As the summer comes to an end we are trying to do as many fun things outdoors as we can. It has been hard to do much outside this summer with the temps being so high. But now the weather is cooling off a bit and it has been just gorgeous. We figured that we better take advantage of these nice days before they are gone!
We also recently took Olivia to a beautiful park near our house. Lakeside Rose Gardens is known for their beautiful landscaping and amazing flowers. We enjoyed another gorgeous day as we walked around the park feeding the ducks, playing on the swing set and just relaxing.
Olivia especially loved the swings! I think she would have let her Daddy push her for hours. It is so great to watch the excitement she experiences when doing something she loves. Her smile and laugh are just contagious!
We wanted to try and take some nice pictures of Olivia at the park, near the beautiful flowers. But that turned out to be an exercise in futility. All she wanted to do was pull the petals off of the flowers and eat the grass..big surprise! I tried to catch a few nice shots of her but this was the best I could do. This was after saying "No No" and "Don't put that in your mouth" at least 20 times!
Recently we drove to a small town near us that was having a sculpture display. We heard from some people that they we worth seeing so we took a drive to check them out. They were displayed throughout the small, quaint downtown area. As we walked around the town we were greeted by the life-like statues. They were quite fascinating and Olivia was quite taken with some of them as well...
And today we spent the afternoon at Headwaters Park enjoying "Jazz in the Park". There was not a cloud in the sky. It was a great day to have a picnic in the park while listening to some nice music. Todd, Livie, myself and my Mom all went. We found a great spot in the shade and enjoyed what I would consider "a perfect day".
Since Olivia has a lot of trouble sitting still these days she took turns climbing all over the three of us, as we sat on our blanket in the shade. Here she is tackling Nana as she tries to relax. Nana has yet to realize that there is no relaxing when Olivia is around!
Olivia played on her blanket and had some snacks. She loved the music and would bounce up and down to the songs she liked. She also practiced her walking skills in the grass, which get better everyday. With our assistance she takes some steps. It looks like she is marching...as she lifts each foot up very high, before placing it in front of her.
It has been a great summer. We have done so many fun things. Although Olivia won't remember these adventures when she is grown, it will be fun to tell her about them. We also recognize the fact that we are helping along her development by exposing her to so many different things. Taking in all the sights and sounds will help to make her a very smart, sharp toddler.
Now for a quick update....Olivia is just shy of 11 months. She currently weighs a little over 23 lbs. She has five teeth. Two on the bottom and three on the top...trying so hard to come all the way in. She is trying to stand up on her own from a seated position. The babysitter said she has done it, but I have yet to see it for myself. She is taking some steps while holding our fingers but she would prefer to do her goofy, dragging one leg crawl. She is sleeping like a champ...12 hours through the night. And she is on three meals a day of solid food. (I think we are close to being done with nursing...she seems to be losing interest). She is such a great baby...we have no complaints...except that she needs to stop growing up so fast!
She has been watching Sesame Street for quite a few months now. After watching the show for awhile she started to show some interest in Elmo. She would perk up whenever he would be on the screen. Elmo even has his own 15 minute segment at the end of each Sesame Street episode. It didn't take long before she became obsessed with Elmo. She would squeal in delight when he was on and would sit still during his whole segment. It is probably one of the few times the child sits still in the course of an entire day! After seeing how much she enjoys Elmo we went out and bought her an Elmo phone. She loves to press the buttons to hear his voice.
Better than the Elmo phone...we gave her a Tickle Me Elmo doll! Now I hate to admit it...but the doll belonged to me. Todd gave it to me many years back. I have always loved Elmo also and it was a cute gift at the time. But a 29 year old woman really does not have much use for a Tickle Me Elmo, so I saw it appropriate to pass it along to my daughter. And boy does she love it! When you press different parts of Elmo's body he talks, laughs and giggles. Press his nose and he sings a fun little song. This is Olivia's favorite part as you can see (please ignore the fact that I sound like a complete moron in the video clip)...
I have a feeling that Stuffy will one day have his arms and legs pulled off, from receiving too much love. But we will deal with that when it happens. He has already received a bath (gone through the washing machine) and he survived...thank goodness! It is sweet watching her with this bear. She truly loves him. When we ask her to give Stuffy loves she grabs him and squeezes him as hard as she can. Or sometimes she suffocates him by laying on top of him. Either way it is clear that she is attached and in love!
These past few weeks have been interesting. Things are changing around here. Olivia has become much more mobile and stubborn. Although it is amazing to watch her grown into a toddler it is also quite challenging. We are starting to witness what could be the beginning of the temper tantrums. It does not take much to for Olivia to be thrown into a frenzy. It typically involves her got getting her way...imagine that! Our job is to stay calm when she acts this way so we do not make the situation worse. She usually gets over it pretty quickly and returns to a happy place.
Last week I brought her over the the babysitters and set her on the floor. She immediately starting crawling towards the TV where Kay keeps the videos. I looked at her and said, "Wow...she is crawling forward!" Kay said, "Oh yeah, she does that quite often." I was shocked! Having only ever seen Olivia crawl backwards at home, I was thrilled with the fact that she finally started to show some interest in moving in a different direction. So later that day Todd and I tested her to see if she truly had mastered this task. And sure enough...she had! It's a funny little crawl that she does. She drags one leg underneath as she uses both hands and while standing on the opposite foot. But now that she has figured this out it is all she wants to do! In just the past few days things have changed drastically around here. Gone are the days of being able to leave Olivia alone in a room. Now we must take her with us everywhere we go and watch every move that she makes. So it is hard work for us but a great accomplishment for her. Witness for yourself the big stride made by Olivia this week...
She is growing up so fast! I am astounded by just how much she has accomplished in the past week. Not only is she advancing in her 
In the past few weeks Olivia has begun to pull herself up with little or no assistance. She mainly pulls herself up on other people, as opposed to furniture, but she has gotten quite good at it. She is also able to get herself into a seated position from her belly or her back. This seems to have given her new found freedom! So now, instead of just laying in her crib when I put her down for a nap she will sit up and play with her stuffed animals for awhile before deciding that she is ready for her snooze. I figured this out one day last week when I poked my head into her nursery to see if she had fallen asleep...and there she was sitting up having a conversation with one of her many stuffed animals. I watched her from a distance for awhile and after checking back a few times I noticed that she simply leaned forward, rested her head on her stuffed bear and fell asleep! It didn't seem like the most comfortable of positions but she obviously didn't mind.
And 1-2-3...just like that Olivia has become a big girl. She is able to get what she wants more easily now that she is able to accomplish more things on her own. There are still quite a few things that she cannot do, and she tends to get quite frustrated when she's stuck. She is not a huge fan of crawling...it is more like scooting. She prefers to army crawl than get on all fours and move. But she is able to get to where she wants to go...she just has her own way of doing it. In time she will figure out her next developmental step and tackle it head on...just like she did with crawling, and standing up. I'm guessing that walking is not far behind!
Olivia has also started to show a great interest in reading. She loves books...all kinds of books. She is mostly interested in interactive books. Plain old board books tend to bore her. But if she finds a book with things she can touch and pull she is in heaven. Recently she has developed a fascination with a book at her Nana's house called "Tails". This is a great book that has tails of all different animals that she can feel and pull. It is very colorful and quite clever. Every time Olivia visits her Nana she is asked..."Do you want to read the Tails book?" She responds by shrieking in delight and looking or reaching for the place that Nana keeps the book. It amazes me how quickly she has caught on to this book and knows exactly where it is kept. Once they start to read the book Olivia anticipates what is on each page. There is even a page with the stinky tail of a skunk. When they reach this page she leans forward to smell the page and makes a funny sound with her nose to show us that the tail is stinky! What a smarty pants! Here is a video clip of Nana and 
In two short months we will be celebrating Olivia's first 
Now the runny nose...so very annoying. Not just to me but I to Olivia as well I'm sure. As I mentioned before she is getting more teeth. One of her top teeth and one next to that has been working it's way through for the past few weeks. One of the main symptoms of teething is a runny nose. Again, something else that makes no sense to me. Why does a runny nose go hand in hand with teething? And is her nose going to stop running anytime soon? The way I see it is that she still has quite a few baby teeth that need to come in. Is her nose going to keep running until they have all come though? If so I am looking at months of wiping snot...yuck! Well I need to count my blessings because that is the worst symptom we have had to deal with since Olivia has started getting teeth. She never fusses. In fact I didn't even know that she got her first two teeth until they were poking through the skin. So if the runny nose is as bad as it is going to get... we will manage. As you can see from the picture below, even though Olivia is squeaky clean...just out of the bath, she still has snot running down her nose!
Aside from the toes and the nose Olivia has been a busy bee. She is crawling more and more...but still only backwards! She is pulling herself up very well now. I notice that her legs are getting stronger and stronger each day. She is getting more interactive with her toys as well. She now can hold a telephone up to her ear when it rings...what a smart girl! I think she is honing her "talking on the phone" skills at a very early age! She is quite the chatter box and will probably want to be on the phone constantly as an adolescent. Here is a little video of Olivia answering her telephone when it rings...
As she gets older and older she amazes me more and more. Just the other day we were on a walk around the neighborhood. We pass quite a few barking dogs as we walk and each time I say, "Olivia, what does the doggy say?" and I usually answer the question for her by saying, "Woof, Woof". Well the other day while we were playing together I just asked her out of the blue, "What does the doggy say?" and she responded by grunting twice in a row. I had to believe that was her way of saying "Woof, Woof"! I thought it was a fluke at first but after asking her a few more times I realized that she was answering my question and knew that doggies say "Woof, Woof"! How cool is that? You would not think that she would be able to comprehend such things at such a young age. But babies are amazing creatures and it just proves that they know much more than we think they know!
Olivia turned 9 months a few weeks ago. She is growing like a weed! We recently went to the doctor for her 9 month check up and she received a glowing review! She is weighing in at just under 22lbs and she is just under 29 inches in length. According to the doctor she is developing right on schedule. She is not concerned about her lack of interest in crawling because even though she is only scooting backwards she is doing everything that she should at this stage.
One big development is the addition of a front tooth. Her right, front tooth is starting to poke though, but not enough to show in a picture. Once it pops out a little bit more I will be sure to add it to the blog. Because she is getting her top teeth she has started grinding them together. I was a little concerned about this at first but I realized that there is nothing I can do to stop her. She is just exploring the fact that she has teeth on the top and the bottom and she can rub them together. This has allowed her to start eating more advance foods as well. She is eating more and more table food every day. Just another sign that our baby girl is growing up!
Her vocabulary is expanding daily also. She has so many sounds! When she babbles it sounds as if she is actually trying to tell you something. She seems to know exactly what she is saying, but of course we have no idea! She will point her finger and babble sternly as if she has a very important point to make. This is a girl who takes her talking very seriously and i have a feeling she is going to be hard to keep quiet once she is in school!
He had such a great time with Olivia. He came to see her as soon as he got into town. He immediately handed her a $50 bill that she could put into her bank account. Although she has absolutely no concept of money she sure liked to play with it! With eight grandsons and one granddaughter, Olivia quickly became the apple of his eye. I don't think he ever thought he would have a granddaughter but now that he does I can see how happy she makes him.
We did a lot of fun things during the time Todd's Dad was visiting. There was a graduation party for one of Todd's nephews, a Birthday party for another nephew, and multiple pool parties at Uncle VJ's. There were many family gatherings, which was nice considering Todd's Dad does not get to see his kids and grandchildren that often. Although he enjoys living in Hawaii...who wouldn't...(he does have some brothers and other family members over there), I am sure he would much rather be here with those that are closest to him. Here are some other pictures from our summer outings with Todd's family...
Good news is that both Todd's Mom and Dad will be coming back for another visit soon after the first of next year. This will be Todd's Mom's first trip back since moving to Hawaii in 2004. Needless to say I am sure she will quite amazed by Olivia as well by how much the rest of her grandchildren have grown. It was so nice having Todd's Dad here for such a long visit this summer. It gave Todd and the rest of his siblings a chance to spend time with him as well the opportunity for Olivia to get to know her GP.