last night and William's midnight puke in bed. The day wasn't looking too promising because Will wouldn't eat anything for breakfast and had that sad "I feel sick" whine. He quickly added more sets of clothes and another spot in the house to the clean-up queue.
We made a doctor's appointment because Will also has a funky rash all over and had a fever last night. Will told me he was hungry so he had some milk and bread in the car on the way there. Bad idea! While I was desperately looking for a parking spot I head the tell-tale cough, the unmistakable vomit sound, followed by a very cute, "I frow up Mommy." I had to laugh when I saw him, and luckily he laughed with me. What to do...? I took off his pukey clothes and wrapped him in a blanket from the trunk. We looked pretty desperate. Eight month pregnant mom carrying around two year-old wrapped in a blanket searching for the secret "Rash Room" entrance. Since he had a mysterious rash we weren't supposed to use the main entrance.
After traumatizing Will with the ear probe,which he HATES more than shots, we found out the rash and all other symptoms just mean that he caught the stomach flu bug. Again.
Highlight of the day came on our way back to the car. There was an ambulance taking some guy to the clinic, and...a FIRE ENGINE! The Palo Alto firefighters took pity on my little blanket wrapped, rash covered, teary-eyed boy. Without getting too close, they showed him the fire engine, the buttons inside, and gave him stickers and a trading card of one of the firefighters. It was soooooo nice.
After we got home Will asked to take a nap! And I eventually got to work on the pukey car seat.
The good news is he was able to keep dinner down. Hopefully I don't catch it from him...again! It's hard to stay healthy when you're touching puke all day.

I Crafted!

Once in a blue moon I get the inspiration to do something crafty. In this case it was a birthday party for two little two year-old girls. I searched for inspiration from women I know who craft on a regular basis, and I came across Melissa's headband, and these hair clips. They provided good directions so all I had to do was print, cut, and copy everything they did. They turned out pretty adorable just like the little two year-old girls. Now I have a bunch of extra supplies and a lack of girls to make presents for...

Britton Olson...You've Won a Trip to...

...the scenic coastal town of Valparaiso in Chile. You'll receive a round-trip plane ride and hotel accommodations during the peak of the summer season.
What's in Valparaiso? This year's Pan-American Advanced Studies Institute or PASI. Please click on the link to find out more details about what the conference is about. (Because I'm not very good at explaining it.)
Congratulations Britton! He applied for funding to pay for the 16 hour flight down there and hotel booking, and just heard back yesterday that he was one of the applicants chosen! He'll be there for two weeks...a long time for me to give him up. Especially long considering I'll have a few-weeks-old baby, but it sounds like such a great opportunity.
He'll be able to talk to lots of fellow nerds about his computing interests, make use of his Spanish, and explore a bit of Santiago on the weekend. He is skipping the Patagonia trip one of his fellow Stanfordians is taking. Whew!

Puzzled Anyone?

Here's Will doing his favorite puzzle. OK, it's really his only puzzle and apparently he's gotten pretty good at it because I turned around today after making some lunch and he had finished it all by himself!
I am unashamedly so proud of him. I think puzzles are great for kids. My parents had a huge pile of these size puzzles when I was growing up. I wish we had more... hint, hint, anyone who got Will's name for the Christmas gift exchange:)
Anyone know where I can get more puzzles in this area?
This is a lame post, I know, but we're getting over sicknesses, and my video camera needs batteries, and the weather is affecting my mood, and there's all other kids of lame excuses for this lame post.

Halloween

We all dressed up this year, but I didn't get a picture of all of us together. How did this happen? I don't know if it's very obvious, but Will was a ninja for Halloween. He's pictured above showing off his ninja sword with one of his buddies dressed as an adorable lion. Britton was the ninja master with a larger, much cooler sword, and Will was his little apprentice. Britton admitted that this is something like his fourth Halloween dressed as a ninja. I can't blame him. It's so easy and you can actually use the costume pieces later.

We had two Halloween parties to attend this year. One for the courtyard, and one for our church. At the last minute, I decided to do the classic peeled grape/eyeball and spaghetti/worm game for the kids. I didn't have any shoeboxes so I decided to get creative with some cereal boxes. I thought I was so clever. No one else cared much:)

We borrowed this cute little bean bag toss game from someone at church. The bean bags are in the shape of pumpkin seeds! How cute! Will is throwing bean bags with his two year-old Japanese friends. It's especially fun to watch him play with the little boy he calls "Sototo". They just run around constantly laughing.
At the church Halloween party Britton's family joined us! It was a major treat for Will to have cousins, Nana, and so much candy all in one night. This is the only picture I have of my "belly dancer" costume. You can't see the belly so much from this angle, but it's really sticking out there!