Ruest-Oliver Archives
December 20, 2006 We battled grey skies with a trip to Hawaii, but are otherwise entrenched in the routine of school, piano, school, karate, then school again, mixed in with weather interruptions from snow and wind.
The holidays are upon us as a pleasant interlude. We hope yours are filled with fun, family, friends, and festivities.
September 20, 2006 Another summer gone: even Bruce thought it was fast!. We headed back to my hometown, threw in a few camps and a trip to Whistler, and then we were done. We did have some lovely lazy days at the house, so we know the season DID happen!
Bruce stuck with karate and piano all summer, tried tennis and cooking at camp, and swam a lot. Then, as Grade 4 approached, he bravely underwent orthodontia, and is managing to talk and eat with 2 new fixtures in his mouth.
October 15, 2005 Back to school for the boy (Grade 3!) and back to a fall schedule for us. We had a quick summer: traveling to Europe and a visit from my family and it was over. We're finishing up a bit of work at the mountain house, and looking forward to skiing with more room for visitors.
Bruce is continuing karate and gymnastics, and has started keyboard lessons this fall. He's got the same teachers as last year, for great continuity, which offsets a lot of new things: haircut, teeth coming & going, and new glasses.
May 27, 2005 We are set for another summer of travel and water fun, having survived ski season intact, what with Dave turning 40 and all.
Bruce is finishing up grade 2, has graduated to a bigger bike, and is enjoying sessions of catch with his new baseball glove.
December 10, 2004 Just when we thought we were settling Bruce well into second grade, it's December already. What happened? We had a wonderful summer & fall, playing by the lake, running up to Whistler, camping, and entertaining guests. Bruce is thriving in a new gymnastics class and now cartwheels to let off steam!
We hope you are all well and happy. Merry season's greetings to all of you.
July 4, 2004 Bruce is finished first grade, and ready for a summer of playing and camps. Dave is already enjoying zooming around the lake under power or sail, and Liz is readying her fourth show of her prints.
As we finished out the ski season, Bruce graduated to the next level, where he'll be attacking blue and black runs next season with abandon. At school, he's mastered cursive writing and is fascinated with calligraphy and alphabets. He also progressed well in swimming lessons, with an emerging front crawl stroke readying him for summer fun.
December 25, 2003 Boy, I thought the last update was overdue! We've had an eventful summer, including a summer trip to Canada and Europe and a move, mostly overlapping in time. Exciting but not recommended for reducing stress levels. As we zip through the holiday season, we wish you & yours all the best.
Bruce is now in Grade 1 and flourishing, with his drawing, printing, and handwriting all progressing well. His French pronunciation and reading are coming along nicely as well, though you probably won't get a reply unless you've convinced him you don't understand English!
May 23, 2003 A long-overdue update to tell you about our various celebrations, vacations, and latest hobbies. We made it through the holidays, two ski weeks, two birthdays, and lots of activity.
Over the winter, Bruce discovered the joys of playing in the snow in various locations. Yes it has warmed up considerably since the picture below, but we are reminiscing about the good ole winter days back when we were young and lived farther north. Or maybe I should just update more often so the picture looks current!
January 9, 2003 Happy holidays, everyone! We were home this year and Bruce enjoyed tree decorating, cookie making, and present anticipation. Hope you enjoyed the season too.
Speaking of being home, we finally have a picture-ready (though not quite done) kitchen. Is it only me who's surprised that this quick summer project is not done by the end of the year? While we waited out the construction, we had quick trips to the beach house, mountain house, a horse ranch for Liz's 40th, and a boat in Desolation Sound with friends. After such an eventful summer, we managed only some camping and a quick trip home before settling in for the holidays.
December 20, 2001 After
a whirlwind fall, Bruce is now settled in at school
(école), and now a pro at field trips, park and play
dates, and sleepovers. His knowledge transferred well to ski school, where he is
mastering "pizza" stops a.k.a. snowplows. Amidst their more mundane
activities, Liz hosted her first studio open
house, and Dave prepped for ski season, supported by frequent checks on conditions.
We wish you all a holiday season full of happiness and peace.
May 1, 2001 April showers are continuing into May and are expected through July! Actually we had a dry winter and need the rain badly, so we're all adjusting, as Bruce is demonstrating.
Since mid-February, we've been on a bit of a whirlwind, visiting Palm Springs and San Diego, then the Methow Valley, to come home to a visit from my brother -- yay! In the meantime, we kept working on the warehouse, where I've produced a bit more art, and at home, where we finished some decorating and I found more relatives for my family tree.
December 15, 2000 Happy holidays to all! We've enjoyed a sunny fall here, but Bruce has preferred to be inside, playing his latest obsession, pinball games. Good thing Dave can fix as well as collect them, since Bruce has proved to be such a good tester.
We enjoyed visits from Steve (about time!), Dave's parents, and Liz's cousin Marc, but otherwise had a much quieter time, travel-wise, than the summer. Liz has been busy adding even more genealogy data, including royalty -- really! When not researching 17th-century Quebecois, she's been taking art classes and setting up her own studio. Dave worked exploratory knee surgery in between our monthly ski trips. Good news: just debris; the knee looks fine.
Bruce had a great time with his first set of swimming lessons, making the pool (finally!) a viable outing, but still avoids immersing his face. He also tried on his first set of cross-country skis, but didn't want help; his perspective now is: "I didn't like it when Daddy pushed me!" He did like the tour of the ski school, though, so we'll give that an early try over the holidays.
We are looking forward to a Western holiday, here and on the ski hill. Here's to celebrating with friends and family, near and far! Hope you are all well.
October 15, 2000 We made it through a travel- and event-filled summer, enjoying fuel protests in several countries, surviving rental Ford Explorers with Firestone tires and Bruce's worst-ever cold in France. The rain is returning to the Northwest, much to Dave's regret. Anybody got favo(u)rite sunny spots they want to meet us in?
For what's new, see our Vacations page and yet more genealogy data -- over 4500 names!
Bruce continues to sprout (38" and 36 lbs) and amaze. He's acing his tricycle, knows all the months and whose birthdays are in them, and loves building BRIO tracks and drawing with Mama. He's starting to enjoy singing and knows lots of books by heart. Wrestling (known as mushing) is a common pastime with Dad, as is playing on the computer and, of course, a quick game of hockey. Role-playing and many imaginative stories are emerging daily -- what a joy to watch him grow!
July 15, 2000 Summer time is here in the Pacific Northwest and Web site updating has suffered as a result. We've got the usual pictures of Bruce, and a few links to some genealogy data Liz has been collecting. Otherwise, we are still adjusting to the sudden reduction in cloud cover and the stiflingly hot 74F (22C) temperatures.
Bruce has taken this in stride, celebrating the warm weather with a simply amazing array of scraped knees, scraped elbows and splinters acquired while exploring in the forest and wearing sandals for the first time (darn things have a built in trip lip at the front). A move back to Bruce's trusty "fast new white shoes" have restored skin coverage to his knees quite nicely.
April 15, 2000 Tax month, and we're surviving with only a few scars. Bruce, of course, is oblivious, and we're still surprised to see him listed as a dependent. But such a cute one! Since the holidays, we had a visit from the Ruest women, Liz is continuing art classes in printmaking, and Dave is making sure we go skiing.
Bruce is starting to develop fine-motor skills, but is also enjoying gross-motor stuff like shooting hockey pucks, jumping on the trampoline, and rolling cars across any surface, even Mama's head. He' pretty much fully verbal, has added the imperative to his grammatical grab-bag ("Go the car, Mama!"), and enjoys counting ("I got two ones!").
He's become a movie buff: Mary Poppins, Babe, Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang, Lady and the Tramp, and now The Aristocats are all fodder for dinner conversation. We try to temper his movie-watching with other pursuits like pinball, computer games, and Nintendo for variety. Just kidding -- he does get outside once or twice a day!
January 15, 2000 Dave and Liz are into year 10 of wedded bliss, the holidays went well, and Bruce is now an official two-year-old. And he can tell you that himself! Not to mention quite a few other things as well; usually he is giving a running commentary on the world, or asking "Whass zat?".
Bruce sure loves his basketball, and his toss is getting really good. He's also moving from just jumping to long jump and is generally just really full of energy and words all day. What a hoot!
November 10, 1999 All sorts of happenings here: Bruce is 22 months old and has had his first (conscious) Halloween. The house and garden are being updated, and both Dave and Liz traveled last month, unfortunately separately.
Bruce is using complete sentences most of the time, somehow having figured out that grammar stuff that stumps the rest of us. He's progressing along the same path in French, but is more likely to use single words there. At any rate, we now know exactly what he's thinking! "Read dis book, Papa!" "No take off shoes! Brucie do it." "Brucie sad." "Brucie not sad. Brucie happy!" "All done sleeping. Open door, Mama!"
September 1, 1999 Traveling boy is back from England and delighted to see his friends and toys again. But we had a great time exploring the beach and golf (okay, putting greens!) and meeting up with family. Too bad airplanes are too exciting to fall asleep on!
Bruce continues to add syllables at a rapid rate in his newly attempted words, phrases, and old favo(u)rites. "Nana" has become "BAH-nana", his best sport, "ba-buhl", has become closer with "bass-eh-ball", and an attempt at "helicopter" which he never would have tried before, is consistently "ha-tah-ter". Longest phrases so far are "Hello Gamma" and a valiant attempt at "Happy birthday, Jerry". We will attempt to get him to change the name as other birthdays approach but right now he thinks that's the only way to say it!
New toys he's enamored of include hammers, golf clubs, and his first Brio. When I switched the track from an oval configuration to a figure eight, he next asked me to make a 7! I explained that the 8 was best because that way, you can go under the bridge through the tunnel, another fave concept.
July 10, 1999 We have a 1-1/2-year-old! It's just starting to sink in, but cruising through this Web site helps us realize how much things have changed. Since the last update Bruce has traveled once again to the great white (and mosquito-filled) North. He continues to rapidly pick up words, as well as inventing a few of his own.
Aquarium and zoo visits have been big hits, as has the onset of the brief Pacific Northwest summer. Basketball shooting and trampoline running are daily happenings now, and we've even had our first successful (though somewhat coincidental) potty event.
May 10, 1999 Walking is just such old hat that Bruce has been focused on talking for the last two months. He is quite willing to repeat any one- or two-syllable word we throw at him, though some of them start to collide. Distinguishing between bottle (bau-bel), basketball (ba-ball), strawberry (ba-beh), and bubble bath (buh-bel) can be difficult! In a similar situation, Dad has been mighty confused of late, due to his name's proximity with other Brucie words like diaper (di-dee), what's that? (da-du), into (dedans), and turkey (dindon). To solve this, Dad officially changed his name to Papa (puh-puh). Mom predicts future confusion with words like Papa once potty training starts!
When he's not confusing us with sound-alike words, Bruce is clear as day on the alphabet. He's picked up quite nicely on the rest of the letters and is now only stumbling on those tricky ones like Q, V, and W. He asks for the letters he wants us to draw; I got a lovely string of Bs, Os, and Ds on my Mother's Day card. Just try wearing a tee-shirt with a message on it around this boy!
March 10, 1999 Bruce is now almost 33" tall and about 27 pounds, wearing 24-month clothes. He has 3 of his first 4 molars pretty much in, and the flow of drool has slowed for the moment. Our toddler is getting more physical: at the park, he swings, slides down slides, kicks balls, and at home, he regularly walks up and down stairs.
Bruce is starting to talk more! Along with some sign language for "more" (food, tickling, reading -- whatever!), "all done", "eat", "drink", and "draw", Bruce is using a bunch of words regularly:
Daddy, Mama, down, uh-oh, (ba)nana, doggies, hi, yeah, boom, and dedans
He can also recognize a few letters, alternating between English (B), French (I), and arbitrary (O) pronunciations. He loves having letters and numbers read to him, and thinks that license plates are for his edification.
January 15, 1999 We survived our first holiday season traveling with baby Bruce. Unfortunately, the travel industry gets an F- from the Ruest-Oliver family, since every leg of every trip was delayed, without baggage, or simply a rental company with no cars!? Thankfully, Bruce handled all this much better than Mom and Dad. Once on location, we had wonderful visits with our families and friends as well as some great holiday celebrations.
Bruce turned one on January 10th. He had a great birthday party, which was well documented by all! Now, we have an official toddler: not only does he walk and run everywhere, he walks up and down the stairs. It takes a lot of using the banisters, mind you, but there's no stopping him now!
December 10, 1998 Our eleven-month child is off and running. Walking is now Bruce’s preferred method of transport, so I guess it’s here to stay. He now has 7 teeth and likes using them, often with the ploy of giving us a hug. His reach, both with hands and climbing, is ever-expanding – our tabletops now all have sculptural piles of junk in the middle to avoid his grasp. And, the true sign of acceptance of the parental state? Yes, we have alphabet fridge magnets (mostly on the floor)!
November 1, 1998 The walking has arrived! Well, he's not actually going anywhere yet, but Bruce's favo(u)rite new game is to topple a few steps into mama's or dada's arms for a big hug. Other news: a bit more hair, a bit more fine motor control, his first Halloween, and possibly an almost-word, "doh" for dogs. Bruce is having a blast and so are we!
October 4, 1998 A month of watching for imminent walking. Bruce is getting braver and balancing better all the time. His standing has led him to new possibilities, as you'll see in the new pix. The tooth count is up to a whopping six: 4 up and 2 down. He often eats what we do now, biting and chewing like a pro, and his vocal abilities continue to advance, usually in Dad's ear at 110 dB!
August 30, 1998 Ahhh, summer wanes and Liz gets melancholy once her birthday month is truly over. But no time for reflection around here: Bruce keeps us on our toes! He's perfected his crawling over the last month and is now truly very fast. Also, as we suspected, standing is a very interesting thing to do, and he has mastered pulling up from any position using any possible handhold. The top teeth are on their way, with one broken through and lots of drool promising another one to follow. Bruce's sounds are also multiplying: we've heard "wa" and "um" in addition to his standard "da", "ba", "la", and "ga". We are in no hurry for these sounds to actually string together to form opinions some day!
August 2, 1998 Another busy month full of accomplishments for Bruce. Teeth started to emerge in early July and Bruce no longer has that gummy smile. The two bottom teeth are halfway out, and the top ones look like they are racing to join in. Sitting is now old hat, and as Liam promised, crawling is the new and latest thing. No, wait, what's that Liam's doing now? Pulling up to standing. Hey, there's a great idea….!
June 30, 1998 What a month! Bruce has gained a nanny, Hélène, and a friend, her son Liam, when Mom headed back to work. He's figured out how to sit (thanks, Liam!), lunge, pivot on his belly, and eat his toes. Crawling is just around the corner -- right, Liam?
May 30, 1998 Critics call "The Brucie Live in Ontario" tour a huge success! Bruce visited every grandparent and great-grandparent he has, plus lots of aunts, uncles, cousins and new friends, and smiled at them all. Unfortunately, he was too excited to sleep through the night even once in the two-and-a-half weeks, so we needed some recovery time at home.
April 24, 1998 Bruce is back from his first trip -- in an airplane, to Canada! We went to Banff for a few days to meet up with Heidi Schwellnus. We're off again on his second trip, the Brucie Live in Ontario tour, starting May 1. Watch this space for the report when we return.
April 15, 1998 Tax day in the USA. How about some new pictures of Bruce instead to brighten your day? There's also a new video of Bruce jumping (3 MB) in his spring-loaded chair.
If you don't want to download these, send us email and we'll send you a CD with these and more!
Bruce is 3 months old now and has amassed many new talents. In the last month, he's learned to laugh and giggle, especially when surprised, kick his feet, jump for long periods of time, sleep up to 11 hours in a row, blow bubbles and raspberries, and talk a lot more. He has tasted solid food (well, runny food!) and prefers squash to rice cereal so far ("Good boy," says Dad).
March 20, 1998 Bruce has had just a heck of a week. His cousin Kari has been here for March break, but Bruce has been sick most of the time. His first cold was such a nasty one, he needed a bit of help clearing his airways to breathe, so we had him in the hospital for a few nights for observation. On the mend now, he's happy and alert as ever.
February 23, 1998 The National Baby service has taken a holiday, claiming that this El-Brucio event is too much for them to handle. Besides, the director of the service is too tired!
Bruce, on the other hand, has been having a great time these past two weeks. He is now awake for several hours at a time and enjoys interacting with people more and more. Mom and Dad had their first evening out without Bruce on Dave's birthday, and all went well (including a win by the Sonics). Babysitters Jenny, Jerry, and Henry report that "Bruce is a cool kid!"
Bruce is outgrowing his 3-month clothing, mostly in the leg area, where he hates having his kicking ability limited in any way. We are moving to rompers without built-in feet in an attempt to try and stretch out the 3-month clothing.
February 7, 1998 The National Baby Service issued a strange warning about entering large bodies of water when El-Brucio is active. The residents should have made a connection between this warning and the "swim diaper" they received as a gift, but again, a lack of sleep dulled their brains and they blissfully headed off to the tub. Witnesses report that the bathing session was cut short for some reason. The residents refuse to comment on what happened, but Dad was seen washing out the tub for an extra long time. Friends kindly recommend the benefits of a shower instead.
Latest News as of 29 January 1998: The National Baby Service (NBS) issued new reports of possible El-Brucio disturbances, including high-decibel disturbances and pyroclastic flow warnings.
While parabolic moisture events are still expected, they are now often accompanied by "continuous high-pitched wah waa" events. The residents have confirmed these events, particularly late in the evening. The NBS cannot explain these events; they just suggest that visitors stay clear of the residents for the duration.
Also noted was the possibility of pyroclastic lactose flows from the El-Brucio head area. These flows can happen suddenly and with great velocity. The residents ignored this warning, claiming pyroclastic flows have never happened in this area, but were taken by surprise on 1/28/98 by a rather large flow. Again, the residents would not comment on this event, but they were reported washing a large load of baby clothes and one sweater, size XL tall. The residents promise this time to pay more serious attention to NBS reports, having been proven wrong far too many times.
Latest News as of 21 January 1998, 1:15 PM PST: The National Baby Service (NBS) continued to issue reports of parabolic yellow moisture events and new precipitation warnings, all due to El-Brucio. While the moisture event warning was short, simply "We told you so!!", the precipitation warning included a flood watch for the lower region of the dampness front.
It seems that a larger than average El-Brucio is creating extra stress on moisture-absorbing surfaces. Once again, the residents ignored this warning, claiming their moisture-absorbing structures were expertly installed and working fine, but they were taken by surprise on the evening of 1/16/98. A major precipitation event took place, extra moisture-absorption surfaces were brought into action, but the residents lacked experience in handling such events and missed the critical areas. The residents refused to comment on what happened, but they were reported washing a large load of baby clothes and 36" inseam blue jeans after the event.
The residents are willing, however, to comment on several additional effects of El-Brucio: increased phone usage, late-night TV watching and the appearance of strange devices for carrying small bipedal beings.
Though a beam-ectomy was attempted on a male resident of the dwelling, it was an apparent failure. The resident was seen in public with a spherical mylar object protruding from his head and that fatherly beam glowing once again.
Latest News as of 15 January 1998, 1:15 PM PST: Weather clear and warmer with a chance of localized dampness in lower areas.
A dampness front was reported moving from a local birth center to a private residence on 1/13/98. The National Baby Service (NBS) report indicated that the dampness front initially lost more size than was expected during early formation. A slight yellowing was observed in the system, but when a feeding front collided with an opening in the dampness front, the dampness level increased dramatically, clearing out the yellowing and halting the size loss.
Witnesses of this front movement reported that it was somewhat chaotic, with the residents of the dwelling reportedly emitting blinding rays of beaming light that somehow also rendered them unable to move quickly, think clearly or emit words other than "punky", "baby-cakes" and "burphy". Luckily, friends brought food and provided support while the weather system settled in.
The NBS then issued a male baby diaper-changing bulletin, with a permanent chance of parabolic yellow localized moisture events. The residents ignored this warning and were caught unaware on 1/14/98 by just such an event. Said one resident, "Wow, glad that one hit the wall and not me!"
This combination of weather effects was named an "El-Brucio" by the NBS. Residents now blame (with little or no proof) many changes on "El-Brucio," including increases in washing machine usage, the appearance of Fisher-Price static noise-producing lame light show portable 9V paperweights, the Sonics' loss to the Chicago Bulls, and of course increases in greenhouse gases.
Last updated 22 May 2007 .