Journal Moments - Jan 4 - Jan 19

Sara and Josh,

We have been thinking of you both recently and hope you are doing well. Olivia is certainly growing and developing a little personality. She loves to be cuddled, but at the same time she loves to go, go, go. Since it has warmed up these past two weeks we have enjoyed more of the outdoors. Olivia LOVES to go outside. She loves to toddle through the grass and rub her hands in the dirt ( and even taste the dirt, too). She has gotten more assertive about what she wants and doesn't want.

Robby started keeping a journal a few months ago, and we thought it would be fun to share what he has been writing about the latest in Olivia's life. I'll post a few at a time for you to enjoy.

1/4/09 (Sun)
• Even while ill, O enjoys “horsey rides” given by Mom and Dad, and will sometimes start moving back and forth when the ride is over, signifying that she wants to have another ride.
• Today O enjoyed learning how to pull the string on ceiling fans to turn the lights on. She also had a ball spinning a globe that Grandma Heath had upstairs.

1/11/09 (Olivia’s Birthday)
• Olivia enjoyed her birthday presents—her first doll, a stroller for her doll, and a couple of children’s music CDs. Sharon got some cute pictures of her with the stroller. Olivia also seemed to enjoy her cupcake—except when it landed frosting-side first on her chest. I’m not sure if she didn’t like the feeling of that or was just disappointed that good frosting was being wasted. At first when we put the cupcake in front of her, she gently touched the frosting, and then put her finger in her mouth. It almost seemed like she wasn’t sure whether we were really going to let her have it, so she wasn’t going to dig into it.

1/13/09 (Tues)
• Sharon thinks O is now saying “that” when she wants something. She’s expressing definite preferences—today vocally insisting that Mom feed her the fruit rather than the vegetable when both were on the table together. Sharon finally had to put the fruit away and then get her a toy for distraction value so that she would eat the green beans. She also enjoys Daddy getting home—she gets a big smile and toddles over to be picked up—and playing peekaboo. Her “hook tongue” expression, whereby the tip of her tongue is bent up sharply onto her upper lip, is very cute, but I don’t think has been caught on camera yet. One final accomplishment—O has now successfully responded to several verbal commands such as “Take this (object) over to Mama.”

1/19/09 (Mon)
• Olivia bobs her head to music now. She’s started doing this to the “Mozart cube” toy that Sharon’s parents gave to her for Christmas. Olivia has even bobbed her head when playing with the toy when it’s turned off and won’t respond to her pushing on it. Sharon thinks one reason that Olivia likes that toy is that she can control it playing music.
• Sharon also mentioned that she thinks Olivia is the giggliest and smiliest of our children at this age. Without question it’s Jenna that can bring the most giggles out of her—maybe Jenna and Robby would have done as well had they had a Jenna.
• Sharon appreciates that O usually can tell when we’re playing with her/joking around.
• Sharon was changing O’s diaper tonight and talking to her. O was seeming pretty happy, so Sharon said, “Can you say happy?” and mouthed the word “happy” pretty slow. Sharon could tell that O was intently watching her mouth, so she repeated the word for her several times. Sharon said that she could see the wheels turning in O’s head. Then O said “habby” which shocked Sharon. Sharon said “happy” a few more times and O repeated it again. (I was within earshot and heard all this.) Sharon says that O was pretty proud of herself. Sharon thinks that O is “one smart chica [girl].”
• In the last few months Olivia has become much more assertive about her rights. She’s also just recently decided that she very much prefers fruits to vegetables, which was not the case originally.

We send our love to you both. Check back next week there is more to come...