I am glad we have children who exhibit their individuality early in life. If that were not so, what a dull and uninteresting life this would be. Oliver is one of those children who is about as individual as one can be. When I first met him, he was about 3 weeks old and already a charmer and insisting on things being his way. I wanted a picture of him and his big brother Ethan together, and Ethan was holding onto his little brother ever so gently. All was well and I was about to take the picture when the baby moved. We all know that when a photographer poses the subjects, no one is to move unless told to and told how and in what way to move. Well, it took a little while to get the baby to sit just so and “SNAP” the picture was taken and it was wonderful to see it instantly on the digital camera screen. Another picture just had to be taken for the Christmas Card soon to be compiled and sent off to friends and it took a little re-arranging of the subjects and “SNAP” the picture was taken and it was also wonderful. I wanted a third picture just to have some to choose from but Oliver was not having any more of that. At three weeks of age he refused to sit or be held anymore and loudly demonstrated his individuality. I guess that was the end of that picture session.
When he was one year old, we made the trip to Nebraska for the event and he had just decided that he could walk everywhere and he was not about to sit and have a picture taken no way, no how. So I followed him all around Pioneers Park trying to get him to look at the camera or pose or something, just so I had a record of the first birthday. Well, I gave up on stills, and so set the camera to movie mode. That was when t he fun started – he toddled, he tripped, he waddled he wanted to give his legs a workout and then he discovered the birthday cake that was his to tear into. He haltingly stuck a finger into the frosting, tasted it but was not too thrilled. He stood up and in the video, I was waiting for him to fall into the cake but he did not oblige but sat down and shoved his hand into it and ate a little bit of cake with loads of frosting on it. It was white frosting and not chocolate frosting such as we had for Ethan when he turned one or green frosting such as we had for Lyla at her first birthday, so it did not make for such a spectacular picture but it was a picture none the less.
When he was almost two, I was out in Nebraska helping Sara who was having problems with her pregnancy. Actually we should read that as I was more bother than help because Grandma’s rules were different from Mom’s rules and so the two boys were rather at a loss as to what was expected. One day while Ethan was at school, Sara, Oliver and I went garage sale hopping in an effort to find a dresser for the new baby soon to be here. At one place, Oliver found a Thomas the Tank Engine push toy that made a sound like a train whistle. He grabbed that toy and pushed it all over the place and would not put it back – so it came home with us. He played with it constantly took it to bed with him and did not let it out of his sight. That was the best $4 I have ever spent in my life.
Now that he is five years old he chooses his clothes and does a pretty good job of that. One of his recent acquisitions has been a pair of soccer cleats. As soon as he got them, he put them on and about had to have surgery to have them removed. On Easter Sunday everyone was asked to get dressed for church and as they got into the car to leave, Sara noted that Oliver was wearing his cleats. In the immediacy of the moment she had to decide which would be the war she could win and decided that to ask for the shoes to be taken inside and others put on, was not one she could win in a matter of minutes or so. He wore them to church and apparently his daddy talked to him at length about how the cleats were not the kind of shoes we wear to church on a Sunday. Next Sunday will be the test to see if Oliver has the ability to remember the appropriateness of cleats or not for Sunday. Only time will tell, but we must admit that since he really likes Soccer, that the purchase of the cleats was a really good one. He also received a Soccer ball and we are thankful that he did not try to smuggle the ball into Church for Easter Services.
I have written about Oliver today because his actions make me feel happy. That is one way to cope with the problem of the re-works and the passing of Pop Belnap. One is the loss of time and the other is a loss of a friend and family member.
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