Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Not only did we get to squeeze in a visit with friends (see pics below), but both our siblings were home as well. And, of course, we celebrated with both sets of our parents too! Enjoy the pics!

Yosuke and his girlfriend, Manami

"Uncle Yosuke, what are you doing?"

Love this daddy-daughter pic

The whole gang at my parents new table

Kazumi and Yosuke

Sisters

The grandpas

Olivia and Aunt Sarah

 The day after Thanksgiving we had lunch with Leslee, Jon, and Quinn. Here's a picture of Olivia and Quinn plotting their escape.

Almost 15 months....walking, talking toddler!

little drummer girl at Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe Christmas is right around the corner and in ten days, Olivia will be 15 months old! This Christmas will be so much different than last year (see last year's Christmas post HERE). Olivia will be able to be an active participant this year. She will be able to actually help open her presents, realize what they are/get excited about them, and play with them!

trying to fit herself in the cabinet

I have found myself being so excited about Christmas this year. Christmas was always fun and exciting as a child, but once you find out your parents are Santa, it loses some of it it's magic. Not to say that Christmas wasn't still fun, just different. One of the joys of being a parent is that I now get experience the magic of Christmas again through my daughter's eyes. It's almost like getting to be a kid again myself! :)

I just reread my last post in which I said that Olivia was walking a little bit but still preferred crawling. Wow...things change a lot in a month. Olivia walks all over the place these days. Sometimes she "runs" or at least tries to before he gets ahead of herself and falls down. She also knows and says a lot of words, although her favorite and most frequently used words lately are "no" (accompanied by head-shaking) and "uh-oh" (accompanied by throwing her hands up in the air like "what happened?).

carrying around her beloved backscratcher

She may be getting an early start on the terrible twos. She is very smart, precocious, and opinionated. The little girl who used to pretty much eat anything has become a picky eater (like someone else I know ;) ). She will ask for "mo" (both saying the word aloud as well as using the sign language for it) even when there is food on her plate. What she means is she wants more of something else.

Her favorite foods right now include cheese, bread (or any sort of carb), and Trader Joe's cat cookies. We told her she had to say please if she wants them so now she goes to the cupboard where they are and says "plllleeeease" (said like she's blowing a raspberry). Pretty cute and hard to resist. Her most recent favorite food is kale, which surprised me. I made kale "chips" yesterday and she can't seem to get enough. She keeps asking for "mo". I think she likes the salty flavor and its light, crispy texture. The same light crispy texture that leads to little flakes of kale ending up all over her and everything in her path, but I can't complain - I'm glad I found a healthy snack that she'll eat.

messy kale face :)

I decided to make a list the other day of all the words Olivia knows the meaning of and can say. Of course, there are many more words she understands but cannot yet say. Here's the list in no particular order:

• no
• uh oh
• please
• teeth
• keys
• chair
• shoes
• dog
• mama/mommy
• dada
• hair 
• hi
• hat
• hot
• mo ("more")
• nana ("banana")
• eyes
• nose
• mouth

A few other things about Olivia at this stage of her life before I forget. She's still pretty petite. I just weighed on our scale at home today and she was 20.8 lbs. Judging by the pencil mark we made on the office wall in October, she's not too much taller either. She's just a little munchkin and that's fine with me because my back hurts from picking her up as it is. 

She has seven teeth now and I'm pretty sure she's working on her molars right now because she's been extra fussy and clingy and chewing on her fingers a lot. I can't wait til she finally has all her teeth; teething stinks!

That's all I can think of for now, although I'm sure there's more. Next up: a very belated Thanksgiving post and a Colorado post. :)

13 months, 2 weeks

I am mostly writing this post because I want to document all the things Olivia is doing right now so I don't forget in the future. I have been quite busy the past few months - my little business of making crocheted hats really took off once it became "hat" season. So, between keeping up with that and Olivia, I've had little free time for blogging. There's much to catch up on, but for now I want to get down this information while it's fresh! :)

at the park on her birthday

It's safe to say we have a walker! I have a video of it which I will try to post later if I can figure out how. Though she still seems to prefer crawling as her main method of transportation, she can and does walk all by herself occasionally throughout the day. She took her first steps about a month ago (Sunday, October 9th to be exact!) and much to my relief, has taken her time easing into it. Seeing as how she can be a bit of a wild woman, I thought once she took those first steps she would be running the next day. Luckily, that was not the case!

my little owl at hills and dales

She understands and is communicating so much these days!  Here are some of the words she can say and knows the meaning of:

• "nana" (banana - one of her favorite foods
• mum mum (another one of her favorite snacks) 
• hat (which she uses to describe not only hats, but also yarn - ha ha)
• head (which she knows from "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes")
• hi (this was probably one of the first words she said and really knew the meaning of)
• "ha-wo" (hello - she says this into the phone when she is pretending to talk on it)
• hot
• shoes

Here are some things she will do when asked:

• laugh (this is a new one)
• dance
• clap
• give a hug
• give a kiss
• pet Lucy (or Daddy or Mommy or Grandpa)
• hand us things we ask for
• make a doggy sound (i.e. pant)

contemplating life at cox arboretum

She tries to imitate the word sock, but it comes out more like "gock." She knows what socks and shoes are and if you ask her where you put them, she attempts to put them on her feet (although not very successfully). In fact, she likes to try to make shoes out of lots of things, including Mr. Potato Head's body and some of her plastic blocks.  She also knows what "hat" means and if you ask her where a hat goes, she will point it on her head.

oh, you know, just wearing a basket on her head

She has a very funny sense of humor (see above picture for proof) and is always entertaining us. Her newest "trick" is peekaboo. She's been playing peekaboo for a while now - hiding behind her chair for example and then laughing as we "find" her when she crawls around the corner. But this is different. The other night at dinner she covered her face with both her hands and then "revealed" herself by dramatically removing her hands and holding them out to the side (the way you would if you were making an "I don't know" kind of gesture). Then she smiles really big and does it again (and again and again) and we love it every time! She knows we think she's funny!

hanging out on the scale in the bathroom

Another one of Olivia's tricks is during bathtime when it's time to clean up her toys. Yusaku will ask her to start handing him her toys and she will do so. However, when it comes down to the last toy, she won't give it to him. Instead, she will pretend to hand him an invisible toy with nothing in her hand. She does this over and over. It's funny. Again, I have a video of this which I will try to post when/if I can.

first pair of walking shoes

She's doing well with using the signs for "more" and "all done" with her meals. She love, love, loves Lucy and gets so excited when she sees her when we come downstairs every morning. Speaking of Lucy, Olivia has recently discovered the joy of playing with Lucy's food and water. She likes to pick the kibbles off the floor that Lucy leaves lying around and put them in her bowl. Then, she likes to take them out again. Then put them back in. And occasionally, she likes to transfer the pieces of food back and forth between the empty water dish and the food dish.  Oh what fun!

a pumpkin just her size

 She keeps me on my toes, but I love the funny, smart, spunky girl she is becoming! (see picture below of how she discovered how to turn around and stand up in her stroller and you'll know what I mean)

First Birthday Party

This post is over a month belated, but better late than never, right? It's hard to believe my baby is already over a year old! This past year has flown by.  Olivia had a great time celebrating with her grandparents and some special friends. She received some really fun presents too! Here are some pictures of the celebration!

food and decorations

opening presents

more presents

bib and bath toys from her gram

her "smash" cake - wasn't sure what to make of it

at least she took a few bites

enjoying her new panda blanket from her great aunt and uncle

we were so glad Sarah could be there to celebrate with us

hanging with her obaachan

our little family

tearing down decorations with grandpa

cousins :)

so glad Andrew and Kate were in town this weekend and could join us

so good to see all of them :)

the fam :)

What Olivia is doing these days

I can't believe Olivia will turn one in less than two weeks! It is so fun to watch her grow and learn everyday. I want to document all the fun, cute things she's doing these days so I don't forget them.

So, here are some of the things sweet Miss Olivia has been doing lately:

• Saying "Hi" (loudly) and waving at people a lot (this includes friends and family, as well as complete strangers at the grocery store).  She is very friendly!
• Clapping. She will do this when asked or just when the mood strikes her. It's pretty darn cute!
• Panting like a dog (if you ask her "What does a doggy say?", she will pant; she will also start panting anytime she sees an actual dog, a picture of a dog, or a picture of pretty much an animal)
• She has recently started pursing her lips and blowing air through them. It looks like she is trying to whistle.
• When you ask her if she's hungry, she responds by smacking her lips together.
• Practicing standing on her own quite a lot lately. She tries this a few times a day for about 15 seconds at a time. So far, she still prefers crawling as her fastest method of transportation.
• Speaking of crawling, she thinks it's hilarious to race around the dining room table or couch and have you chase her and surprise her coming from the other direction.
• Loving playing peekaboo. She really gets it now. She will crawl out of sight and I will say "Where'd Olivia go?" and then she'll reappear with a huge grin on her face, laughing. She'll then hide and reappear a few more times. She invented a little "peekaboo" game the other day in which she put a basket on her head and when I asked where she went, she'd take the basket off (over and over and over). I took a cute video of it.
• Playing with her bath toys after the "get clean" portion of the bath. In fact, she loves her duck so much she wants to play with him all day long too.
• Making this funny little noise where she flicks her tongue back and forth against her top teeth. It sounds kind of like this "litter, litter, litter, litter" (said really fast)
• Sharing her things with us. She will hand something to you and make a little noise like "eh?" and make an expression like "here you go!"
• Starting to sit still a little longer to listen to and enjoy books.
• Drinking water out of her sippy cup proficiently.

Hmm... That list ended up being longer than I expected and yet, I'm sure I'm leaving some things out. She is starting to turn into a little person and becoming more and more fun to play with and interact with each day.

Will post again after her first birthday celebration, if not sooner! :)

Indy Trip: the zoo and the children's museum

My friend Amie, from college, was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She lives in Vincennes, IN. We have tried to make a point of visiting one another every summer. The summer after our wedding, we went their way and visited and stayed at their house. The following summer, when Amie was pregnant with Brady, they came here to visit us. Last summer, when I was pregnant with Olivia, it should have been our turn to visit them, but we didn't end up making it out there. This summer, we decided we would meet in Indy - kind of a halfway point. It takes about two hours for both of us to get there. We thought it would be fun to take the kids to the zoo. Brady will be two in November and I can't believe I hadn't met him yet. Amie hadn't met Olivia either.  It was so good to see her and meet Brady. Unfortunately, her husband Matt wasn't able to make it due to having to work. Here are the pictures from our trip to the zoo.

I fed a giraffe, which made me a little more nervous than I expected.
They have big mouths and tongues!

Amie and Brady feeding the giraffe...she is much calmer :)

Olivia and Daddy checking out the monkeys

Olivia and I on the train

Amie and I and the babies

Yusaku and I had decided to make a weekend out of it and spent the night in Indy. Sunday morning we got up and decided to make a pitstop at the Indianapolis Children's Museum before heading home. I have many good memories of going there myself when I was little. Olivia is really a bit too young to enjoy most of the things at the museum right now, but she did enjoy a special section of the museum meant for preschool age children and younger. I look forward to taking her back again when she is a little older and can do more things. Here are some pictures of our trip to the museum.

Yusaku and Olivia in front of Bumblebee from Transformers 

All three of us on the carousel

Olivia enjoyed playing with the balls in the baby area

And, crawling around this little obstacle course

What a sweet face! :)

Look at that face! What a goofball!

Going through a tunnel for the first time!