Eating Swedish Meatballs Today At IKEA

The List For Jasper and Lucy (plus a little extra)

Here is the list that was requested for Oly to orate from her cousins. I added a few new animal words that she's learned from "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You Hear?"

Uncle Jeffrey

To the man who took us to our first sushi restaurant, Happy Birthday!

Here are some videos of your niece eating with chopsticks for the first time:

Rye, NY

We went along again to a business conference with Papa in New York State. We kept very busy.

We ate at the desk:

Brushed Ruff's teeth:

Went to a nearby playground,

"Look Mama, blocks!"

"Mama pick Oh-ee up"

Met a lion:

Picked flowers after I told her not to:

Then we went to the Aquarium and saw....

"Seaws!" I can't believe I didn't get any pictures of it, but we watched them eat their fish dinner and now Oly 'plays seal'. She tips her head back and I feed her pretend herring.

"Oh-ee dwive a boat!"

I told her we would see hippos at the aquarium and I'm glad they didn't disappoint.

"Feesh!!!"

"Too-uws!" (turtles)

Meerkats that she thought were squirrels. She wasn't nearly as interested in these as she was the many fish and turtles in tanks behind her.

"Feesh! Mama come see!"

Here she is doing "itsby bitsy spider" with Papa while we wait for our food at the Rye Bar and Grill for the second night in a row.

New Kitchen

First a big apology to Gaga who has been begging us to get a play kitchen for Oly when she first found out that we were pregnan. We kept insisting that she wasn't really ready, wouldn't understand how to fully pretend to cook. Well last week Ashley brought over a play kitchen that Tommy wasn't using and Oly positively vibrated with anticipation until Ashley could get it into the house and put it down for her to touch it. She LOVES it. She's constantly telling me how hot the oven is and how the food in the microwave is ready. Here's a video showing her not cooking, but talking about cooking. There are pictures on the side of asparagus, apples and pears, but I'll let Oly tell you all about that:

How Oly Drinks Out of a Juice Box

And also what she does when given stickers.

Photo Shoot at the Tot Lot

Mullets and Mill Races

Yesterday was a very big day. Oly got her first haircut! Her mullet was completely out of control and the front was constantly falling into her face and she couldn't be trusted to keep a clip in her hair without eating it. She's a puppy dog.

Here's a sample 'before' picture:

Here's an after:

I know it's not a good picture, but she won't sit still! I gave her some bangs too, but you'll have to wait a few hours for me to wrangle her into another photograph.

She's really into a Sesame Street episode where Baby Bear gets his first haircut. So we put it on hoping she would really get what was going on- but she just wanted us to stop bugging her, so there were tears. But it looks pretty good if we do say so ourselves! The curls she inherited from her Papa Guy are pretty forgiving for home haircuts.

Later, we went to the Newlin Grist Mill with Ashley and Tommy. We wore them in backpacks and went for a hike. Oly talked nonstop. "Tommy look! Tommy look! A stream! A stream! Water! Tommy look! Tommy has shoes! Mama has shoes? Mama has shoes! Ashley has shoes? Ashley has shoes! Oly has shoes! Brown shoes! Oly has blue coat! Tommy has blue coat! Ashley has blue coat! Mama has pink coat? Mama has pink coat."

It never stops. After about 3 minutes we just had to start talking over her.

Here are some pictures of them playing after the walk near the ponds.

Sepia Play

I was playing around with the settings on my phone when Olympia and a girl at the Tot Lot started to be adorable together so here are some old-timey looking photographs:

They did this for about 20 minutes:

Jump!

Oly can't jump yet, and it makes her crazy. She lifts up each foot in quick succession, but she does it with flair.

Painting at Tommy's

Oly's art was upstaged by Tommy- but he had a one hour head start.

Then they went next door to jump on the neighbors trampline.

Oly Smoosh Face at Tot Lot

Timmy Come Back!

I think Olympia and I have been spending too much time together.

The Past Week

Last week we went over to Nancy and Michael's house to do some canning. We made some sweet relish and also made some that was super spicy.

Hot hot hot:

Kids in the learning tower eating pasta:

While Papa Guy has been on a long business trip, Oly and I have been keeping busy with lots of Outtings. Yesterday we went to Longwood Gardens (or as Oly calls it, Fountains!!!)

And trains! "Mo tains? Mo tains? Heew dey comes!"

We stood and watched model trains for 15 minutes, which in toddler time is an eternity.

But truly her favorite part of the trip, was sitting in the grass and eating an ice cream cone. I managed to film the very first time she said the words- she has always used the 'ice cream' sign, which you'll notice is very descriptive. Right before I turned on the camera I told her to "hang on", that's why she's repeating it in the first part of the video.

The thing about sharing an ice cream cone with a kid, is that you have to make sure that you eat FAST if you don't want them to eat the whole thing. You'll notice that the sugar buzz starts to kick in about halfway through the video....

At the end she's in an absolute state of euphoria. I can hear her inner dialogue, 'Oh wooooow. Look at this grass! Mama do you see this grass? It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!'

Dining Under The Stars

Media, PA is the best. Every Wednesday during the summers the many restaurants along Main Street put chairs and tables outside and the streets are closed to cars so people can eat and stroll and do sidewalk chalk art.

We met up with friends Michael and Benji (and their Moms) to partake in the fun. Benji brought his little push-car-thingy so we also practiced taking turns.

Here's Oly pushing Benji. She asks for help and Benji's Mom, AnaLiza, straightens her out and she then says, "'Mon Mama! 'Mon Mommy!" ('Mon= Come on!") and then, "On a walk!"

Here she is pushing Rachel. This thing really got a work out, one kid or another was on it constantly for more than an hour.