Olivia 15 Month Update

My sweet lady bug turned 15 months old on October 11th and we celebrated the occasion by going to the doctor for lots of vaccinations and a blood draw to test for anemia (not to worry, all clear). My littlest angel is full of spunk and met some fun and not so fun milestones this quarter. Author's Note: Yes, auditor mommy thinks in terms of quarters. If your life and livelihood ever revolve around that special three-month span of time, you will too. 

The statistics: Length 31.5 inches (80th %) and weight 20 lbs 13 oz (44th %). She is wearing size 18-24 month clothes and still in size 4 diapers.

So much has happened in the months since she turned one year old. At this point (as I type) she is 17 months old and full of energy. So. Much. Energy! We sometimes refer to her as Olivia the Destroyer because she isn't content with simply playing with toys. Oh no. She wants to deliberately trash the house with whatever comes to hand. Be it movies, crayons, blocks or books...all are fair game to our resourceful girl. As mentioned in her one-year post, she started walking in August at 13 months old. She has that down now and is working on mastering the art of running. It is hilarious to see her whole little body move when she gets to running. Well, usually not hilarious at the time because if she's running she probably has eaten something or gotten a hold of something she's not supposed to have and is high-tailing it away from you. But I digress.

I noticed that these last few pictures are all from the same day. It was a good day for destroying apparently.

The week of Thanksgiving (16 months old) my angel caught a virus and worked on a fever coupled with cutting two of her first year molars. Girlfriend does not handle teething pain well.  All of that combined with travel and sleeping in a place other than her bed meant some rough nights for Mommy and Daddy. I am frequently reminded of the phrase, "This too shall pass."

Olivia is still a better eater than her brother, but is quickly adopting the toddler diet and has been more picky than usual. She still loves yogurt, crackers, pasta and fruit (her favorite is blueberries). Sometime between turning one and now we took away the bottle. She was only taking one to go to sleep at night, but it was interfering with her transition to a sippy cup and I'm "that mom" who won't allow milk in a bottle or formula in a sippy cup because I feel it just prolongs the transition process. Olivia's sweet teacher at daycare suggested switching to giving her milk at night in a sippy cup instead of formula in a bottle as part of our going-to-sleep ritual. We were really really nervous about it because Olivia always fell asleep while taking the bottle. Less sleep and more drama at bedtime is definitely not what this mama wanted! But, as with most things, this went much better than expected and her transition to sippy cup started gaining momentum. She can now drink (with help) from a regular cup. In fact, she always wants to have a drink or bite to eat of whatever you are having. She's a first class mooch.

Taken 8/5 - Yay Cheerios!

Taken 8/26 - Already looking like a big girl and enjoying some puffs (aka "baby crack")

Taken 10/23 - Look at the change from August to October! Also - this is Daddy's first pony tail...good job Daddy!!

Olivia isn't the book worm that her brother is, but she still likes to read a little during the day and really enjoys the reading ritual at bedtime. Lately she has started telling Daddy which books she wants to read by saying "no" and pushing away unfavorable titles. She especially likes books with animals in them. She is still obsessed with cats and "pup-pups" (dogs). Speaking of that (see what I did there) her word explosion happened just after the 15 month mark. When I took her for her 15-month appointment she really had only a handful of words that had clear and distinct meaning. Since then she has been increasing her vocabulary daily. She is sometimes hard to understand and I think a stranger wouldn't be able to interpret all of her "words" but Jimmy and I are usually pretty good at figuring it out.

One other unique and fun characteristic is that she loves to accessorize. She can put on long necklaces by herself (the kind that just go over your head) and still loves to wear hats. She usually has on at least one and sometimes up to five necklaces at one time. She also likes to carry around her bags, including ones that are way too heavy for her to budge such as my work bag. Typically those attempts result in frustrated noises and cries until we either lighten the load of the bag she's trying to carry/drag or give her a replacement "purse" to carry. She is determined, I'll give her that.

Her favorite toy right now is her bunny lovey given to her before birth by Aunt Ashley. Running a close second is the "cat" she got from the zoo. Her other favorite toys are whatever Nathan happens to be playing with at the moment (in true second-child form). Also, like big brother, she loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and dancing along to the hot-dog dance at the end. Anytime she hears music or singing she starts swaying and twisting her little body with a huge grin on her face. Maybe I will have a future ballerina after all.

I should mention that her favorite servant person is her Daddy. As soon as he gets home she is in his arms and telling him where to go (by pointing and grunting) and what to bring her (such as milk). She certainly doesn't pull that act with her Mommy. Well, not too often anyway. Daddy puts her to sleep every night and generally gives the kids his undivided attention all of the time. They play a game, where Olivia will say, "Daaa-Da!" and Jimmy will respond with, "Oliiiiivia!" Back and forth this goes until Olivia gets bored or Mommy changes the subject.

Olivia, my sweet angel, Mommy loves you very much. It is so fun seeing the little girl you are becoming and I look forward to the days to come. Now, please get back to sleeping through the night. Mommy needs some rest!

Here are more pictures from August through October.

I came in to find her like this one morning. Evidently she was ready to get those pajamas OFF!

Miss Independent wants to do things herself. Even taking her own temperature with the temporal thermometer. Rotten girl.

She loves playing with Bubba. Whatever he is doing she wants to do, too.

Playing with Popo while Lolo supervises. Livy-bug loves her some Popo.

Doing as Bubba does.

"Bubba, pay attention to meeeeeeee!"

"And we're outta here!"

Zoo Visit and First Fishing (October)

The first weekend of October we went to the Houston Zoo. The weather was beautiful and cool enough for long sleeves for the kids and me. We took the big stroller, but I honestly think Nathan rode in it more than Olivia did. "Mommy, my legs are tired from all this walking." So much drama. But Daddy was happy to carry the little princess, so this didn't really cause any problems for us. We wandered around the zoo going to the different animals that Nathan said he wanted to see. Olivia enjoyed the elephants (because she can make the elephant noise) and walking around (mostly in the direction opposite from the one we were trying to go). True to form we only stayed for around 2 hours. We let the kids pick out a souvenir on our way out of the zoo grounds. Because she is obsessed with cats, we helped Olivia pick a stuffed leopard/jaguar (I forget which one it is, technically) and Nathan settled on a lizard "grabber." Olivia was exhausted from the morning and crashed in the stroller before we even got to the parking lot. Here are pictures from the morning.

Because we love to live dangerously, after naptime we went with Lolo, Momo and Popo to Mary Jo Peckham Park and went "fishing" in the duck pond. I use the term loosely since the rod was not exactly strung properly and casting was a challenge. However, Nathan really enjoyed it and had an epic meltdown when it was time to leave. Olivia entertained herself by trying to catch ducks, picking up stray feathers and running perilously close to the edge of the pond. I was exhausted by the time we left! So was Popo (Olivia's wrangler).

Nathan's First Date (with Mommy)

From the time we found out we were having a boy it seemed that everyone I met told me, "Boys love their mamas." I also started taking notice of the trend of little boys declaring that they would marry their mommy and other such forms of attachment. I didn't write down the date, but I don't think I'll ever forget how my heart melted when Nathan first spontaneously and sincerely told me, "I love you, Mommy." He is currently an affirmed mamas-boy, encouraged by the desire to claim my attention over his little sister. So it did not come as a big surprise when, after Jimmy and I went on a dinner date, Nathan asked when it was going to be his turn to go on a date with Mommy. It happened that the coming weekend had no plans, so I told him that on Saturday (September 27th) he and I could go on a date - just the two of us. I had originally planned to take him to the playground to start our "date" but when I said where we were going he asked if Olivia and Daddy could come play too. "Then we can go on our date, Mommy." "Ok, Buddy."

We had a lot of fun together at the playground, of course. After we were done playing, we took Olivia and Daddy back to the house for Olivia's morning nap and I asked Nathan what kind of date he wanted (not really expecting an answer). He promptly said, "A cupcake date." Well alright. I agreed that sounded like a fun idea and off we went to the Ooh La La cupcake bakery. He picked out a huge 'birthday cake' cupcake (with candy on top of the icing) and I had an angel food cupcake with fresh berries on top. We sat outside (it was freezing inside the store) and enjoyed our cupcakes and milk and I taught Nathan how to play "I Spy" with colors. He caught on to the concept pretty quickly and enjoyed guessing. He even stumped me one time! Not too shabby for being only three and a half years old.

After cupcakes we went home and enjoyed the rest of the day as a family. He is already looking forward to our next date, which he has decided will be an ice cream date. I love you, my sweet angel. No matter what.

Girls Weekend 2014 (Lake Conroe)

Every year my college girlfriends and I get away for a few days together. Through the years we have been at different stages of life and sometimes only catch up on each others lives at this annual gathering. It always amazes me that we pick up as if we are in weekly contact with each other. This was the first year that we weren't celebrating a wedding, new baby or new pregnancy! Nevertheless, we had a wonderful relaxing time. We spent a few nights over Labor Day weekend at La Centera Lake Resort up at Lake Conroe. Much Phase 10 and Cranium was played and pool-side lounging was accomplished. We stayed up way too late and still got up far too early (habit for the three mommys). Here are some pictures from the weekend. I love my girls!

Potty Training - Nathan

Oh, potty training. That special time in a toddler and parent's life that requires cooperation and patience. Lots of patience. I had been putting off potty training Nathan until he was three years old (36 months for the math challenged) despite the average age to train for boys being 31 months. Then, when he turned three I put it off even longer. He was showing all the signs of being ready. All but one, that is. You know the classic checklist: able to pull up his pants, not afraid of the potty, able to communicate, etc. We just had one problem, and a major one in my mind. He didn't care if his diaper was dirty. At all. Even with more than pee in it. Boys are gross. On the other hand, he would throw royal fits when it came time to change his diaper, but when asked if he wanted to wear big boy underwear he resisted. The teachers at his school were trying to work with him to no avail. I was getting fed up with this in a hurry. So, I finally decided this was him being stubborn and I resolved to have a discussion with our pediatrician at Olivia's one year well-check. My primary question: can you force a child to potty train given all the positive signs we had. In other words, just take away the diapers so there was no option for him.

I talked to Nathan and told him when Olivia turned one I was going to ask Dr. Haney if he could start wearing big boy underwear. I mentioned this any time he threw a fit about getting a diaper change. True to my word, I talked to the doctor on July 14th and she agreed that he was more than ready and it was mostly a mental game now. I came home from that visit (in the middle of Q2 of course) and told him in a very excited voice that Dr. Haney said he could start wearing underwear like a big boy! He had a positive reaction and I started to be hopeful.

I made a quick Amazon purchase of Mickey Mouse undies (I was quickly corrected by Jimmy that these are NOT panties). We decided to start on Saturday...in the middle of quarter. Because that makes sense, right? We made a big deal out of using big boy underware and going in the potty like mommy and daddy. He had been going in the big potty immediately after bath for several weeks, so he knew what was expected. Here's the breakdown:

Saturday, July 19th...it begins
Day 1 - 1 accident
Day 2 - 2 accidents
Day 3 - 1 accident at home in the morning (my fault) none at school or at home that evening.
Day 4 - no accidents all day, went poop in the pull-up.
Day 5 - pooped in underwear. It fell out on floor and of course he stepped in it (accidentally)

That's all I kept track of (you're welcome future Nathan). From then on he did great. I was afraid he might start only wanting to go poo-poo in his pull-up (because he did that for a few days) but on his own he started to tell us before going and the full transition to the potty was complete.

During this time Olivia was getting sick - virus, teething, vaccine reaction (measles) - and needing extra attention. So it really is a minor miracle that we started off as successfully as we did. We started by reminding him every 30 minutes, then 45 minutes, then an hour and now we are able to just look for "the signs" and he usually tells us when he needs to go either pee or poop. I'm attributing the fact that I waited so long to our quick success (because it makes me feel better). For about a week I always made sure he had a pull-up on in the car but that didn't last long. We still have one on during bed time but 95% of the time he wakes up dry. We also always make him try to pee before we leave the house and a few times I've taken a training potty with us to the playground or park.

There was some early resistance with going to the potty so frequently so it made sense to increase the time between trips when no additional accidents were forthcoming. It has been almost three months now and he's still doing great! He has even woken me up in the middle of the night so he could go and has gone by himself first thing in the morning. He's not great at cleaning up yet, but all in all I've been very pleased with the whole process. I've been even more pleased with the "raise" we got by only having one munchkin in diapers now.

Less than two years before we start this over again. Girls are supposed to be easier, but given how easy Nathan was I'm setting my expectations very low with my sweet fire cracker.