This past week our Olivia turned 21 months old!
Olivia’s new favorite word is “yeah.” She’s been saying “ah” for “yeah” for at least a month. Sometime in the past couple of weeks, she transitioned to “yeah.” Now Olivia answers yes constantly, including when I’m asking other people questions. It’s a million times better than screaming “no” all the time, as most toddlers do at this age. Olivia’s other new word is “cheese.” She loves lots of different kinds of cheese. It’s an easy thing to include with lunch and/or dinner for both her and Tommy. As such, Olivia asking for cheese isn’t a new thing. But now she has a clear word for it.
In addition to the regular rotation of “baby,” “ga ga,” and “uh oh,” Olivia talks about “doggies” constantly these days. A couple of our neighbors right across the street have dogs. She asks to visit the dogs literally every single time we’re coming or going and if she sees them from the windows while we’re inside. It makes Olivia’s whole day when we are able to visit the dogs. She remains very interested in animals in general and has especially enjoyed petting and feeding the goats at the zoo and petting farms.
Olivia loves looking at books. She’s constantly in need of new books to look at while she’s eating a snack, hanging out in the pack ‘n play while I get ready, in the car, etc., and chooses books as a general activity frequently as well. I’m way overdue to put together a new Olivia favorites post and talk about just a few of her favorite books. Olivia’s always up for a dance party as well. Tommy enjoys dancing, too, and it’s a good way to channel their energy when they’re getting crazy inside.
I’m continually blown away by how much Olivia gets out of her music and gymnastics classes. Olivia’s been part of Tommy’s music classes since she was born. She was very comfortable in the studio even without Tommy there right from the start. She’s really come into her own having her own class with all kids her age. In just a few months of gymnastics, Olivia has started jumping with both feet including on the trampoline, doing forward rolls, navigating the balance beam with minimal assistance, climbing a small rock wall, hanging on the bars, and swinging on the rings without anyone holding her hands.
This past month we started transitioning Olivia to a booster seat at the table in preparation for Genevieve taking over the high chair as soon as she starts sitting up consistently. Olivia had used a booster seat on a handful of occasions previously when a friend or younger family member needed the high chair and always did fine with it. It’s just a bit of a process to say goodbye to the high chair for good. She loves sitting at the big table with me, Jake, and Tommy, though. Not surprisingly, she and Tommy are sillier than ever during mealtimes now.
Tommy kicked off his fall soccer season in September, which means that Olivia’s been tagging along for his games and most practices. Thankfully, I’ve had at least one other adult with me for all practices and games thus far. Tommy’s soccer practices are at a beautiful park with a big playground. Olivia enjoys getting to hang out there for the practices. Generally, a combination of snacks and other adult attention keeps her pretty occupied during the games.
While the weather is still nice, we’ve been fitting in all of the fall things. Toward the end of the month, we finally made it to Green Meadows and also made outings to a local pumpkin farm and the Milwaukee Zoo.
Olivia wore a mix of 12-month and 18-month clothes all summer. Most items still fit well. The 12-month pants are just starting to get a little short. But the waist is still too big for most 2T and even 18-month pants. Tommy has always had the same issue. I still need to do a big clothes switchover as the weather gets colder.
Olivia’s sleep at night continues to improve slowly but surely. She only had one, maybe two, bad nights this past month when she woke up multiple times. Olivia will go two or three nights in a row without waking up at all. Then most of the time when she does wake up, it’s just once.
I did take away Olivia’s Wubbanub elephant because it became this whole thing that she would rip the pacifier off constantly and laugh about it, even in the middle of the night. She hasn’t been too bothered about not having it. I try to keep extra pacifiers in her room in case she loses a pacifier in the middle of the night.
Olivia remains a great napper. She goes down easily anywhere between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and sleeps two or three hours. She’s also able to push through when we’re out and about and nap later in the afternoon.
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.
