Riding A Pony

Olivia had her first pony ridae today. At Gradma and Grandpa's urging, we stopped by a stable near Half Moon Bay and rented a pony for 15 minutes. She loved it. Not scared even a little tiny bit. We took turns walking with her around the ring. She smiled and talked and was obviously a natural rider. I see a long, expensive hobby in her future.
At Buffy and Alecs house, later, Olivia wanted to continue her riding obsession. Grandma and Mama we're decent surrogates.

Up, Up and Over

Grandma is more fun than the rides at the park. Here Olivia demonstrates (with Grandma's help) her new interest in acrobatics.

Grandma's Gloves

Livvy loves big people clothes -- especially shoes and gloves. Here we see her outfitted with the latest in black leather glove fashion.

Falling Asleep

Olivia has started to fall asleep herself. Tonight was the the third time. The first two were with babysitters. She said she didn't want to go out for a stroll, crawled into bed with books and a few minutes later slumped over into a deep sleep. Last night she did almost the same thing. She crawled into bed, and read books, We heard the cute chatter of her talking to her animal friends and the a few minutes later.... nothing. Jenny peeked in and took these photos.

Playing with Friends

Olivia and I joined the other co-op "dads" for an evening at the park. Olivia loves this because she gets to see all of her crushes (dads) and spend time with her best friends.

Olivia Sings

Here is an mp3 of Olivia singing a few of her favorite songs. Note that she found the need to run over and close the door in the middle of these sessions. Hear it here: Olivia Sings

Fun at the Park

Olivia and I got to spend an afternoon at the park. We had a great time going down slides, running by the estuary, and playing "I'm going to get you."

Reading Books

Olivia loves reading books now more than ever. You'll often find her hauling a few out, finding a corner and reading for a half hour. Sometimes she'll read to a stuffed friend or she'll just pour over the pages one after another by herself.

Full Body Painting

From Jenny: "I didn't get a chance to tell you, but I arrived a little early hoping to get O. out quickly and down for a nap asap so that i could keep working. But what did I find on arrival? O, Em & Ell all naked, covered with paint from head to toe and having an absolute BLAST. I don't know if I've ever seen Olivia so happy. Needless to say it took forever and a day to get cleaned up and get home, but at least Olive had an amazingly fun day." (Photographs by Natalie Studer.)
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Jenny: "Ha! The pics are great. These were clearly taken before Olivia stuck the paintbrush in her eye socket and and up her nose... (she looked like a racoon with an antifreeze nosebleed when I got there!)" Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen Olivia so thrilled to be playing outside with paint. Those were some happy little streakers! Thanks for showing them such a wonderful time. " Natalie: " she wasn't thrilled, she was FOCUSED. a bomb could have exploded and she would have painted on (and up, and in...). "

TV Talk

It's no secret that Olive is a bit of a TV junkie. I console myself with the knowledge that she never watches commercials, and that most of the shows she loves (Dora, Teletubbies, Oswald, etc.) are innocuous if not moderately educational. The funny thing is that she just likes to watch the same episode over and over, until she knows it by heart... it's part of that whole toddler-repetition shtick. At any rate, a couple of TV-cribbed phrases have surfaced recently. My favorite is "I have a better idea," from the Henry Needs a Haircut episode of Oswald. Henry the penguin needs a haircut, but keeps putting it off with wacky antics, all preceded by the catchphrase "I have a better idea." Olivia uses this liberally. "Olivia, do you want some peas?" "No, I have a better idea." She doesn't follow up with an actual idea, but it's a darned cute way of saying "No, quit bothering me." Our friend Stacey and her adorable six-month-old daughter Reiley visited us last week. For the first hour, Olivia excitedly repeated their names: "Stacey! Baby Wiley!" but after awhile she seemed to forget Reiley's name and was substituting the names of other babies she knows: "Baby Anneke!" "No, that's not Anneke. What's her name?" [long pause] "Baby Tuna Fowwa!" It took me awhile to realize she was saying "Baby Petunia Flower!" - a character in a Dora episode. It was a mighty cute, and fitting, substitution, since Reiley is a darned cute little peanut of a kid. "Baby Petunia Flower" she has been christened by Olive!