Busy with the budding cook!

Long time no post- Olivia's been keeping us very busy lately. Here she's hamming it up in the kitchen while helping us cook. She continues to talk more- new words: tickle, sticky, moon, broccoli, poky, her friends names Lyra and George- and when she backs up (or sees a car backing up), she says "ba ba ba"... She now signs and says "again"; other new signs: house (home), work, stop, excuse me (a popular one!)... She now eats up signs faster than we can teach them to her (and us!). One of her favorite games these days is a version of "red light/green light", except that for Olivia it's always a green light! She'll go to the end of the hall while I sit at the other end, and when I cover my eyes and say "go!" she starts running towards me. When I uncover my eyes and say "stop", she keeps running towards me... We need to work on some of the concepts, but she loves it! and I generally peek though my fingers so I don't get trampled too badly.

She's also been teething (4 second molars coming all at once) for what seems like months now; this brings with it a new nighttime wakefulness that's been pretty draining- probably contributing to our lack of blog posts! we're hoping for the teeth to be in soon!

Happy Holidays!

We had a quiet last Christmas in England with just the three of us. It was very nice and cozy, and Olivia was able to make the whole day last by playing with each present as long as she liked before moving on to opening another (and she had quite a few!)

Early on, she had fun with a new apron and cooking implements- which is perfect as she's lately started making "soup" and "stew" in the kitchen when Suzanne's cooking...





She also enjoyed the traditional wearing of new presents- note the new pajamas as she reads her new (first!) Dr. Seuss book (while holding a can of playdough- now that's product placement!)


One of Olivia's favorite presents was a fisher-price farm, one that Suzanne had picked up for a few quid at a "Jumble sale" as they call them here. Probably missing some parts, and some parts from other sets, from the look of it, but Olivia loves it. Lots of animals, a tractor, and a farmer with a cowboy hat and a decidedly Mexican looking moustache. It's got plenty of character!