2 years and 1 month (officially)!

We're having lots of fun around here--being two is pretty exciting for Ms. Olivia. She's talking and singing a lot. Sometimes the clarity of her words surprises me. The other day she hugged a book and said, "This is a wonderful book." She's also entered into a new phase of playing where she's interacting with her playthings in imaginative ways. We discovered this while at Child's Play toy store when we found Olivia at the Calico Critters table putting the tiny plastic hedgehogs to bed with their blankets. (The utter cuteness of the scene required us to lay down $40 for a set of tiny furniture and critters to bring home, as seen above.) Last night, I was surprised when she said, "Mommy, I'm a circle." That turned into a whole other game where we turned into triangles, squares, and lions. Lions always turn up in our games somehow.

Other favorite activities: creating forts by draping a sheet over the ottoman or just sitting under a table, stacking her blocks and knocking them down, taking all of her magnetic letters off the board and then putting them all back on, playing hide and seek (she just stands in the other room in full view believing that she's invisible to us), reading, and singing.

Of course she's loving her "Finding Nemo" movie as well as "Shaun the Sheep" and "Super Why." We're trying to keep TV time to a maximum of 90 minutes a day, which usually translates to "Sesame Street" in the morning and 20-30 minutes of a movie before bed. She also plays while I watch Oprah, but that doesn't count. :) Sometimes we catch Dr. Phil if Oprah's a rerun, and when we told her we were going to the doctor yesterday, she kept saying she wanted to see Dr. Phil. Oy.

About that doctor visit, her two-year checkup, Dr. Carol was again very impressed by Olivia's verbal and motor skills and her outgoing nature. She also gave us some tips for our next big adventure: potty training. Oh, boy.