Oh Where Have the Grandparents Gone?

Yale's parents came to visit us (really, they only came to see Olivia) this weekend. I'm afraid my life has been permanently altered as a result. Oli has had nonstop attention for the past three days, and now that her grandparents are gone she doesn't understand why the constant doting isn't still happening. Her Grandpa Kaul spent a lot of time holding her hands while she walked around the house. She thinks this is the coolest thing since her stuffed bunny! She wants to walk everywhere, all of the time. I think I will need the services of a chiropractor very soon. Both grandparents had her practicing crawling up both flights of stairs -- they called it her first fourteener because there are fourteen stairs. Now we are trying to teach her how to safely go down the stairs because she has gotten quite comfortable hanging out on the stairs, maybe a bit too comfortable. I'm guessing that the next entry will be about Oli's first tumble down the stairs. You can tell Gary and Carolyn are completely smitten with Olivia, and she with them. Gary and Carolyn were so excited to hang out with Olivia that they would swipe her from her crib in the morning the minute they heard her stirring. They both would pace around waiting for her to finish her bottle or wake up from her nap. I think the only reason they were able to leave without kidnapping her, is they know we are planning a trip to Montana at the end of June.

The Nighmare of Naps

Olivia's personality continues to become more evident these days. Part of her expressing herself involves her becoming more willful and determined. This has its advantages and disadvantages. She has become quite obstinate about going to sleep. Even when I know she is absolutely exhausted, she fights naps. for example, she is so tired that she is only happy if I am holding her, and even then she is just sort of happy, crawling all over me, whimpering. This trying stage involves her screaming as soon as I start to cradle her and walk toward the rocking chair. You would think that I had just intentionally started her favorite security blankie/stuffed animal on fire. She moves in and out of the screaming while she is trying her hardest to both wriggle free from my arms and make damn sure that I don't put her down. Once she realizes I moving toward her crib, she starts really screaming and grabbing on to my clothes like we're stuck in a raging flood together and she doesn't want to lose me. Even once I get her in her crib without her pulling me in with her, she continues the sobbing mixed with "I'm-just-about-to-die" screeches until she finally exhausts herself and she conks out mid-yell. I feel bad for her, but I also feel bad for myself. It is very trying.

Give Me Wagon Ride, Dad!

It appears that Olivia has finally gotten her first tooth. For about 4 months I thought she was cutting a tooth on the top, but, low and behold, her first tooth is center, bottom row. The final popping out was pretty anticlimactic compared to the misery she seemed to be in those times we assumed she was upset due to teething pain. Olivia has been spending quite a bit of time outside with me lately. For those of you who haven't seen our house, we have a decent-sized yard that requires a lot of maintenance. Since Yale refuses to do any yard work except mow the lawn, and I was big and pregnant last summer, the yard is in pretty bad shape. In fact, there seems to be more weeds than anything else. So Little O crawls around exploring our yard while I am battling with the dandelions. She really seems to enjoy the breeze, the chirping birds, and especially a whole new multitude of things to put in her mouth. I am thinking I need to get her some sort of mouth guard --maybe attached to a helmet or hat -- that prevents her from putting every disgusting thing she can find in her mouth. Yesterday, she crawled over to me to do one of her periodic check-ins, and she had some black, hard chunk of something in her mouth. At first I thought it was a dried up turd, but after closer examination I was relieved to realize it was just a piece of bark. Olivia has been making great gains in taking steps while holding on to something. She even pushes her wagon/walker around. Yale starts her at one end of the room, the wagon filled with all of her favorite toys. She goes pretty quickly, sometimes half-crawling and half being dragged by the thing, until she runs into something. Then she waits excitedly for her dad to grab while she is still hanging on to the wagon and pull them both backwards back where she can start all over again. Being pulled backward seems to be her favorite part. She has her mouth wide open in anticipation before Yale even gets to her, and then she giggles the whole time he is pulling her. I guess we should get a video of it, because it is quite adorable.

She's Up and Moving Again

Okay, so clearly neither Yale or I is going to write about our trip to Germany. Let me just point out a couple of highlights. Olivia got to meet her Uncle Jason for the first time. This was also the first time I had met Jason, my fairly new brother-in-law. Both Oli and I like him a lot. We met Jason and Ashley in Nurnburg. We were a couple of hours late because, for whatever reason, the handy navigating system couldn't get us to our designated meeting place. We finally met up and enjoyed a locally-brewed beer at a pub with outdoor seating. Next, we feasted on a traditional German lunch, and then took the tram to a festival nearby. Olivia seemed to really enjoy getting to see her aunt and uncle, and it seemed like they kind of like seeing her too. We realized that Little O (actually her web site) has a pretty impressive following in Germany. This was news to us! I think Olivia's second favorite outing was going to the Frankfurt zoo. Now, it is hard to get more excited than Yale about seeing anteaters and lion, but Oli came in a close second. She got to play in her first sandbox. It didn't take long for her to get used to the texture and try to take over the entire sandbox. I don't think we will have to worry about this girl being timid. Enough about Germany. Olivia continues to amaze us with how quickly she is changing. Just when we started to get the hang of the crawling stage, she has started to take little steps with assistance. She has even started pushing around the walking wagon that the Kaul grandparents got her for Christmas. I can honestly say, I would be happy if we could extend the crawling stage for a couple more months, but I don't really think she is going to consider my vote on this issue. We are coming to the end of weaning Olivia from breastfeeding. Thankfully, feeding her formula seems to be helping her sleep through the night. Until last week, she was still acting as if she had jet lag from going to Germany. She would get up around 1:00 a.m. and wouldn't go back to sleep until she had eaten a four-course meal, getting me to bed by about 3:00. I am sure glad to be through that stage. Now Yale is giving her a bottle before he leaves for work, so I actually get to stay in bed for a full 8 hours. It has been a very long time since I have been able to enjoy a full-night's sleep. Anyone that has gone long stretches with limited sleep realizes what an unbelievable treat this is!