Happy Birthday, Olive

I am terribly, shamefully late with this post. Today is February 24. Olive turned one on February 8. Yikes. But what's two weeks (and then some) really, when you think about it? Oh, well, enough regrets and on with the post.

First up, the stats. Olive is a perfectly proportioned little thing, measuring in the 80th percentile across the board.

• Weight: 22 pounds, 2 ounces (80th percentile)
• Height: 30 inches (80th percentile)
• Head Circumference: 18 1/2 inches (80th percentile)

In a nutshell, Olive is her very own person. We went to Union Station and Crown Center today to play in Funville (I am not making up that name) and see the trains. Olive walked all the way across the Link, she walked most of the way through the main hall in Union Station, and she walked around Funville. Milo walked, yes, but he was always wanting to be picked up or to ride in the stroller. On the way home, Andrew said (referring to the walking/riding difference), "It's almost like we have two totally different kids." And that sort of sums it up.

Olive is so unique, such a different kid than Milo was at the same age. Anything we thought we had figured out the first time around is all fair game again. But enough with the comparisons. Let me tell you about Olive.

She loves to climb on things. She steps up on the step-stool in the bathroom and strains to see over the counter. She climbs the stairs and even attempts to go feet first, rather than on her knees. She climbs on Milo's lunchbox to get up just a little higher. She climbs up onto our kid-sized chairs and stands on them, tempting fate. She's a daredevil everywhere she goes.

She loves snuggles. When she's sleepy, she wants to be held and she wants to lay her head on your shoulder. She holds on tight as you carry her, gripping your shoulder or shirt or whatever she can get her hands on. She also likes to be the snuggler. She carries around her baby doll, patting her on the back and giving her kisses. Sometimes Olive just calls out "Beh-bee? Beh-bee?" and isn't happy until we've located Baby for her to hug. However, if Baby isn't available, she'll be content with a stuffed animal. It's pretty stinking cute, and something we never saw Milo do (whoops, another comparison).

Olive knows quite a few words. "Yes" is her newest, and due to her lack of top teeth, it comes out "Yesh." You can ask her pretty much anything and she'll say "yesh" to it. Unless it's something she knows she doesn't want, like a certain food item. "Do you want more broccoli, Olive?" "No," she says and shakes her head. Like I said, she's a girl who knows what she wants.

Other words she can say include Daddy, Mommy, Mama, Dada, kitty, Zadie, Milo, yes, no, thank you, baby, mmmm (for hug--does it count if she doesn't use it correctly?), yum-yum, nose, eyes. She babbles long strings of syllables with perfect mimicry of our enunciation. She's going to be a talker, I think. None of this second-child syndrome where the older kid speaks for the younger one. I bet Olive won't let Milo get a word in once she figures out how to say the things she wants to say. Also, she understands many, many words. I couldn't even begin to guess how much she understands, but I truly think she knows what we're saying and asking her a lot of the time.

She, too, is a bath-water drinker. She obsessively seeks out the toys in the bathtub that can carry water. Cups, washcloths, squirty toys. Anything and everything ends up in her mouth. This is becoming slightly less gross now that Milo is pretty consistently peeing before getting in the bathtub.

Olive loves to dance. Music can play for the briefest of moments and she's swaying and bopping her head. She also dances when there's no music. She'll just start spinning until she's so dizzy she falls down. She loves this game.

She wants to be where Milo is. He can still make her laugh like no one and nothing else.

Her hair is getting longer so it almost lays flat. Still sticks up a lot though. It's getting long enough in front that I think it's time to find some barrettes or something. Her hair is just about in her eyes. If she were a boy, we would be at the "definitely need a haircut" stage.

She tries to run, can't quite get herself off the ground. She hardly ever falls just when walking--unless she's crazy tired. Then she falls all the time. She tries to jump, but again, can't quite get herself off the ground.

She is finished with formula and bottles. About a week ago we ran out of formula, so we cut her off. She has been drinking whole milk for about four weeks now, maybe, and doing fine with it. She also loves water. Our pediatrician just said to quit the bottles then, if she's drinking plenty of other fluids. It's different this time than it was with Milo, because I was still nursing Milo at this age and didn't wean until he weaned himself. With bottles, it's totally different. We had to make the choice.

She has been totally into feeding herself lately. She has no interest in being spoon-fed, but she has started to try to hold a spoon to feed herself. She's not bad at it, either. It's messy, and stuff falls off the spoon sometimes, but overall, she's pretty dexterous. I do wish she'd let herself be fed more, though. At her one-year check-up, the finger-prick test showed she was headed toward being anemic, so we needed to get more iron in her. We're focusing on red meat and spinach, but the girl just loves bread. What can you do?

Olive still just has the two teeth on the bottom. Sometimes I think the top two are there, but they always kind of go away. Don't listen to anyone who tells you teeth just come in and boom, there they are. In my experience, the teeth come through, then the gums swallow them back up, then they come through, and then they're gone. Repeat.

Olive likes to play peekaboo and be chased. She is starting to like reading time and will sit still for quite awhile listening to books. She likes to play dress-up and will put anything around her neck like a necklace (like my sweaty, fresh-from-a-run underwear that were lying on the bathroom floor).

She leans into me and says, "mmmmm" the way I do when I give her hugs. This melts my heart.

She's my sweetie-pie, sweet baby, baby girl, Olive May, and she's full of fire. I love her more every day.