Deflated

Today, for the very first time, Olivia said, "I love you," to a bus.

One to Remember

Today Olivia told me she loved me for the very first time.

Proud Peacock Mama

Olivia and Sophia have both been getting a lot of grandparent time lately. My mom has come a few times in the past couple of weeks to watch the girls while I wrote curriculum for a small contract job I was working on. Olivia talked my mom into letting her "drive" my mom's car. This is one of Olivia's favorite pastimes these days. My mom said she really got a kick out of pushing the buttons on the car key to open the trunk and unlock and lock the doors. That is until she set off the car alarm, which startled everyone and even made Sophia cry. We're all getting spoiled with Grandma Golter's regular visits, plus she often brings some yummy baked treats. Last week Yale's parents came to visit. Olivia got quite attached to Grandma Kaul when she came to help after Sophia was born, and this time Olivia seemed to really bond with her grandpa. We were all going out to eat, but had to take separate cars. During the ride to the restaurant Olivia asked where Grandpa was, we told her he was in his own car. She said, "Missed it," which is her way of saying that she missed him. Those few words said a lot. Grandma Kaul was kind enough to help with feeding Sophia cereal. We started feeding her cereal only a few days before the grandparents came to visit, so it was a pretty new experience for Sophia. Grandma was very patient with getting her to eat even though each spoonful takes about 3 tries and cereal ends up in Sophia's hair and eyelashes because she tries to grab the spoon. We celebrated Yale's 35th birthday while his parents were here. Not only were they kind enough to watch the girls while we enjoyed a rare dinner out, but they also gave him a new, fancy, sleek digital camera. I think you can expect to see a lot more photos on the website; Yale is very excited about experimenting with his new toy. Olivia started a new class last week at the Parents' Day Out program she attends twice a week. She moved up to the toddler room. Most of the kids are around 2 years old, and there are twice as many kids in this class. They get to go outside and play on the big playground, which is very exciting. She seems to like going there. She always goes straight for the kitchen area as soon as we get there. The teachers have given her some wonderful compliments. They say she's very good about cleaning up, follows the rules, plays well with others, and keeps herself entertained. They also said she is one of the few that doesn't start crying when everyone else is crying. As you can imagine, I puffed up like a proud peacock mama when I heard all of that. Sophia continues to charm us with her contagious smile. She has this cute little beginners laugh. It's kind of like when I first started playing the piano as a kid: you could tell I was playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but the notes were delayed and the song was kind of stretched out. I'm sad that the warm weather is coming to an end because now I have to cover up her adorable, roly-poly thighs. I've so enjoyed showcasing them in little skirts and baby shorts. Sophia got her first haircut last night. Her hair has been growing in stages, and one of the stages has gotten to be pretty long, while the rest of her hair is on the shorter side. So we just trimmed it around the ears and snipped some of the longer hairs in the back. This is all in preparation for an appointment at the Sears Photo Studio on Sunday. Yale has been teasing me because I've had such a difficult time deciding what the girls should wear. I had gotten them matching sundresses, but I don't think that's going to work. I'm very sad about it because I had these visions of having my girls dressed identically, at least for a photo, but despite my meager sewing efforts, Sophia's dress still doesn't fit her. I had to accept that when I put it on her after I had shortened the straps and the front of the dress went over her mouth and touched her nose. Bummer. It's also supposed to be quite chilly here on Sunday. At this point, I know they are both going to wear pink, but that's all I know. Okay, I know I've had a lot to say, but one more story...The other day after Yale had gotten home from work, he was laying on the floor and Olivia was pretending to put him to bed. First she got him his bunny and pacifier (both invisible), then she patted his head and told him to close his eyes. The next part is what got us both choked up. She sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him, twice! We've heard her sing parts of it, but we've never heard her sing it so completely. Now, don't get me wrong, there were still a few words missing and a few words blended together to create a new, unknown word. Still, it was such a sweet gesture and she sang it in all seriousness. I wish I would have video taped it. It was definitely something I would like to remember forever.