Thursday, May 28, 2009

Our little animal lover....

Our community has a Spring Fling every year so Olivia and I went to that while Mike was at work. She really wanted to get in that blow up, bouncy thing that they have for kids at little events like this. I was a little apprehensive because she was by far the smallest one in line to get in and what if she hated it when she got in? Would I have to take my shoes off, climb in and get bounced around by 5 year olds while I make my way over to rescue her and get mean looks from the other parents because, "Why would you even put her in there in the first place?" But I put her in there anyway. She LOVED it! Because she was the smallest one, she couldn't really get her feet under her much. The other kids just kept jumping and it would knock her down but that's what she loved. She thought it was hilarious that she couldn't get up. I put one picture of that on the side but you have to scroll down to the bottom, bigger pictures to really appreciate her joy. Turns out I did have to get in the thing like I feared but only because she didn't want to come out.

We went to a local dairy with our Mom's Club and took a tour. Again, she loved it. She just loves "moo moos". Every time we drive to Mike's work to have lunch with him, we stop at one of the many farms along the way and check things out. Then she tells Mike all about it when we get there. "Mama moo moo,dirty, baby moo moo, water, horsey, brown, down, white, up, knee." For those of you that don't speak toddler....that means that the big cows were sitting in the dirty barn and the babies were drinking water. The brown horsey in the pasture was laying down (and always does, not sure what's going on with that horse) but the white one was up. He got up on his knee first to stand up. I swear her vocabulary triples every week.

We went to my cousin, Diana's, shower in NY this past weekend. My mom and I were a little worried about how Olivia would take the drive but she was perfect. She thoroughly enjoyed playing with her Babi in the back seat and singing "Happy Birthday" to every family member she could name, always starting with "Annette", my aunt. For whatever reason, that is her favorite name to say right now. "Diana" is currently running a close second. Anyway, she had a blast at the shower. To prove that she is my child through and through, she got inside of the cake box and "enjoyed" the icing that was stuck along the sides of the box. We do love our sweets, she and I. The picture I have is blurry but still funny.

Today, we went to a local Alpaca Farm. It was so fun. Olivia was totally freaked out when we approached the first one because I think she just didn't know what it was. I thought it was going to be a tough trip. But when we went into this storage shed to learn about their hair, she kept saying, "Again, again, again" because she wanted to go back to see them. So she warmed up to them and as you can see from the pictures, had a great time. A friend of mine took tons of pictures on a better camera so when she sends me those, I'll put them up.

She can now count to 6 although when I was counting out days for something to myself, I said, "nine" and paused to think about something and she said, "Ten!". Like, "I'll help you out Mommy since you always help me when I practice too." She knows most of her letters in the alphabet which has me floored. She has been playing this alphabet game on the computer many times a day but I didn't think about whether or not it was sticking. Then I started quizzing her with the letters on the fridge and she kept getting them right. It was so exciting. Otherwise she has just been busy blowing bubbles outside, going down the slide and loving life in general. We have tons of fun activities planned for this summer so I'll be updating more regularly.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Where's the off button?

My thought was to list the new words that Olivia has added to her vocabulary every time I add a posting. Um....that's not going to happen. She just adds words by the hour. She is even starting to put things together. A little boy rushed by her on the steps of the playground the other day. He stopped at the top of the steps to glare down at her and block her way. In her carefree, loving way she just said, "Hi boy!" She not only loves to talk but she is starting to amaze us with numbers as well. She can count to 4 already!

Olivia continues to love spending time outside so we got her her first bike. She pulls it out of the garage each and every time we go out. I was showing her how to pedal so I got in front of the bike, put my hands on her feet and showed her how to push down on each one as the pedal goes down. I said, "OK, now you do it." So she leaned over the handlebars and put her hands on her own feet to push them down for herself. It was so funny. Literal, but funny. We had some hot temps here last week so I experimented with pigtails as you can see in the one picture. She was a little apprehensive at first until I let her see a mirror and then she was SO excited. She had the cutest smile on her face and she just shook her head to watch them bounce.

Another cute story, we were in church and it came to Olivia's favorite part, the hand shaking, "Peace be with you" part. She always likes to shake hands with people around us. But last week, she got down from my arms and made her way down the entire length of the pew, shaking every hand along the way. She looked like she was running for office. It was hilarious.

Olivia doesn't really watch TV yet. She just has no interest in it. But I did have Dancing with the Stars on tonight right before she was going to bed. She LOVED it! She was just fixated on it and sat there trying to do the moves that she saw. When they finished, she clapped along with the audience and looked at me and said, "Again!" So of course, I let her stay up for another contestant to perform. I'm dusting off my old ballet shoes tomorrow!

Don't forget to check out the larger version of the pictures down at the very bottom of the blog. It is a long way down.