Olivia Mae Atwater: Thankful: Day 1 and 2

Yesterday was November 1st, and although I am already a day behind I am going to try to do the 30 days of Thanks.

November 1st: For yesterday, I am thankful that Olivia and I were able to sleep in our own beds again.

Olivia and I spent last week at Grammy's house while great aunt Mandy was on vacation. It was a wonderful but challenging week. Since we have moved over here, I had seen Grammy only twice and neither time was for very long. It was nice to be able to spend a whole week with her and to have Olivia there. One reason it was challenging was because the pack n play that I brought was not very comfortable for Olivia. I think that the middle bar is breaking as it appears to dip in the middle. The other reason is that Olivia was teething. She cut a molar through! There is no way that I won't be able to get a picture of it, the only reason that I saw it was because I had her hanging upside down while I was tickling her. Her gums still appear to be swollen and I am expecting at least a couple more teeth to cut through soon. This evening, my gum started to hurt and it feels like one of my wisdom teeth is trying to come in. It is definitely not what Olivia is feeling but I have more sympathy for her.

Early on in the week, I was nursing Olivia and trying to put her down for a nap when I started crying from laughing so hard. The room we were staying in was not as dark as it is in her room at Grandma Sheila house. Because of this, I had my eyes closed and I was trying to not make eye contact with her. Olivia usually has her binky in her hand and waves it around while she nurses. She was doing this and then found her way to my face as if she was trying to put her pinky and my mouth. I was trying not to giggle when all of a sudden I felt a little finger slide up my nostril! It took so much strength to not laugh as she kept wiggling her finger. I pulled her hand away but before I knew it the singer was back up my nose. Forget it! I could not hold in the laughter and it all came out; I would laugh, then she would laugh, and we went back and forth for a little while.

Baby girl had so much energy this week but it was very difficult to keep up with her. After this week it was really nice to be able to sleep in our own beds again and for me, to be able to cuddle with my kitties.

Taking Grammys came for a walk

Olivia found a new friend to sit and talk with :-)

Licking things to claim them as your own... Olivia wins! She licked great aunt Mandy's car

On Tuesday Grandma and I were sitting in the living room watching TV when I noticed how quiet it got. I immediately started to listen for Olivia and when I leaned forward to get up, I turned my head and saw her. She was standing in front of a tall body mirror hanging onto a door. She stood there for almost 15 minutes staring at herself and checking out her little naked body that just had a diaper on! It was the cutest thing :-)

Taking a nap with aunty Megan

She caged herself!

Testing out the massager with Daddy

Look at how much she ate!

One of my favorites <3

Chatting with Grammy and Kona

Grammy took Olivia for a ride

She is only 14 months but she looks do old in this next photo! I don't want her yo grow up so fast. It makes me want to have another baby though.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Even though we didn't do anything, I bought her a costume anyway.I really wanted to make her a peacock costume but it will have to wait until next year. She was/is the sweetest little strawberry! When I called Mike to give him the costume options, he said, "let's stick with the good theme... Go with the strawberry". So I did :-)

A view from Grammy's front porch

November 2nd: I am thankful for a child that goes to bed easily.

There are probably several times that I should put her to bed earlier than I do but I feel that she dies down at a time that allows her to get plenty of sleep. I hear stories all the time of the struggles that parents have getting their children to sleep. Usually I only have to nurse her for a few minutes, give her two kisses (one from mom and one from dad), and lay her down. We are still working on getting her stay asleep through the night.

This past week I have been thinking a lot about the difference between playing and destroying for Olivia and when to discipline versus understanding that she is just 14 months old and very active. At Grammy's house she was getting into EVERYTHING. The last two days I have just spent time observing her and her behaviors and her attention span. She has a habit of dropping food that she no longer wants on the floor while she is in her high chair. Today, I had enough... We had pizza for dinner and she was doing a great job of eating it when I walked away to green something.when I came back her tray was empty. I knew they she did not eat it all that quickly. As I turned the corner and looked down, I saw the good on the floor. Grandma and grandpa have a dog who knows that Olivia drops her food so I have to put her outside when Olivia eats. It is really frustrating to watch Olivia drop her food even when we are staring at each other and I tell her no. So this time when I saw the food on the floor, I was fed up. I told her that she was going to pick up every piece of food and give it to mom. I then took her out of the high chair, sat on the floor, hand while she was bawling her eyes out helped her bend over and pick up each piece of food to put in my hand. She cried and screamed the whole time. When we were done, I took her downstairs put her in bed. My plan is to do this every time she drops her food on the floor and hopefully she will start to learn to leave it on the tray. At least if she leaves it on the tray I can eat it if there are leftovers. It makes me mad that so much food gets wasted or fed to the dog. She knows what she is doing. I Neff to find something rewarding enough they she will want to leave the food on the tray. I have tried not giving her do much at one time but she is old enough that I should not have to give her things one at a time anymore.