Notes from a SLP mom

I seem to blog a lot about things that Livy can say, but I don't remember to write about the cute things that she doesn't say quite "right".  So here are some of my favorite things that she has misheard or isn't quite able to say yet~

"cornplakes" for "cornflakes."  For some reason this is just adorable when she says it.  

"fwimmin"  for "swimming."  She is constantly asking to "fwim longer!" when it is time to get out of the tub.    

"tub bear" for "teddy bear"  =)

Whenever someone is going somewhere, Livy will say, "Have a good nice trip!"  I think its because she misheard me telling her to "Have a good night's sleep".  She tells her dollies to "Have a good nice sleep."    

Before bed, I often sing Livy the song, "Morningtown Ride."  (My dad used to sing it to me when I was little to try to help me fall asleep.  I wasn't exactly the easiest kid to put to bed, so I have many memories of him singing it to me while walking me up and down the hallway like a "sack of potatoes" over his shoulder.  Dad and I even danced to this song at my wedding because of all the memories.)  Anyway, the  lyrics are "All bound for Morningtown, many miles away."  Livy sings, "All bound for Morningtown, many miles awake."  haha!

  

More About Day Care

Livy has another little cold and has been clingy and crying the last few days when I have dropped her off at day care.  But it is so cute to see how the little boys try to comfort her.  Yesterday, Livy was crying and little Joseph said, "I know!" and went over to the cupboard, took out a baby doll and handed it to Livy.  This morning Joseph was absent so it was little Ben that went and got out a baby doll for her.  Ben had a huge smile behind his paci when he handed her the dolly.

Livy talks about a lot of the kids in her class.  She talks about Ben quite a bit because the teacher seems to have to say his name a lot.  Livy tells me "get in big trouble!"  and when I ask, "Who got in big trouble?" she tells me, "Ben".  Livy has picked up some other phrases at day care such as, "Put you in time out!"  She sometimes gets a gleam in her eye and says this as if she is thinking of doing something bad but is talking herself out of it.  I thought Livy might have been in time-out at school because she was talking about it, but the teacher said Livy is very good and they've never had any need to put her in time-out.  We haven't used a time-out yet either, though her dollies have been in time-out several times.  She likes to make her dollies do the things she is not supposed to, like touch the Christmas tree lights.  Naughty little dollies!  lol.

Livy brings home all kinds of little projects and things from day care.  Yesterday the dentist came to visit and Livy told me all about it.  The dentist told her to brush her teeth and gave her a new toothbrush and toothpaste that she was excited to show me.  She also asked me to sing "Frosty."  They must have been singing that in class.

Sometimes Livy talks about wanting to bring things in from home to show the other kids.  Tonight before bed she was busy picking out books that she wanted to "have for later", "read in morning" and  "bring to class".  

Livy's teachers are really getting a kick out of the things Livy says.  Ms. Caroline said, "I'm going to go heat up the lunch, and Livy exclaimed, "Comin' right up!"  They love how she narrates everything she does.  I joked with them about how I never need to wonder what Livy is up to in the other room because she keeps a running narrative.  I recently heard something like,  "Livy goin' mommy's room.  Goin' in closet.  Livy getting lotion.  Squeeze..."  She cracks me up all the time and I'm glad they are enjoying the little things she does too.

At day care the kids all pray together before snacks and meals.  Now before her meals, Livy will fold her hands, bow her head and say, "God bless our lunch."  She will also give thanks.  Yesterday she said,  "Thank God for Jesus."  This is one of the reasons I am thankful she is in a Christian day care.  I try to model prayer before meals but am sorry to say I'm not very consistent.  At day care, she sees the teachers and other kids praying and wants to pray too.  It's a beautiful thing.

 

December!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...Yesterday we went to the German Winter market on Lake Mohawk.  It was fun to look at the handmade Christmasy stuff.  We ate some saurbraten with spaetzel and Livy had some good ol' fashioned mac and cheese.

Today we went to pick out our Christmas tree. Livy thought it was great fun to run and hide behind a tree and then pop out at us.  Apparently no one told her that choosing a Christmas tree is supposed to be grueling and painful for everyone involved.  In other words, we did not go chop down our own tree like we did when I was a kid.  It was almost too easy, inside a greenhouse and everything.   Grandma and Grandpa met us there and picked out their tree too.  We have ours set up but it's not decorated yet, so we'll have to post pics of it later.  

  

warm fuzzies

Livy missed two days of day care recovering from her cold/fever.  So I was a little worried that she had gotten out of the routine of going, but turns out she has gotten right back into the swing of things.  As we were walking in, she said, "Hug Caroline.  Sit Caroline's lap."  Today, when I dropped her off in the morning I told Livy, "Bye, See you later!"  Olivia immediately replied, "Have a great day!"  I think hearing her say this really did help me to make the most of my day.  I had parent conferences all afternoon and went back to work for more parent conferences in the evening.  So it was definitely good to know in the back of my mind that my daughter is happy and wants her mommy to have a great day, too.    

Kyle's workout video

Kyle gets a good workout, being pushed to the limit by his little personal trainer and furry assistant.  Livy keeps saying "again," or just "gain."  Oh, and they had been doing this for quite a while before I started recording.

favorite jokes and games

Livy loves to dive behind my back or a piece of furniture and say, "Where'd Livy go?"  She wants me to ask the question myself.  Then she'll peek around at me and when I see her, I call out, "There you are!"  She laughs every time.

When Livy sees a sippy cup or a vase or anything filled with water, she likes to ask, "Brucey in there?"  (Brucey is our fish).  Then when we say "Nooo, He's not in there," Livy will ask sillier and sillier questions..."Daddy in there?"  "Mr. Potato head in there?"  "Ears in there?"  She's way into absurdities these days.  We keep answering, "Noooo!" in a playful way."  

Livy likes to pretend to make "hot tea" like Grandma.  The first time she made the joke was when I was changing her diaper.  She pulled one sock off, put it on her hand and said, "Makin' hot tea."  I thought it was pretty imaginative the way she used the sock as an oven mitt.  She continues to do this with her socks.  She will also say "Elmo song" and use the sock as a puppet.  

On the way to day care, Livy keeps herself busy on the lookout for pumpkins (I never would have noticed so many people still have pumpkins on their porches in November).  Every time she sees one in someone's yard or front step she yells, "Pumpkin right there!"  She even tries to count them.

Livy thinks our living room is called "the Livy room."  She'll say, "Come play Livy room."  From the looks of it these days, this definitely seems like an appropriate name for it.  

Second Day at Day Care

Today as we were in the car getting closer to day care, Livy said, "Almost there."  "School coming soon."  She seemed like she was actually looking forward to going.  When we got there, she wanted to "play toys".  When she went in the room all three little boys looked at us with big smiles on their faces.  Ella, the only other girl, was busy coloring a picture at the table. Livy told me, "Coloring. Ella like it."  She took Ms. Caroline's hand and I said, "Bye.  See you later.  Have a good day!" from across the room.  She didn't cry at all when I left!

When I came back in the afternoon, she was playing with her favorite kitty stuffed animal.  Ms. Caroline said she had a great day.  She ate her whole lunch and took a good nap.  We're off to a great start!

First Full Day at Day Care

Today was Olivia's first full day at day care.  When we first went into the room, Livy said, "Kitty kitty. meow?"  Ms. Caroline said, "Oh yeah, there's a stuffed animal kitty that she loves," and went to get the kitty for her.  Livy had a sad look and whimpery cry as she took the teacher's hand.  Ms. Caroline sat her on her lap and I kissed her goodbye and said, "See you later."  She cried but I could hear her stop crying before I left the building.  She didn't have a fever anymore but she was still  congested, so I was a little more emotional about leaving her.

When I picked her up, Ms. Caroline said she had a great day.  This time, the first words out of her mouth were, "Daddy coming home soon?"  She was happy to show me the pink picture she had painted.  Ms. Caroline said that even after the class had their art time, Livy asked to "paint a picture." Ms Caroline told her they did that already, and Livy asked, "Again?"  Only her third day there and she's already making her desires known.  Not that I want her to be bossy, but I am really glad she feels comfortable there and is not holding back on expressing herself.

Ms. Caroline said that she had a hard time going down for the nap but did eventually fall asleep.  She was up talking to the teachers for a while, and then she didn't want to keep her shoes on during the nap.  On the way back home, Livy told me all about it.  She told me, "Shoes off nappy."  "Ms. Caroline says no."  She was also thinking about daddy the whole way home.  She had worked up an appetite, too.  She said, "Daddy is making hamburger."  "french fries."        

little sicky

Last night Livy was crying in her bed at around midnight.  We went in to check on her and found that her fever had gone up again.  Also, her heater was set at a very warm setting (the dial is a little hard to read).  So I turned the heater down a little and rocked her while she drank a cup of water.  After she settled down, she said in a meek little voice, "A little bit too hot."  I just thought it was so cute how she described what was the matter.  It really helped me too, because I knew what to say to comfort her.

A nice day with Grandma, Grandpa and Cousins!

Henry and Lulu had their first night sleeping over with Grandma and Grandpa without their parents last night.  We went over today to hang out with them.  All three kids were a bit sick- Livy had a 100.8 fever at one point, but it didn't keep them from having a lot of fun together.  I'm thinking now that Livy's in daycare, sickness is something that we're just gonna have to roll with.  Anyway, Livy had so much fun that it seems like she would rather be sick at Grandma and Grandpa's than healthy anywhere else.  Here are some of the things Livy got to do today:

Play at the playground in Station Park and ride in a swing next to Louisa.

Play Grandma's big piano with Henry and Lulu.  ~It sounded lovely ;)

 Ride in a Cozy Coupe being pushed by Henry...see him?

 Try on a bunch of hand-me-downs from Aunt Laura.

 Hold hands with Louisa while watching Elmo...How cute is that??!

 Eat spaghetti at the kids' table...mmmm!

She fell asleep at 6:30 on the way home and had no trouble staying asleep in her own crib.  It was a fun day and I hope she feels better in the morning.  I wonder if she is aware that daylight savings time is ending?

For extra credit:  How many pictures can you spot Hally doggie in?

18 months update!

Today we took Olivia for her 18 mos. check-up.

Here are her stats:
32.5 inches (75th percentile)
22.5 lbs. (25th percentile).

Olivia was the perfect little patient today.  Maybe it was daddy's calming influence.  She held still and relaxed on daddy the whole time Dr. Dana was examining her.  She was very friendly and curious about everything.  She seemed to want to show the doctor all the stuff she could do.  At one point, she took her socks off and started putting them back on herself, saying, "By yourself. point toes."  By the way, this morning she managed to put her pants on all by herself.  Also, lately she wants to pick out her own clothes.  Tonight I gave her two different fuzzy footed jammies to choose from.  She still eyed the rainbow striped pants in the drawer and said, "No. pick pants. stripes."  Luckily she is still pretty easy to redirect.

Anyway, Dr. Dana could see how many things Livy could do independently, and said she was very impressed.  She even joked that Livy didn't need to come back at age 2 because she doesn't need any more shots until age 4, and has achieved all of the 2 year-old milestones already.  The biggest shocker about the appointment was that Dr. Dana was convinced that we should start potty training Livy right away!???  She thought we should do it now before the "terrible twos" set in.  I have always heard that it is best to wait until later, and figured starting before age 2 would just take longer and make the whole process harder on me.  But since the Dr. was so adamant, I guess it wouldn't hurt to get her a potty and give her the option to sit on it once in a while, especially when she lets us know she has to go.  I'm not going to push her into anything though.  I have to admit, the idea of not having as many dirty diapers is appealing...I'm just not ready for all of these changes!

After the appt., we made a trip over to Target to get some stuff and we let Olivia pick out a little something for herself as a post-shots reward.  She picked out a shiny gold purse from the girls' accessories dept. We have a real Jersey girl in the making.  lol!!
  
She may be a big girl, but she can still fit into a little basket, even with a sippy cup and a bunch of animal friends...

Second Time at Day Care

 This time Livy stayed at day care from 7:30 until 12:30.  When I dropped her off, she cried again.  But when Kyle went to pick her up, she was eating lunch happily with the other kids.  She was getting very sleepy though.  The first words out of her mouth were, "Mommy coming soon?"

My teacher friend, Lisa, emailed me to tell me how Ms. Caroline was raving about Olivia to her at pick-up.  That made me feel good knowing she wasn't just telling me that Livy was doing great.

First time at Day care

Livy stayed at the day care for a few hours today.  I brought her and dropped her off at 7:30 before work and daddy picked her up.  When we arrived, we ran into my friend/coworker Lisa there who was dropping off her 2 and a half year-old daughter, Ella.  Just seeing her there helped to calm my nerves.  She introduced Livy to Ella and Livy immediately said, "Hold hands" and reached out for Ella's hand.  They walked into the classroom holding hands.  It was sooo cute!  We explored the room a little together and got the dollies out.  Olivia walked over and gave one "tiny one" to Ella.  Livy cried as I was leaving... 

When Kyle went to pick her up, the teachers said she did great and was only a little teary-eyed.  She was sitting in the little chair she had picked out the first time she visited, eating snack with the kids and watching a Curious George video.  (The teachers picked that video because I had included that in a list of Olivia's favorite things).  The first thing Livy said to Kyle was, "Mommy coming soon?"  Then she was talking all about what was happening in the video.      

Trick-Or-Treat

This weekend we went to Alfred, NY to visit our friends Pete and Janet and their two boys.  We always have a great time when we get together with them.  Livy had so much fun on her first real trick-or-treating experience Saturday night.  It didn't take her long to get the hang of saying "trick or treat" when someone came to the door, and she loved the whole concept of dressing up and having people give her candy.  She still talks about the experience and even mentions how one man asked, "What do we have here?"

We got back home in time for more trick-or-treating to our neighbors' houses on Sunday night.  Of course, Scooter had to be dressed as a banana, what else would he be??  Getting the two of them together in one picture wasn't easy, but I tried.

          

She's alright

For those of you blog readers who already accuse me of writing tear-jerkers, you might as well get out the tissues for this post as well.  This has been an especially emotional week for me because Olivia seems to be growing up over night.  Today is her 18 mos. birthday.  Last week she was teething a lot, and now all of her canine teeth have poked through.  Probably due in part to teething pain, over the weekend she started to become much less interested in nursing.  She just wanted to bite me and when I said no, she would stop nursing without any interest in continuing.  I was only nursing her once a day, first thing in the morning anyway, and she just seemed like she was ready to get on with her day.  

After several days of Olivia refusing to nurse, yesterday was the first day that I didn't offer to nurse her.  It was also the day that Kyle and I brought her to visit her "school".  We just stopped in for a 10 minute visit in the classroom so we could meet the teachers and ask some questions.  Olivia started crying when we first went in the room, probably because she assumed that we were going to leave her there.  But once daddy got down on the floor with her, she went right over to the little table and wanted to sit in the chair that was hooked onto to it.  The classroom had about 8 boys and only one other girl.  It was a whirlwind of activity in there!  The teachers seemed excited to be getting another girl.  They said, "Wow, she's talking already!  She'll have to teach these boys how to talk!"  After she sat in the chair for a little while, Livy went right over to the puzzles and started handing out puzzle pieces to the other kids.   She would say the name of the pieces as she handed them out.  She even gave one little boy a high five.

I know we made the right decision in choosing this daycare, and I know Olivia will be all right.  But it has still been hard for me to accept that she is getting older and is becoming more and more independent.  I have been trying to get my emotions out this week so that I will have most of it out of my system by next week when I have to leave her.  It is strange the things that can set me off, though.  Last night, Kyle asked how I was going to do her hair for daycare, and for some reason that question caused me to burst into tears.  It must be hormones, as my mom would say.
         
Psalm 131:2 says, "I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me."  In this psalm, David was writing about how his soul was not disturbed by selfish ambition and passion.  Like a weaned child no longer wanting his mother's milk, he was content without the thing that he used to not be able to live without.  I feel like Olivia truly has this kind of contentment about weaning.  I really enjoyed the bond that nursing brought the two of us, but now the time has come to put that part of our relationship behind us.  I can feel God beginning to give me a sense of peace and contentment about this transition, just as he is providing it for Livy.  After all, we are both God's children and can do all things through Christ, who gives us strength. (Philippians 4:13)  I've heard that parenting is a series of letting go.  I prefer to think of it as a series of giving Olivia back to God, who she has belonged to all along anyway.

Carving Our Pumpkin!

*Just so you know, we left out the part where mommy carved the face and pinned the ears on =)

Peek a BOO!!!

The Smurf

Last weekend, Livy, Kyle and I all went shopping and bought a new winter coat for Livy- pink (of course) with sparkles!  But anyway, the funny thing was that while I was shopping, Kyle filled out a raffle ticket to win a smurf.  A few days later, we got a call that we had won the smurf and it was ready to be picked up.  So, this weekend we went back to the mall to get it.  Livy seemed quite pleased with her new smurf.  But she wasn't quite sure what to make of it, having never watched the show or even heard of a smurf before.  She especially liked the finger puppets that it came with.  I like how in this picture, Kyle and Livy have the same expression.  The look says it all:  "I just won a smurf and I'm not quite sure what to think of it."

    

      

Waking up from a nap

I love the feeling of coming home after work, when Livy has had an especially long afternoon nap.  I go in to get her out of her crib and smell her sweet skin, touch her soft, fuzzy hair and kiss her smooth cheeks.  This time I went in with the camera to try to capture what I usually see when I first walk in the room.  

 

I hope I can remember her like this forever.  

Love you, my sweet angel!  Love, Mommy.

Prayers

Olivia has been starting to say her own little prayers in which she says thank you for some of her family and friends.  The first time she did this, she said, "Thank you Laura, thank you Corbett, thank you Louisa. Amen."  Not sure what happened to Henry, lol, but she has said thank you for him many times since.  Tonight before bed, I asked Olivia who she wanted to pray for.  She said, "Uncle Corbett," so we said a little prayer for him.  I asked "Who else do you want to pray for?"  She said "Emmy," so we said a prayer for her too.  Just thought you both should know that Olivia is thinking of you and wants to pray for you.

Any Roosters?

This weekend we went pumpkin picking (for real this time) with Mike and Jaime.  Olivia loves them and was so excited about spending quality time with "Mikey and Jaime."  She somehow knows that she is one of the few people who can get away with calling him Mikey.  She wanted to hold Jamie's hand the whole time and help Mikey pick out a little pumpkin.  We made sure to fill our goat quota early on in the day.  We also got to see some bunnies.  But it turns out, Olivia was sorely disappointed by the lack of roosters.  She kept asking, "Any roosters?"  She was still asking about it while we were eating lunch, though we kept trying to change the topic.  She is very persistent and once she gets something in her head, it is hard to get her to stop thinking about it.  She wasn't whining or anything, but she would wait until there was a lull in the conversation and then ask again, "Any roosters?"  It was hard not to laugh, which of course just kept her doing it more and more.  She asked us again this morning.  Lately she has been having fun making up nonsense words.  She keeps saying, "I la boop!"  I don't think this has any real meaning, but she just likes the sound of it, kinda like she likes asking, "Any Roosters?"  But really, they have goats and bunnies there, why don't they have any roosters?

Fun with Nanny and Bop

Nanny and Bop came to visit last weekend and we had lots of fun with them.  We took a drive up to Lafayette, NJ for some of my favorite things...Dutch Onion soup from the Millside Cafe and cider donuts from Ideal Farms.  It was a perfect, sunny fall day.  Livy climbed around on some pumpkins, helped pick out mums (she wanted purple), and saw some goats and roosters (come to think of it, we seem to encounter various goats and/or roosters almost every weekend. lol.)  It is fun to see Olivia developing such a love for all kinds of animals.  She has a farm video that she watches every day a couple times of day.  It is very cute, and it does keep her entertained for a good half hour, but if I hear the music from it anymore, I think I'm going to lose it!  Olivia, on the other hand, never gets tired of it.  But, going to a real farm beats the video any day.
Kyle also took Livy to Turtleback Zoo on Columbus day, while I had to go to work.  When I got home, Livy told me all about the bisons, a wolf, some peacocks, and bears.  I'm sorry I missed out, but I'm guessing another zoo trip is in our near future...
Olivia has been missing Nanny and Bop since they left.   Tonight at dinner she was talking about eating a hamburger and french fries with Nanny.  She's been saying "Stella, be quiet!" and giggling.  She says,  "Bop draw picture", "Bop ice cream".   Tonight she said, "Nanny, Bop, Tennessee."  "Come back."  

    

Goodbye Summer, Welcome Fall!

We got to enjoy the last weekend of September at the shore with my mom and dad.  Now today I've been busy putting away all of Olivia's summer clothes, never to be worn by her again (sniff, sniff).  I'm carefully packing it away, though, with happy thoughts of Liv's new baby girl cousin on the way.  Plus, I've been doing some shopping and Liv now has some cute new "back to school" clothes in 18 mos. sizes.  

October is actually one of Kyle and my favorite months of the year.  Olivia seems to like it too.  Here is a picture of our little pumpkinhead: 

This was taken at Hamilton Farms.  It is in Boonton and they have animals including piggies, roosters, sheep and sometimes bunnies.  So of course, Olivia loves it.  She also liked riding on this straw horsey.  I'm looking forward to lots more fun fall festivities with Livy.   

We're On the Right Track

Olivia and I have survived and even enjoyed the first two weeks of me being back at work.  Liv is having a great time with her grandma while Kyle and I are at work.  She loves being with her and is sounding more like my mom the more time she spends with her.  For instance, she started saying "okay" a lot more lately.  I never really noticed it before, but my mom says this a lot, and most grandmas probably do... "Watch TV?"  "Okay", "Color?"  "Okay"... Most everything is okay with grandma, as it should be.  When Livy's bored or tired, Livy will now say in a heavy sigh, "Okaaaaayyy...."

My mom was talking aloud (not necessarily directing it to Olivia) saying something like, "Well, pretty soon, I'm going to head over to Sparta to check up on Chance kitty and make sure he's okay."  Livy thought about it and then said, "With you. hold hands."  She wants to do everything with grandma.  When I left Livy in the church nursery, the babysitters assumed grandma was at our church because Livy kept asking for her.  This weekend my mom and dad went to babysit Henry and Lulu...  These grandchildren are really keeping them busy!  I'm so thankful for my mom and the help she is giving us!  You are doing a great job :)

Olivia has learned a lot even in the past couple weeks.  She can now count to five on her own.  Today, over the monitor, I heard her counting the flowers on her pajamas when she woke up from her nap.  She also says, "A, B, C." and can fill in letters that you leave out of the alphabet song.  She talks about shapes and colors and sings little songs to herself.  She does an extremely accurate impersonation of a baby sheep.   She knows her first and last name.  Her middle name is another story.  She thinks it is "Shoes on."  lol!  She makes some pretty funny jokes.  Like, today she had a piece of bread stuck to her finger.  She held it up and said, "Puppet!"

In other news, Olivia is becoming a real railfan!  She talks about the train ride we went on a few weeks ago, commenting about the "loud whistle", the "noisy brakes", "tracks" and the fact that "Grandpa like it."  We stopped by the Whippany Railway Museum today and Livy loved it.  I know her great Grandpa Furler would have been very pleased with our little girl.  She has a bottomless appetite and likes talking all about trains!

Livyisms

Lately Olivia has been repeating all kinds of things that Kyle and I say.  She has some really cute/funny expressions that she uses.  She says, "What in the world!" a lot these days.  And she also says, "Oh my goodness!"  I like how she combines the two and says, "What in my goodness!"

Olivia  just recently started asking, "How you doing?"  She also exclaims "Mamma mia!" several times throughout the day (daddy first taught her to say this while serving her raviolis).  

She learned the word "obviously" from Aunt Emily.   Now if we ask a question like, "Are you hungry?"  she will sometimes giggle and say, "obviously".  She can't possibly understand what it means, but somehow she knows it is sure to get laughs when used in answer to any question.  

She also likes to point out when things are weird.  We were eating in Panera Bread and Olivia looked up at the lamp above our table and commented, "Weird light!"  Apparently, she is used to more traditional decor.  

Olivia also loves saying "Naaaw" to answer questions.  It kinda sounds like she has a Southern drawl as in, "Ah, shucks."  Yesterday, Kyle asked her, "Are you going to be one of those kids who we're always gonna have to be telling to clean up your room?" and Olivia answered in a drawn out, "Naaw!"  

She says "member" a lot when she wants us to remember something.  She said, "Member lady, ducky, moo cow?" to remind us about the carnival from the previous blog. 

She loves watching videos of her cousins and will request specific ones "Watch Baby Drew laughing Logan?"  "Watch HenLulu Ringo?"  She uses the names Louisa and Henry, but whenever she talks about the two of them she combines them into "Henlulu."  

Oh, and she loves her aunts but especially loves talking about and making jokes about her uncles.  She says "Uncle Corbett, Woah!" because that is what Corbett likes to say:)  She says, "Member Craigy beard?" "Mommy, beard? naaaww!" and tickles under my chin as she makes the joke.  She has a little play person with a baseball cap that she named, "Logan."  She looked right at him and said, "Hi Logan!" and cracked herself up.  She's expressing herself more and more and has a good little sense of humor developing. 

          

Labor Day Weekend

We've been so busy having fun lately, I haven't had time to blog about it all (but I want to, so be on the lookout for backposting!)  We've had a great summer and I've had a good two days back at work so far.  The students start on Tuesday and Kyle starts back then, too.  We wanted some quiet family time before our busy week, so we decided to stay home this weekend, or at least stay in Morris County.  We took Livy to the county library on Friday and she really enjoyed the circle time with the other kids.  She was happy and a little taken aback by having so many other toddlers to sing Twinkle Twinkle, Wheels on the Bus and Old MacDonald with her.  She was exhausted when we got home, thanks to our new 7:30 wake up time to try to get her used to the morning before work routine.

She took a long nap and Kyle and I got a lot of yard and gardening work done.  Saturday we did more gardening and had more quiet family time.

Today, since we didn't go away for the weekend, it was like a treat to get to go to our church.  Olivia wore this cute butterfly dress from Auntie Lynn. When I asked her about what she did in the nursery she said "play friends".   She also said they had "dollies" and "blocks".  (I'm feeling pretty good about our decision to put Olivia in Building Blocks Child Center in a couple months.  Knowing how much she enjoys playing and learning with other kids makes me confident that it will be a good environment for her.  I am very glad, though, that my mom volunteered to babysit full time for the next two months.  It will help to ease the transition both for me and Olivia.  I'm sure I will write more about this later.)

In the afternoon, we went to The Boonton Labor Day Carnival.  As soon as we got there, before we even got close to the food stands, Livy started asking for ice cream.  She can already recognize the kind of place where there is sure to be ice cream!  Of course, daddy had no trouble meeting this request.  And of course we just had to let Olivia win a prize from the duck pond.  Okay, maybe she is a little spoiled, but just look at how happy she is in her stroller with a pink cow prize and ice cream on her face!  Isn't that what summer is all about?!