Olivia loves to pose for pictures now and this one was from last week as we were getting ready to go to church. She was so cute in her denim dress with tights that we had to get some pictures and she is very willing to have her picture taken now.
She is really growing fast so I try to get her into her cute outfits before she is grown out of them.
She is behaving better in church now as long as we keep a variety of things with us to keep her attention. Steve and I go through the routine of snacks, drink, coloring, playing with our jewelry, more snacks, more drinks, sending her over by Jenny, etc. until church is over and we have not heard much of what the pastor said but hopefully didn't disturb too many people around us. She has also been left with Jenny twice now while we go to communion and Jenny does such a good job with her, Olivia barely notices we are gone and is all smiles when she sees us coming back to the pew.
Here she is playing with Jenny, her dinner wasn't quite ready yet so they put Elmo in the high chair and fed him. Olivia thought it was hilarious as she loves to feed all of her stuffed animals and her babies and even her horses she rides. She also gets the cat brush out of the drawer ma
ny times during the day and brushes everything from the furniture to her toys. She brushes Misty a little bit but gets pretty rough so Misty will only tolerate it a short time.
Olivia is starting to repeat words a little more but as Grandpa states it...."she gets whatever she wants with grunting so why should she talk?" This is true so I am trying to get her to tell me what she wants before she gets "milk" or "snack" or "tv".
We have also officially begun the potty training stage. I told her when she "goes potty in her diaper" to come to me and say "momma potty" and point to her backside. She actually came to me the next time, although she just stood in front of me and whined, I asked her if that's what she did and she shook her head yes and went in her room to have her diaper changed. I am surprised at how much she really understands when I tell her things but I guess she is growing up so fast I can hardly keep up with her.
I had to put my good friend and long time companion to sleep today. Smokey has been with me through thick and thin for the last 13 years. I have had her since she was 12 weeks old but age has finally gotten the best of her. She was a purebred Dalmatian who liked to scare adults but was gentle around kids. Although sometimes in a lot of pain she was always very sweet around Olivia and tolerated her sometimes getting a little too rough. The last year was painful for Smokey but I had a very hard time letting her go. She was a tough old girl that is very much missed. Besides me, the one that will miss his closest friend is Blazer. He will be all alone now so we will all have to make sure he gets extra attention from us.
