Trampo-po-line
Another first, and boy did she loove it. She burned most of her energy like it was rocket fuel.
Precious
This is "Precious," the baby goat. Olivia fell in love with her, and so did the rest of us. We visited her at least four times while in Racine.
Kewpie Burger
After a windy day at the beach we went to the local Racine landmark Kewpie Burger restaurant, where Olivia devoured a hamburger and had her first taste of Root Beer. Hopefully we'll keep the soda in a special treat designation, and only drink it on visits to Kewpie. She doesn't have to know that it's available elesewhere, right?
Potty Trained!
Liv pretty much potty trained herself on this vacation. She showed interest in using the bathrooms, and then, very religiously, began to tell us when she need to go.
"I need to go potty!" she says, ususally while dancing or jumping. One minor accident so far -- she was visiting with Stan (Eric and Allison's son) and she got distracted. We were eating dinner and she yelled, "I'm peeing in the chair!" We told her to stop, which she did, and she finished on the pottty.
I'm sure we're going to have plenty of accidents in the next week, but this is a pretty major milestone for our little girl.
Warm Nights
The warm summer nights are something that we're not used to at home. They're particularly conducive to after dark fun. Jenny and The Other Grandpa make a make-shift amusement park for Livvy.
Fire Flies
We spent the evening catching fire flies -- an activity that is surprisingly easy. We collected 20 or so in a jar to put next to Livvy's bed as a night light. That was pretty neat, but she was most interested in the catching.
The next morning we set out to release our friends. Livvy upon their release said, "we'll see you tonight."
Coloring
Livvy has taken her coloring to a whole new level. As recently as two months ago she would held a small interest in coloring, but usually it was interactive with us, and she lost interest pretty quickly. Now she's been totally absorbed in working to color small elements and details and working to color large fields thoroughly. Watching her concentration and effort is inspiring.
The Other Grandpa
Livvy has labeled Dr. Little (Great Grandpa) as "Big Grandpa." and Grandpa Bill as "The Other Grandpa." We've also seen Grandpa Dave, and Great Grandpa Herb, which has probably led Livvy to think that most, but not all men she encounters have the title of Grandpa.
Liv's spent much time playing on this vacation with The Other Grandpa.
Edited to add Jenny's favorite "Grandpa" moment from Racine... Liv was trying to get into the occupied bathroom at one point, and I explained that she'd wait until Grandpa Bill was done. She kept wringing at the door knob, then smiled and said, "I have an idea! Let's open the door and see what kind of Grandpa is in there!" So many kinds of Grandpas, this kid has!


