My little girl is TWO

Here we are...Olive is two years old. Before I go on and on (and on) about her, let me give you the stats from this afternoon's two-year check-up:

• Weight: 27 lbs., 7 oz. (75th percentile)
• Height: 35 inches (75th percentile)
• Head circumference: 19 1/4 inches (80th percentile)

Our doctor said that Olive looks like she's going to be a tall girl. Kinda like her momma, eh? The doctor's visit was thankfully uneventful. Olive is healthy and developmentally right on track or even ahead. The doc asked me if Olive was talking much, and I was like, uh, yeah. Like a lot. But Olive was completely silent for most of the visit. I kept asking her questions, trying to get her to say something, anything. But she just gave me a look, like "As if, Mother. As if." Olive gave us just one nugget of speech. She was looking at a Sesame Street book, and said something like "Dat's Big Bird righ dere by Oscar da Grouch too." And the doctor said, "Yep, she can talk all right--like a four year old!" I was proud.

Olive is hilarious. Just before getting in the bath, when she's stripped down to her diaper, she does a naked dance. She bobs and sways and tips her head back and forth, saying, "I'm naked, I'm naked, I'm naked!" I really really want to get it on video. But every time she sees a camera, she says "I see me?" and comes over to see the picture. So I have a lot of video of her saying that and no video of the naked dance.

Olive has officially quit using her booster seat. She sits at a regular grown-up chair. Mostly on her knees, but sometimes just on her bottom. And when she stands up, I threaten her with going back to the booster. She does still use/need a bib. She drips a lot of food and tends to be a little messy. She doesn't like being messy. Frequently while eating she'll pick up her non-finger-food food, and then get upset that her hands are messy. She insists on us wiping them midway through the meal. Then she gets them dirty again, and the cycle continues.

Her hair is getting longer (obviously) but not so long that she's had a real haircut. I've trimmed her bangs a few times, and today my hairstylist trimmed her bangs (does that count as a first haircut? I say no, because I didn't take any pictures), but that is just to keep her hair out of her eyes. Now that she's more okay with hair ties and clips, I might quit cutting bangs. Not sure.

Olive is still missing her incisor teeth. I think they're on their way in, though, and then she'll have everything. I think. I'm no tooth expert.

Olive is still into the things Milo is into, though her interests have begun to develop individually as well. When it's TV time, she requests Chuggington (Milo's train preference du jour). When she picked out a sticker at the doctor's office, she choice a Thomas sticker. They both love Fancy Nancy and books of all kinds. As for her own interests, she has gotten into Winnie the Pooh and friends. Her pronunciation is sweet: "Winnie Pooh, Plig-a-let, Kangaroo & Kangaroo, Lowl, Tigger (okay, that one's pretty normal)." She's more into baby dolls than Milo, but he's getting into pretend play and wants the babies too ("I'm the daddy and you're da mudder, Olive. And this is our baby.").

Olive likes to be carried. She loves her paci, and lately has been sneaking it out of its place in her room when we're not looking. (Contraband soothing.) She likes music in the car. She always wants to wash her hands. She likes dancing. She repeats things until we acknowledge that she has spoken.

She's not great a cleaning up. Takes a lot of urging before she joins in. It's usually the threat of losing her dance party privileges that does it.

She's getting better at letting me comb her hair. "Tangles in my hair," she says. But where she used to scrunch away from me and not let me comb, she now sits still while I work out the tangles. Sorry, sweetie, that just comes with the girl territory (at least until you're old enough to decide differently).

Olive has recently starting telling me that she loves me. Swoon. Sometimes it's after I tell her I love her. "I love you too, Mommy!" Sometimes it's out of the blue, like as she leaves in the morning to go to daycare. "Byebye Mommy, I love you." Oh em gee, it is adorable. She gives random attack-hugs and kisses too. I soak them up.

My Olive is still a snuggler. When she is sleepy or overwhelmed by people, she wants me to pick her up, and she lays her head down on my shoulder. She wraps her arms around me, holding on as tight as she can. Then she pops her head up, brushing my hair away from my shoulders. She likes no hair to be in her way.

Likes: candy, monkey game on the tablet, ABCmouse, eating Mommy and Daddy's food, Chuggington, reading books, her grandparents, ice cream, taking naps, yogurt, being tickled by Daddy, her paci.

Dislikes: feeling scared (like when being chased stops being fun), being cold (after bath time, on the way to daycare, in the car, etc. etc. etc.), zippers that aren't zipped all the way up, not getting to do it herself, sharing the stool in the bathroom while brushing teeth, sleeping past 6:00am.

She's my girl, my baby, my amazing wonderful fantastic brilliant little person. I do love her so. Happy birthday, Olive.

One of those little moments

Earlier tonight I was feeling sort of mushy and sentimental toward my son. And when I tucked him into bed, I told him so. I said to him, "I love you so much, my heart feels full, so full it feels like it might burst with all that love."

He replied, "You should drink lots of fluids for that. And water. And milk."

A breakthrough

Olive requested ponytails today. She has only recently kept them in for more than 20 seconds at a time, and today, without any prompting, she asked for them. And she looks so stinking cute with pigtails in her hair. (She calls them ponytails.) It's a small thing, but it makes me smile.

I barely know what day it is

I feel busy. I know I'm not alone in feeling this way, but there it is. Busy. Also? Tired. I can use these two feelings to explain why I have essentially ignored this blog for the last year. Or more. But man, I am regretting it. (Don't assume that means I will change my behavior, but know that I do feel bad about it.)

The little moments are passing me by, it seems. I notice them in the moment, and try to remember the softness of Olive's cheek against mine, or the clean smell of Milo's hair. The way Milo sweetly kisses me goodnight. The way Olive plays with my hair. But unless I write them down, those things fade away. The little things they say and do just turn into the everyday moments of our lives, like making dinner and taking baths and reading books.

I have been so acutely aware lately of how little my kids are, but also how big they're getting. Milo is coming up on four. And he's so tall, and so thin and so NOT a baby AT ALL. And how Olive is going to be TWO in one week (and I'm going to just go ahead and say that her 23-month update is just not happening. I'll give you a really good two-year update instead.) and she is barely a baby anymore either. And how I adore the under-one set, but also how thankful I am that we are past that, that my family is growing and changing. I love their ages. I think the next year is going to be amazing. I will probably love ages 2 and 4 even more than 1 and 3 (but to be quite honest, 1 and 3 could be...difficult). Man, I love those guys, and I don't want to miss a single thing.

So being so busy... why do I do this to myself? I have a full-time job. I am a parent. I (try to) run. And I have a pretty successful side business. Did I ever think I'd be an entrepreneur? No way. But I am so crazy proud of myself. I wasn't sure if running The Gender Reveal would be something that I would want to do long-term, but the farther Stephanie and I go, the more I want it. I love feeling this connection to these parents-to-be. Seeing how happy and excited they are in the photos they send us makes me grin like a fool every time. We have so much planned for 2014. I am fairly certain I'll only get busier from here.

I can't really answer the "why I do this" question other than I love the things I do. I can't see the future; I don't know where I'll be (or where my business will be) a year from now, or two years from now. But no matter how busy I get, I want this blog to be a part of it, to be my memory. Those little moments aren't going to remember themselves. And I want to tell you all about it along the way.

Awww

Olive was petting our cat this morning. "Zadie my friend," she said.

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Who else is your friend?"

She poked Andrew and said "Daddy my friend."

Then she turned to me and said "Mommy my best friend."

Ohmygawwwd, my heart melted.

Olive is 22(ish) months

Yikes, not a great month for blogging. But never fear, Olive's 22-month update is here. Finally.

This girl. She knows what she wants, and she's getting very good at putting whole thoughts together in order to express it. "Milo, hold my hand." "NOOOOOOO!!!!"  "This one's mine, Mommy. That one's yours." I can actually have a conversation with her, and it doesn't feel completely one-sided. Just amazing.

She likes dancing. We play Dora's clean-up song every night to clean up, and then the kids always want to play it one more time for a dance party. Olive's moves mostly consist of spinning around until she falls over, but she does it with exuberance.

Olive is the best going-to-bed kid ever. When she's sleepy, you can ask her if she's ready for a nap, and she'll say yes and head on up to her bed. By the time you get there, she'll be laying in the bed, just waiting for someone to tuck her in and then leave her alone. She is coming up on two years old, but when given the chance, she will still take two naps a day. At daycare she takes just one nap.

Olive is very averse to loud noises. This afternoon I was trying to get the kids to help me make Christmas cookies, and Olive was into it for awhile until the hand mixer came out. Then it was "too loud!" and away she went. She also doesn't like when I blow-dry my hair.

She is getting crazy stubborn. She refuses to clean up during clean-up time, she won't help with this or that, she refuses to say sorry when she shoves her brother. If this is any preview of what  her teenage years will be like, we're in big trouble.

She loves playing on Daddy's tablet. "Monkey game?" she asks hopefully. Maybe I'm just old, but sometimes it's hard to believe a girl who isn't even two yet can handle this device. She started an episode of Daniel Tiger without any help. "I did it!" she says proudly.

Every time I comb her hair, she claims it hurts. She does get crazy bedhead though, so it must be combed. She still doesn't like hair ties or clips, though she'll tolerate them briefly. So I still cut bangs for her. I think she  looks cute with bangs.

She likes trains. She likes dolls and the dollhouse. She likes watching Dinosaur Train.

She and Milo get along pretty well. They can make each other giggle and they talk to each other. It's adorable, actually.

Olive's 23-month update is due in just a few days. So I'll stop this one. Can you even believe how close to two years old she is getting? I can't.

Olive: 21 Months and 13 Days

I love 21-month-olds. They are so fun. So smart. So talkative. And so NOT terrible. Not yet, not for a few more months (years? Can you tell we're dealing with a slightly different breed of child in the older spectrum?).

Olive is becoming a funny little person. She does things that she is intending to be jokes, like opening her mouth as wide as she can while there's food in it. Or making funny faces while shaking her head back and forth. Lots of little things. She loves making us laugh.

She puts 5-6 words together. "Dere it is, righ dere!" is a frequently heard phrase. She actually said her full name the other day. We were quizzing them (Milo mainly) on his name and address, and Olive said "Olive Lanefurrr." Pretty good.

She loves books. Favorites are Brown Bear Brown Bear, Farmer in the Dell ("Farmer Dell!"), Moo Baa La La La, and Cat Skidoo.

Olive likes to dance, especially to spin around and get dizzy. Mostly just dancing to the Dora clean-up song. After we play it 3 or 4 times to clean up, we play it one more time to just have a dance party. Both kids love this part of the routine.

Lately, Olive has gotten into her babies. She has a couple of dolls that she will carry around. She doesn't do a lot of nurturing or pretend play with them, with the exception of grabbing dishtowels and tucking them in. She does ask me to give them hugs and kisses sometimes. This is the one instance of a toy that Olive led the way on, and Milo picked it up from her. He's into the babies right now too.

Speaking of toys, Olive loves trains and puzzles, both of which came from Milo's interests. They also both love watching Dinosaur Train, and not much else in the way of TV. (Actually, Milo likes other things, but Olive has no interest in Thomas.)

She is a decent eater. Finally has 4 molars, though still missing a few teeth back near the back. She often asks for us to "cuddit" meaning cut up her food. And then she only eats the part that hasn't been cut. She's big on bread and always eats the bread portion of her meal first. Then fruit. Then maybe the rest of it. Or not, you just never know.

She is still a cuddler, though she is often too busy for it. She gives excellent hugs and kisses. Wonderful smiles, adorable dimples. Her hair is getting long-ish, still has bangs. She still refuses to keep hair clips or bands in.

She has gone pee in the potty once. I am considering using Thanksgiving weekend for potty training, but we have a lot planned (away from our house, and I just don't know how the grandparents feel about a bunch of pee on their floor). I guess we could do it the pull-ups way instead of the panties way.

Olive has a husky little voice, and also a high shrieky voice. Whatever she's in the mood for, I guess. I've caught her singing to herself a few times, mostly the ABCs I think. Hard to say.

I don't have any official stats for her, but I think she's tall. She weighs 29 pounds according to our bathroom scale. She wears size 6.5 W shoes. She's super picky about shoes, too.

What more can I say? Olive is adorable and fun and sweet and kind (she says "sorry sorry sorreee" to Milo if she hurts him. Sometimes tries to hug him (which he usually shrugs off). Super cute.). I'm just so glad she's mine.

Notes and Things I Wanted to Tell You

• Milo got hand, foot, and mouth disease. Another kid at daycare has it. Olive probably has it too. Thankfully, Milo's case is about the mildest possible. Just a few blisters on his hands, and basically not other symptoms. We'll see what happens with Olive.
• Olive peed in the potty for the very first time last week! Her diaper was dry in the morning, so I asked her if she wanted to sit on the potty. She said uh-huh like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then a few minutes later, she peed. She earned two M&Ms for her efforts. She has gone in the toilet once more since then. Perhaps we're on our way to a diaper-free house...
• I ran a 10K a few weeks ago. This was perhaps the biggest accomplishment of my life to date. Or at least the thing I least expected to do. I ran the whole way and finished in 1:08. Since then I have only ran about 4 times. Oh well, I'll get back into it one of these days, when things are less crazy. (Ha!)
• The Gender Reveal is going like gangbusters. We're gonna be rich! (Ha!)
• I missed writing Olive's 20-month update. There's still a chance for me to get to her 21-month update, though, so stay posted for that.

 

His first pun?

My darling son picks his nose. A lot. As you can imagine, this is a habit we would like to break. Which led to this little gem of a conversation:

Milo: (picking nose)
Me: Milo, stop picking your nose; that's gross.
Milo: (still picking nose) Mommy, I'm just a picky guy.

Spooky, Spooky, Spooky!

Halloween 2013 will go down as the first highly successful Halloween for the Langford kids. Let me give a quick recap of the previous years:

2012: Milo was terribly sick, which actually turned out to be a good thing because he was so scared by the entire holiday he didn't want to wear a costume. I don't even recall what he had planned to be before he a) changed his mind, b) got too scared to dress up, and c) got sick so it didn't matter anymore anyway. And Olive was so young she wasn't walking yet, she couldn't eat any of the candy, and she just didn't give a shit about any of it. She did look pretty cute in the chicken costume I forced upon her though. When she wasn't crying, that is.

2011: Milo was a bumblebee. The costume was fleece, and it was HOT that day. He roasted. I was pregnant, and I roasted. Milo didn't get the trick-or-treating thing at that point, and he got so bored. He sort of played along during the daycare party, but then we made the mistake of taking his costume off to eat dinner. He did NOT want to put it back on to go real trick-or-treating. I think we made it to one, maybe two houses before giving up.

2010: Milo's first Halloween. Too little to get it/eat candy/care. My first Halloween as a mom, so of course I put way too much pressure on the whole thing. He wore both a kangaroo costume for some early photos in the leaves, and a pumpkin costume for trick-or-treating. We went with some friends who had older kids, and we had to basically carry Milo up to the doors each time. Not so fun, really.

So! That brings everybody up to speed. This year was fantastic. Milo was Captain Hook. He had been requesting this costume since August, so I bought it for him in late September. In early October, he decided that Captain Hook was "too scary" and he wanted to be a pumpkin "with a smile and happy eyes, not a frown or mean eyes." Thankfully, he returned back to Captain Hook. Our neighbors gave us a little girl pirate costume. My mom gave us a watermelon costume for Olive. We let her pick. For weeks she refused to wear either. Well, frankly, she didn't try either of them on. On Halloween we sent the pirate costume to daycare and hoped that Ms. Kristin could get her into it.

We showed up for the daycare Halloween extravaganza at 4:30. Lo and behold, both Milo and Olive were in their costumes, and they looked awesome. Milo even had his hat and his hook on. Olive wasn't wearing the head scarf that came with hers, but no surprise there--she does not like stuff on her head (except for hoods...and some hats... OK, she just doesn't like having her hair done. But either way, I wasn't surprised about the lack of scarf.).

They sort of let me take their picture. Awfully wiggly and not very patient, those two

They did the daycare trick-or-treating. For awhile Milo didn't seem too into it. They were handing out little toys and stickers and such at the "houses" and I think Milo just wanted candy. As soon as they did get a piece of candy, they wanted to eat it right then. It was hard to explain that no, you can get MORE candy if you keep following the other kids. But overall, they both had a good time.

We came home, had dinner. This time I was smart enough not to take Olive out of her costume. I hadn't planned to take Milo out of his costume either, but he really wanted to take it off. I figured that was probably for the best, since his costume had these dangly sleeves. Anyway. Dinner. Then everybody get excited because it's trick-or-treating time!!

We set out with no expectations of how many houses we'd hit. We started with our cul-de-sac. Then a couple houses up the street. Then Ms. Kristin's cul-de-sac. Then down the hill to that cul-de-sac. Total of 10 houses, I think. Then the kids were getting worn out and started to be less happy about the whole thing. Back up the hill to home. One piece of candy to eat, then off to bed.

I was so stinking proud of these kids. Especially Milo. He rang the doorbells, said "trick or treat" every time, said "thank you," waved goodbye, and was just generally very agreeable. He kept his hat and hook on. Just such a nice guy. He did try to open doors and even walk into people's homes at first, but he got the hang of it before too long. Olive was so cute too. She started out just holding out her basket and saying "my candy!" as they dropped a piece in her bag. She did say "thank you" and "bye!" while enthusiastically waving. About 2/3 of the way through the evening, she started saying "chickee cheet!" So so cute.

Milo still got pretty nervous about Halloween this year, so I am especially proud of the way he didn't let his fears stop him from having fun. From the costumes to the trick-or-treating to the excitement of the whole thing, he participated--and he can often be the kid that hangs back and does his own thing.

Last night, sometime in the middle of the night, he came into our room upset, saying "Is Halloween over yet?" So even after having lots of fun, getting to eat lots of candy, he still worried about Halloween. I'm hoping next year he remembers all the fun and doesn't let the worries slow him down. And I hope Olive tries on her costume before the day of the holiday. Milo has already informed me that next year he wants to be a rubber duckie for Halloween. We'll see, kid. We'll see.