Tuesday, March 24, 2009

18 months!

So, the downside of not updating this post in the last three months is that now I have way too many photos that I want to share! I might have to start uploading photos to the Kodak Gallery again and just pasting the link here. But here are some of our highlights!










On Valentine's Day, Gymboree had a "Sweetheart Party". It was great because Daddy finally got to see some of what we do on weekly basis. She climbed through tunnels, danced with maracas, went down the slide with Gymbo the clown, and made some Valentine crafts using a glue stick, ink handprints, and stickers!










She also got to eat a sugar cookie that was covered with pink icing, and she's getting really good about getting on and off the rocking horse.




























Olivia is getting really good at eating with her spoon and still seems more comfortable using her left-hand. She also got to enjoy her very first popsicle (as you can see by all the juice running down her chin...)











We have been contemplating buying her a nice kid size chair for the living room, and thought we would experiment first with a cheap plastic chair. No point in spending alot of money on something she won't sit in, right? So far, she really seems to enjoy the chair...as long as we can convince her that chairs are for sitting, not for standing!













Since the weather has been so nice, we have been making the rounds to all the local parks we can find to see which ones we (and Olivia) like best. We've found several that are pretty good, but this picture is from, I believe, her third time ever on a swing. She loves it!













We also traveled to Homestead recently (our hometown) to attend a memorial service for the mother of my father-in-law. While we were there, Olivia petted her first dog (Bubba), chased bubbles in the yard, and spent time clearing leaves off the patio and picking them off the ground and giving them as "presents". She's really into cleaning up these days... We also got to visit Knaus Berry Farm for the world's greatest cinnamon rolls! It was very comfortable to be back "home" again...

























She's finally getting the hang of coloring too. This was her first attempt with the toddler coloring tools. She's not overly excited about coloring yet...but since Daddy and I both like to color, she'll definitely be exposed to it!





We visited the doctor today for her 18 month check-up, and she's perfectly healthy! She now weighs 24.2 lbs and is just shy of 33 inches. She is quickly moving out of her 18 month size clothes and into the 24 month size. She's going through a "not eating much" phase, but the doc says that's normal since she's in a slow growth period. She now has 13 signs that she does (more, please, thank you, milk, raisin, pancake, cheese, banana, cookie, cereal, fish, work, bubbles), but so far her only spoken words are "yeah" and "uh oh", along with the animal sounds she makes for cat, monkey, lion, cow, and duck. She still loves music and dancing, loves playing with her instruments, playing with her shape and color toys, and is really good about cleaning up her toys.
She truly is an amazing child...very easy going, smart, curious, and well-behaved. I wish we could have a second child just like her!!!

I'll be sure to post her Easter pictures in the next few weeks!

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