Words of Wisdom - Out of the Mouth of Babes

Two in one day, this must be some kind of record!

I wanted to write a few of these things down before I forgot to do so, in hopes that Liv gets to read them someday and understand what a smart and hilarious kid she was (and surely still is, no matter when she reads this).

The other night J was asking her some questions about Mama, Daddy, and other people she knows, kind of seeing where her understanding of descriptions (mostly physical) was at. He asked things like, "Does Daddy have brown eyes or blue? Does Mama have the same color hair as you?" etc. He asked, "Is Daddy skinny or fat?" She said, "fat!" (stifled laughter from J and myself).

Then: "Is Mama skinny or fat?"
Liv: "My Mama's not skinny or fat, my Mama's just happy!!"

As someone who has struggled with body image and weight (mostly being in the military gave me a skewed sense of "average"... at a size 6 I was "overweight", at a size 4 I was barely within "average for my height) I made a conscious decision to ensure that my daughter understood that her sense of self and happiness with how she looks and feels does not come from anyone else, it comes from inside. I want her to feel empowered about who she is, regardless of what we see in magazines or on television. Healthy and happy, this is what I want to impart on her. Her answer couldn't have been more perfect, I felt my heart swell when she said that.

For the record, I am neither skinny or fat, I'm about a size 6 and working to be comfortable with myself. I am very happy though! Secondly, I have never talked to her about body weight or image, she definitely came up with that herself.
Another gem: earlier today we went to visit J at work, and on the way home she and I stopped for lunch. While we were waiting, we were sitting on some tall stools facing out the window. She was playing around and leaned over to me, so I scooped her off her chair and gave her a hug. She hugged me back and then said, "Okay Mama, I want my own chair. I can't sit with you in yours." I said, "Why not?" She says, "Because I don't have a big booty like you do."

Well, one for two, not bad right?

Birthday Prep!

Livi's birthday is coming up. I am sort of in disbelief here, but at least I've been proactive! I've been making decorations and plans for her upcoming birthday, including a mermaid-colored tutu!

I've also been making birthday banners and things like that... this year is when she has started to understand that she has a special day and what that means. In fact when we are at the store and she sees something she wants, I just say, "well you have a birthday coming up!" and she totally accepts that as a reasonable reason why she can't get something. I suppose that won't work for the entire year.

She's reminding me more and more of myself personality wise. She is caring and shy, until she gets to know you, then she's wild and silly. Definitely intuitive. And a night owl, she'd rather stay up late and sleep in a bit (seriously, 8am or later these days... famous last words right?).

We went shopping yesterday and got her some 3T clothes, which she is just now starting to fit into. We ran around under the sprinkler, which was not as much fun in practice as it was in theory! It sprayed her in the face the first time and that was pretty much that. Thankfully I got pictures beforehand!

An Almost Three Year Old

So, I didn't even look at the date of the last post before this one. I'm not always the best blogger. But, life happens and it has been good! After a bit of an (ahem) rough patch from 2.5 until now, this almost-three-year-old has been WONDERFUL recently.

*knocks on wood*

Anyway, second year molars are nearly in. Olivia is somewhere between a 2-3T, she is super creative, intuitive, and sensitive.

I'm going to post more so I don't have to do silly updates like this.

Until then, these are my most favorite recent photos!

Mommy Moron

Yeah, this is an awesome post. So, we have this dog, Gordon, who is totally a idiot. He's just a big doofus. So we all had a good laugh when J discovered this old punk song called "Gordon the Moron". We listened to it a couple times, J made a few jokes about it.

Fast forward a few months. I met a friend at a nice cafe with a play place, our children were playing while we enjoyed a chat and some lunch. From nowhere, Olivia gets super excited, running around the play area, yelling, "Hi, Mommy Moron!" And then I died. Especially when she yelled it a second time, in case there was any doubt what she was saying the first time around. For a 27 month old, she has a surprisingly clear voice.

I've been trying to replace "Mommy Moron" with her other favorite nickname for me, "HoneyMommy", which thankfully seems to be working. She has no clue what a moron is, or that it's not a nice word. She says it endearingly, as though she were saying "Mommy Dearest".

At the end of this day, we walked around a bit and I could tell Olivia was tired and a little overstimulated. So of course, I suggest going into a toy store. Oh dear. Massive, epic tantrum. In public. Sure, she's independent, happy, funny, adorable, sleeping in her own bed, etc... but this right here makes you feel like you are doing everything wrong as a parent. At least in that very moment. I had to call my mom to be sure it was normal. You see kids throwing fits in public all the time, and mostly think nothing of it... it happens, they are kids! But when it's your own child, you're pretty sure no other kid in the history of the universe has ever done this before. Truly, it wasn't even that bad. A little crying (fairly loudly) and she let me carry her out of the store. She was then terribly sad when we parted ways with our friends.

I guess the moral of the story is that even if it sounds funny the first time your child says something like "Mommy Moron" do. not. laugh. Do not encourage it in any way! Because it's so not funny when screamed in public ;)

Independence

Independence... it's so bittersweet isn't it? Olivia has been little miss independent lately. She wants to do everything herself, which I suppose is a totally normal phase that all kids go through.

We set up her room about 10 days ago, and she was SO excited. She picked out owls and birds for her theme (which I was ecstatic about! I didn't want a theme room that she was over in a week) and helped decorate. We talked about moving her bed in there, as she'd been sleeping really well in her own toddler bed in our room. She was totally excited about it, so in it went. And she just, slept in it. All night most nights since then.

It's amazing to see how secure she is; I feel like I've done a good job as a mama, because there has been no issues with the new sleeping arrangement. If she wakes up, she just wanders into our room and climbs into bed with me. However, I miss her! Another baby may or may not be in the cards for us, so sometimes I feel like I have to savor each moment in case she's my only.

This has been accompanied by the exclamation, "Mine do it!" about EVERYTHING, which is cute but, you know, time consuming.

Lots of my friends are sending their kids off to preschool for the first time today, and I think I'm having an absolute freak out moment... that'll be us next year. Yes it's cliche but my god, where did the time go?!

That reminded me of a funny thing Olivia's been doing... I get on Josh all the time about swearing in front of her, and luckily she hasn't picked anything up (yet). Yesterday we sat down to eat dinner and Olivia says, "Oh my gog! Jesus Christ!" As you could have guessed, she definitely got that from me. She also transposes the "d" and "g" sound, so it's hilarious! Basically impossible not to laugh. Oops.

Firsts and Lasts

June 22, 2011 was the last time Olivia nursed. I gave it 25 good months, and I feel really good about that. It can be a little bittersweet, but we were all ready. It was rough for a couple days, but she has quickly gotten over it. She stopped on her own for about 2 days, and I just took that as a cue to create new nighttime routines and things like that.

Since then, she's completely stopped napping, except for the occasional snooze in the car. This is a bummer.

BUT! She sleeps through the night! In her own bed! I guess having an infant who was awake every 2-3 hours, then a toddler who still woke 3-4 times per night made me think I just wouldn't sleep well until she went to college (and then, I know what goes on at college)! This has been awesome, and great for everyone. We got her her own "big girl bed" a few days ago and put it in our room (until then she'd been sleeping in crib sidecar to our bed) which has been great too. She loves her bed, and I've only had to pick her up off the floor once. And she didn't wake up.

I'm all rested. It's pretty nice.

First Horse Ride

So there is plenty I could write about, since her birthday Olivia is definitely a two year old. I think you know what I mean ;)

I'll write all of that soon, but for now I just had to share how adorable she was today for her first horse ride! We went to a great birthday party with a horse for the kids to ride. Although Olivia loves animals and likes to look at them, she was adamant about riding the horse, which surprised me. I suspected once she got up there that she'd want to get right back down, but it was quite the opposite. The entire time she was chatting away, "I ride horse, mommy, me like horse!" and has not stopped talking about it all day. The horse even neighed while she was riding, and instead of being scared she laughed and said, "horse neeiiiiighhhhh!" Hilarious.

The following photo was taken on my phone, I think some another mom at the party will be uploading some more tonight but for now this'll do. On my phone everyone looks great... just ignore the weird face I'm making ;)

2nd Birthday

Dearest Olivia,

How on earth did this happen? You are two. You know, they say it happens way too fast, but you don't believe that until you wake up one day and you have a real live kid. Not a baby any more. You do kid things, like ride your trike and ask for jelly beans at 7am. I feel like I should write these things down more, but you, my dear, are a busy girl. Which is awesome. I wouldn't have it any other way, especially those moments when I stop and realize, "how cool is this?"

Recently we've been able to spend lots of time outside. You LOVE this. Please don't ever lose that desire to be outside and enjoy what is around you. You run around and chase the dog and cats, look at bugs, pick flowers, and then you say, "sit with me mommy" and we sit on the top step on the porch and just hang out.

We love running together. About 7 weeks ago I started a 5K fitness program that uses an iphone app to measure your distance, running time, etc. It tells you when to warm up and cool down, and in the middle it says, "run!" so when you hear this you scream, "run mommy run! Go mommy!" My cheering section! When we run with the dog and daddy, you cheer them on too. Usually I run a few miles away from the house and then walk back, and during that time you are looking out for chipmunks and horses, identifying colors and telling me stories.

You have a streak of determination and independence. This will serve you well in the future. You are so sweet, and a little shy. That's okay, you are a lot like me. Our personalities are so similar.

I will never ever forget this time, when I was the apple of your eye. I know you will grow up and things will change, as I said you are already independent and adventurous. But I'll never forget the days you'd wake me up, "hug me mommy!" and give me hugs. I want to write all these things to you, the little mistakes I made along the way so you don't have to make the same ones. I won't though, you'll figure these things out along the way. I will say this, though: call your mother. When you go to college, or when you go on trips abroad, I'm sorry but this is not negotiable. I call my mother every day now, and those times in my life when it wasn't at the top of my priority list are the times I made the most mistakes. Adventures. Whatever, I'll tell you about it when you're older ;)

I think I've done well, so far, as a mom. I've met my goals for a natural birth, breastfeeding and sleeping, and I wouldn't change a thing. I have never, ever let you cry. For the first year of your life, you slept on me and wouldn't let me put you down. While I probably could have used more showers during that time, I cherish it so much. You should know these memories are the best days of my life. Yes, I really am that sappy.

You've gone from this sweet baby who needed me for everything to this sweet little girl. You are the brightest light in my life, I love you!

Love always,

Mommy

P.S. Thanks for finally calling me "mommy", rather than sounding like a mini-teenager ;)

Can I Just Have...

A whole slew of 2 year olds? Seriously, I mean that. Olivia will be 2 in 25 days (I know this because today, May 6th, was my initial due date. 25 LONG ASS days later I gave birth!) and she's like, a real kid now. Toddler moments, yes we have them, but overall she is so sweet and wonderful, I just love this age.

Earlier we went out for our run, and whenever we come back Olivia likes to run around outside for an hour or so. It's nice because I can sit on the back porch and drink a cup of coffee while she happily plays. We have "our" spot, where she always tells me to come sit with her. Today we sat in the spot (the top stair of the porch) and she repeatedly came up to me, kissed me on the cheek and said, "love you too mom, bye mom!" and would go down the steps to play. After a couple minutes she'd come back up the stairs and say, "hi mom!" and sit down and hug me. Then repeat. Holy heart melt.

We then went around and picked "daddylions" which are dandelions for dad. They are mostly smashed now, but it's the thought that counts ;)

Speaking of dad, Olivia has called us "mom" and "dad" since she began talking. She's like a little teenager. Anyway, J has recently been trying to get her to call her "daddy", which she's taken to. In addition, she's started adding the "y" sound to the end of many words, just out of the blue. "Me drink wog-y" (water, which used to just be "wog") or "touch mom's leggy". So funny.

It's amazing to me that just a few months ago she was practically nonverbal, and now at 23 months she's making up songs, talking up a storm.