Wake up

Over the last few months Olive has gradually started getting up in the mornings earlier and earlier. It's happened over time so wasn't a drastic change, but recently has been around 6:00 or 6:30. We have tried a few strategies to try and convince her to stay in bed longer, try to go back to sleep, or even get up and play in her room before coming into ours. Nothing has been successful.

A family I work with told me that with their son, they put a digital clock in his room, covered the minutes up with a post-it note and wrote the hour number that was acceptable to get out of bed on the post it. They told him the numbers had to match before it was time to get up. We decided to try it tonight. So I just put it in Olive's room and explained the concept. She seemed to like the idea and get it. She likes new and clear rules. Sam read her a book and left the room. About 5 minutes later I heard something fall and she called me in. She said, "my clock fell down." I asked her why and she said, "I was trying to use my nightlight to see if it was 7:00 yet.".

Not quite yet, baby. Not quite.

Nokomis Beach

Last weekend Laura and I took Irene and Olive to Nokomis Beach. It was a nice morning, cloudy but warm. We wondered why we were the only people at the beach until it "opened" an hour after we arrived, with a lifeguard and announcements and such! Oops.

The girls had a great time in the shallow water. Seeing how far they could walk out:

Splashing:

Chatting:

And Laura and I had a nice time chatting, too. But we didn't lay on our stomachs in the water to do so.

Daddy

I noticed something recently. In a lot of pictures, Olive is looking at her Daddy like this:

Though there are plenty of this type, too:

But you know what? It goes both ways:

Two peas in a pod:

This is love. Happy Father's Day:

Seven

7 years ago I got married. Sam and I got married in the gorgeous backyard of my parent's house. It was not formal. It was not luxurious. It was comfortable. It was us.

Sometimes I can't remember life without you, Sam. We grew up together. We learned to be adults together. In so many ways, it feels like I've always had you with me. I have been with you for 40.6% of my life.

And what do we have now? What have we done with that time?

We have made a family.

Our future is lovely.

Us.

Two girls. Daughters.

Lucky, lucky, lucky we are.

I'd do it again.

I'd choose you.

Farm Babies

Olive and I went to check out the spring farm babies at the MN Zoo a couple of weeks ago. The timing was right and we saw baby pigs, cows, goats, and chicks.

Here's O checking out a Mama cow:

Sitting on the Mama pig:

And a chicken:

Calf:

The goats were the big hit. There were tons of adorable babies and they all wanted Olive's attention. Look at these cuties:

The baby goats may have been cute, but this adult goat and Olive seemed to really enjoy one another. Olive just kept giggling and it kept coming back for more pats from her:

Hilarious goat:

Buddies:

I think we might need to get a goat for Olive. She liked this guy more than she likes dogs:

Video of Olive feeding a goat. She really liked this (surprisingly). I, however, was totally THAT mom that didn't have any quarters to buy the food, so i taught Olive how to find all the food pellets outside the fence and under the machines that people had dropped. Yup. We scrounged for goat food. And guess what? Olive didn't care, and neither did the goats.

Riding a pig:

Driving the tractor:

A unicorn (according to Olive):

And a tasty lunch outside before heading home.

Grocery helper

Olive has become quite the helper at the grocery store. The store nearest to our house has little carts for kiddos and she loves to push one by herself.

She is finally refining her steering skills so it's a little less stressful to let her take her own cart:

Cookie aisle? Yes, please:

Also, the check out clerks always give her a lollipop at the end of the shopping trip, that helps in the behavior department, too.

Swimming lessons

This weekend Olive had her first "big girl" swimming lesson. This means she goes by herself with a group of preschoolers and teachers. No Mom and Dad in the pool!

Heading into the pool, doing some self talk to get herself through it:

Checking out the pool:

Getting introduced to the other kids and teachers:

Practicing kicking:

Getting some practice in:

Learning some new skills with the teacher:

The parents all stood and watched, which was very difficult for all of us. I have no doubt the teachers know what they're doing but it was so nerve wracking to watch these tiny kiddos clinging to the edge of the pool. Some would let go and "walk" out a few feet and then realize they couldn't really stand very well and somehow make it back to the wall. Olive stayed close to the wall, and about 20 minutes into the class, Sam and I could see her saying, "I'm getting tired of holding on. My arms are tired." But of course no one could hear her in the noisy pool. She got through it! I can't decide if I can stand watching again next week or not! Either way, we were proud of Olive for doing it, even though she was nervous.