4 years old

Olivia's birthday was a few months ago, but I wanted to record some things about Olivia as I look back on this last year. 

1. Olivia has such a tender heart, she is such a compassionate and thoughtful girl. Whenever she gets a yummy treat, even if its a tiny treat and even if she is super excited about it...she always reserves a piece to give mom and dad. It may be a super tiny piece, but she always thinks to share it with us.

Olivia always  wants to help people, animals and even characters in her books that she sees as feeling sad or in need. Earlier this year we visited a dairy farm, while we were watching the cows being milked one of the cows slipped and fell down. A few hours later Olivia came up to me and said "Mom I want to get a bouquet of flowers and give it to that cow that fell to help cheer him up."

 

2. Olivia is a deep thinker. Daydreaming, thinking, pondering...whatever it is, Olivia loves to do it and she does it often. Once when I came out of the bedroom from putting Lyla to sleep I asked Olivia what game she would like to play with me. She told me that she couldn't play a game right now because she was daydreaming. 

2. When I think back to this last year I really feel like the worst thing you could ever do to Olivia was ask her to wear pants. Olivia HATES pants and shorts for that matter, Olivia is definitely a dress and skirt girl.

3. Olivia has definitely become a daddy's girl, she absolutely adores him.  Olivia does not want her dad to have to deal with anything gross, dirty sad or bad in anyway...and the best things are reserved for him. The other day Olivia informed me that the toilet was broken, I told her dad would be able to fix it. Well, she did not want her dad to deal with such a gross matter and wanted me to do it instead. I explained to Olivia that dad would be home very soon and he is really good at fixing toilets and so we were just going to wait for him. A few minuets later I heard her in the bathroom, when I went over to the bathroom I saw that she had found the plunger and was pushing it back and forth in toilet. When I asked her what she was doing she explained she was fixing the toilet because she didn't want her dad to.

4. Olivia is a very responsible little girl. She loves rules...she's good at following them and she's especially good at reminding others about the rules. Once when Olivia was sick Matt told her "why don't we get you some ice cream to help you feel better." Olivia responded, "Dad, I shouldn't have any ice cream when I am sick. I should only have healthy foods like broccoli and salmon...that will help me feel better."

8 months

These are some things I would like to remember about our sweet Lyla when she was 8 month:

1-She makes you feel special. Each us really feel like Lyla loves us so much. If one of us leave the room, when we return Lyla's reaction is beyond excited...she gets a huge grin on her face and WILDLY flaps her arms and wiggles her legs.  Today Olivia left the room to put something away and although she was gone for maybe a minute, Lyla was so excited when Olivia came back into her view, her reaction was as if Olivia had been gone for days.

2-She likes to bite people. Lyla has 4 very sharp teeth and she cracks herself up whenever she bites someone. Her favorite time to attack is when you pick her up. She will sink her teeth into your shoulder, she really thinks it is hilarious.

3-She shoplifts. When we go to the grocery store Lyla loves to ride in the cart, and while she is in the cart she likes to hold out her arms and grab at things in the aisles. The real tricky part is when we are in the produce section, she grabs fruit and immediately tries to eat it.

4- She wants to walk. Lyla has never been interested in crawling, she is quite content getting around by dragging and pulling herself...what she really wants is to walk. Often times when you try to sit her down she will lock her legs and it is nearly impossible to get her to sit...she wants to go walking.

A lucky girl

I told Olivia that she was a lucky girl. I don't think most dads would spend their Saturday afternoon doing a ballet instructional DVD with their little girl.

7 months

Some things that I want to remember about Lyla at 7 months.

1. The girl is ferocious about getting everything and anything in her mouth. While we were at the Dr. office she had the entire paper on the patient table in complete shreds by the time the time the doctor arrived. The doctor commented that Lyla must love to eat paper, but when the doctor leaned forward to listen to her heart and a second later the stethoscope was in Lyla's mouth she realized that Lyla loves to eat everything. 

 2. I love that Lyla is such a friendly gal. When we are in the elevator, walking down the street or at the park I am often told by strangers, "I think your baby must really like me." Yes it's true Lyla does really like you, but she likes everybody.

3. Lyla LOVES to swing. I love how she wildly flaps her arms and kicks her legs while she swings, it is definitely her favorite thing to do. 

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Olivia has been soo excited for her birthday, she has been talking about it since her last birthday. She kept telling me that she wanted a patriotic birthday party. When it was actually time for me to buy some supplies I wanted to get a confirmation that she really did want a patriotic party. I told her she could have any type of party she wanted, and even gave her some fun options, but she confirmed "I want a patriotic birthday, I want to show my appreciation for America!"

One of Olivia's requests was that everyone had to wear red, white and blue. Matt came home from work for a special birthday lunch.

Olivia asked for an American flag cake with soldiers on part of it, she was specific that the soldiers were not to have any guns (or as she refers to it...the soldiers couldn't have any fire coming out.) I was all set to make little soldiers to add to the cake, but I thought Olivia had changed her mind about the soldiers so I didn't add them. It turns out I was wrong and the day after her birthday, Olivia asked why there were no soldiers on her cake.

Olivia was so excited about the gift that Matt and I got her. When the cake was cut and served Olivia was the only one who didn't have any, she wanted to continue playing with her new dolls instead.

 Olivia sure loved that grandmother and grandfather flew out to celebrate her birthday with her and as an added bonus, my cousin (who Olivia just loves) was also able to make it for the party. She had a wonderful birthday!

6 months

Lyla is such a happy and friendly baby. The doctor said she is a "life is good baby."

At 6 months I'm not sure I am her favorite person anymore. I think that title now belongs to Olivia. No one can make Lyla laugh like Olivia can. It is so fun to see these two girls interact with each other. It is already so clear that they really do love each other!

New Bed

Olivia has been waiting a long time to have a big girl bed. So when Matt finished building her bed last weekend she was absolutley extatic! A week later she is still so excited about her bed. Matt explained to Olivia that when it was bedtime she had to stay in bed and couldn't keep getting in and out. Olivia made a pretty harsh rule for herself. She said, "If I get out of bed than I will have to go back to sleeping in the crib." So far she has been very good at staying in bed. I also told Olivia she needed to make her bed every morning, and every morning before she leaves her room the bed is made. 

Our Little Eater

Olivia was absolutley thrilled that Lyla was going to start eating real food. Olivia was getting ready to head to the playground with her dad when she heard I was going to feed Lyla. Olivia immediately raced back to the table, she didn't want to miss it.

Lyla is pretty willing and happy to eat her baby food. She is especially willing to eat it when I pretend to first feed a bite to Olivia and than me...after that she is usually waiting with her mouth open wide.

Olivia

Olivia is quite an international girl. She is always pretending to visit different countries around the world. We asked Olivia what she wanted to do with her cousin Ella, when she came to visit. Olivia replied that she wanted to go with Ella to St. Basil's Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus and the Paris Opera House. Obviously we failed to mention that the activities had to be in NY.

Olivia will eat anything, including all different ethnic flavors. She loves Indian food, Thai food, Greek food and she has recently discovered sushi...which she tells me she loves.

Despite her love of the international, Olivia is as patriotic as they come. I am convinced that there is no little girl out there that loves their country as much as Olivia. Olivia frequently declares "I am proud to live in America!" and then quickly asks "Mom are you proud to live in America?"
 Betsy Ross and Abraham Lincoln rank among her favorite people. Her favorite holiday tends to change, but the other day Matt was reading her a Christmas story (she likes to read Christmas books all year long) and said how much he loves Christmas. Olivia responded "Dad I really like Christmas, but Presidents Day is my favorite."

5 months

Our happy 5 month old is definitely at the stage where she puts everything in her mouth. Nothing is safe...she will pull your clothes into her mouth, your hair, her headbands, pretty much anything she can get her hands on. She's actually quite ferocious about sucking on things, so you really have to hold on tight to items you don't want completely slobbered.

Mother's Day

 Today was a great Mother's Day, Matt and the girls made it a very special day. Olivia really wanted to make sure that there was ample celebration, and she probably told me "Happy Mother's Day!" a hundred times. She said "Mom my favorite holidays are Mother's Day, Father's Day and the one where we honor the soldiers?". I am so grateful to be mother and love my girls so much!

 

American Girl Dolls

Olivia is obsessed with American Girl Dolls. She doesn't actually own any dolls, and she doesn't even want any of the dolls, but she absolutely loves the American Girl Doll catalog. Back in February Olivia was roaming around the city with Matt and they stopped off in the the American Girl Doll store to look around. They brought home a free catalog that tells about each of the dolls. Since then this catalog has been Olivia's favorite "toy" to play with. Every day we are doing some activity with this catalog, we plan the dolls' baptisms, help them each get ready for bed, take them on vacation, describe their outfits, and many many more adventures.  The catalog is getting quite worn with the daily play, it might be time to swing by the store and pick up a replacement.