January 26-February 2

Gretchen can use a straw now.  Every time I pick something up while holding Gretchen, especially when in the kitchen, she grabs it and puts it in her mouth.  Olivia's water cup was no exception.  Usually I take advantage of the fact that my arms are longer and hold the cup out of Gretchen's reach, but one day her determination and complete lack of regard for her own personal safety won out.  She waited until I had a moment of distraction, then lunged and captured the cup, immediately putting the straw in her mouth.  Though she couldn't figure out how to make the straw work that particular time, I've let her continue to try.  After much spluttering, she has finally mastered the straw and can now get a drink of water whenever I leave a cup within reach.

Gretchen is also able to help out when she's getting dressed.  If I aim her arm towards the correct hole in her shirt, she'll push it through.  Bryan appreciates the fact that she's willing to stick her legs straight out and hold them still while he puts on her pants.  I suppose that is preferable to the kicking and rolling that used to be the norm.  :)

It seems I never have any Olivia news recently.  She's developing new skills, too, just at a slower, less obvious rate.  She picks up new words ("beautiful" and "friends" are her latest vocabulary enhancers) and gets better at things she could already do, but she's in refining mode rather than learning mode.  She and I DID manage to complete a game of Candy Land last week, and the only cheating was when I stacked the deck so that she got the upcoming character cards (and the ones we'd already passed were quietly removed).  She also enjoys playing her Uno Moo game, although she's still a bit fuzzy on the rules.

Keep an eye out for the Bonus Post coming this Wednesday.

Pictures:
Olivia loves to go to the basement at Grandma and Grandpa's house to "dance to Grandpa's music."  She insists that everyone on the dance floor have a hat, a microphone, and (occasionally) an animal:

One of Olivia's more exciting ponytails:

Keeping Barney warm in the cold weather (my idea since she needed her hands free so that she could stuff them in her pockets):

Olivia reads in style:

Gretchen's mad straw skills:

It starts early.  Olivia wanted to wear these socks and couldn't find the matches, so she decided that she'd do even better and wear both colors: