Oliver's 2nd birthday party

It was almost time for Oliver's birthday. We had a special guest arrive from Melbourne. Grandma Marlene!
She helped us make cars for each of the children to wear at the party.

Then, the big day arrived!

It was time for Oliver's YELLOW CAR 2nd birthday party.

In the morning, we got some car-themed treats ready..

There was car-shaped fairybread...  and 'teddybear racers' for taking home...

(Milkyway bar + chocolate tiny teddy + four yellow Smartie wheels)

We set up a series of cars along the front of the house, and down the side fence. That way, all the guests had to do was follow the yellow cars, to get to the party.

When the children got to the backyard, they discovered Oliver's birthday present; a playgym!   The sun came out, and there was lots of fun to be had, clambouring about.

Next, it was time for the kids to decorate their cars.  Everyone got to work with gluesticks and bright pieces of cardboard. There were lots of bright coloured spots, and LOTS of yellow cars!

Mum had also created a carwash for the cars to drivethrough. It looked a little bit like streamers attached to the clothesline, but we're pretty sure it was good at cleaning the dirtiest yellow cardboard vehicle

Dad has also been busy, making a special soundtrack for the day.
Here's the playlist, if you feel like a car-themed party of your own...

1. I drove all night - Cyndi Lauper
2. The wheels on the bus - Playschool
3. Get outta my dreams, get into my car - Billy Ocean
4. Joyride - Roxette
5. Let's go driving - Playschool  (Hello, ABC!   Put things on Youtube!!)
6. Road to nowhere - Talking Heads
7. Drive my car - The Beatles
8. Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane
9. Take you riding (in my car, car) - Playschool
10. Car Wash - Rose Royce
11. We like to party (The Vengabus) - Vengaboys

And with the music pumpin', it was time to eat.

And play with cars.

Then sneak down the side of the house, where the newly-laid landscaping stones were a massive temptation.
(As was hunting the cat...)

Soon,  it was time for singing Happy Birthday, with the world's first pre-cut jigsaw car cake!

So thanks for reading about my 2nd birthday party.  I think it really tired mum and dad (& Grandma) out!

But there wasn't too much time to rest..  
We had to get ready for someone else's birthday the next day!

Time to send out invitations...

Wow, has it really been a year since Oliver's first birthday party?

Hmm, now what theme would 'O' like, this time around...

• Rubbish bins?
• The rubbish bin truck?
• Yellow rubbish bins?

Well no, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do the 'bin' theme, so we went with 'Cars'.

(The noun, not the film)

To be precise, 'yellow' cars!

So, we made invitations, sent them out...

And in 2 week's time, we'll be having a little gathering...

Not long to go now...

Marvellous meals in March

Oliver is twenty (20) months and a complete delight to have around. He's proving to be an independent and resilient young fellow who happily goes with the flow in the madcap house he lives in!  Oliver is definitely a little boy and has his own thoughts and his own adventures.

He has a few current obsessions...bins especially yellow lidded bins.  Bin day here in Moira street is a big event!  He loves the colour yellow - that is his "favourite colour" and 'daddy cut the lawn in a yellow hat open and close the garage'  Oliver says this sentence at least 1000 times a day. It's often the first thing we hear through the wall - that indicates Oliver is awake in the morning.  

Here are a few pictures to catch you up with Oliver's adventures. Movies to follow!

Oliver and Aggie playing tunnels in the garden.....

when no-one is looking Aggie has a go too!

Oliver building his tower block - lovely to see he has moved on from knocking it over....

well at least he waits till he has put all ten blocks on!

Oliver is not a big fan of eating pasta - but loves playing with pasta.  

Mummy tried rice...complete disaster as the rice went between the cracks in the floorboards.  

Pasta it is and it hurts to step on - so Oliver is not keen on putting too much on the floor..

Oliver loves drawing especially with yellow and red....as many of you recieved his original art work at Christmas and will no doubt recieve more creative works through the year.  The sunglasses are completely ridiculous - but he insisted on wearing them....artists!

Trucks and trains are big at the moment - 

hours of independent play happens on the floor in the kitchen.

The monthly visit to the toy library scored Oliver the Duplo Zoo!  Not sure if Daddy might have been more excited than Oliver about this one.  Oliver is just excited to have another 'Man' (Duplo firgure) to play with his four other 'mans'!

Oliver and Daddy completely absorbed with the digger.......

Oliver has developed a complete addiction to coffee!  

Not sure how that has happened.  

He can order a soy latte by himself...

Now all he needs is pocket money!

Here he is playing puzzles and waiting for his coffee

Ahh a perfect soy latte to share with Mama!

  

For any of you dear friends and family who received a frantic call from us in the first nine months of Oliver's life relating to his lack of eating and listening repeatedly to the fear of him being hospitalised again....you will appreciate the importance of the following series of photos.  

We have documented a week of Oliver's eating....to us it is completely amazing that Oliver not only eats - but says he is hungry and seems to enjoy his food.....

Tofu noodles

Avocado and sesame rice balls

 Lamb and pumpkin pilaf

Hommus sandwich and fruit

Salmon and broccoli risotto

Paella and homemade bread

Mushroom and zucchini pizza

So, which one of Oliver's meals would you like to share?  Tell us in the comments below...  :-)

Beautiful Ben's baptism

Oliver says...

Well, it's been a few months since my baptism, and its time to go to someone else's! The lucky person is Ben, my cousin who is a baby brother to Ashley and Lachlan.  Hmm, time for another Melbourne trip!

Having a snooze on the plane.

First stop - cousin Vicki and Joshua's house. 

I hadn't met Josh before, so that was really nice.

Vicki is the best cousin.
Reason (1): Slide in home

Reason (2): Shares love of watermelon

After lunch with Vicki & Josh, we headed off to the church for Ben's baptism. (I told him not to be too nervous, even if mummy & daddy suddenly take off all your clothes, while you're in front of the crowd.)

Here's a photo of Ben with Ashley, plus uncle Andrew and Auntie Cath.

And here's Ben & I swapping war stories.

The other big reason to visit Melbourne was to visit yet another cousin!  Yay!  Here you can see my newest friend, Josh who is a little brother to Vicki.  He's very little, so mummy and daddy said "gentle" a lot. 

Josh and auntie Rose

Vicki and auntie Rose

All the little people tried to be 'good' during the mass, even if that involved sitting on lots of different people's laps, and trying different toys.

Here's me with grandma

At the end of the ceremony, we all got together for a big photo. Yes, I'm looking out the window. There must have been a yellow bin outside. Or a bin truck.

Here's mum and dad - I'm looking concerned as uncle Bren is taking the photo -  they warned me about him.

Showing off my new walking ability

OK, that's my report from Melbourne. Ben had a lovely party, and I got to play with all my cousins.

Thanks to Ashely & Lachlan for letting me drive their car!

Note from Gabe: Thanks Bren, for many of the nice photos in this post!

Puzzles & Toys

Now that Oliver's 16 months old, his brain's really stepped up a gear. Annemarie found this groovy wooden puzzle at a local educational toy shop - and it's just right for 'O'.

It's got the numbers 1-10, plus a few simple shapes.  Here you can see an orange circle, which is the first piece Ollie managed to place by himself.  He can also say "circle" which is pretty exciting!

Oliver still loves his books - in a big way - and here you can see one of his recent favourites.

It's "Tell the time with Miffy" which goes through the different things that happen each day, at the various times.

The smart thing about the book though, is the CLOCK on the back page (with plastic movable hands) and each page has a hole, so it's visible all the time.

Great book for little people at this age!

And then, there's the 'wheelybug'.  This was a toy that Annemarie spotted years ago (pre-Oliver) and we always wanted to try one out.

Luckily, the local library has a very, very cool 'toy library' where you can borrow an incredible range of toys and puzzles for a month at time.

Strangely enough, when the wheelybug was available - it came home.

Here you can see Oliver trying it out - he's just old enough now to move around on it safely.  The omnidirectional wheels (a bit like a shopping trolley) mean that when he was younger, it wasn't safe.

Now he's moving around pretty confidently. And we've got it for 4 weeks!