Oliver's Second Birthday Letter!

Hi Ollie!

In true second child fashion, I'm writing this birthday letter to you, on June 11th, 2025. So like 6 weeks late! Oops!

It's so hard to put into words all of the amazing things you've learned and the little man you are becoming. You had your first visit to America. I think you could feel all of the stress during the trip because you decided you would wake up almost hourly for most days of the trip. Even after you were adjusted from jetlag. Sometimes you would stay up for more than an hour. You did take some amazing naps. Being away from mom at any time wasn't really your cup of tea. You just wanted mama! Mama took both boths home on the plane by herself and you did pretty good at sleeping a decent amount of time.

You took your first steps in America, around 15 months old and got your first two teeth at 13 months. Then a few more a few months later, and just had 4 teeth for the longest time and then all of a sudden they all popped up! You are just missing your molars now. You are dying to jump like your brother does and are nearly there! Usually you prefer to walk instead of sitting in the stroller.

In September you started school / daycare /creche. You have the most wonderful and gentle teacher named Lara. You took a little while to adjust to attending school and started off going there very slowly, only attending one hour for a week. Then two, etc. Now you are usually fine to be dropped off and walk into the classroom on your own! We hung your class picture on your door and you love to say hi to your classmates and your teachers every night before bed, and other times too. You usually attend school 3-4 days a week from 915-230pm. You are really happy when you get to see Luke at school, but then you cry when he leaves. You don't say any words at school so far, unless mama is there.

Your personality is blossoming, you are a little wild man with no fear! You know what you want and sometimes it is extremely hard to get you to do something that you don't want to do, like change your diaper or get dressed for school, or get in your car seat. Usually after a little bit of distraction and an extra minute to do whatever you are doing, then you are fine. But watch out for legs and arms coming at you! You like to try anything that Luke tries on the playground or elsewhere. You can hang from the bars at the park for a very long time without putting your feet down. You have gone down the slides by yourself for a while already. You love to kick balls, throw the frisbee, play with cars, dance, do "yoga baby" (downward dog) and ride your bikes. You say "google bad" when you want to hear the song Thank you, not so bad to dance to. You adore Mel, but tell her to go to bed when she is barking or naughty! You always want to help in the kitchen but then you get your hands into everything you shouldn't. When you read a book (you are a little more into books and more patient than last year) you still say bla bla bla and continue turning the pages and saying so. You are still obsessed with Llama llama red pajamas, and other llama llama books. You also love ten tiny toes, any book with Elmo, vehicles, and flap books where you move the flap to see something in the back.

You are usually pretty patient at home when Luke wont' share his toys yet at the park. Sometimes you see other kids coming towards you and immediately say no and make a grumpy face.

You love the beach and the water. If there is water, you want to be in it, and all the way! Except when papa makes the bath too hot. Then we have to add extra cold water to the bath.

Sleeping is still a rough subject! You sometimes wake up several times during the night still, but we are working on it. You adore cuddling your koala bear at night and it's the cutest thing ever. It seems like you don't like blankets as you are always uncovered when we get you during the night. When your papa was in Australia, you slept through the night for like 9 nights in a row! It was like you knew mama would need extra sleep so you did me a favor. It was a super miracle and so greatly appreciated.

Food: Like every toddler you have stages, but in general you like meat a lot more than Luke does/did. I feel like you could eat half a chicken by yourself. Oh, and if you have chicken nuggets, you take off the breading and eat only the chicken part! You LOVE pizza and hamburgers. Sometimes when it's pizza night and i'm about to take them out of the oven, you are literally screaming pizza! They say you eat well at school. Spicy things don't seem to bother you too much, sometimes you just drink some extra water. You and Luke sometimes sit at the small table and it's the cutest to watch you guys eat together. you refuse to eat with a bib on, so trying to remove stains from your clothes feels impossible. Luckily we've made it to shirtless season. You are getting pretty good at eating without spilling too much, but you know those soup drops are too easy!

Speech: You say sooo many things. Throughout the year you had some code words for things you wanted. Like ticaca meant open / close the door. Ah-to-oh meant any christmas decoration or lights and he still says it when he sees anyone with lights hanging. He speaks really well in English and Portuguese and I believe has up to five word sentences already. If you want to do something without help, you say, Ollie self. Earlier in the year, you would say I wub you. Now you can clearly say I love you and give amazing hugs and kisses.

Trips: USA ( Colorado, Wisconsin), Ferreira do Zezere , PT, Zambujeira do Mar, Alentejo PT, Croatia (where we celebrated your second birthday)

I love you so much and can't wait to see where you go and what you do in the next year!! xoxox x a million!

Love, mama