So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three: but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV)
Back in January, Olivia hit the 2.5 year old mark. This little girl is teaching me volumes about selfless love, including God's love for his children. Looking back on my notes from that time in her little life, she has already changed so much. But I don't want to forget the personality traits and Olivia-isms that we came to know and love. This post covers from August 2015 to January 2016 and all the cuteness in between.
For starters, little ladybug developed quite the independent nature. We probably heard "I do it" or "I do it first" a hundred thousand times a day. Woe be unto you if you actually tried to help her do something she wasn't capable of doing by herself but insisted on trying. Good examples were getting in the bathtub, pulling down or up pants for potty time or (gasp) climbing up on the potty that is almost taller than she is. If you tried to help her pull up her pants when she wanted to "do it self" she'd start over. As in, pull them all the way back down to her ankles (or completely off) and then start pulling them back up. If you even touched the fabric, much less made a pulling motion on them, it started all over again. "I do it!" At the point you lost patience and just finished doing it for her, you had to be prepared for a category 2 tantrum that lasted about 30 seconds (you know, just to make a point).
Potty training began August 29/30th after coming home with school papers saying she is going potty and staying dry all day. It took her a few weeks to poop in the potty, but that finally happened on 9/12. She was kind of afraid of it and wanted it gone ASAP. She didn't have any accidents at school the first week of training and only a few accidents at home, but if she started to go she held the rest until she was on the potty. Very impressive. Starting in October she would go potty on her own without prompting (on 10/24 noticed it twice). At that point I considered her fully potty trained. She will even wake up in the night to go potty sometimes. She did a good job of staying dry all night right away, so we switched to pull ups and got rid of all extra diapers on 10/18.
Other fun facts:
- Saying, "I know" looking serious with head tilted to the side
- She has the pouty lip and sad face down pat
- Likes dancing music. Daddy uses Radiohead. Mommy tried violin and got, "No like it."
- Started using "yeah" instead of "yes." Driving mama crazy with that.
- Started stuttering around 10/16.
- Likes to jump like a Mexican wrestler from the couch to the ottoman.
- Can count to 20
- Knows all her colors really well now. (10/25)
- Says, "mines" instead of "mine" to describe basically everything she sees
- She knows the names of all four Rescue Bots and Optimus Prime (Chase, Boulder, Blades, Heatwave). Every time we pass an 18-wheeler she yells, "Opimus Prime" regardless of what color it is.
- Knows the names of most of the super heroes Nathan plays with.
- She's using longer sentences now and we can understand her at least 50% of the time.
- Loves to sing.
- Still puts her animals night night anytime and anywhere.
- Olivia sings herself to sleep almost every night. And there is no warning of when sleep will hit. She'll be singing at the top of her lungs one moment then 2 heartbeats later she's asleep.
- Has started randomly taking her clothes off (including when I'm folding laundry)
A few conversations:
Jimmy to me: "Olivia got a bowl from by the sink, got the raisins out of the pantry and put some in the bowl and put the raisins back on the counter then went to her little table and was eating them. Without me knowing."
Me: "If she were tall enough to get up on the potty and drive she wouldn't need us." (Truth)
Jimmy asks her why only one sock is on. She points to the foot with the sock and says, "Dat foot is cold."
She's such a hot mess. Here are some pictures from her half year.
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| Me: "Show me a pretty smile!" |
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| The wait for the dentist during Olivia's first visit took a while. She found some stuffed animals in a toy bin and started getting them ready for their own check-up. |
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| Hop needed a check-up too. She did really great at her visit. |
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| Just hanging out in a dump truck playing with Bubba's digger. |
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| Ready for some Aggie football! |
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| I'm not sure how many times we told her she wouldn't fit in the doll's bed. I guess she proved us wrong. |
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| Getting ready to put the baby nite-nite before school one morning in August. |
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| Her bedtime routine prominently features her Daddy. |
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| Notice how proud of herself she looks. What else could that shopping cart possibly be used for? |
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| But at least she found the book she was looking for... |
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| Now we know "what else"...reading chair. Duh. |
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| All tucked in with her animals. Everyone has to be accounted for before lights go out. |
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| All dressed up with nowhere to go. |
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| Another night, another set of animal friends. Can you really have too many? |
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| Working on her "copooter" like Mommy. |
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| Building up or tearing down...your guess is as good as mine. |
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| Scary monster (notice the claw hand) chasing around Bubba and Daddy. |
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| Evidently crayons were on the menu at school that day. |
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| Nite-nite Darth Vader |
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| Reveille and Giraffe wanted to color too. |
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| Olivia and Popo walking down E. Lewis Street in Sinton, TX |
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| Olivia told Daddy to put her nite-nite after she covered up all her animals. |
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| Waste not, want not. |
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| Despite asking for candy randomly throughout each day, she doesn't really have a sweet tooth. She'll take one bite/lick/taste and be done (leaving the rest for you). |
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| Snacktime outside with animals. She likes to be surrounded by friends at all times. |
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| Taking care of baby doll outside. Someday she may let Baby keep her clothes on. |
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| Someone rotten loves her daddy. |
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| Hop still goes everywhere with us. |
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| Seasons in Texas are pretty confusing. Today was no exception. |
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| Sweetly patting Joule so she can go to sleep. This lasted about 45 seconds. |
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| Sampling Daddy's shaving cream. |
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| As per usual, she has to be in Bubba's way or her sense of right and wrong is violated. This was taken in November (before Thanksgiving). |
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| Hide and seek win (November 23, 2015). |
