Some of you may know and appreciate Oliver’s fine vocal talents and how he can shriek at octaves that Mariah Carey and neighborhood dogs can only hope to achieve. For some time now The Dad’s have been able to ignore Oliver’s screams in spite of the fact that he often waits until lifted directly near your ear before letting loose with one of his head-splitting shrieks. That is to say until this weekend. Oliver no longer has the patience to wait until we understand what it is he is trying to communicate before screaming. Now he just screams constantly. A scream when he wants to be lifted. A scream when he wants to eat. A scream when he wants a toy. A scream when he is happy. A scream when he is sad. A scream whenever. The same tone, and the same volume--Head Splitter.

In the car, on the way home from a delicious Poquito Mas lunch, Oliver shrieked so loudly and for so long that I had to roll his window down so the wind would whip against his little face--forcing him to close his eyes and hopefully his mouth for a moment. That trick did not work this time. He just kept on shrieking with his eyes closed and his beautiful blond hair blowing back from his face. He was not mad, or annoyed, or anything except loud. The Kid was so loud that people would jump in shock when they heard the screaming toddler from the passing SUV. He did this for miles—even when you could hear his vocal chords literally start to give out and sputter. When his voice would crack, he would take a couple seconds to swallow some spit, or swig from my water bottle and then just keep on screaming-on. If he doesn't get through this phase soon he is totally going to end up like Froggy from The Little Rascals: croaking his way through preschool by the age of two.

Baby Center.com’s “My Toddler This Week” email states that it is perfectly normal for a 15-month-old toddler to sound like a Hyena (or worse). Their email goes on to explain that a parent should kneel down and say “I can’t understand you when you talk like that. Please use your normal voice and I’ll be happy to listen to what you’re saying.” Of course they say that one needs to do this over and over and over until eventually the toddler realizes that the better tone of voice gets them what they want. I should mention that we noticed a three year old at dinner last week still shrieking just like Oliver.

We could not help but make a comparison between Oliver and our Saturday night dvd pick: King Kong. (Yes, we finally got around to seeing that movie!) The comparison is in the scene where Anne dances and juggles the rocks for Kong as Kong roared and beat his chest. At first it was difficult to determine whether or not Kong would eat her or just keep watching. I, of course, can be compared to the lovely and talented Naomi Watts--dancing for my Oliver Kong. Doing my best to keep the beast from getting angry and ripping my head off. Sadly, some times beauty is just not enough to calm the savage beast. I am hopeful however that this phase will pass quickly. We all know how the movie ended.