You Gotta Have Friends

For those of you who know Olivia you know that at the young age of 8 months she is already a social butterfly! She is a baby who is always on the go...from the moment she wakes up in the morning to time she crashes each and every night. She is also a very inquisitive baby. You can tell just by the way she explores and studies everything that she comes across. She studies her toys very carefully and knows what happens when they are tossed about in a certain way. Because it is just the three of us Olivia is usually stuck playing by herself or with mommy and daddy. All of Olivia's cousins are much older than she is and although they love her very much they really don't have much interest in her when it comes to playing. So when the opportunity arises to get together with other babies we jump on it!

Over the past couple of weeks Olivia has had many play dates...mostly with boys! Only eight months old and already attracting the boys...what a flirt! She can hardly contain herself when she gets around other children. She shakes with excitement and usually starts squealing. It is quite a sight. In most cases she immediately wants to reach for the other child and grab onto something...whether it be clothes, hair or whatever toy that child has. Because Olivia gets so excited the other children tend to just stare at her for a moment...probably trying to figure out why this baby is losing her mind! But once the initial excitement wears down she really enjoys having a playmate. Here are a few pictures of Olivia on her recent play dates...

Olivia and Sam

Olivia & Joey

Olivia with Connor & Logan

It has been fun watching Olivia start to socialize more with other children. She shows a genuine interest when they are around. Although if she is anything like her mother she will be quite bossy as a child and will try to dominate play time at all times! Hopefully she will encounter a few kids that are willing to give her a run for her money. Oh and I guess one day Todd and I may try to give Olivia a play mate of her very own, in the form of a little brother or sister :) Note that the emphasis is on the words "one day" as we have about all we can handle right now!

Well we are off for New York later this week. It is time for our all expenses paid family reunion trip to The Big Apple! Thanks to my Mom and her very persuasive letter to the Crest Whitestrips contest we are going to see the sights in the big city. It should be an amazing trip which will bring lots of great pictures. Check back soon!