XOXO

Olivia has perfected the art of kissing, including the whuu sound. She doesn't give them out easily but if you catch her at the right moment she can be very generous. This is a little clip of her sweetness.

Everyone is doing great here. Chase is loving school and often runs to the door saying, "can't wait". He did have a little incident on Thursday, I guess he was handing another boy a toy a bit too excitedly and the boy stepped in and got bonked in the face. Ooops! But the teacher said he is doing great, he is eager to help and very smart. His favorite things to say now are "He is so funny, he makes me laugh" and "that makes no sense". He is starting to get into the alphabet and can even sing the ABC song (some letters are more pronounced than others).

Olivia has become quite a little drama queen. It seems that every little bump gets a big boohoo (even when it is a slow tip back onto her padded rear). Sometime when Chase just looks at her the wrong way she starts crying. She is doing great on her feet and is enjoying her new freedom. She runs for the open dishwasher or fridge (unexplored territory). The weather has cooled to a very comfortable 80 degrees so we have been going outside to play more and more. We are looking forward to Halloween this coming week, our neighborhood goes all out and it should be a fun night!

We Have Liftoff

Although Olivia has been very mobile and has been cruising since August, she has been reluctant to walk totally on her own. For a good month now she has been physically able to walk on her own but didn't have the confidence she needed to take that leap. But that all changed on Tuesday, maybe she was getting bored with her hand holding or was just feeling strong that day but in the afternoon I noticed something was changing with her attitude about walking. I gave her a little push and spent the afternoon helping take bigger walks on her own and then when Ryan got home she just took off. She walked all around the upstairs that night while we went through the bedtime routine. She is very solid and great at stopping and standing, she walks with her arms out in front of her (in case of a fall).

We are so proud of little sweetheart!!

Two to Tango

As one would expect, the relationship between siblings is complicated. At first Chase wasn't so interested in Olivia. Then for many months he was super protective, screaming if anyone even looked at her. But then Olivia learned to crawl and we saw a different side to our sweet Chase. Olivia would follow Chase around and would try to play with the same toy, which of course Chase wanted no part of. Chase would push Olivia down, pull her over, hit, pinch and scratch. I could never leave them in the room together because he would seize even the smallest of unsupervised moments to attack. I was glued to her side all day and even being super careful she would have at least one attack a day. Ryan and I were really worried and upset by the new development. We thought that Chase needed to learn how to share with his sister but after discussing the issue with my pediatrician she suggested giving Chase some space.

So I spent most of the day keeping them apart. Olivia would play with different toys on the other side of the room and when she would try to venture his way I would drag her back to her area. It was a pain but it worked!

In just the past few weeks we have seen a huge change in their relationship. They are playing together and even sharing stuff. Sometimes I see a little twinkle in Chase's eye (the "I am going to get her" twinkle) but usually I just have to say "Hey, stop" and he doesn't go any further. This past week he has even started crying whenever Olivia is crying. He gets so upset if she is hurt or tired. That makes it hard for me because then I have 2 crying kids but it is nice to see that he has empathy for his baby sister already.

Olivia on the other hand has been totally in love with Chase from the first moment. She smiles and giggles when he looks at her and talks to her. She eagerly takes anything he offers her. She just lights up when she sees him. She doesn't use a binkie but whenever Chase take his out she immediately goes over to get it and chews it for a minute.

They are so cute!!