And They All Go Marching...

The ants have gotten the memo that a 1 year-old lives here and have stormed the building. I mutter profanities under my breath while systematically smooshing them one-by-one with my finger. Olivia, sweet girl, now grumbles and pokes the table in a show of solidarity.

It would figure that the very week we start getting interest in our house and having a lot of showings, the ants would make an appearance. I've lived here for 7 years and never had a problem with bugs in the house until now. At this point, though, the asking price on our house is so ridiculously low that the ants almost deserve to be here. Even they can afford to move in.

Olivia, Ant Impersonator Extraordinaire
No ants were harmed in the taking of this picture.

Actually, no ants were in the house when this picture was taken. I am woefully behind in transferring pictures from my camera to my computer. And Olivia is so active now that I don't have the ability to take nearly as many pictures as I used to. Catching her in the act of whatever cuteness is quite the feat these days. She is so curious that every sound elicits her telltale grunt that means "what the heck was that?" and she's off to investigate. My stupid camera is so loud and so slow to take pictures that it's just a losing battle at the moment and all I catch is her ever-approaching mug as she clambers for the camera and I try to retreat backwards without falling over toys.

On another note, Olivia has decided that Daddy is Dada and I am DAH-da (said with a high-pitched yell enunciating the first syllable). She recognizes everybody by name and will wave emphatically at them whenever she remembers that she knows who they are. Her word recognition continues to grow and she can point to about a million different things when prompted (probably a slight exaggeration, but not by much). Each morning, she wakes up at the butt crack of dawn just beside herself to have the world defined. Literally, the second she is awake, she is standing up and repeating "Dada. Da-da. Dadada. DAH-da. DAH-da..." and pointing at random objects. Olivia gets very upset if I delay her education with such things as changing a soggy overnight diaper and I can only fix breakfast if I'm holding her in one arm and explaining everything as I go. I have a very buff right arm.