Liv is a generous young girl. Last week I wanted to use one of her pink barrettes in my hair. I asked her if I could borrow her barrette and her first response was "No" while she took it out of my hand and hugged it to her chest. I promised to bring it back at the end of the day, but she wasn't convinced. I said okay and went into the kitchen to prepare my lunch. About five minutes later she came out of her room with the barrette and held it out to me. She said "Here Mommy. Bring it back?" I said thank you and promised again that I would bring it back to her. I knelt down and put the barrette in my hair and showed it to her. She got a big smile on her face and said "So pretty Mommy!"

The first day of preschool was a big, BIG success! I took her to school on my way to work and we arrived at school early. So we played on the play ground and then looked at the anemones and clown fish ("Nemo") in the fish tank. When the teachers let us in the classroom we washed our hands and then she was off to play with the toys, crayons and paper. I headed to the door and she started to run in my direction. The teacher, assuming Liv was running to me, said "One more kiss for Mommy?" But no, Liv ran right by me to the bulletin board with her and her class mates pictures so she could move her picture from "out" to "in". Liv was so excited to be there that she didn't even notice when I left the building. It was the best I could have hoped for.

Before this people would ask me how I was going to cope with leaving her at preschool. It was a perfectly appropriate question but one that I had not considered before. I've been leaving Liv with her dad every work day since Liv was about 3 months old. So I did all of my crying and worrying a long time ago. Leaving her at preschool was a transition that we were all looking forward to. It's been obvious for several months now that Liv has not been stimulated enough at home and we have been hoping that 2 half days at school would remedy that problem. I think it has and we are all much happier.

Now I should say that a certain someone in Liv's life had a difficult time that day but it wasn't me. This person (whom I won't mention his name, wink, wink) confided in me that he felt unusually stressed all morning and realized it was because Liv wasn't there for him like she usually is. I think someone missed her very much!

School is starting just in time for my little Liv who has started showing an interest in "going to work with mommy". It all started last Monday when Liv went to work with my mom while Daddy and I went to have a sonogram of the new baby. She had a blast visiting new people and raiding office supplies. So now every day as I'm about to walk out the door she rushes around the house in her diaper or pajamas gathering her "work" and yelling "I coming mommy. Wait, I coming to work with you." It breaks my heart to leave her because I would love to bring her with me and let her play all day. Lately we've been telling her that she is going to work with Daddy (which means running photography errands with him) and distracting her with books. This morning she had a purse, sunglasses and diaper on and was ready to walk out the door with me.
This makes me even more excited about Liv starting preschool. Next Thursday I'll be able to say "Okay Liv, you are going to work today at your own school and you are riding with me!" I can't wait to see her eyes get big and bright as she runs and screams around the house about going to work.
And the sonogram showed that we have a healthy and very, very active little girl to look forward to this winter. We could not be more excited and happy. She will make the perfect holiday package.

Proud moment for dad
Olivia starts preschool next week and so we've spent the past few week-ends engaging in the ritual "back to school" events...shopping for shoes, clothes, backpack, lunch box and school supplies. Today we went with Liv to her school to meet her teachers and fill out paperwork. It took her a while to feel comfortable enough to enter the classroom but once she did she didn't want to leave. She liked her teachers and as soon as we got out of the building she said "come back to school".
After meeting the teachers we decided to take her to our local hip toy shop to pick out her own lunch box. I'd scoped out the lunch boxes a few days ago and knew they had a selection that would please her. We walked in the door and there they were..the old-fashioned tin lunch boxes with Smurfs, cowboys and horses, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Hello Kitty, sock monkeys, dogs, you name it. And the first box she picked up was Spiderman! We led her to all the aisles that had lunch boxes so she could make an informed decision. At one point she had 5 of them on the floor. We asked her which one was her favorite and she picked Spiderman again. Her Daddy was so proud! And I couldn't have planned the next thing that happened any better. As I wandered off to look at art supplies a man approached her Daddy and said "Did she pick that out all by herself?" and her Daddy said yes, to which the man replied "Wow, she's going to be the coolest kid ever!". Daddy smiled all the way home.

Here's a funny story. I took Liv to the Family Connections library where we borrow books and toys. For the first time I let her pick out her own toys. I hadn't done this before because we can only borrow 3 toys at a time and I didn't think she could handle that limit. I was wrong; she handled it quite well. If she picked out more than 3 I asked her if she would like the blocks or the farm animals. Each time she chose the farm animals. The next morning I was getting ready for work and Chris got my attention to come look into Liv's room. She was riding the 6 inch plastic horse. It was such a funny site! You could barely see the horse under her thick cloth diaper; and I think she was completely supporting her own weight with her thighs. But she really was getting a kick out of riding that horse.

Olivia had a wonderful July 4th at the coast. Even before we arrived she talked incessantly about waves, sandcastles, and seashells. When we got to the beach she could not stop squealing while she was knocked off balance by waves. At one point her daddy headed farther than she could go. She cried until he came back with seashells and then she told him to go back.And for the sandcastles, her idea of building them is to let someone else try their hands at construction while she destroys it. And she really loved the fireworks. I thought that she might be scared of the noise, but she embraced it. She would hear the pops and say "I see them, I see them" before the lights were even up in the sky.
Over a week later she is still talking about the trip.

Olivia is now two years old!
A few months ago I tried to list all of the words she uses and after a few days I realized that I was fighting a losing battle. Every day I would go home and hear at least 2-3 new words from her. Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially and she surprises each of us on a regular basis. Either Chris or I will turn to the other and say "Did she just say that?!".
She still loves to read and one of her favorite places to go is the library. And she knows to be quiet in the library because we've been reading her the Charlie and Lola book about borrowing books from libraries and how you have to be quiet when you are there. When we're reading books to her at home she will hum along with us mimicing our speach. Then at the last few words she'll chime in with the correct words. When she looks at the books by herself she flips through the pages (careful not to skip any) and mentions several words or phrases from the book.
Her other favorite place to go is the pool. We either ride our bikes or drive (if it's too hot like it has been lately) but either way she loves it. If we don't move quick enough to get her from the car to the pool she says "Come on guys, pool!" She likes to stand on the edge and try to jump in while holding our hands. She also loves to play with the other little kids on the steps. She enjoys kicking her legs and splashing her arms while we hold her on her belly. She also likes to blow bubbles.
We can usually keep her entertained at home with music cds like the Biscuit Brothers or just singing Twinkle, Twinkle little star. She loves to sing along and knows many songs like Row your Boat, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Frere Jacques and the abc's.
Her favorite foods are fruit (except peaches). The other day she ate a kiwi and when she cleaned her plate she raised her arms and said "Yay kiwi". We got her another kiwi! Bananas, pineapple, apple and strawberries are also at the top of her list. In the morning she likes to sit in my lap and eat cereal with me. And for dinner she sits at her own little table with a plate and a big girl glass of milk. And she loves to help set the table. She puts a napkin at each person's place, then puts the forks on top of the napkin. She's a very organized young girl.
I will post pictures from her 2nd birthday soon!

You can't tell here but she's had her first hair cut. We took her to Bird's on Burnet road in either January or February. She sat in my lap and was very still while the stylist cut her bangs and trimmed the back. Chris took some great pictures. I'll try to get them uploaded soon.

Chris passed this picture on to me. I couldn't remember when it was taken but he did. This was from July 4th 2008. We woke up early and made our way over to the neighborhood parade. You can tell that Liv was still pretty sleepy. Her hair isn't curly but it kinda looks like it is here.

We went to Mayfield Park today to see the peacocks. A few weeks ago Olivia was intimidated by them. Today she was running toward them. And they were running from her, or flying onto the roof of the house to escape.

Olivia partied at First Night Austin until the late hour of 9pm. She watched aerial dancers perform at city hall, Batman float down the river, large butterflies parade along Cesar Chavez and danced at the Biscuit Brother's hoedown.

The resolution clock made quite an impession upon her. It did for me too. Chris and I heard someone mention that the plan was to burn it at 8pm. It was too pretty to burn but since it wasn't our decision we just took a lot of pictures. After it was gone Olivia seemed confused. She would say clock and raise her right hand with the palm up as if questioning what had happened to it.

Happy 2009 everyone!