May 20-27

Olivia now pulls herself up to stand and walks along the furniture in our house.  Nothing under three feet is safe, except things that are at least a foot back from the edge, because her short little arms can't reach that far.  Also, things she drops on the floor have a temporary reprieve, because she still hasn't mastered sitting back down.  While at church, I discovered that she can sit back down if her hands are at waist level (she was playing near a wide step), so it would appear that the problem is that she doesn't know how far away the ground is when her hands are at shoulder level.  Usually at our house she stands and whimpers at me until I rescue her from her tremendous height.

Near the end of the week, Olivia also got pretty good at standing while holding on with only one hand.  She's not brave enough to let go with both hands yet.  I wouldn't be, either, if I were as wobbly on my feet as she still is.  :)

In addition to the frequent head shaking and periodic head nodding, Olivia has added a more noncommittal shrug to her repertoire.  She also likes to tip her head to one side in a quizzical way that quickly turns playful when she realizes that her audience mimics her.

Still no concept of size from Olivia; she sees a space and obviously should be able to fit through it.  Luckily for her, we don't have a lot of small spaces for her to try to bull her way through.

I don't know when sneakiness is supposed to fully develop, but we're seeing the beginnings of it.  There are a few things Olivia knows she's not supposed to be playing with -- my basket full of project pieces ("I just want to empty them onto the floor!"), the Xbox ("But the light is so pretty!").  Sometimes instead of directly approaching the forbidden objects, she uses her toys as props.  She'll drop toys into the basket so that she has an excuse to go into it to get them out.  Is it her fault that she happens to find other, better things in there at the same time?  She'll also grab any random nearby toy to toss ahead of her if she sees me watching her progress towards the Xbox.  She'll throw the toy and chase it, a game that she plays often, but then suddenly lose interest once she gets close the the Xbox.  "But the light, mom!"

Tuesday was Olivia's checkup, and she is now 29.5 inches tall and 20 lbs, 4 oz.

On Friday, Olivia and I drove to Columbus to pick up Uncle Brad for the wedding that we went to on Saturday.  While in Columbus, we watched a family of geese stop traffic while they crossed the street.  I was ridiculously excited (and also reminded of the book Make Way for Ducklings), and Brad was reasonably excited.  Olivia couldn't see from her backseat, but one day she'll get to look at the picture I took and be excited, too.

Saturday was Bryan's best friend's wedding, so we were there all day.  Olivia took a nap in Grandpa's arms.  Sunday we went to a baptism at the same church (although completely unrelated to the previous day's participants).




More pictures:

May 13-20

Bryan, Olivia, and I attended our first auction this past week.  A nearby house/office was being sold at absolute auction and we decided to check it out.  It was really neat, although I had no idea what the auctioneer was saying half the time.  There were also some things being auctioned off, so we came away with 2 bookshelves for a grand total of $1.  My mother is so jealous.  :)  We almost didn't get them because we were scared to bid...  When the house auction started, we stood in the back and tried not to move.  Poor Bryan turned to me at one point and whispered, "My nose itches, but I'm afraid to scratch it!"  I think it would have been safe at that point, because the bidding was down to two main buyers, but still...  We didn't want to accidentally buy the building.  :)

We have a screen door!  Wednesday evening Bryan's dad came down and helped us add a screen door to our front door.  It's wonderful for creating a breeze and keeping the house cool.  :)

Olivia has perfected pulling herself into a standing position.  Unfortunately, once she gets there she's stuck: she doesn't know how to sit back down.  So this week we worked on sitting.  I'd help her stand up, then I'd poke her in the stomach and she'd sit down.  We probably worked on that for 15 minutes on Tuesday.  By Thursday, though, she was getting better and leaving the standing position without landing on her head.

Pictures:

May 6-13

We tried to build our prayer room in the driest section of our basement.  In fact, we thought we had picked pretty much the only section with absolutely no puddles.  As it turns out, however, monsoon season swept through our area last week, and we have puddles everywhere.  Judging from the carpet's tendency to get damper the longer one stands on it, I assume the puddles are also under the prayer room.  :(  We didn't attach the carpet or anything, so it's a simple matter of lifting it up and (hopefully) drying it out.  However, I think a better idea would be to move the prayer room, washer, and dryer to the attic and turn the basement into a swimming pool instead.  :)

My project Thursday and Friday was to make a purse like Justine's.  When Olivia and I visited, I took measurements of Justine's purse and wrote everything down.  I just got around to making it this week, and it turned out pretty well!  I still need to put a button on the front pocket so that I can use the buttonhole that I made (first one ever! Yay!)  I also added to the design a little: there are some pen loops and a pocket on the inside of the bag for easy storage.  I noticed how often Justine was losing her pens.  :)

Thursday marked one year since we signed papers on our house!

Sleeping through the night was successful.  ...For about a week and a half.  Then Olivia became proficient at rolling over and started flipping onto her stomach as soon as she woke up.  So instead of drifting back to sleep, she was just mad that she was on her stomach.  THEN she got better at sitting up on her own and pulling herself into a standing position.  It's hard to sleep when you're sitting or standing.

Little things:
-Jazz hands.  Instead of clapping, sometimes Olivia just does jazz hands.
-Crawling?  I catch her on her knees frequently now.  She still can't move on her knees, though.  I'm wondering if she's on her knees because she wants to crawl that way, or if she's just using her knees as a pushing off point for standing.
-Standing.  Occasionally, Olivia will pull herself up.  It's not frequent yet, but Friday morning she was suddenly standing behind my chair after scooting over and hauling herself into an upright position.  And Saturday Bryan found her standing twice -- once in her crib and once in the baby cage.
-Sitting.  I know, old news.  But NOW, she can get to a sitting position all by herself!
-Height.  Olivia is as tall as a card table.  I find that difficult to believe, and a I'm the one who measured her!

We got a "baby cage" last week.  It's a gate with a door that I can latch if I need to go switch laundry or something.  The rest of the time the door is open so that Olivia can get in and out as she pleases.  She took a few days to figure out that she could go through the opening, but now she's pretty good at it.


Pictures and Videos:

April 29-May 6

I added a few more pictures to last week's post.  Also, this week, we have videos!

Olivia's hit a climbing stage.  Thus far she mostly just climbs up ME as we stand in church (or wherever).  Oh, and her "crawl" looks a bit like a horizontal rock climb.  :)

You never realize how dirty your floor is until you have a 9-month-old who scoots along it on her belly.  It doesn't matter how often I sweep, she still picks up dirt and hair on her stomach as she chases after toys.  Also, as I spend more time on the floor, I tend to notice more things that need dusting.

The cute little sun hat that I got for Olivia seems to be on its way out.  She's to the point where she can get it off faster than I can get it on.  Sometimes when she's in the wrap she'll still wear it, mostly because her arms are pulled in and can't reach without some dedicated squirming on her part.  We were walking in the backyard and Olivia pulled her sun hat off, so I put it on top of my head for safekeeping.  She immediately started climbing, trying to save her poor mother from the pink hat attacking her head.

Olivia has taken to putting one hand behind her back.  It doesn't seem to serve any purpose back there, so I'm pretty sure she's just showing off her skills.  Speaking of skills, she can now play pass with a ball.  Well...  I think she can play pass.  Bryan says she "either plays fetch wonderfully or plays pass poorly."  But she throws a ball in a (usually) forward direction and when you return it, she throws it again.  If she's by herself, she'll throw the ball and then scoot after it in order to throw it again.

The weekend was busy as I had MVSO concerts and we were visiting Bryan's parents for their Cinco de Mayo party.  Grandma had some sunglasses for Olivia that she rocked just long enough for a picture before figuring out how to get them off.  :)




Pictures and Videos: