21 months old

Olivia will be 21 months old this week. Wow. A few months ago I read in her child development books that her growth could be measured on nearly a weekly basis and I am definitely seeing that in her. When she comes home from preschool, we now get notes that say things like "Olivia had fun playing with Kate and Maribelle". I know that these occasions are still developmentally rare, but I am so happy that she is beginning to find enjoyment in playing with other kids.

Her vocabulary is growing and I love to hear the new words she uses like: caterpillar, zebra, Cheerios, squeezy pack, bute?, Da-da home?, oh stuck, and sleepsack.

She is still a picky eater but recently started eating turkey again and enjoys a spinach pancake cooked in butter (an easy way to get some veggies in her). However, her staples still remain: buttered toast, cheese (only if it is white, she won't eat the yellow cheese which we understand), squeezy packs (veggies and fruits mixed together that she can squeeze into her mouth by herself), bananas (on occasion), yogurt and snacks (she loves pretzels, snap pea crisps, chowder crackers, veggie sticks and cheerios--loves the salt I guess). Every now and then we offer her a dessert like some ice cream or perhaps a cookie and she declines. I don't know if it is the look of the food or the temperature but it is fine with us if she declines sweets. We still offer her food from our plates on a daily basis but she rarely takes us up on this offer. Hopefully she will become a more adventurous eater with age.

She usually sleeps from 7:30pm-7:30am and naps anywhere from 1pm-2pm/3pm. For a few weeks she had been waking up in the middle of the night once or twice and I would have to go in and give her some water, give her a hug and then put her back to sleep. We finally figured out that if we just left her sippy cup with water in the crib, she would find it there and soothe herself back to sleep. It is nice to have a full night of sleep again.... at least for now!

Her favorite toys are: BOOKS (Right now she is enjoying "Tummy Girl", "Olivia, what do you see (written by my brother and his girlfriend), Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed", "Bear Snores on", "The Lorax--although we usually only get halfway through before she is reading to move on)! talking/singing teapot, playing with her kitchen, kid-size table and chairs, puzzles, shopping cart, balls, and anything that she can climb on. This girl is a monkey! She also enjoys a good Skype session with Nana and Gramps and Mimi and Pop-pop but she prefers to remain mute during these sessions-ha!

Helping Momma sweep the floor; unfortunately she usually prefers the bigger (aka mine) broom to her own.