I just found this picture while cleaning out my inbox. I took it about a week or so ago over at Chief Joseph playground. I felt this was a fairly significant moment as Olivia went down the big curly slide on her own for the first time. She showed great courage running around that play structure with kids three times her size.

I wish the sun would hurry and come back again.

2 Years 4 months!

(I realize that I'm a day late here, but everything still applies.)

It's been a super busy month here at the homestead. Chris and I both had big projects to complete for work and I also had schoolwork for my MFA. Because of the workload, we've had my cousins come and watch Olivia on a regular schedule. It's a bit confusing for her since they are identical twins and I'm not sure she believes that they are not one person...

This month we entered the era of the amazingly cute comment. The ones that stand out for me are the comments that seem to come from Olivia's inner guru. To wit: "I hear a bell in the sky. Can I touch it?" "Do you have Olivia in your eyes?"

She's also making strides in the potty department. Just when we were despairing that she'd never get the hang of going #2 in the potty, she figured it out and that's that. She also stays dry for naps, but not overnight yet. We've made little changes to help her out, especially cutting the nighttime milk before bed. That's been hard for me (probably more than her) because it's a routine we've had since she was a tiny baby. We also moved the changing table out of her room which was also hard for me. I'm excited for her to make the steps into childhood, but I'll always cherish the sweet times of babyhood.

Other things that are new this month: her memory for songs is amazing. This morning I found her singing "Yellow Submarine" while gazing out the window. She also told me that she was "too big" for her high chair, so now she's in a booster seat at the table. She's loving her drawings, her kazoo and harmonica, dressing herself (though not always in the right order...), and watching Oswald.

Fun with the computer

Pics from the computer camera:

2 years and 3 months!

What a month! It's been stormy and raining for days, so we've had to come up with indoor activities that don't involve shopping at Target. Not that Olivia doesn't socialize--she spends Tuesdays with her Granddad & Nona & Gus and then Wednesdays with Grandma and Elena. On Thursdays, Chris takes her swimming and then Fridays, we just chill at home. It's a pretty fun schedule with something social and/or educational every day.

The big news is potty training. When we first started two months ago, it seemed like a lost cause. Let's just say there was a tremendous amount of pee on the rug and nothing in the potty. Now she's using the potty 75% of the time and is going without pull-ups except for sleeping. I try not to be too invested in it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little frustrated when she stands in front of me with wet pants saying, "I'm wet, Mommy." Most of the time, I'm really excited about this last hurdle from baby-hood to kid-hood.

Otherwise, we've been having lots of fun drawing on the cardboard house (she always asks for caterpillars, kitty cats, boats, and lady bugs):

Helping with the dishes:
Going to sleep with Bunny in the big bed:

And waking up and looking mournful:

2 Years and 2 Months

It's the 19th and Olivia is 2 years and 2 months old today. Here's a picture of her drawing on a cardboard playhouse I made for her today.

Her preferred drawing implement is the ball point pen and, in my opinion, she's developed a very distinctive style. I've included some samples of her work below. She likes to cover a surface with these tight little scribbles, then pull

them together with a few big ones. Sure I'm biased, but I find them quite compelling.

Each one of these little hieroglyphs apparently represents something as well, as you can see in Alisa's annotated example. Alisa asked Oliva, "what's your drawing about?" and came back with all sorts of subjects like ice cream and backpacks.

Lately we've been...

...playing with ladybugs...

...painting with finger paints...

...washing our hair...

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.