Escape Artist!

I started making Christmas cookies on Saturday. Oliver helped me decorate quite a few trays of sugar cookies, but Nadia and Ian weren't able to help much due to their outings with Paul. I also made a batch of the peanut butter cookies with a Hershey kiss on top that night. Today we made a big batch of gingerbread cookies as well as a batch of peanut butter cup cookies. On Saturday I'm going to make a batch of chocolate peanut butter chip cookies to take with us to Maryland, and after that I will declare us done with making Christmas cookies. I always wait until January to do gingerbread houses with the kids. I haven't made M and M cookies lately so I think those will be next on the list after we return home. We gave away six plates of cookies on Sunday morning, we gave away seven more plates this evening at AWANA, and we'll give three more plates away on Friday night at the kid's dress rehearsal for their Christmas program.

I was hoping that we would get most of the cookies decorated during Oliver's nap, but he decided to take a short nap today. When that happens I usually don't get him right away because some times he falls back asleep. Well today he did something the other two never ever did. He somehow climbed out of his crib even though the side railings were all the way up and the bed is in the lowest position possible. I have no idea how he did it, but I should not be too surprised because I have noticed many times that this boy is a climber. I promoted the other two to twin size beds when they were 2 1/2 years old. With Ian I wanted him to move out a couple of months before Oliver was born so Oliver could use the crib. I had planned to promote Oliver in a couple of months, but his Houdini act today has sped that time table up. We already have a mattress and box springs for him, but we don't have a bed frame yet. We need to get one asap. I also spent some time searching online today for a comforter for him. If I just picked one based on his current interests, I'd pick Thomas the train or Mickey Mouse, but kids this age can change from one thing to the next so quickly. When I picked his crib set, I purposefully picked a gender neutral one because I knew we'd be doing a FET and might be having our fourth baby. The crib set is a teddy bear theme, but I expanded the room into more of a jungle theme in terms of the bookcase, laundry hamper, clock, and light switch cover (and changing pad cover but that's no longer in the room). It was harder to find something to match the colors and theme of those items, but I finally did! I found one that I really like, but let me tell you it wasn't cheap. The comforters I got for Nadia and Ian's rooms were MUCH cheaper. Hopefully he'll like it! The sheets that technically go with that set are just way too expensive. I'm going to buy some solid color sheets that will go with the comforter elsewhere. My baby is growing up!

While I'm on the topic of Oliver, I have to share two funny things he said. Yesterday he was eating some potato chips (from our train ride) and he started throwing some on the floor. I told him what the consequence would be if he did that again, and he immediately said to me "no thanks" (meaning he's declining that consequence). Cracked me up!! At least the boy has manners! Then one time today he asked me if he could use the iPad or watch tv, and I said no to both requests to which he said "NO FAIR." I wonder where he's heard that before? My other two never said "no fair" when they were two years old, but that I guess comes with the territory of having two older siblings. I mentioned this to them to illustrate that they are in fact role models for him whether they want to be or not! In one of the pictures you can see that Oliver colored his hands with markers Nadia left out while I was doing school work with her. I thought to myself that Oliver is a little too quite and sure enough that's what I discovered he had been up to. This is why he usually only is allowed to use Color Wonder markers!