April 15-22

There's a little map in the "Stats" section of my moderator page that shows generally where viewers are located (very generally...  it highlights the appropriate country).  Until recently, the United States was green and everything else was white.  I looked on Tuesday, though, and Australia was showing up as a very pale green, which I assume means it simply has less viewers.  It's exciting to have viewers from Australia, though.  Hi, Marian and family!

After stopping at Bryan's parents' house Sunday night, we finally made it home Monday morning...  Olivia was very excited to see familiar toys in her usual box.  Not that she didn't appreciate the toys Oma and Opa provided, but these are hers.  :)  Instead of sticking to her usual "quality control" routine where she inspects each toy and then tosses it disdainfully over her shoulder, she actually seemed to play with each toy a bit.  And she occasionally went back and picked up one she had already rejected, just to make sure it was the same as she remembered.

This week we're seeing a lot of sudden growth:
-We had to move the crib mattress down from its highest setting so that our newly mobile little girl wouldn't accidentally pitch herself over the side.

-Purposeful dropping and/or throwing of toys has begun.  No more shaking her arm until the toy happens to fall.

-Suddenly we're hearing the "ba" sound.  When did that happen?  We worked on "na", "da", and "ma", but this one just showed up.  Also, a side note about Olivia's hard "g": she only does it with her mouth closed.  It's pretty funny, and neither Bryan nor I can reproduce it.

-Though Olivia is still only scooting on her stomach instead of actually crawling, she's getting pretty good at it.  On carpeting she propels herself forward using her toes, but on the hardwood floors she smacks the floor with her hands and then pulls herself forward.

-I figure someday the hair will be in the eyes as we attempt to grow it out.  That day might as well be now, when she's too little to be bothered by it.  This means no bangs for Olivia once what she has grows out.  It also means that I've discovered how cute she looks with a little barrette holding some of her hair off her face.  :)

-Bryan says that Olivia is gaining an awareness of what she is capable of doing.  Long gone are the days when she flailed her arms for no reason or threw herself backward with no apparent intent.  No, now the flailing and throwing are purposeful.  They don't make sense to us, but she means to be doing whatever it is she's doing.

Not bad, considering Bryan
is not a teenage girl.  He almost
got all three of us...  :)

-Up until recently I've been using the wrap whenever I go out with Olivia.  It's more convenient than lugging a stroller around, and she couldn't sit up in a stroller anyway.  Now, though, she sits up just fine, and sometimes we pull out the stroller for a walk -- usually one that will involve more groceries than I want to carry back on my shoulders.  :)  Bryan likes us to use the stroller when he's walking with us so that he can help, too.  Sometimes it goes very well, and sometimes Olivia has a meltdown because she's all alone and can't find her parents.  She's getting better, though.  Bryan says it looks like she's exploring the world on this great adventure, which she probably is.  Of course, this phrasing causes me to begin singing, "Olivia and mom and dad, adventurers slash explorers!"