Wow, in a month Olivia will be 2 years old. I will no longer tell people how old she is in months, she is a big girl soon. 2 years old. I have a lot of catching up to do on my posts but I wanted to do one more monthly type post before the big 2.
-Olivia is SO much fun these days! Every stage is always my favorite, but it is true! She is communicating so well putting many words together. She says "I love you too" and "I love you mommy" or "I love you daddy" She always wants to help with cooking. She gets her point across by saying "I sit down." This means she wants to sit on the kitchen counter while we mix something, etc. She LOVES to help. She helped me make cookies the other day by stirring the dough in the bowl on the kitchen floor. She was too excited to just sit on the floor and stir!
-She has a couple things she loves to say frequently these days. One is "Hi mommy!" She says it in the cutest way, and says it extra often when she has done something naughty. Makes it hard to be mad with her! She also says "daddy mean" when John says something to her she doesn't like. I think she also knows we think it is funny because she is relentless when she gets on a kick of saying it! She won't say "daddy nice" no matter how hard I try!
-She is still an outdoor girl at heart. She could play outside all day I think. She loves to dig in the dirt, play with the hose, and pull weeds. Although when George was at Jenny and Nick's last week, I discovered she really doesn't like to be outside alone. I let her outside while I was in the kitchen and she kept saying "come on mommy! Outside mommy!" so cute! Her favorite is going to the park. Once we mention the park, it is all over. She will bring us our shoes, get dressed, put on her own shoes and say "YAY! Park!" until we go.
-She is wearing a lot of 24 month and 2t clothes. She has 18 month pajamas that are getting quite snug, but her 2t pajamas are very roomy. She *loves* anything "cozy." Anything soft she will proclaim "cozy!" and cuddle it. I have found she tends to nap better when I change her into "cozy pants" before nap time.
-Speaking of naps, she still does 1 nap a day around noon. Today she slept for 3.5 hours which is on the high end for her, but it is typical for 2-3 hours. I hope she continues it for a long time. She really does love to sleep and needs it!
-She also continues to sleep great at night. She usually goes to bed around 8 pm and gets up around 7am (earlier on days daddy wakes her up) Although I think she actually normally wakes up quite earlier that 7 am but doesn't start calling out for us until that time which is very nice. She did have one off day last week where she woke up crying hard (VERY unlike her) at 4 am. She ended up going back to bed at 630 am and sleeping until 10 or so, which was nice for mommy!
-She is in "big girl diapers" now aka pull ups. Not because she is close to potty training, but because regular diapers started really irritating her upper legs where the tabs where for some reason. I still have a ton of diapers and try them every once in a while. She continues to say "owie" so pull ups it is. They are more expensive but I think they are a lot ore comfortable to her, so that's what is important. Hopefully we can get her potty training soon! We have tried here and there but only had one minor success when I caught her working on something and ran her to the toilet!
- She is still around 25 lbs and I don't have an accurate "height", although I think she is still tall for her age. We were at the public market the other day and another mom said Olivia was much taller than her 2 year old. Still not sure why we have a tall girl! ha ha! I think her hair makes her look older too....
-Speaking of her hair, it is getting so long and light. Almost everyone comments on it when they see it. The summer really lightened it up. It will be interesting to see if it lasts! She still has her beautiful ringlet curls, especially in the bottom half of her hair if that makes sense. Just like me which feels like more of a curse! Anyway, her hair has the most perfect curls that I hope stay!
-Olivia is much more interested in tv these days, a favorite is still "Elmo", but she has watched a few episodes of the wiggles without protesting to watch elmo so I think she likes that too!
-I downloaded a few apps on my ipad for Olivia and she has really enjoyed them. One is "counting game" as Olivia calls it, and another is "painting." I am glad to have some activities on the ipad to entertain Olivia, especially when out and about! I downloaded a piano one today for her and she protested "no!" after playing with it for about a minute. Oh well, I tried on that one!
-Olivia also loves to dance these days. She bounces around, spins in circles and hops. I have to try to get it on video one of these days. It is so cute! I think she really likes an audience too since she seems to dance more enthusiastically with more people watching.
-She likes that same foods as always, crazy about fruits, yogurt, cheese, crackers(crazy about fruit snacks),not so crazy about meat and not even trying eggs. We continue to try!
- I think Olivia is getting into the "terrible 2's" at times... crying at the drop of a hat when she doesn't get what she wants and throwing mini tantrums. Nothing too serious yet though!
Here are a few snapshots of Olivia at around 23 months. Here is her sad face- aka the "daddy mean" face. ha ha
Dancing up a a storm with her friend Brenna at the park
Swinging on Vashon. One of her very favorite activities.
Splashing in the water- another one of her favorite activities. You can see how wild she gets!
A little bit serious. About to go down the slide. Yet another one of her favorite activities.
I can't believe it has been almost 2 years since our life changed forever! We continue to have so much fun with her and are amazed every day by something she does or says. We are so lucky to have her in our life!
She briefly rested on the swinging bench.
But this was her most of the time we were there! Running, running, running.
Me and my girl.
*Olivia has a new playset and really likes the slide part of it! I thought she would love the swing, but she seems to be more interested in the buckle on the swing than the actual swing! 
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