february till now

this is at the start of olive's ninth month.

and boy is she special!

i mean look at this little lady!

she still loves to scratch things. she has added office chair, play pen and side of tub to the list of wonderful scratchables.

she can pick up small foods and feed herself now. this pic was among her first attempts at eating "graduate puffs" to start her out.

recently we took her to golden corral and she had her own plate. she used her hands to pick up and eat carrots, green beans, mandarin oranges, peaches and all sorts of good stuff! we are so proud of her accomplishment. such a big girl!

but she of course still needs help from mom and dad when it comes to spoon-fed stuff.

she loves playing with her daddy because he has such a great imagination. here they are sledding around the living room.

she is getting more affectionate. little touches and laying her head on your shoulder when she is sleepy. and she loves being held. ahh.... stuff mom just adores.

she never misses a thing, always observant. olive is very calm and likes to watch and take in the world around her.

she is so very loved.

one of her favorite things to do is flip. she will flip anything! here she is flipping a pack of greeting cards. she does it over and over and over. it is really quirky and amazingly cute.

and like anything else when she is done she will hold it to the side and drop it.

the winter weather is making clover a little sad. she can't wait to get out in the spring and get back to her routine of neighborhood walks!

airplane rides are a must. we make stops at her favorite things in the house to say hello. bvvvvvv....hello radio....bvvvvv....hello chair....bvvv...hello clover. 

 

bvvv....hello daddy!

reading a book mom sent her. "i love you through and through". yep- that's about right!

going with clover to get daddy up in the morning.

she loves clover. when she wakes up from a nap she wants to know where she is.

when she barks, we say "clover says woof!" and she smiles from ear to ear.

she says "this is a great friend for a girl like me!"

olive has 2 teeth on the bottom. she has her very own toothbrush and loves it.

she also has a rubber ducky that is a pig. it's full name is "pink piggy pink piggy oink oink oink". today i let her show piggy (for short) how we brush our teeth.

don't let these pics fool you. she doesn't know how to do it herself yet. she is just practicing. mommy helps her when she gets her teeth brushed.

one of her most favorite things to do is stand at the bookshelf in her room and take books off. she loves the feeling of pulling them off the shelf. she doesn't necessarily want to read them or look at them, just pulling them off. but once she gets a good pile going she falls on her bottom and starts picking some up and flipping them. then i pick a couple and flip through them with her.

umm... just too cute.

flipping a card.

daniel clearing a spot of grass for clover early one cold morning. this is about the worst we got, nowhere near as near as bad as what all our family and friends in VA got. i know they are rolling their eyes as they look at this. snow? you call that snow?

olive providing moral support while mommy lays out the damp laundry to dry.

another recent fascination are strings. olive will find loose strings on anything and make them looser. she tries to pull them and then checks her fingers to see if she has the string in them. we have had to cut strings she has pulled off the rocker, a blanket, a chair, a sweater. but hey, i guess it is working out her pincher grasp. and it is way too cute watching her intensely studying a string and then going after it until she can grab it.

she has really been enjoying a train grandpa and annie got her. it plays music when it moves back and forth. it has a caboose but she is figuring out the basics first.

oh and did i mention she is really cute?

again with the bookshelf.

she got caught... now she is going to fall down and be super silly.

and back up.

being super silly.

that's enough with the paparazzi.

standing at the chair listening to the radio. and... you guessed it... pulling strings off the front of this chair.

playing with clover.

playing with clover some more. hey clover...you know what would complete your look? a block on your head.

no? okay, well it was just a suggestion.

got to stay in touch. practicing typing emails.

helping daddy get ready for work. playing him some cool jazz to get him ready for his day.

getting some time in with dad, clover and a cool train before it is just her and mommy.

she loves standing here and listening to the radio.

olive has been trying all sorts of new foods. barley and sauteed mushrooms, succotash, egg yolk and avocado spread on bread. i am so proud of her. she will try anything! and likes most everything too!

again... you see how we like the bookshelf game.

mom got me a pair of sunnies for this summer because i hate the sun in my eyes.

i look way cool.

 but i am pretty quick to take them off. 

but also think it is fun to have them on.

olive loves to practice walking. if i hold her hands up she will walk all over the place. she has just learned to bend her knees. so she bends her knee and puts her foot way out. she looks like she is marching. that's the way to do it olive!

daniel and i have had viruses that wrought havoc on our home for 2 weeks. praise God olive didn't get it! here is daddy's first time being back with her after being quarantined to the bedroom! oh how he missed holding her!

and she missed it too.

post nap crazy hair. that girl does acrobatics in her sleep these days. i will walk in during the middle of the night or in the morning to find her sideways, diagonal, at the top, up against the rails... everywhere but where i leave her when i put her down for the night.

she is one amazing girl.

it has been a great february so far!