Olivia's first report card!

Olivia's First School Picture

This picture makes me laugh! This isn't the best picture of her; she looks a little unsure about what is going on. She is so funny.

Here is her class photo from Little Caterpillar Academy. She talks about all her friends everyday when she gets home. She talks about what letter their name starts with and she always informs me of who was missing that day.

Olivia's Stats

When we were home for Christmas we went and saw Dr. Wolens for her 2 year check-up (a few months late!). He said she is looking great!

Here are her stats:

Weight: 28 pounds-----48th percentile
Height: 36.3 inches-----72nd percentile
Head: 49.8 cm----------88th percentile

She is finally average weight (up from around the 30th % last time)! She is now drinking (well, she still won't drink too much milk so she is eating it without knowledge) 1% milk. He said her language appears to be more like a 3 year old than that of a 2 year old! AND, he thinks she is ready to be potty trained. However, Mommy is not ready to potty train! I love the convenience of diapers and am not a big fan of public restrooms. We will get on it though. We should get that done by the time baby sister arrives.

Serious SNOW

I was SHOCKED when we got back from warm Texas at the end of January to see ALL the snow. Poor Mike spent hours every couple of days shoveling snow from our driveway. Everyone here is saying this is the most snow they have gotten in 25 years. We never saw anything even close to this in Calgary last year. Calgary warms up every 10 days or so which melts a lot of the snow. Not here!

Our backyard. The only thing that really gives you perspective to the 4 feet of snow is how high up the back fence the snow goes. Mike had to clear an area for Maya because it was so deep.

The 6 feet of snow on either side of our driveway!

FINALLY they came to plow our street for the first time this winter! That is a 25 foot pile of snow in the middle of the cul-de-sac

Now that is a snow plow! It was really nice to finally drive on pavement again through our neighborhood.

Those are the giant 1 foot thick chunks of ice the snow plows removed from the street in front of our house.

She loves to help Daddy shovel snow. What a good helper!

NEGATIVE 18 is COLD! Olivia and I had to venture out for an OB appointment in -18. We had such a short walk to his office from the parking lot, but we were still frozen!

2 1/2 Already!!

Amazing! I am in absolute awe that 2 and a half years have gone by so quickly! Oh, so hard to believe.

It has been so much fun watching her grow and change. Her little mind is just incredible.

Some of Olivia's favorites right now:

Songs: She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain, Harvest by Neil Young, Hush Little Baby, Sing a song of Sixpence, all the songs from our new Kindermusik class

Foods: still a picky picky eater. Pumpkin bread, oatmeal, pancakes, cheese, alphabet cookies, oranges, strawberries, pasta, blueberries, french toast, eggs, oranges, spaghetti, etc. Not that we want her to, but when given the opportunity, she won't eat pizza, chicken fingers, french fries, mashed potatoes, or so many other things kids like!

Toys: Jack-in-the-box, kitchen, cookie play set, babies and blankies, purses, necklaces

Activities: helping us cook, music class, brushing her teeth, playing in/with water, cutting with her new scissors, coloring, painting, playing in make-up, slide

Her language completely blows us away. You can have great conversations with her now. She answers questions, talks about remote events, describes using complex adjectives, and has utterances as long as 10-12 words long! Her typical utterance length is around 6-9 words. She is still very inquisitive and imaginative. She can play and play all by herself in her playroom using her imagination. She loves talking about her family and when we are going to see everyone again.

She loves letters! She knows probably 98% of the letters of the alphabet consistently and knows maybe half of their sounds. She asks me all the time, "Mommy what does XX start with". If I emphasize the beginning sound of the word, she can often tell me what letter the word starts with. She has been able to recognize her name in print for quite a while now.

She has become quite the Daddy's girl lately. Loves "kissies" and "big hugs" for Daddy. Seems like it is just in time for new baby sister's arrival.

She has also become a little manipulative! When she does something and I ask her not to, sometimes she will direct me to go do something, like go check on the laundry in the other room, so she can continue to do whatever it is I told her not to do. It is hard not to laugh!

She still LOVES her school, Little Caterpillar Academy. Springhill...not so much.

Something I hear all day long, "NO WAY, maybe later"

Austin Fun

Olivia and I hit the road and headed to Austin. We stayed with the Dunn's and loved getting to finally meet Baby Dylan. Olivia was IN LOVE with him. She really likes babies and loves to help take care of them. I am hoping this translate to being a great and helpful big sister!

Jumping in the super fun toy with Shannon's twins, Austin and Taylor, and Jake

Jake taught her how to "cheers" and wanted to do it with everything, even cheese

doing some serious co-coloring

Dinner with lots of friends including Uncle Trey

AMAZING 30 minute conversation she had on the phone with Mike on our way home from dinner at the Rhodes' house. She really asked him questions, talked about what she wanted to do when she got back (make pancakes and go sledding, kiss him and Maya) etc. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. So sweet. He is really the only person she will talk to on the phone. She really missed her Dada

Having a special treat with Jake, Popsicles!

Austin Zoo!

Olivia won't ride in a stroller anymore so I didn't even bring one back with me from Canada. At the zoo, however, all she wanted to do was ride in Jake's stroller!

With Auntie Eileen checking out the pigs

We got to spend so much time with Eileen while we were in Austin. It was so great to see her and we loved how she did so many fun kid activities with us :)

Feeding the goats...again, more fun for Mommy to feed them and to just watch

She would feed this tiny little deer animal

Then got brave and fed the llamas

Fun on the train at the zoo!

Finally Jake gets to ride in his own stroller

Jennifer, SSR, Maggie and Baby Dylan (best baby ever!!)

Showing Dylan her balloon

Loved Miss Gracie

Sadly, this is the only picture I got from our play date with some of our CSD buddies (Olivia with Evie Reichert)

Same day, another play date with Cousin Colin!

Themed Restaurants!

Within two days, we hit both the Rainforest Cafe with Ducky and the Aquarium Downtown with Ducky, Pong Pong, and Uncle Matt.

Olivia hid her face in my chest for the first 10 minutes we were at Rainforest Cafe. They sat us far away from the moving animals, but they were still pretty scary...at first. Then she loved them and didn't want to leave.

Pong Pong and Olivia pulled up a chair to get a closer look. The manager soon told them they were a fire hazard :)

Feeding the Horses

My friends Carrie and Cheryl found out that you can go to the Houston Police Department horse stables and feed the horses! You can feed them carrots and peppermints. It was so much fun. Olivia fed them at first. After getting tickled a few times, it was more fun to watch Mommy feed them.

"How bout Mommy feed the horsie"

How fun!

My buddy Sophie

At lunch after the horses with Aiden Phillips, Ella Fuller, and Sophie Leedy (all Doha buddies)

Swimming with Uncle Matt

Mike flew back to Edmonton while Olivia and I stayed in Houston for three more weeks. When Daddy is not there, it really makes me realize how much help a daddy is! While I was taking a much needed break one evening, Uncle Matt took Olivia swimming in Ducky and Pong Pong's new hot tub. She finally got the hang of her new floatie and was finally willing to swim over to the side by herself. Yea Uncle Matt, the swim teacher!! That evening was the beginning of "Uncle Matt hero status".

1,2,3 JUMP!!!