Cereal Cyclone

Monday night I went to a pilates class. I was gone about an hour and a half. Usually when I come home Yale will greet me in some manner, when this didn't happen I started to wonder what was going on. So as I was walking down the stairs I spotted a large pile of Olivia's cereal which just happens to consist of very small, and unusually sticky flakes. Once I got to the office I saw Yale and Olivia crouched in the corner picking up a bunch of my tutoring supplies. Markers and colored pencils were strewn everywhere. In addition to this lovely mess, there was that sticky cereal spread out all over the carpet. Olivia looked like she had bathed in it. There were flakes covering her back, and the bottoms of her shoes were absolutely caked. So I asked Yale what had happened, and he said that Olivia had been playing with the box of cereal and spilled it everywhere. When I asked him where he was - now this is the surprising part - he says he was in the same room busy typing. I guess he was so caught up in what he was doing that he didn't notice the little flakes flying everywhere. He didn't hear her tearing down all of my tutoring supplies. He didn't hear her little feet crunching as she was walking through the sticky mess. I kind of have to wonder if he did realize what was happening, but decided it was keeping Olivia occupied which allowed him to finish what he was doing. Yale did clean up the mess, and installed a baby lock on the drawer where the cereal is kept. So all of that was good.

Lucky O (and lucky us!)

Olivia is walking everywhere! She's definitely gotten it figured out. She even likes to walk up the stairs by balancing herself with one hand on the wall. We were pretty impressed when we saw her do this. She practices on a single step off of our breezeway. If you let her, she will go up and down it a hundred times. She might even do it more; I seem to get tired of it before she does. She has also started carrying things around with her while she walks. Her favorites are her bunny, the cat food jug, and a Nalgene bottle. Everyone told us how much harder it gets when they start walking, but we really haven't experienced that yet. I think she waited to walk until she knew she would be good at it. I guess she falls fairly often, but rarely cries, which we appreciate. Olivia now knows the signs for help and sleep. She can get quite the attitude going when she wants help. She does the sign with great vigor and impatience and adds in loud squawks to get our attention. When she is ready for bed, it's a different story. She will often do the sign; she puts one hand flat on her right cheek. If that doesn't get our attention, she will get her stuffed bunny and a pacifier and walk upstairs and wait by the rocking chair until we get the hint. I have to say, this melts both Yale's and my heart. My good friend Susan has blessed us with the most wonderful gift. I've been trying to figure out how I could make a little more money for our family and subbing at my former place of employment (Kullerstrand Elementary) seemed like the best paying part-time job I could think of. My dilemma was what to do with Olivia while I work. So when I was talking to Susan about this, she said she would gladly watch Olivia for me if I wanted to sub a day or two per week. The agreement is that we will just give a try and see how it works out. If it seems like a drag for either one of us, nothing lost. So I had my first job the other day. It was nice to get out of the house and interact with some adults, as well as some fully-verbal children. Olivia had clearly had a great time. When I got home, she walked over to give me a hug and then went right back to play with Susan. I can't describe what a huge relief it is to have someone I know and completely trust taking care of our daughter. We feel very fortunate to have Susan as a friend. I hope someday we can figure out a way to return this generous favor.