Grandpa's Birthday and 1 and 2/3 years old

Stop now if you want pictures - I have none!!! Today, marked my dad's birthday and Olivia being 20 months old. Olivia and I met Dad, Jeri, Tricia and Ashley at West Allen Grill for dinner to celebrate Dad's birthday. I would say it was a nice dinner, but that would be a lie. Olivia was not a happy girl and shared her unhappiness with everyone in the restaurant. No clue what the huge problem was. Either way, she still ate good, but man was it a struggle.

I thought I would share some thoughts and stories about Olivia to mark the occasion. Aside from a few rough days this past week or two, normally Olivia is a delight. It seems every day she does something that makes me smile with absolute wonderment. I realize that for those who have been through the whole parenting thing, most of this seems insignificant, but it really is wonderment to me!

- She is fascinated with putting on my bras and underwear. She will regularly emerge from my bedroom with a bra or two and a pair of underwear around her neck.

- She loves cooking at her stove then bringing her creations to me to eat. Tonight she brought me some "boiled cheese", then went back to the stove to get "cinnamon" and "chili powder". She then shook them onto the cheese while making a "schhh, schhh" sound.

- She still eats great - in the last two days she has had: sauerkraut, rye bread, corned beef, raw and cooked sweet potato fries, broccoli, cherries (a favorite) meatballs, cooked and raw carrots, lettuce, and bbq ribs. And that was just supper tonight and last night.

- She holds up one finger for the number one when I say it.

- She shakes her finger at me, the cat, etc and says "nnnoooo" when we are doing something she does not like. (I curse the Little Monkeys book)

- Sleep has not been bad, but certainly not as much as expected. We start heading to bed 8 - 8:30 and she is in the crib in about 30 or less. She really NEVER goes to sleep before 9, sometimes later. She doesn't cry, and she wants to get in her crib, but she plays music and hangs out for a while. She is also waking up around 6 am. She will sometimes go back to sleep, but otherwise once again plays music or just rolls around and jabbers. I was sure it was because it was too light in her room, so we got some drapes and hung them a few days ago. Hasn't helped, but she did go back to sleep this morning after waking up at 6am.

- If she is doing something that she really, really likes and we have to stop, or she wants to do something and I won't let her, sometimes she will start wailing and run all the way into our bedroom and stand with her face against the mattress and cry. It is cute/funny and sad all at the same time. She does it because she is clearly mad at me, but then she comes right back to me to play or cuddle.

- In the time it took me to brush my hair and teeth, put lotion on my face and get dressed, she had 3/4 of her books out of their basket, the cushion off the chair and she was sitting in it reading. (she can't get in it with the cushion on)

- We went shoe shopping tonight. I bought one pair of 6's and two pair of 7's. I think 6.5 would be perfect, but that was not an option. I can't get her to stand still long enough to check her height. She is certainly heavier.

She asserts her independence more every day. She wants to eat with a fork and spoon, no matter what it is. She picks out her shoes, always finding a pair from the basket, she sits on the potty pretty regularly (but nothing comes out). She still imitates everything we do, down to the tiniest detail.

There are certainly moments of struggle and frustration, but overall, it is good.