The Month of September

Where has this month gone? It's one thing that Summer is heaving its final sigh and rolling over for Autumn, but now it's almost October. And while I'm reeling over the near loss of September, part of my mind is still wondering how I somehow missed out on August. They say time goes ever faster the older your children get but it has never rung more true than now. Time is flying. Life, unlike cable tv, does not come with a DVR.

All this is not lost on Olivia. She seems to sense that there simply is not enough time in the day and has decided that in order to compensate, she will simply stay up until around midnight. Every night. Really, I'm not complaining. She has been sleeping in for the most part (of course, now that it's in writing, she'll be up at 6am ready to party hearty with some scrambled eggs and cheese). It does make it a bit difficult, though, for me to keep up with my blogging efforts since I am not a morning person and can't make the effort to wake up before her to get anything done. Not that staying up until 2am is working out all that well, either. Sometimes a mama just has to veg, you know?

So, to recap all that has been going on in the past two months in Olivialand, I'll try to make a list. And, of course, include a few pictures.

Olivia loves to color. In this picture, we tried out her washable crayons on her highchair tray rather than on paper. But, trust me. I have LOTS of examples of her artistic genius stored safely away in her baby book. Recently, we've been working on her dot technique. Now she pokes everything, especially me, and says "DOT!"

She is also getting really good at drinking from a regular cup. While she'll still drink from her sippy cups, she gets downright angry if I put the lid on this particular cup (a personalized one that her Auntie Becky gave her - Score 2 for Becky! She also gave Livi Max, the lovie of her life.) I'm not ready to risk lidless cups in public just yet, but we're getting there. Olivia is also a complete pro at using a fork. The spoon, not so much, but she loves to practice her skills with ice cream.

People without girl kids won't necessarily understand what a newsflash this one is. Olivia wore a headband for an entire minute.

She also thinks my gardening gloves are awesome. Fit, schmit. These gloves are made for clapping!

To wrap up this long overdue brag session, Olivia is starting to talk a teeny, tiny bit more, continues to show us her zany sense of humor, often times insists on picking out (or at least, approving) her own outfits complete with shoes, and absolutely adores the mall.

Talking In addition to Mama, Dada, Yeah, No, and Aaaaay-sha, Olivia has added a host of animal sounds (wwwvv-wwwvv - dog bark; mmmmvvv - cow mooing; ooo-ooo - owl hooting; eeeOWwwm - cat meowing; CA-CA - duck quacking), and the words dot and mall. She also says eeeewww anytime she sees a bug or something else icky, blah for garbage, hot and owww whenever she comes near the oven, and doh! whenever she sees or does something silly.

Clothes Olivia has more clothes than China has Chins, so it's no great surprise that she likes to play with her outfits. Most often, this consists of emptying her pants drawer and scattering clothes throughout her room. But, some days, she flat out refuses to wear what I try to dress her in and will actually go into her dresser to choose something else. Her favorite shoes are her $2 red flip-flops. So much for the 750 other pairs of adorable shoes I just had to buy for her.

Activities Olivia can spot a mall from a mile away and will announce it in the car over and over and over again no matter how many times I say "Very good, sweetie, that's the mall." She isn't just announcing the mall's presence. She is insisting that I take her in so she can run around and "shop" in all the stores with escalators. Also, Olivia likes to dance like a ballerina and hum Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (or the alphabet song, depending on whether or not she does the hand motions for twinkle, twinkle or not). She often sings herself to sleep and it's so cute that I want to puke. Finally, she is starting to try to go down the slide at the park all by herself. Livi isn't quite good enough at sitting on her bum at the top, yet, for me to just stand at the bottom waiting for her, but by next Spring, I think she'll be a playground professional and running circles around her dorky mom (who continues to get friction burn and whacked funny bones every time she insists I go down the slide, too).

As per usual, I will conclude this post with a promise to try harder next month. By that time, we'll probably have a completely different sleep schedule. Undoubtedly there will be at least 100 new and amazing things that Livi is doing to impress the world. Until then, goodnight. It's past my bedtime.