March Part 2

Yes I know, we are back to three months behind...life got in the way :) But we are officially back in Oregon, settled in at the Casqueiro house, and loving being back. I've used all the extra help to get plenty of time to organize and craft. I have made significant progress on my to-do list, but have been staring at the words "blog catch-up" for too long. So here is my attempt at appeasement while I get some picture organization done over the next few days.

The 17th of March marked Alex and my 6 month anniversary :). Now I'm not normally one to celebrate things more frequently than annually, but I did plan a special dinner and was pleasantly surprised when Alex came home from his baseball game with these beautiful flowers :)- I definitely got a good one! We were just finishing up the plans for our "honeymoon" trip in April so it was a fun relaxed evening.

 I know I just post adventure after adventure with Olivia, but she is constantly surprising me. One of her current favorite activities is to get in the fridge (or sneak up behind you when you open the fridge) and grab something to snack on. These snacks are usually closed containers that get set down pretty quickly, but this time she found something fun! I didn't have any specific plans for the lettuce, so I just let her eat it...she tried a little bite out of each piece then set it on the couch.

In her defense, she did help me put all the pieces into a bag when she was done, even finding the littlest pieces from the floor.

 Just a couple messes...this is pretty much a daily thing. At least once a day I get her room totally picked up, clothes in the right drawers (not always folded) and books on the shelf (not always organized by type and size). As soon as she finds her floor clean, Olivia is quick to "play" for about 20 minutes by pulling all the clothes out of her drawer, one at a time. Then she heads over to the bookshelf for about half an hour of reading time (pulling the books off, looking at a few pages - sometimes with narration - and moving on to the next book). To some it might seem crazy that I let her do this every day, but I do it for two reasons: 1. I love that she loves to play independently, especially reading. I hope to kindle this love of books and help it grow through her pre-school years and beyond. 2. These messes take up to an hour to make, and about 10 minutes to clean up. That's enough of a time difference to make it totally worth it to me!

Belly Shot...19 w 3 d. I haven't taken many of these, but here's one from about halfway.

Another example of our little reader. She likes to go for wagon rides, and they usually end in picking up the mail before heading home. Alex took her out this time, and snapped these pics of her reading the newspaper...totally on her own. He was just walking pulling her and he turned around to find her catching up on the stocks.

On March 23rd, just before she hit the 17 month mark, Olivia made her first official drawing! Unfortunately it was on a used Taco Bell wrapper, so I didn't save it. I did want to document the momentous occasion :).

I've posted this before, but here is another example of Olivia helping me unload the groceries! I was happy that she decided to snack on an apple this time, it was much less messy than the tomato from the time before :). I'll note that once she decides she wants something as a snack, especially fresh produce, she is VERY possessive of said snack and refuses to give it up until she has devoured it to her satisfaction.

This pic shows the line of apple that she managed to chew off. Her teeth are still small and chewing isn't her specialty, so I was very impressed :)

Juicy face :) and happy kid.

Just before March ended we had a fun play morning with Olivia's good friend Ellie. I was amused by the way they played around each other, and thought this example was cute. They sat on opposite sides of the room reading books exactly the same way. Open to random page, clumsily turn to end of book, discard book, pick another. All the while chatting to themselves about the stories. Love it!

Sunny days led to increased time at the tennis court! We try to get outside as often as possible, and the tennis court right by our apartment is the best way to avoid a car trip to the park. Olivia loves to chase balls and make new friends (by following any other person that comes in to play).

Last but certainly not least, here is Olivia's hint that her monkeys are ready for a snack! I find little surprises around the house quite regularly, and I don't want to forget how they always make me smile and wonder what she is thinking in her little creative mind.

Happy March!