…How steadfast are your branches! (Also acceptable if you were singing along: How are thy leaves so verdant?) Whether your branches strong or leaves green, nothing ushers in the holiday season like the ornamentation of the Christmas tree. Olivia, apprenticing under G in Yuletide merriment, caught on to the decorations-on-tree concept quickly.
…mirror, mirror, mirror, mirror all around, who’s the fairest in the town? My new favorite photo – Olivia practicing her saunter-crawl down the hexagonal runway at the Children’s
In response to this era of rampant commercialism, we vowed to keep this space free of endorsements/advertisements. Until now. We just can’t help ourselves. Go to Flat Top Grill now. It’s too yummy not to. Olivia, pictured above in one of their nine convenient locations, considers it her second home.
G-Randi was the only member of my immediate family present at our Normal Thanksgiving. My dad is currently a UN volunteer in
…for a Snazzy Thanksgiving. Olivia proves her dapperness ranges from diapers to decorous dinner duds. No Tofurkey this year –
Olivia occasionally gets confused when pointing out her parents in photos/videos. She once thought Mario Lopez (Slater from "Saved by the Bell") was her daddy. This week’s misjudgments easily take the cake though. The King of Pop and a 
At the mall today, Olivia circled the food court several times yelling “Nay Nay.” Not seeing Hawaii’s state bird or the Brazil’s favorite NBA son in our vicinity, I was stumped. As if she sensed my confusion, she grabbed my hand and led me to the merry-go-round. Of course, it suddenly made sense. Except for the fact that she chose a zebra.
Our temper tantrum-throwing toddler is a tornadic tempest (or tempestuous tornado). She’s also the same child who laughs in four distinctive modes (a giggle, laugh, chortle, and guffaw), smiles incessantly, and gives out hugs and kisses for days on end. She’s all peaks and valleys; very little in between. The above picture captures the midstream transition of Baby Jekyll from Miss Hyde.
Because O’s tall for her age, Coach always plays her at center for her Bloomington Baby Ballers team. However, she recently babbled that she’d rather play point guard – her dad’s old position. These days, you’ll see her working on her crossover dribble more than her low-post moves.
Harsh hurricanes in the Gulf. Tumultuous tornadoes in the Midwest. Tsuper-nasty tsunamis in Asia. Nary a transition from fall weather to winter – this morning, snowflakes and biting cold greeted my newspaper-retrieving behind. Mother Nature is fightin’ mad. Olivia, pictured here preparing for bed, is obviously ready to take on the peevish, more acrimonious Mama.
A babbler from birth, Olivia is building her vocabulary with a steady diet of book. Ian Falconer’s Olivia series is a family favorite. The books also helped mark a recent milestone. Aside from her disyllabic variations of cracker, backpack, mama, baby, water, Elmo, AJ, and oatmeal, our little girl just added another one – the name she shares with the literary pig. It comes out as Lee-La. We’ll keep you posted when she adds the other syllables.
Here are the requisite baby-in-bath pictures. I love how O dreamily peers out the corners of her eyes in the first one. The second photo proves her versatility – she often bathes without clothes on. How about that mop of hair?!
To the tireless champions for child labor laws – your Charles Dickenses and your Keating-Owen Child Labor Acts of 1916 – we sincerely apologize. We are only trying to encourage, not exploit, our daughter’s talents. Are we to be blamed for her raking abilities?
Dear Aunt Liz,
