I'm bummed that I've let so much time go by without writing about Olive. Three and a half months in kid-time means A LOT has happened and changed.

The biggest thing on Olive's mind these days is her upcoming birthday. When you ask her when it is she says, "Febu-ferry four." Love that. She is VERY excited for her birthday, and asks me almost everyday if today's the day. She asked for a Dora cake, and so I'm planning a very Dora event. She has been pretty excited about turning 3 because she knows that means she gets to go to school and ballerina school. We have plans to put her in preschool as soon as we can, and dance at the beginning of August.

Olive knows many letters, especially O, L, and G. And she has recently started tracing O and L. She loves to be read to, and she loves to be taught. I try to make it a point to teach her things as we're going through our days. Like, when I told her we were invited to a friend's baptism I took a few minutes to explain what a baptism is. She listened so intently, and then brought it up again every few days or every time something reminded her of it. And that happens with so many things. It amazes me what she retains and then repeats. She really seems to be exceptionally bright, and dangerously perceptive.

Olive continues to be such a funny kid with such a smart little wit. She cracks us up several times a day, with her very expressive face and nutty observations. She is also very helpful, and very nurturing of the younger kids. She really loves being with other children and going on outings. She does pretty well socially. We've learned a lot lately about sharing and taking turns, and I often hear her ask another kid, "Can you share?" She really seems to enjoy all her friends, but Lucy is definitely her best friend. They are so close - how couldn't they be - and they laugh and play together, and fight like cats. That's probably how it'll be their whole lives!

She loves riding her new bicycle that she got for Christmas. I thought she'd struggle with it because it is a little big for her, but she is a really agile kid and handles it well.

Olive asks me, "Can you lay on the floor?" every night at bed time. That means she wants me to stay in there and sing to them until they fall asleep. I usually oblige. But almost every single night she ends up in bed with us some time around 3 or 4:00 am when we're just too tired to put her back. It's not something I care too much about changing right now. She's doing great with the potty. She's pretty much independent, although sometimes she just wants some company while she goes. Our big obstacle is getting her to wake up in the morning with a dry Plup-plup (Pull-up). I'm adamant about the kids not going to bed with any kind of drink, so that's not a problem. But I'm lazy about paying attention to what time to cut drinks off in the evening, and I always forget to have her go potty before bed. So she wakes up wet everyday, and that's my fault. It's on my list! Also on my list is to ease away from sippy cups for her. She handles regular cups and bottles of water really well, and drinking from a cuppy is really just a soother for her. So we're slowly but surely getting away from that.

Olive is independent and has a strong will, so we certainly butt heads a few times a day. But she is mostly so delightful and fun. And as long as I engage with her, she is a super pleasant kid. I adore her.

We made a pine cone bird feeder together this afternoon.

Olive skips 5 when she's counting. It's always "1, 2, 3, 4, 6..."

She loves to play hide and seek, but she tells us where she's going to hide. She also loves to be chased. She'll say, "Don't get me!" and then run away.

Her latest thing is to gasp and then say, "Oh my goodness!"

I showed her X Marks the Spot recently, and now she wants me to do it all the time. I also showed her how to play doctor, and she loves that too.

Olive recognizes "O for Olive" all over the place.

She loves her bicycle (which is really a tricycle, but she calls it her bicycle) and rides it all over the house and driveway. She asks to bring it to the park every time we go, too.

She loves our phones. She says to us, "Ki hodju phone?" which means, "Can I hold your phone?"

She recognizes where we are all the time. She knows the church, the bank, the library, the park, and even when we go to Vegas.

Recently Chris and I explained to her about how Jesus was crucified on the cross. We showed her pictures in the children's scripture books. She said, "Oh he's stuck." And she often asks to see the "owies" in his hands.

She mothers Georgey and Lucy a bunch. When George cries she'll tell him, "I'm right here," and talks to both of them in her highest sweetest voice.

Olive loves when I bake. She pulls up a chair to stand on and watch what I'm doing. And of course, she loves to lick the spoon!

Olive tells me pretty often, "I like your boobies." I don't know what that's all about, but it cracks me up. I always say thanks!

Olive is very polite. She says "no thanks" and "thank you" and "excuse me." I love it.

Olive has started wanting to say the blessing on the food. She always starts her prayer with, "Thank you Father" instead of "Heavenly Father." It's pretty cute.

She and I have a bit of a power struggle everyday. I often have to remind her that I'm the mom. I certainly didn't think I'd have this issue with her at this age. When she doesn't get her way she'll often sit down on the ground in protest. She gets "2 minutes" when she's naughty. She is very bossy and really wants to be in charge of Lucy, George, and even me. When she plays with other kids, though, she doesn't totally take over. She is timid at times, and bossy at times. I guess it all depends on the dynamic of the group.

Bedtime is really hard these days. I dread it every night. We either have to lay on the floor of her room until she falls asleep (during which time I have to tell a million stories and sing a million songs), or be overly stern with her to get her to stay in bed. I really hate it. And then she usually gets in bed with us some time in the night. It's often more towards the morning hours, but sometimes it's right in the middle of the night. Ugh! Can't wait for this phase to be done.

We tell each other stories a lot. I always start with, "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Olive. And she had chocolate drop eyes, and a honey curl hairdo, and she was beautiful!!" She often tells me what the story should be about - a princess and a castle, or going to the park with Lucy. I love when she tells me stories. They mimic the ones I tell her, and they're really cute. The first time we ever told her a story, Chris made it up. It was about a princess named Olive who had 5 beautiful dresses. She had friends who didn't have dresses and they were sad, so Olive shared hers with them. So sweet.

Olive still loves to perform. She loves to dress up like a princess and dance. She loves to sing and dance, particularly to the Fresh Beat Band on television.

She's my hardest work right now, but certainly one of my 3 biggest joys too. Love her.

Olive likes to get in her princess dress-ups and then say to Chris, "Daddy, prince me!" That means she wants him to dance her around like a princess. He'll usually sing "I could've danced all night..." or something like that while he's twirling her and dipping her and dancing with her. It's really sweet.

Olive is a little fish in the water. She loves going to the pool and the beach, and she's a really confident really strong little swimmer.

She is way into coloring these days. There are always piles of colored pages around the house. She can easily make an O for Olive. And she is recognizing other letters and numbers more and more. She is an absolute whiz on the iPad. We have a few educational apps on it, and she loves doing them. She'd really do it for hours if we let her. Sometimes we do! She also really knows her way around our phones. She loves doing puzzles, and there are several 12-piece puzzles that we have that she can put together by herself. It's neat to watch.

I think we finally got through the nightmare of getting back into a good sleep routine. But before we did, she slept in our bed with us for several nights. And I would rub her face and tell her stories that always start with, "Once upon a time there was a little girl named Olive. She had chocolate drop eyes and a honey curl hairdo. And she was beautiful!" She loves it. And once in a while she does it back to me, rubbing my face and telling me a story. She can't quite say it right though, so she says, "Once atotatime..." It completely melts me. Anyway, she's back to sleeping well. She takes a decent nap on most days, and she sleeps in her bed all night every night. I made her cupcakes last week to celebrate her sleeping in her own bed (she calls them cupcapes). I'm happy and relieved! She recently tore a hole in her blanky, and now whenever we tuck her in we have to make sure she knows where the hole is. She thinks it's soothing, I guess. And when I cover her up with her blanky, she wants the striped side down. She'll say, "backwards," and that's what that means.

Olive often says, "I'm so scared" even when there's nothing to be scared of. She says "stuckin" instead of stuck. She went through 3 really big bouts of sickness lately, but she kept telling us, "I'm so better." She's catching on to mine and Chris's spelling, like when we say P-A-R-K, for example. She'd say, "Mommy I wanna go to the P-R-K." At first she thought that one was the pool, but now she's figured out that pool is P-O-O-L. Such a smart little cookie.

The other morning I got really frustrated with her. I had to walk away, and when I did I stood there and cried. She came to me and said, "Mommy?" I didn't answer her, so she said, "Mommy, talk to me." It melted all my frustration.

Last week Chris was sick, and she went in to check on him and said, "Daddy are you all better?" He said no, and she said, "A little bit?" and made a little pinch with her fingers.

She asks Georgey, "You love me Georgey?"

She loves her tricycle. The other day the mean neighborhood dogs scared her when we were out for a walk. She jumped off her bike, and climbed up me till I picked her up. But she had one hand holding the handle bars and she was crying, "My bicycle!" I guess she feared for her bicycle's life too.

Love that kid.