Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Olivia: Almost 2!!!

Everyday Olivia learns more words and says more mostly funny, but sometimes frustrating things. I'm afraid I'll forget all of this if I don't write it down. So, in no particular order, here are some of the things Olivia is saying and doing these days.

Dancing to the band at the Holiday at Home Festival
-Lately, she has started asking us if we remember things. We recently visited my sister in Chicago and she asked her, "Aunt Sarah, do you remember Lucy (our dog)?"  She fell down at the museum and a few minutes later asked me if I remembered when she fell down.

Dancing on the bed at the hotel in Chicago

-She knows all her colors and is constantly asking us what color everything is or telling us what color everything is. She is very curious in general and is always asking questions.

-She tells us she has "very sharp teeth."

Just look at those chompers!!
-She has lots of new fears. I never know what might scare her. As I mentioned in my post about our North Carolina trip, she is apparently terrified of the ocean. As it turns out, she is also terrified of trains as we found out when we tried to ride the El train. She screamed bloody murder and repeatedly cried "I don't like trains. I want to get out." We only made it one stop.

Snuggling with Daddy in the cab after
the very traumatic train ride

-She often tells me that she's going to high school when she gets older.

Oakwood High School -
where she'll go to school in 2028

-She loves going to her gym class, the library, and the park. She likes to practice some of her gymnastics moves at home: donkey kicks, "headstands," and forward rolls. She also likes to hang and swing on everything like a monkey.

-She loves books and can "read" them to herself. She has memorized a lot of her favorite books like Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? and Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? Just recently, after she's finished reading, she will say "That was a good book." It makes my teacher heart so happy.

Reading at the library with her cousin Quinn.
Aren't they so cute?

-She also loves dogs and we have to say  hi to and try to pet every one we meet. Dogs are not one of the things she is afraid of. In fact, she really likes to tell Lucy and Buddy (my parents dog) what to do. "Sit! Stay back! Don't lick me! Don't throw your bed, Lucy!"



-She wants to do EVERYTHING by herself and has very strong opinions about how everything should be. She wants to push the buttons on everything, climb up and down the stairs by herself, and feed the dog (just to name a few). She tells us "Don't do...(fill in the blank)" a lot and has to serve time-outs fairly often. If she doesn't feel like apologizing, she will stay in time out and scream for quite a long time before giving in and saying she's sorry.

This picture is from a few months ago,
but as you can see she's quite spunky. :)

-I recently bought her a dollhouse at a garage sale and she LOVES it. She can entertain herself for long periods of time these days and is very good at pretending. I love being a fly on the wall and listening to what her little people say to each other. The other day they were being naughty and had to have time-outs and say sorry. Hmmm, wonder where she got that idea! :) 



-Sometimes she pretends to go "bye-bye" and will tell me she's going to yoga or Trader Joe's to buy bananas. She also likes to talk on the phone, whether for pretend or for real.



-She loves to look at pictures and point out everyone she knows. She knows and can correctly name most of our extended family.

- She is smart, funny, adorable, sweet, independent, strong-willed, and a little challenging at times, but I wouldn't change anything about her. :)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Wilmington Children's Museum and Fort Fisher Aquarium

As promised, here are the pictures from the Wilmington Children's Museum and the Fort Fisher Aquarium. The Wilmington Children's Museum was quaint, unique, and the perfect size (not too big, not too small).


art room

pirate ship

steering her boat all by herself

dentist Olivia brushing the dinosaur's teeth

Dr. Olivia listening to the teddy bear's heart ears

listening to Daddy's heart

dressing up as Elmo

As it turns out, I didn't take that many pictures at the aquarium. Here are just a few.




Tuesday, August 14, 2012

North Carolina 2012

Before our trip officially started, we had to pack. Olivia was very helpful as you can see. She packed the essentials like her baby doll and Biscuit the dog. She was quite pleased with herself.





As it turns out, Olivia is terrified of the ocean. Kind of a bummer on a beach vacation, but once we (me, especially) came to terms with it, we just made the best of it. We couldn't even convince her to stand on the sand far away from the ocean and build sandcastles, so she did things like play with sand and water on the deck, wear a bucket on her head, and run around on the boardwalk that goes out over the intracoastal. One day we made a trip into Wilmington and checked out their awesome children's museum and another day we took a little road trip to the Fort Fisher Aquarium. I think I'll save the pictures from those little adventures for the next post though. :)






So much changes in a year and Olivia is so much more active and verbal than she was last year. She had a great time visiting and playing with Pop Pop, Florence, Suzette and her boys, and all the dogs (Pauley, Sulley, and Chico). We also overlapped a day with my aunt, uncle, and cousins, and of course, Olivia had a blast seeing them too!

The Beatty-Gosch-Kawai clan with Pop Pop and Florence
(minus Sarah and Olivia)



Olivia playing with Charlie and Jack

Saying hello to Chico

Pop Pop and Mom
We celebrated Pop Pop's 83rd birthday.
This is when we were all singing to him.
Helping Pop Pop open his presents


Speaking of birthdays, Yusaku had a milestone birthday while we were there! He turned 30! We celebrated by checking out a restaurant called The Breezeway at the south end of the island. It was delicious! Afterwards, we had some key lime pie for dessert back at the condo.












Some beautiful ocean pictures. Topsail Island is one of my favorite places in the world. 






Here are few pics from Wilmington on our last night of vacation. 








We had brunch with Pop Pop and Flo the morning we left. As much as I hate to leave such a beautiful place, it's always nice to be back home. :) I'm already looking forward to next year!