Winter Carnival

We went to the Winter Carnival in downtown St Paul today, it was a gorgeous, warm (by MN standards!) day.  We looked at the ice sculptures, of which some were more impressive than others (that's an Alice in Wonderland one behind Sam and Olive in this phot0).

We tried to keep the sun out of our eyes with a mittened hand:

And then the fun really began...we went into the Landmark Center and saw DANCING!  Olive sat next to her cousin, Irene, and they enjoyed eating crackers and watching various acts together.

First, Olive enjoyed some Filipino dancing, and as each dance ended she was saying, "dance again" before the music had ended.

Apparently she has a knack for Japanese dancing.  Not sure about the floor move at the end, though...her technique needs some refining!  Maybe next year she'll be up there with them.

Doctors and Songs

Olive went to the "dock-docka" this afternoon for her 2 year check up.  No shots today so that was a nice surprise!  She weighs about 24 pounds and is around 35 inches tall.  That puts her at about the 20th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height.  Tall and thin, it seems.

This is a recent video that makes me laugh - it showcases 3 songs Olive can sing.  

What I find amusing are these things: she has terrible bedhead, she's not wearing pants, she's sitting and climbing on the dining room table, her little legs look so tiny and cute right when she sits down on the table, she interrupts her singing to say "Offa scoot in" and "Offa sit right here", her shirt color looks a little prison uniform-like at times, and it is clear to me that she is humoring me by singing so that I'll let her sit on the table - not a typical activity!

Enjoy!

Pay-dough

This afternoon Olive and I had quite the "pay dough" extravaganza.  Her new art table from Auntie Jess and Uncle Matt is the perfect play dough surface!  

She's quite serious about her work.

This is the first time I've seen her stick her tongue out in concentration.  That seems like such a little kid thing to do.


Play dough is fun for adults, too!

Sleep, please

Olive woke up crying at 3:30am this morning. I went into her room, patted her back, fulfilled her demand for "more water", and left. She kept fussing and started crying again about 20 minutes later.

Back in her room, patted her back, told her we needed to go back to sleep. Answered "yes" to her statements of "Daddy sleeping", and "Nighttime". I answered, "I wish" to "Mommy sleeping, too!". I answered "no" to "downstairs now" and "watch Gabba!". I left, and she started crying almost immediately.

Back for round 3, a little frustrated. She has a bit of a cold so I thought maybe she wasn't feeling well. "Does something hurt?" I asked. "Yes". "What hurts?". Silence. "Olive, does something hurt?". A tiny arm emerged from the blanket and patted her behind, "bum hurting". Hmmm. I think she just felt like she should answer my question. "Offa go potty". ** Nothing like a 4am trip to the potty. On with what seems to be the brightest light in the world, off with the sleep sack, off with the footie jammies, off with the pull up. What I had left was a naked little girl shivering on the potty. "Blanket on". OK, wrapped a bath towel around her and sat on the bathroom floor waiting for some potty action.

She did go, but I'm not sure that was why she was crying. In fact, I'm almost positive it is NOT the reason. I think she couldn't sleep, and she is smart enough to know that telling me she needs to use the potty is something I never say no to, not even at 4am.

Let's hope for more sleep tonight. Please.

Claire


**If you don't know, Offa is what Olive calls herself. It will be important to know that if you intend on reading what she has to say!

Olive turned 2 on Friday.  Is that hard for anyone else to believe?  We have been reminiscing all weekend.  Here she is 2 years ago today:

She looks so tiny, look at that little hand!  She's about 5 1/2 pounds in this photo.  Right now she's asleep with that same blanket (thanks Great Aunt Janet!).

Here she is a year ago:

She was just learning to walk and say a few words.

And here she is now:

Our running, dancing, chatting, laughing kid.

Our baby has turned into a kid, and she's a darn good one!  Happy Birthday, kiddo!