nov: beginning- middle

olive is now a year and a half. and she is incredible!

she loves going on walks around the neighborhood and taking care of her animals. this one is her favorite for right now- lamby. she has to have her as soon as she wakes up and anywhere she goes.

she fell and has dead grass on her hands- giving us her "and what is this supposed to be?" face.

she used to need help to get to the sidewalk. now she does it all by herself.

come on mom!

she likes to take lots of breaks on her walks to hang out with lamby or pick grass.

she also likes to pick people's flowers. which i tell her not to but she thinks they are just too pretty!

taking a break to check out her buttons.

lamby is her buddy. lamby makes her very happy.

feeding lamby grass.

and giving her a kiss.

hugging lamby for a good long cuddle.

playing with nature.

olive has started to give me this face on occasion. similar to her "eww" face she makes it sometimes when she turns around and sees the camera. i wonder if she thinks she is smiling for the camera, which is exactly the "smile" i used to give the camera at her age. a photographer once asked my mom when i scrunched up my nose at the camera "what is she doing" and mom said "that's her smiling, take the picture".

she has really gotten into climbing. she can climb up on this futon in the sunroom all by herself and get down safely too. she can do it on the futon in the living room as well. and she climbs in and out of her chair all the time. she is working on the rocking chair in her room but that one is a little harder.

being a ham showing us all her teeth.

waiting for her snack. she has almost got the word "banana" down.

when she finishes her snack or meal she hands us her plate. she still uses her spoon and holds her own cup too. such a big girl!

i opened the fridge to get something out but something got in instead.

on our way out, looking too cute with daddy.

getting her hair washed by daddy. such a sweet moment.

getting out of her bath. she couldn't be cuter. she is so big now she stands up and dries off and gets ready for bed.

seeing daddy with the camera she gives me her camera face.

olive is so good at taking care of her animals. always there to cover them up when they are sleepy or feed and give them water when they are hungry or thirsty.

giving lamby medicine out of clover's old medicine bottle. her back should feel much better after that.

olive got dressed up for "reading group/lunch with daddy" friday.

i thought she looked absolutely beautiful!

and she can even climb in this outfit she says.

drinking her water at snack time.

still hands me the lens cap when she is done having her picture taken.

but how can i stop taking pictures of this face?

on the phone... taking important calls.

the loudest she talks is when she is on the phone. she really gets into it. she is either really excited or talking to someone who cannot hear well.

robyn came over to have her hair cut and brought mrs thompson and sonya. olive had a blast with sonya. i was grateful that daniel took these pics so i could see what they got into.

olive is so enamored with sonya. whatever she is doing, olive wants to do. and when she plays with her, it makes her day!

here sonya, look at this.

sonya is such a great little girl. so smart and sweet with such a big heart. i think olive can sense that.

they put sticker on each other, played with toys...

colored olive's house and got in for a visit.

and read books in olive's room. olive was sure to share the very best ones.

and by the time robyn was done...

olive and sonya were even closer.

(this picture makes me want to cry a little :-)).

reading books with dad. he made her that shirt.

looking cute in her new jeans.

lily is still her other favorite.

i put these here to show all the animals she had in the living room at one time. she has a lot of friends she has to look after and care for.

dropped something behind the futon and started climbing the back of it to see it.

look at this little mountain goat.

get it daddy.

it's easy to climb high when daddy helps.

this is one special little lady. always amazing me with what she is picking up and learning. she constantly puts a smile on my face and i fall more and more in love with her each day!