Clip Bored

From the looks of these pictures, you’d have thought that getting Olivia to sit for her first kiddie haircut might have been a mundane affair, but you’d be mistaken. In fact, we were worried that we’d have to cut short the act of cutting short – Olivia initially refused to embark on her solo flight. Only the promises of unlimited suckers and a Dora video got her to concede, and once she was buckled in, she caused little turbulence because she was so locked in on her lollipop and the in-flight entertainment.

Drive-In Miss Daisy

Nothing quenches a thirst for nostalgia like a drive-in movie theater (and as you can see and should know, nothing quenches a thirst when quenching for a thirst of nostalgia like a 24 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew). Being that drive-ins are an endangered species, we’re fortunate to have one relatively close to our home. On this starry night, our family waxed nostalgic.

Flee Market

I had little time to capture the top shot because Olivia ran out of the corner grocery store intent on diving into her bag of suckers and hoisting the sweet treats skyward.

A-Dora-ble

“When I get a little bit older…” is the lead-in to many of Olivia’s inquiries nowadays. For instance, she likes to ask this from her car seat: “When I get a little bit older, I’ll be able to drive?” In fact, the phrase has entered our bag of parental tricks – it’s one of the ways we’re able to explain and simplify the world for our daughter. By framing things and actions for her in the “when you get a little bit older” context, we’re hoping to differentiate for her the roles and responsibilities of children and adults.

When Olivia sees me doing things that a grown-up might do when getting ready for work – iron a shirt, put on a tie, wear dress shoes – she just wants to be reassured that she too might be doing these things one day. Her questions are part of my morning routine, and by now, I would have guessed that I’d heard all of them. However, on this particular morning, she threw in a new one that initially went unanswered because I was laughing so hard.

Olivia had been observing me touch up my bangs and sideburns with the hair trimmer on my electric shaver when she pointed to the Braun 5614 and asked me, “Daddy, when I’m a little bit older, I can have a Dora one of those?”

Catch a Hoodwink

Olivia finds toddlerhood just as exhausting as her parents do. The amusing thing about these pics is that our child actor is feigning sleep in all of them.

Hopscotch to It

Hopscotch – a game that encourages its players to jump to conclusions – was one of the featured activities at Saegen’s birthday party at the nature center. Olivia sacrificed speed for precision when she carefully plotted and plodded her way through the course.

Hook, Line, and Stinker

The pictures are sequenced in the order of the title: (1) The kids made pirate costumes in their Toddler Tuesday class, (2) the children lined up to get their nametags prior to the commencement of activities, and (3) Olivia initially refused to stay in the classroom because she wanted to hang out with us in the hallway.

A Class Act

We visited my mom’s classroom today where we helped staged a history lesson for Olivia. Our pre-preschooler selected a seat in the front row – she already has the makings of a teacher’s pet – and she took notes with her mommy’s help. Olivia’s attention span was fleeting – I’m assuming it’s the same deal with 8^th graders – but her focus was restored when Grandma Randi busted out the Abraham Lincoln action figure.

Ghost Riding the Whip

Per Wikipedia:

To ghost ride, frequently used in the context of "ghost riding the whip" (a "whip" being a vehicle) or simply ghostin', is when a person puts the car in neutral or allows it to idle and then the driver (and passengers) of a vehicle exit while it is still rolling and dance beside it or on the hood or roof.

Beni’s going to kill me – I promised her that I’d ghost ride our whip only when I was far away from Olivia’s impressionable eyes.

Getting Her Licks In

Back home, there’s this burrito joint that boasts of burritos the size of your head. Well, while on vacation visiting Grandma Randi, we found a gift shop that sells lollipops the size of a baby’s head. Here are some pics of Olivia working on the said sucker.

Yesterday’s Snooze

As many of you know (or can tell from the bags that Beni and I carry under our eyes), Olivia and sleep are like oil and water. But exceptions have occurred, and last night happened to be one of them. For the first time away from home and only the seventh time in her life, Sporadically Sleeping Beauty got through the night without interruption. She even carried over some of her restfulness to a late morning stroll.

Minor League Baseball, Major League Fun

The town in which I grew up and where Beni and I first became acquainted while in high school – and where my mom and dad still reside – apparently hit a grand slam by playing home to a minor league baseball outfit. In this inaugural season, attendance at Loons games – the team name, by the way, is an homage to a type of bird found in the area and is not a commentary on the mental state of the townsfolk or the ballplayers – has outpaced preseason projections. On this day, Olivia and company root, root, rooted for the home team.

Putting the S-H-O-W in Shower

Olivia did just that after her bathing ritual this evening.

When Dr. Sears writes about raising an expressive child, I’m fairly certain that he’s not urging parents to nurture their child’s ability to make faces, but I’m also pretty sure that he’d be okay with such encouragement and practice because facial expressions often serve as windows to our emotions. We’re thankful – and admittedly, sometimes challenged – to have a child who’s not afraid to show and express to us how she’s feeling.

To (Butter)Fly in the Face of

Olivia bucked convention on this day when she allowed an adult who was not her mom or dad to touch her face. The face painter metamorphosed our very hungry caterpillar (see following post) into a baby butterfly. Olivia absolutely loved the design and batted her wings in appreciation, an action which altered weather patterns around the globe and rational thought patterns around her brain (we’re still not sure how or why she ended up in the box that contained her new potty clad only in a diaper).

Tough Cookie

This event was literally and idiomatically not a cakewalk – the kids were competing for cookies, elusive cookies at that. Undeterred by the challenge, Olivia put on her game face and competed against a horde of ravenous children to eventually claim her sugary prize.

Roll Reversal

At first, Olivia followed suit – she rolled her suitcase behind her the way she’s seen her parents and most members of the populace tote their wheeled luggage. After deliberating on a second thought, she decided instead to follow suitcase – finding pushing preferable to pulling.