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.

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.

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.

Milo is three and a half

My first child is three and a half. I actually think he's been three for about forever, and I'm a little surprised he isn't closer to four. There is so much to say about Milo. The ups, the downs, the ins and outs. He is a complicated, simple kid. Let me see if I can begin to tell you about him. (Bear with me; this is gonna be a long one. I don't give Milo nearly enough blog space these days, and he deserves a full update.)

He's so kind. Milo hugs Olive if she is upset about something. He brings her toys to try to make her feel better. He apologizes to me immediately if he accidentally steps on my foot or something. "Oh, sorry, Mommy," he'll say, patting me on the knee. He gives wonderful hugs and knows that hugs make people feel better. He freely gives compliments. Just the other day I heard Milo musing over how he and Daddy were boys, and Mommy and Olive were girls. Daddy said, "Mommy and Olive are cool girls." Milo replied, "Yep, Mommy and Olive are cool, PRETTY girls, Daddy."

He's so smart and so creative. Milo has a huge vocabulary and makes connections that seem to be beyond his years. We were eating a pizza, and half the slices were gone. He looked at the pizza there in the box, and said "That looks like a semi-circle." Why yes, yes it does. He loves books and remembers so much of what has been read to him. He enjoys easy-reader sort of nonfiction books, and he can tell you all sorts of things about penguin colonies, gazelles ("Kazelles," as he calls them), raccoons, badgers, and trains. Milo is getting better at writing. He can write the letter Q and probably a few others. He can control his pencil enough to make a decent circle. He is getting better with scissors. I can see how his interest in drawing has changed over the last few months—he is attempting to color inside/near the lines of coloring books, and his art is looking more like something recognizable and less like scribbles (yet he still rarely chooses to color outside of the art projects at daycare).

Milo loves to make jokes. Like any kid his age, he is trying to figure out humor and how to make people laugh. He'll say something unexpected just to see if it makes us laugh. If I were to say something like "Who wants pizza?" Milo might say, "Who wants . . ." then he pauses and looks around. "Trees!" he exclaims triumphantly.

Half the time (or more than half, if I'm being honest) Milo drives me completely bonkers. He throws fits over Every. Little. Thing. And usually he changes his mind at some point during the fit to take an opposite position. For instance, the other day, he wanted cereal with milk for breakfast. Unfortunately, we had run out of milk. I offered him dry cereal, a bagel, oatmeal, a waffle, and even cinnamon toast. He cried on the stairs for about 15 minutes, whining about how he only wanted cereal with milk, so he didn't want breakfast at all. Fine, we said. No breakfast. When we were all done eating and on our way upstairs to brush his teeth, he whined that he wanted to eat breakfast. We told him that he had missed breakfast and would have to eat at Ms. Kristin's house (where he is fed every day upon walking in the door). He screamed. "But I wanted to eat breakfast heeeeeere!" It goes on and on. The reasons change, but there is always something that is bringing him to the end of the world. Sometimes I just don't even know how to handle the fits. I feel like an awful mom when all I want to do is yell at him. And I do find myself raising my voice, and I hate it. I hate that he can bring me to that. "He's three, he's three, he's three," I have to remind myself.

I think three is a really tough age, because so much of the time, Milo can be so fun and so smart and so sweet. And occasionally even reasonable. He tricks me into thinking that he should be reasonable all the time, or even most of the time. And that simply isn't the case. And I find myself trying to reason with him and use logic. You may be surprised to find that it gets me absolutely nowhere. It's a phase, and blah-de-blah. I know that underneath all the crazy is a really sweet kid who craves attention from his mommy and daddy.

Milo has gained some large motor skills in the last few months. He can ride a bike with training wheels. When he started learning, he was pretty timid about going too fast or how to stop or slow down. But he has slowly gained confidence, and he tears around the cul-de-sac. He still can be very cautious on hills and if he feels out of control, he forgets how to brake and starts dragging his feet along the ground. But he improves every time he rides. He is a pretty fast runner. At least he looks fast to me (but I am only really comparing him to Olive, who is decidedly not fast, though adorable, when running). He also is pretty good at riding his scooter, another skill that he wasn't too confident at for quite awhile.

Milo is a cautious kid. He is leery of trying new things. He definitely does not like doing things that are hard for him or that he doesn't fully understand. He struggles to find bravery. Nothing makes me more proud of him than when I see him giving it his all and experimenting and trying something that I know is freaking him out.

Milo is a picky eater. He's still a breakfast eater--oatmeal, eggs, ham, waffles, bagels-without-cream-cheese, bacon, sausage, cereal, yogurt, granola--he'll gladly eat all of that. Dinner is a different story. Rarely does he eat more than a few bites of his dinner. One night he pretended he was the carrot monster and stuffed a bunch of carrots into his mouth, hardly even chewing before grabbing another. Andrew and I just sat there, holding our breath and hoping the carrot monster would stick around for awhile (spoiler alert: it didn't).

Speaking of pretending, he is way into that. He had a nice long phase where he'd pretend the Big Bad Bear was coming and we all needed to hide. That morphed into "Boulder Bear" where Andrew would drop pillows on Milo's head while he his under the covers. He runs from room to room and is "Super____(fill in the blank)." Super Milo, Super Robot, Super Train. He holds a doll while running and the doll is Super Baby. That was a good one. Olive got in on that action, grabbing her own doll and calling out "Soooper Baybeee" as she ran around.

Those two are great friends, except when they don't feel like being friendly. They laugh together, play games together, pretend together, run around together, read together. It's so cool to watch them. Sometimes Olive drives Milo crazy. He shouts at her, "Leave me alone, Olive!" But I am glad to see that he doesn't smack her or anything. Sometimes he doesn't know how rough his playing can be, but he doesn't intentionally try to hurt her.

Milo likes dancing, but he's not really into music. He is really into trains. Loves his train table, loves books about trains, loves Thomas (or the other inhabitants of Sodor. Gordon pulls the Express, you know.). He still enjoys a good machine or fire truck, though everything takes a backseat to trains.

I love seeing Milo's interests and personality continue to develop. I love hearing him recall a memory from something several months ago and knowing that his memory is increasing all the time. He is such fun to hang out with (tantrums exempted). I hope he knows how much I adore and love him. Milo, you have my heart forever.

Olive: 19 Months

This lady has me wrapped around her little fingers, over and over and over. She's wonderful.

First, the physical changes. She has gotten more teeth in the last month. Now she has three (four?) clearly visible on the bottom, and when her mouth is wide open you can see all the bumps and ridges where more are coming. Two molars in the back now, so real, proper chewing is on its way. It's amazing how much she can eat without molars, but I guess you learn to make do with what you've got.

She is clearly getting taller. Size 18-month clothing is getting too small, and pants that were once way too long are just skimming her ankles.

Her bangs are growing out, and they're almost in her eyes again. I will soon be forced to make the call on whether to trim the bangs or try to grow them out. I'd like to grow them, but not if it means her hair will always be in her eyes and face. So I'll hold off on deciding anything as long as I can. Unfortunately, she is also starting to get a little mullet, and that's all we need to say about that.

She is far more aware of her body and the things that are bothering her than I remember Milo being at this age. For instance, she picks at hangnails and is bothered by messes on her hands or face. She knows when she has gone potty and waddles around with a pained expression saying "pooooop" until her diaper is changed.

Her language skills continue to impress. She regularly strings words together to form mini-sentences. "My room!" "Mommy pillow." "Milo train." "Again, Daddy." "More grape please!" "My punkin." She's getting more possessive too. Lots of "my."

She still has the poutiest pout in the world, with the lower lip sticking out. Adorbs.

She always wants to be where Milo is, doing what Milo is doing. My mother-in-law asked me the other day if Olive ever played with girl toys. The question kind of stopped me in my tracks. I looked down at Olive, who had been playing with a train. Huh. No. She really doesn't ever play with "girl toys." She loves trains and cars and trucks and diggers. I thought, I was so worried about pigeonholing her into this little "girl" box of princesses and pink and tutus—did I inadvertently push her toward only "boy" things? But no, I don't think I did. She just adores her brother so much, she has come to enjoy the toys he likes. We have the stereotypical girly toys, too—the strollers, stuffed animals, baby dolls, dress-up clothes, doll bottles, a dollhouse—but Olive just doesn't show much interest in that stuff. I wonder how her interests will change as she gets older.

She likes books, and has begun quoting bits of them. She loves the "goodnight nobody" page in Goodnight Moon and will gleefully shout "nobody" when you get to that page.

Olive is a decent eater, though she does randomly refuse to eat sometimes. Probably when Milo is also refusing, though not always.

We have started calling her "Ollie" some. I didn't really think we'd go the nickname route with her, but since "Buddy" is already taken, I guess we had to have something else to call her. Sometimes I call her "Sweetie," more often than I probably realize.

It's so cool to see her start to develop her interests and personality. She and Milo are so similar in some ways, and so obviously different in others. She already knows how to push Milo's buttons. Ah, siblings.

Olive at 18 Months (only 9 days late this time)

First, the official doctor-sanctioned statistics:

Weight: 24 lbs., 8.5 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 33 1/4" (90th percentile)
Head Circumference: 19" (95th percentile)

Since her 15-month check-up, Olive shot back up on the growth charts. She's definitely a tall lady. I wonder if she'll have the same memories I do of being literally a head taller than everyone else in her first grade class. I guess we have quite a few years for that one, though.

My daughter is utterly charming. There is so much personality packed into those 33 1/4 inches. When she pouts, she pouts big time. Lower lip stuck so far out, arms crossed, glaring eyes. When she laughs, she shrieks and guffaws and throws her body around recklessly. When she loves, she snuggles in close, practically climbing up your body, and she holds on so tight you think her fingers must be hurting from that grip. Nothing is halfway with her.

She is quite a mimic. When I say something, she repeats it and it's like she instantly learns the word. The one word she can't seem to get is "water." She calls it "nuk" which is, we think, her word for milk (maaaaybe "drink"). She knows juice, and coffee, even. But she can't seem to get water. Except when it is a lake or creek. Then she calls it water. Just not the stuff she drinks. That is nuk.

She's gotten into "my" as of late. Especially "my paci." Which I think is funny, because that is the one thing that no one else in the house wants.

I gave her bangs a few weeks ago. Totally a good idea. The bangs are keeping the hair out of her eyes and I haven't lost any hair ties in weeks.

Olive has started calling our cat (who is named Zadie) Lily. Lily is the name of our daycare provider's dog. (A very large dog, I might add.) Olive used to say Zadie, but somehow she decided that all pets are named Lily, or something.

She has an awesome dance. She spreads her legs apart like she's waiting for someone to crawl between them, then she nods in a very exaggerated way. Sometimes twisting back and forth too. She also has begun to sing. I caught her humming the Dora clean-up song at dinner. She started nodding in her dancing way, then quietly said "keen-up, keen-up." Ohmygosh, freaking adorable.

(By the way, that clean-up song has changed our lives. We were...not great at asking the kids to clean up their toys. We were inconsistent so of course they never wanted to clean up. But I was pretty sure they were singing that song at daycare, so we started playing it. And it was suddenly all Pavlov's dogs in here. They just started cleaning up. Racing to clean up, even. And they wanted to play the song over and over, and then one more time after the toys had been picked up just so we could have a little dance party. It has been nothing but good for us. And I'm not even complaining about how that song is stuck in my head Every Single Day because I will take it if it means no more toys all over the freaking place.)

She still sticks to Milo like glue and does everything he does. She adores him.

She knows the names of at least 20 people and loves to tell them bye. She's big on saying bye to things. An airplane goes by overhead, and she says "airpane! in da sky! airpane!" Then, "Byebye, airpane, byebye. Bye, airpane." Once is never enough.

She adores all her grandparents, and I'm sure they adore her right back.

Likes: doing what Milo does, going fast, watching airplanes and trains, swinging, eating ice, eating popsicles, getting tickled by Daddy, taking her sandals off, fruit, her paci, Fancy Nancy, drinking out of a regular cup.
Dislikes: getting too dirty/sandy/sticky, being poopy, eating tomatoes, getting water in her eyes in the bath, having to sit at the table when she's "ah dunn, ah dunn!", paying attention to TV for very long, drinking out of a sippy cup.

She is growing up so fast, but you know what? I like it. I like that she says more all the time and knows more. I like that she is getting more independent and can do more things for herself. I like that she and her brother can have conversations and their own jokes and play together. It's amazing. She's amazing.

Olive is 17 months old!

Seriously, it's a little ridiculous to even post it. She is closer to 18 months old at this point, but I guess 17 still deserves its own post. So, where to begin?

Once again, her language skills astound me. She strings together three- and four-word sentences frequently. There it is, she says. She mimics everything, and seems to immediately pick up on the correct usage. "See ya," for instance. She now says this instead of "bye." She repeats things Milo says, too, like "why?" She knows some opposites, like up and down. She confuses others, like hot and cold. It would be impossible for me to list every word and phrase she knows at this point. Just know that she knows and understands and says a LOT.

Her hair is crazy long, always in her eyes. I do my best to clip it back or put it in a little ponytail on top of her head, but the clip or band is almost always lost by the end of the day. I'm considering bangs, just to keep her hair out of her eyes. But here's where I get crazy: the reason I don't want to do this has nothing to do with her hair, but that a "baby's first haircut" seems like it ought to be more than just bangs. I also think maybe I could just trim it myself, but I don't want to hurt her and I want to take photos of her "baby's first haircut." If anyone has thoughts on this, I'd love to hear them.

Olive prefers to drink out of a cup without a lid, AKA a non-sippy cup.She spills a lot this way, but is actually surprisingly good at it.

She has basically mastered the fork and spoon, though she does prefer to use her hands quite a bit. Alternatively, she "drinks" from every bowl she has, even if the food in is in no way drinkable. She also likes to pick up food, say "bite?" and feed it to other people. Cute, until you realize it's just a ploy to get out of eating.

She likes tickles, chasing, running fast, climbing, and trying to jump. She has the best laugh. Husky and shrieky all at once.

She has seven or eight teeth now. Top four in front, bottom two, and I think one on each side on the top further back. Yeah, I don't really know the names of teeth. She also may have just chipped a tooth (I'm not going to have any material for her 18-month post, am I?) on playground equipment. I think she banged her face on one of those rocking animals on springs. Well, more accurately, I know she banged her face on it, and I think that's when she chipped her tooth. It's not bad, not sharp or rough. Not sure if it even warrants a trip to the dentist, so she hasn't gone yet.

Speaking of gone (bad segue), our amazing and wonderful nanny has officially moved on. I didn't really write about her here, because of privacy or I don't know what. But man, she was amazing. We will miss her so much. Olive loved her, loved her daughter, and I believe they both loved Olive. I am certain we'll get together for playdates, but I'm sad for Olive that this amazing person in her life won't be as much of an influence anymore.

Olive still mostly takes two naps a day, but can usually drop the first one if needed. I think when she starts her new daycare, she will be pushed into dropping it completely. (By the way, Olive will be starting a different in-home daycare in another week. Just M-T-W; she'll still be at our current place Th-F.) She is a little old, I guess, for two naps, but she's so sleepy. And so much more pleasant when she gets that morning nap. I don't know. I wish she could just give it up when she's ready, but I doubt that'll be the case.

She goes to bed around 7:30pm and wakes up around 6:00am. She gets snuggly right before bed. She needs her paci to sleep. She sleeps on her tummy with her bottom in the air and her arms tucked underneath her, often wrapped around a "banket."

When she snuggles on my shoulder, she lifts her head and moves my hair out of the way, then lays her head back down.

She makes me tear my hair out, but I love her fiercely. She is such a joy, and even on her worst paci-less, teething, tired days, I wouldn't trade her for a million worlds.