Walking, Talking and Toddlering...

Finally! A video of Olivia walking. It took me so long to get this video that she is now walking really well and no longer crawls, at all. She is practically running now, especially if she sees something she wants, like her sit and spin toy that she loves!

She also loves to dance to the music on her sit and spin. Although I have learned that recording Olivia is like hitting the stop button. She'll be doing something and then I start recording so she stops...I stop recording so she goes back to what she is doing but the second I start recording again, she stops. So with that being said; sorry for the lack of videos.

Now that Olivia is walking, she has learned a new sense of independence. She has an opinion for everything and usually that opinion is "no." If you ask her a question, she will probably tell you “no”, even if the answer is yes, just because she likes to say no. Her favorite thing to say no to is bedtime. My once perfect little girl, who was so easy to put to bed, now insists she stays up and plays. If you bring her near the crib it is "NO, NO, NO!! MOMMY, MOMMY, NO!! She will however, cuddle with me until she falls asleep and because mommy can't stand to hear her cry, I give in and cuddle with her until she falls asleep. I must admit that I do love the extra cuddle time.

She has also discovered now that the weather is warm there are a lot of kids playing outside so she'll grab her jacket, go to the front door, point to the door and say "outside." She loves playing outside and runs down the street for mommy to chase her. She also pushed the neighbors Barbie mustang from the back up the street which we all got a kick out of as it made her look like one of those muscle men you see on TV!

The other toddler stage Olivia is going through is separation anxiety, which I also think is a part of why she wants me to rock her to sleep at night now. We took her to see the Easter bunny and I was pretty sure she would start screaming before I even put her on the Easter bunny’s lap, but surprisingly she sat there for a few seconds before the crying began so we were able to get a picture just as she was starting to cry when I was pretty sure the picture would be of her screaming.

Papa and daddy are still working on getting the play set together, but the infant swing for the play set was sitting in the living room. Grandma and Papa have the same swing at their house so Olivia knew what it was, got in it and attempted to buckle herself and put the tray in position. She of course needed a little help, but then wanted to swing. So, daddy and I each took an end and she had a ball swinging! After that I had to hide the swing because she kept getting in it to swing but I don't know how much swinging my arms can handle! Don't worry Olivia, you'll be swinging again before you know it!