TWO

Warning: Forgive the VERY long post, but I needed room to gush about Miss Olivia! Sorry!

TWO!! We can’t believe we’ve been lucky enough to have two wonderful years with our dear Olivia. Matt and I are completely, helplessly in love with this sweet, smart, curious, and funny little girl who we have been blessed to call our daughter. Over these past 2 years, it has been an absolute joy to watch her transform from a helpless little baby, to a walking, talking toddler. She is speaking in full sentences, has a memory like an elephant, and is slowly learning her sense of humor. She loves her family fiercely, her energy is boundless, and she lights up a room when she is in it.

Here’s a little bit about our big two year old!

School. She is in Toddler 1 at her school and she went through the transition to this class with such ease and grace. She can count to 15 and we constantly marvel at the words and phrases she knows. One of the best parts of having her in daycare is that she is around other kids and exposed to new words, phrases, and concepts. I love it when I hear something surprising come out of her mouth that I know she must have picked up from school. My favorite example is when Matt went to take out the trash a few weeks ago and Olivia exclaimed “See ya later, alligator!” I know that neither Matt nor I use that phrase, but it was awesome to see that she picked it up from school. She can recognize all the letters (BIG and little as she calls them!) and we are now working on what sounds they make. She can count to 15 (although sometimes “eleven-teen” makes an appearance!) and she can recognize all the numbers from 1-9. We are working on counting objects correctly. I think she could probably accurately count 5 objects, but probably not more than that. Her favorite number is 5. Not sure why, but she always wants everything to have 5…..5 books before bed, 5 more minutes of play, etc. Her best friend at school is a little girl named Cate. To our constant surprise, as well as the surprise of her teachers, this seems by all accounts to be an actual and true friendship, despite the fact that they are only 2 years old! She and Cate moved to Toddler 1 at the same time and at the end of the second week, her new teacher confessed to me that they really are best friends…they play together all day, hold hands outside at recess, and always look out for each other. She loves everyone at the school and seems to have charmed all the teachers. One of her favorite parts of school is the policemen outside in the morning and evening that help with traffic. She knows all their names (and they know hers too!) and we talk about them the whole way to school and guess which one of them will be there today. If she sees one of them, she will immediately ask about the others and then want to know if they have a whistle and if they are going to blow it!

Food. She has a pretty healthy appetite, especially for the foods she loves – chicken, rice, chips & dip, and CHEESE! Depending on her mood, she will try new foods. She really likes fish and seems to also like relatively spicy foods. Her pallet for fruits has really expanded over the past year, so we have a fun summer eating watermelon, cantaloupe and all the other wonderful summer fruits. We are working on vegetables slowly…peas are usually okay and so are potatoes. She recently discovered pizza and now she loves it!

Sleep. Her sleep schedule is pretty good. She goes to bed around 7:00 and will usually sleep till about 6 am. She takes one afternoon nap from about 12:30-2:30. Like it or not, Matt and I are strong supporters of a schedule and Olivia is too! From the time she was 2 weeks old, she will get on and stick to a schedule like her mama, so when we can stick with our routine, we have 3 very happy Deans!  Speaking of routine, this little one is a sure creature of habit.  Usually before bed, Matt or I will rock with her for a few minutes and sing to her.  It started as just one song - A Bushel and a Peck.  But sometimes she will persuade Matt to sing several songs to her.  The other night after Matt put her to bed, I heard her calling him over the monitor.  I went in to see what was wrong and she frantically told me daddy forgot to sing Bushel and Peck.  I told her he would sing to her tomorrow but she refused.  So, back to the rocker for one quick song and then to bed!

Personality. Olivia is a very friendly kid, in the sense that she likes to look at or point at other people. But, she is a fierce mama’s girl and still has a bit of stranger anxiety. She has come a long way though! Last year at her birthday party, she really wouldn’t go to anyone except Matt or I (and I think maybe she went to Mimi for a few minutes). This year, she is much better, she will go with other people (esp. family members!) to a certain point. But, as Grandpa says, she always needs to know where mama is! Speaking of family, Olivia really loves her family. She is constantly asking about where they are and what they are doing. When she knows we are going to see a family member, she gets so excited. Sometimes on the weekends, Matt’s parents will come over after naptime. We love to tell her beforehand because every time, without fail, she will wake up from nap and the first words out of her mouth will be “Popo and Tutu?” She really likes to hear little stories about family members. For instance, she started eating Chex cereal recently and one day I remarked that Naz liked Chex. Now, every time she eats them she tells me that Olivia and Naz both like Chex!
Lately we have also been noticing that she is really developing empathy too, a trait that is VERY important to me! We have a family friend whose young daughter is in the hospital. Every night we specifically say her name in our prayers. Months ago when we started praying for her, we told Olivia who she was and that she was sick. The other night, Olivia stopped after her name and asked “she’s sick?” Matt and I explained that she was sick and she was in the hospital. As the conversation went on, we explained that this little girl had to stay in the hospital and that doctors were trying to take care of her. Olivia asked about her mommy and daddy and then, there was literally a minute of silence and she seemed to get pretty sad thinking about this little girl. Matt and I quickly assured her that she would be okay and that her mommy and daddy would take care of her, just like we take care of Olivia. That seemed to calm her, but I was really happy to see her forming that depth of emotion and empathy. Similarly, the other day she told me that Baby Stella threw up. I said “Oh no! Is she okay?” Olivia picked up the doll, kissed her and said “Oh, poor Baby Stella. It’s okay. I take care of you.” And she was similarly worried about Matt or I if we hurt ourselves or feel sick. I love seeing this caring side of her.

She is also smart enough to realize when she does something that we think is especially adorable, and she will really play that up. A few weeks ago we were talking about the words pretty and handsome. I said something about boys being handsome. Later that evening she told Matt “Bye Handsome” and was quite pleased with our laughter. A few days after that we were at Zoe’s and some random man was leaving, so she yelled after him “Bye handsome!” Embarrassingly hilarious.

I often feel like I’m literally going to burst because she is so cute. Every morning on the way to school we pass the Houston Aquarium and she loves for all 3 of us to predict whether the waterfall is going to be on or off. Then, when we finally get to school, we usually call Matt to tell him whether he was right or wrong. The other morning the water was on (she was right) and the bubble machine was also on. She was thrilled. We got to school and called Matt. She told him “Daddy, the water was on AND the bubbles were on! I was so happy!” ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!! To hear your own kid exclaim that she was “so happy” has got to be the best feeling in the world. As I was bursting with joy, I told her to say bye to daddy so we could go into school. She said “I love you daddy. Bye handsome.” Matt responded, “Okay I’ve gotta go. I can’t see through the tears!” Bursting!!

As sweet as she is, Olivia definitely has moments of “terrible” and we have seen lately pure frustration when she can’t communicate what she wants or do something on her own. One thing we have been working on is helping her calm down enough to communicate to us what the problem is, instead of hitting or melting down. The phrase “use your words!” comes out of my mouth often these days! The problem we are having is that I am a complete sucker for that cute little face of hers. Perfect example – Olivia is starting to use a regular cup (as opposed to a sippy cup). The other day she was in the kitchen drinking a glass of water while Matt and I were cleaning up after dinner. I was watching her as she danced and wiggled around, paying no attention to the glass of water in her hand. I kept warning her to be careful and use 2 hands or else she would spill the water. She looked at me and said “I spill it” and then proceeded to pour the water out on the kitchen floor! I was speechless and immediately bent down and called her over to me to scold her. She came over to me, got right in my face, and started smiling and kissing my face as I was trying to talk. What am I – made of stone? No way. That kid cracked me in 2 seconds. I had to kiss her back. So then Matt stepped in, kneeled down and firmly started telling her that we don’t spill water on the floor. He was mid-speech when she patted him on the shoulder and said “It’s okay daddy. Here…kiss daddy (as she kisses his lips) and hug daddy (as she puts her arms around his neck). Mommy….come here (holding up one of her arms).” As I go to her, she pulls me in close too and says “Family hug!” Matt and I were kneeling on the floor, nose-to-nose trying not to laugh and/or cry as this smart little girl completely flipped the game on us. We are in TROUBLE!!

To our great delight, she is also developing her own little sense of humor. She likes to declare “Olivia so funny!” which Matt and I of course bolster by agreeing profusely that she is so funny!  The other day she was holding one of the baby's pacis and standing by the front door.  She looked at the door, got a grin on her face, and said "I give the paci to the mail."  She then stood in front of the mail slot and said "Here you go mail.  Want a paci?" and then CRACKED.HERSELF.UP.  She was literally rolling on the floor laughing at this.  Eventually Matt and I just started laughing too although I'm not sure we understood what was so funny!

She is persistent and hard-working when she wants something. From putting on her own clothes to opening her own food, we are constantly hearing “I do it myself!” But that proud little smile when she finally does figure it out, is pretty awesome.

Favorite toys. Her favorite toys are by far her babydolls. She now has 8 of them and she loves them all, but Baby Ed, Baby Stella and Baby Mell hold a special place in her heart. One of them always goes to school with her. A large portion of playtime revolves around feeding, clothing or playing with the babies. We don’t leave the house without at least 1 baby and, although I’m embarrassed to admit it, I’ve turned around once to get a baby she cried for and even went home at lunch one day so that the baby she wanted would be waiting for her after school! She also loves books and would spend 30 minutes reading each night if we’d let her! We caved on our “No TV until she’s 2” rule and she has started watching a little bit of Sesame Street. She is too busy to sit and watch any more than about 5-7 minutes in a row, and once she finds something she does like, she only wants to watch that part over and over again! She is a whiz on the iPad and iPhone and knows exactly where her apps are and how to get to them. Her favorite ones these days all involve Sesame Street. The one she is most obsessed with right now is a Look and Find Sesame Street app -- think Where’s Waldo for toddlers.

Copy Cat. And finally, as Olivia’s speech expands daily, we are noticing our own phrases and mannerisms echoed back to us, which is a somewhat uncomfortable experience. (I won't mention the fact that someone (daddy) has had several near-misses with bad words!  He promises me to try and tame himself.)  I started noticing that Olivia will say “okay…okay” before she starts talking, a trait that I know I unfortunately do when I’m nervous. She has also started saying “wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait” – a classic Matt-ism! She has been known to direct her baby dolls to go to the ‘corna’ (corner) RIGHT NOW. (We aren’t sure if that is me or Matt…) and the other day she spent 5 minutes getting Baby Ed’s high chair out, bib on and food ready. When everything was set up, she turned to Matt and said “Daddy, you feed Baby Ed. I’m gonna find my phone!” WHAT TWO YEAR OLD SAYS THAT? I guess one whose mom is forever losing her phone!

Here are her stats:
Heights - 32.25" (12%)
Weight - 27 pounds (55%)

So, happy happy birthday to our beautiful, curious, funny, busy, dramatic and girly daughter! You are the most precious gift and a true blessing in our lives. We love you “foreva”!!

Because of our almost-monthly Mehta birthday parties, Olivia is very familiar with what a birthday is and COULD.NOT.WAIT for her own birthday. Starting in late August, we began talking about how her birthday was coming up. A week before her birthday, I made her a little countdown calendar. You never know whether Olivia will like something new or not, so I wasn’t sure how she’d react or if she’d get it. Ummm….she LOVED it! The first day she did it, Matt took her to school and he said the entire way the only thing she wanted to talk about was the calendar, how many days were left till her birthday and how she was going to rip off another day tomorrow!

(She was less than thrilled that I made her wait to rip off the number so I could take a picture!)

When the big day finally came, I think Matt and I were as excited as she was. Her sweet daddy went out to get her flowers and balloons.

We filled her room with balloons the night before and hung this purple ribbons outside her door.

The next morning, we excitedly greeted her, singing “Happy Birthday!"

She was so happy/surprised to see the balloons and kept yelling "Out! Out!" so she could get out and touch them.  She was so cute going to each one and kissing it!

The same sticker birthday cakes that were on her Countdown Calendar formed a path from her room to her big birthday present.

Now, you may have read before that I said Olivia loves HEB. That was no exaggeration. To put it in perspective, last Sunday Matt was getting Olivia dressed and I heard them talking over the monitor:

Matt: Olivia, let’s get dressed and then mommy is going to take you to your favorite place in the whole world!
Olivia: HEB?
Matt: What? No! Gymboree!

So….what better present could we give her than her very own kitchen and HEB?!

She immediately grabbed a basket, dumped it out, and started playing.

 

 

We managed to pull her away from the present long enough to rip off the final number in her countdown and see the pretty flowers daddy got her.

 AHH!  Its MY BIRTHDAY!

 

Then she got a special birthday video from sweet Blythe.  This girl LOVES her some Blythe and was in Heaven to watch the video.  We probably watched it 15 times in a row!

After a quick nap at home, we had afternoon snack on the kitchen floor.  She loves to eat on the floor, instead of her highchair.  I'm not sure why.  But when I said she could eat on the floor since it was her birthday, she was THRILLED!

 We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with our kitchen and grocery shopping until daddy came home.

Once daddy got home we went to Olivia’s favorite restaurant – Zoe’s!

We came home for some birthday cake and then it was off to bed for this little girl.

Although she is only TWO, this birthday post will be broken up into 3 parts: her actual birthday, Family Birthday Party, and Friend Birthday Party. Spoiled? No, not at all. I prefer to think of it as over-loved! ;)