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08 February 2011

Grumpy Mornings and Fill in the Blanks

Yesterday morning pretty much looked like this.

With a little bit of this thrown in.
{Still fashionable while throwing a fit.}

It all started when I tried to pull her out of her Nagel onesie {that she always points out is 80s} and get her dressed for a playdate.  She DID NOT want me to take that onesie off.  Normally, I would have been fine with her wearing whatever, but this particular onesie has been moved to her pajama drawer because the screen printing job is now faded and worn and, more importantly, it's a size 12 months.  Let's just say it's a weeeee bit too small for her to be sporting it around town.  I tried to put a pair of pants on over it and then cover the onesie up with a dress, but she wasn't having it.  I finally pried it off of her and put the cute little romper on and HOLY MOLY the tiny tantrum that had been brewing turned into a full blown FIT.  Needless to say, we didn't make it to our playdate on the off chance that foul mood of hers was contagious.  {Pretty sure it was because it put me in a bad mood for awhile.}  

The romper was a definite no and I was able to convince her to put on the trusty old Panama Jack t-shirt {that was mine when I was a youngin'} that is usually reserved for sick days.  She finally got calmed down when I enticed her with some outside play time.  

Pinto beans

Swinging with her baby

Playing fetch....look at those skills!  She's collecting TWO balls!

Move over, Dolly!  You got nothin' on my baby girl!

The thing is, I think she gets so into the crying stage that she can't pull herself out of it no matter how hard we both try.  She just woke up from her nap in the same kind of mood and after throwing out a hundred things for us to go do, the 101st was the one that snapped her out of it.

So, as I sit here finishing up this blog post, she's having a fruit bar and watching a Fancy Nancy video.  I know I have mentioned her love of all things Fancy Nancy before, but it amazes me how much of the books she has already absorbed.  The video she is watching now is of Jane O'Connor, the author, reading aloud one of her books Bonjour, Butterfly.  We have that book {it came with the Fancy Nancy doll she was gifted by our neighbors} and I've probably already read it over 50 times.  When Jane reads it for the video, she says, "Written by Jane O'Connor.  C'est moi."  And now when I read the story and say, "Written by Jane O'Connor," Olivia chimes in with, "C'est moi."  She fills in a lot of the other parts to books.  If intentionally I leave out part of a sentence in the book, she'll fill it in for me.  Her favorite book right now is Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy and she calls it "Posh Puppy."  In the story, Nancy uses different French words and Olivia knows them all -- bonjour, merci, papillon, oui, and au revoir.  Sometimes, she will just say it when it's appropriate in a real-life context.  In one of the books, Nancy trips while carrying a tray of sundaes.  She says, "I trip.  I slip.  The tray does a double flip!"  Today, Olivia fell and said, "I trip.  I slip."

While it is hard for her to say an entire sentence, she's so great about filling in the missing words on songs and phrases.  She knows all of the actions for the Wheels on the Bus and fills in a lot of the song on Itsy Bitsy Spider.  Last night, I fed her dinner while David was at the gym and the two of us held hands to say the blessing.  I had her repeat "God is great. God is good," and then she said, "And we thank Him for food."  I couldn't believe it!  I screamed and clapped and she got so excited.  I immediately had to get on Skype with my parents so they could hear her do it.  Every day she amazes me with the things she is learning.

Yesterday while I cleaned the spare bedroom in preparation for Uncle Rhino's visit, she sat on the floor flipping through a Vogue magazine with her baby doll on her lap.  She found a few pages with a model walking with a horse and said, "See baby.  Big horse.  See it?  There it is."  

It is getting to the point where it is not so much about documenting what we are doing throughout the day, but more about all the things she is learning and doing and saying.  She is growing and changing way too fast - I almost can't keep up.




Where, oh where, has my little baby gone?!

Happy Tuesday from the Central Coast!

4 comments:

Mom Cooper said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again my granddaughter is AMAZING! She delights me in everything she does (well I could do without knowing about the temper tantrums). But hey, that's part of growing up and learning you can't always have everything you want when you want it.

Nana can't wait to see all her "smartness" in person.

Irma said...

She is heading into her 2's and with it you will see her likes and dislikes even more as she finds her voice and boudries. Hold on to you hat...but the ride is oh so rewarding! Big love, hugs and kisses to my smart precious Olivia!

Irma said...

I mean 'boundries'.

David said...

Olivia, you are growing up so quickly. I think you may have inherited your Dad's tantrums ;) I love you and your baby doll.