Oliver quirks

Here are a few weird/funny/cool things Oliver does:

Oliver screams and cries whenever Reba or I leave, even though the other stays behind. And sometimes when I leave and he doesn't see me leave but figures it out, he'll walk around the apartment from room to room, even looking in every closet and bathroom, all the while sobbing, then finally admitting defeat and throwing his crying self into Reba's arms to be held.

Whenever I have soda pop he wants some. And even though his face gets red and eyes water because of the spicy carbonation, after he recovers he wants more.

Oliver has a bit of a temper (we're working on this) and says "no" to us and others quite a bit, sometimes for no reason other than to exert his authority. But when he's really mad and screaming the no turns into "doe!"

Last week, while we babysat for some friends for a few days he started yelling no at other kids when they cried. I didn't know this, so I was confused today in sacrament mtng. when he kept shouting "no" at apparently nothing and no one, but Reba filled me in that he was communicating with the faraway fussing kids and babies.

He loves having his teeth brushed. When he sees me put the little rubber brush over my finger he opens his mouth wide and likes to steal a few nibbles, mid-process, for that rubbery texture.

He screams in anger whenever I hug anyone (including Reba). We noticed this a few months ago and couldn't tell if he was jealous of me, reba, both, or like any normal kid, is just grossed out by gratuitous parental affection. So we conducted a controlled test. We had Rebecca hug her nephew London and Ollie looked on with nothing but happiness for the two. Then I hugged London and he lost it.

He loves to be up high (couch, counter, bed, person, whatever).

He has an amazing dog sensor. We'll be out on a nature walk and he'll start doing his bark (which he does for any animal or insect) and I think he's bluffing, but without fail, after some long inspection I'll find some far off dog barely visible through the sagebrush. His candy sensor is also without equal.

He LOVES being outside. So much so that if we open the door to our 3x10 ft second story concrete patio (that actually only has about 2x5 ft of space due to bbq and other stuff), with a wall blocking his view to anything, he'll hang out there as long as we let him, even in 30 degree weather.

That's another thing, I've never seen him bothered by the cold. Never. Gonna be a great river swimmer.

The other day I was working at the computer and it kept making the sound it makes when you plug a device into one of the jump drive portals. I couldn't figure it out until I looked down and saw that Oliver was sucking on the other end of the plugged in ipod cord.

One of my favorite times with Ollie is in the morning when he wakes up and hangs out on my bed with me. He's so happy and loves to wrestle and be thrown around.

My other favorite time is at night near his bedtime when becomes so calm and cuddly.