This past week our Olivia turned 20 months old!
At Olivia’s 18-month doctor’s appointment, she weighed 24 pounds six ounces (67th percentile), measured 33 inches in height (73rd percentile), and had a head circumference of 19 inches (90th percentile). Olivia has a lot of anxiety about going to the doctor. It’s the only place where I bring along a pacifier and where she prefers to be in my lap as much as possible. Olivia did pretty well at this most recent appointment. It was also the first time that she didn’t have a fever or other side effects from her vaccines, which was a huge plus.
Olivia’s favorite new words this month include “whee” and “owie.” She says “whee” all the time – when she’s going down a slide, when someone is picking her up, when we’re making a turn in the car, etc. As is expected at this age, especially in the summer, Olivia has had more than a few scrapes lately. So she’s always got at least one or two at any given time, prompting a lot of “owie” talk. Olivia still says “baby” constantly, and on occasion, uses the word in place of another favorite thing, most recently, chocolate.
Olivia has started saying “gaga” for Grandma. She asks about “gaga” daily, even multiple times per day. We see both grandmas (and grandpas) almost every month, sometimes even every week. But we don’t see them every day, which can be hard to explain. Regardless, it’s very sweet how much she talks about “gaga.”
Finally, Olivia says “uh oh” all the time, about half the time when she did something on accident and half the time when she did something naughty on purpose. She also says “uh oh” when things are going wrong in general, which can be anything from me spilling water to Tommy getting in trouble.
Olivia has taken to having minor tantrums sometimes when she doesn’t get her way. It’s 100% what you would expect for a toddler and nothing extreme or significant. Usually, she just doesn’t like being told “no,” and will throw herself down on the ground. On occasion, she’ll try to hit or hit someone out of frustration or anger, usually me or Jake. Olivia has also taken to sticking her tongue out, sometimes when she’s annoyed and sometimes just because. Thankfully, usually, she thinks it’s hilarious when we stick our tongues out at her in return, which quickly diffuses the situation.
Olivia has remained crazy about slides all summer. We have been to quite a few parks and other places with slides, such as Margie’s Garden. She always goes for the slides and will slide over and over again. Olivia isn’t afraid of the biggest slides on pretty much any playground. Even when she hesitates at first, she’ll end up going down and then loves it. Her other favorite outdoor activities have included riding in the red wagon and pushing the Cozy Coupe around, especially up and down the tiny hill in our backyard.
Olivia has more and more fun playing with Tommy. She joins right in his games from driving around toy cars to sword fighting to hunting bad guys with Nerf guns to playing in blanket forts.
As is usually the case in summer, we’ve had a ton of outings this past month, which have included the zoo, botanic gardens, Bristol Renaissance Faire, Bookworm Gardens, and Domes. I’ve included pictures from multiple excursions as well as some extended family gatherings in this post. I’ll share more about our recent happenings in my August family update later this week.
Olivia’s favorite foods right now include blueberries, grapes, Eggo waffles, peanut butter sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and chocolate. Olivia loves snacks, including pretzels, goldfish crackers, Gerber cinnamon graham animal crackers, and Ritz crackers. She is constantly asking for a snack in each hand or wanting a little bowl to carry around the house. Recently, Olivia tried cottage cheese for the first time and loved it. She won’t ever eat lots of raw veggies at once. But she’ll almost always eat at least one or two when I have them at lunch or dinner. Olivia remains a big milk drinker. She has it at all three meals and at least one or two other times during the day. Otherwise, she only drinks water. I haven’t given her any juice yet.
Olivia has remained in 12-month and 18-month clothes and size 4 diapers all summer. She was wearing size 5 sandals at the beginning of the summer. Then she bumped up to size 6 sometime in July. I have a couple of pairs of dressier sandals for her. Otherwise, Olivia’s been wearing Tommy’s old Keen sandals, as our open-toe shoe season is so short and his Keens are all still in great shape. As the weather starts turning cooler, I’m going to do a huge clothing overhaul for all of the kids. I’ll pull a lot more 18-month and some 2T clothes for her for the fall and winter months ahead.
You can find all of my baby/toddler updates for all three kids as well as general family updates and other family-related posts in the family section of the blog.