In August our Buntin family of three became three no more because there are four.  We now have a new blog address: fourthelove.buntin.org.

Please read and enjoy!

Adrian

A couple of weeks ago Seth and I headed to Bell Buckle for the annual RC and Moon Pie Festival.  I’d heard about it when we first moved to Middle Tennessee and finally we went this year.

It was hot.  There were crafts booths and some entertainment, but most of all we found our RC and Moon Pies and enjoyed.  Melted Moon Pies are just as good.  Did you know they had so many flavors?  You can get orange, banana, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, peanut butter, and now a mint cookie one.  Mmmmm.

Bell Buckle

One of our stops the first day was at a Chick-fil-A.  At the time they were preparing to introduce a new spicy chicken sandwich.

Now, Oliver is a very bold child and we have discovered very little that actually frightens him.  He has seen real cows and come out entirely unscathed.

A dancing, fake cow dressed in a fireman’s uniform, however, sent him over the edge.  I sure love my sweet little boy, but this picture makes me laugh every time.

Fired up

He was so terrified!  Okay, now I feel kind of bad.

Once the cherries were cleaned, pitted, and chopped, I followed the directions on the Sure Jell to make some very yummy cherry jam.  It sparkled with deliciousness.  It tasted to me like pie filling.  I made three delectable pints. (I broke one a couple of days later…another sad story.)

In the same time frame that we first began enjoying the cherry jam, Oliver developed an odd rash on his chest.  It wasn’t a scary rash, but the next day it wasn’t gone so I called the doctor to ask them what they recommended.  If it was an allergy, some hydrocortisone creme should work along with perhaps some Benadryl orally.

That stuff worked, but I still didn’t know what caused it.

On vacation, my sister brought some of her cherry jam to share.  It took one more PB&J and a more severe rash to determine the cherries were at fault.  They had been the only new thing introduced into his diet and the timing made sense.

So cherries have been removed from Oliver’s diet and we haven’t seen any more rashes.

Sad, sad, sad.  Oliver can’t have any more cherry jam…or cherry pie…or cherry infused dried cranberries…perhaps not even a cherry from a Sonic limeade.

Say cheese! (But not cherries)

These are plentiful outside near the patio and evidently one of them decided he or she preferred the indoors.

Oliver saw it and said, “Bugs” in the very cute way he says bugs.  I was picking up the living room and turned around when I heard, “Mmmmm!”

I looked at him and said, “Tell me you didn’t just eat that roly poly.”

“MMmmmm!” was his response.  Then crunch, crunch, crunch.

I guess he liked it.

Since Oliver likes letters so much we’ve been trying to teach him to spell his name.  He can repeat after us all the way to “V”, then he starts over with the letter O.  It is very cute to hear Oliver say the letter O.

The past couple of nights when Oliver has been put in bed and the lights are off, we can hear him spelling his name out loud.

What a kid.

Spelling in Bed

Let’s start out a little more positive.

Oliver is developing a full mouth of very nice teeth.  Granted, I’m hoping for the best at his first dentist appointment despite the fact that he refuses to cooperate when it’s brushing time.  Nonetheless, they are so cute and I love to see his biggest grins that show all his teeth.

I think considering the pain Oliver goes through when he grows in teeth, he has done well to keep a generally happy disposition.  I mean, God has us grow in the vast majority of our baby teeth before our memories are developed enough to remember the pain at a later age.  That tells me it must be pretty harsh.  As someone who has had multiple mouth surgeries and so many teeth pulled that it could give you bad dreams, I know mouth work hurts.

Oliver has been growing in all four cuspids. It hasn’t been something he’s enjoyed.  The reason I’m telling you all this is because I attribute part of Oliver’s terrible behavior to the constant pain he endures when he doesn’t have Orajel and/or pain medication.  The rest I attribute to his age and lack of ability to reason the way an older child might.

For the past month or two Oliver has been in a biting phase.  We have been disciplining him for this and explaining why it is wrong.  I actually thought we were nearly out of this phase…then came the cuspids.

Today Oliver and I went to the park.  Upon arrival I realized the floor of the playground had received extensive damage and because of this there was some plastic caution tape surround about half the park.  It all went well at first, even after the first time I explained to Oliver he couldn’t go over there.  Then he tried again.  He became very angry and began to throw a tantrum.  During the time he attempted to bite my leg.  (This was the second time that had occurred today.)  Then my sweet, sweet boy could not stay at the park because little boys who behave this way may not continue to play as they wish.  Despite the fact that I am not supposed to do this while pregnant, I picked him up and began to carry him away because it was better than dragging my screaming child.  So Oliver began to hit me and bite me on the jaw.  We got to the car and it was hot inside and he tried to bite me as I put him in his seat.

To make a long story short, we had two more errands to run and the biting continued.  It was not pleasant.  It was stressful.

Oliver has had another dose of pain medicine and Orajel now.  He’s going to be asleep soon.  I wonder if he has any regrets at all about his behavior today.  How does the conscience of a two-year-old work?

Big, Toothy Grin

We are thankful to be safe and dry today, though we may be a little stir crazy.  Last night was the only time we felt it necessary to take shelter with pillows, blankets, and diapers in our downstairs bathroom.  We are also thankful our families here and elsewhere also continue to be safe.

I now leave you with these adorable pictures from Oliver on Easter Sunday.

Tissue, please.

What a handsome guy.

That evening we went fishing with Seth’s mom, dad, and sister.  Grammy came with a basket of eggs for Oliver to try his first egg hunt.

He learned quickly about the sounds a filled plastic egg can make

The next morning we waited out the rain (which we were thankful for due to our garden) and headed to one of the local parks for a HUGE egg hunt.  One of the local churches put it on and they did a great job.  There were so many eggs with so many treats inside (a.k.a. Chick-fil-a coupons).  After practicing that morning, Oliver was very ready to go for those eggs.  In fact there were about 75 kids under three salivating around this flagged off piece of ground with hundreds of eggs scattered on the ground.

I admit it. I had Oliver beat this kid to an egg.