who's the boss?

Well Little Miss Olivia would like to think she is...but I would beg to differ! Livie turned 15 months old on Monday. She is growing up right in front of my eyes. This is very apparent in the way she has started to exert her independence. She likes to do things on her own, only asking for help when absoutely necessary. She also does NOT like to hear the word NO...imagine that! With her now walking at a very fast pace, she moves from room to room before I even have a chance to notice. This usually means she is able to get into something that is off limits before I have a chance to catch her. And although Olivia is very busy learning and doing new things, mastering the art of the temper tantrum is currently at the top of her list! Yep...we have arrived at that stage!

I was hoping to have caught one of these episodes on camera to share with you, but no such luck. They are usually very quick and they tend to be over just as quickly as they begin. I guess that is a good thing. Since I cannot show you firsthand how one of these tantrums play out, I will try to explain it. Each tantrum is orchestrated with precision. How do I know this? Because I have watched her from start to finish. It begins when she is told not to do something, or not to touch something. She then stops...pauses for a few seconds...and dramatically throws herself on the floor. Once she is on the floor she proceeds to kick her legs and wave her arms like a crazy person. It is quite a sight. The first couple of times she did it I actually laughed out loud...not a good idea. I have since learned to just walk away...much better idea because once she notices that she no longer has an audience the tantrum comes to an end. Sometimes walking away is tough because I am baffled how the slightest thing can cause a child to unravel. Telling a child to stop turning the TV on and off a million times may not seem like a big deal to us, but it can seem life altering to them. I just try to put myself in her shoes. As you can tell by the look on her face in this picture she was not very happy with me. Luckily a tantrum did not follow this time, but this tends to be the face I see just before one starts. Cracks me up!

Needless to say we are starting to deal with some of the challenges of parenthood. Ok, I may be overreacting a bit. Olivia is a doll! She rarely throws tantrums, and when she does it is usually because she is tired, hungry or just grumpy. She continues to be a very easy going, fun loving baby! She just keeps getting smarter and smarter each day too. She can now point out about 8 different body parts and can name about 5 of them. She can also do about 10 different animal sounds which is just hilarous! Some of her new words this week are "toys", "Oh Boy!" and "Yeah". It seems like each day she has a new word.

One last thing I want to share. This past weekend we went to a Super Bowl party. The hosts had the most amazing HD-TV, perfect for watching the game (or in my case...the commercials). Check out Olivia enjoying her dinner during kick-off. She was delightful that night. Running around, playing with her toys and chatting up a storm to anyone that would listen.

It was a fun night, but I did not get to see much of the game or the commercials for that matter, as I was too busy making sure Olivia did not get into any trouble. Thank goodness for the Internet, as I was able to watch them all online the next day. My favorites had to be the E*Trade Baby commercials. If you haven't seen them you must! Here are the links...

E*Trade Baby #1

E*Trade Baby #2

If I think I have my hands full now with the trantrums starting, just imagine if she was able to trade stocks online!