Oliver's Name Day!

Oliver isn't a very popular name in Greece, and so there are few choices for Name Day. There's February 3rd, but that is very close to my sister's birthday. So the better choice is today, September 17, which has a few things going on, including the 156 martyrs of Palestine. Among them was Elias, and ελιά is "olive", so there you go! Really, more Olivias celebrate their name day today than Olivers (Olivanos), but it will do. I'd also like Opie to grow up with some affection for Palestine in general.

And to make it do, Opie got a present. Drums!



And we sent him off to nursery school with the Berkeley version of cupcakes (not my idea!)—whole wheat mini-bagels slathered with strawberry cream cheese. I'm sure suddenly one of his classmates will be revealed as a gluten-free vegan two-year-old, but there are limits. I am sure Opie will be greeted by his teachers with a rousing "Happy birthday!" as well, just to round out the confusion, but in the afternoon there will be more drumming, so it should be a good, loud, day.