Took Olive for her 18-month checkup yesterday. She's pretty average in height and weight, and her head is on the large side of the scale. Dr. Oyas said he wished all kids were as cooperative as she was when he was checking her out. He said everything looks great, and that we can start thinking about potty training since she's showing interest. Oh, and when he was checking Lucy out Olive was feeling very protective and worried. It was so cute. Olive did great as usual, so we got a chocolate shake as usual.

Olive's been folding her arms a bunch lately. Usually she does it when we're saying a prayer, and she says amen with us at the end. But she'll do it other times too. It's very cute.

Today Olive learned what sound a pig makes. I showed her a picture of a pig, and then snorted. So then she went around trying to snort. It was funny. I was amazed that she knew that picture was a pig. I probably only mentioned that once or twice. I keep being amazed about the things she retains. We started doing a Smarty Pants Hour everyday - 10 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of letters, 10 minutes of numbers, 10 minutes of colors, 10 minutes of shapes, and 10 minutes of flash cards/vocabulary. She loves reading, and she's great with the flash cards. The rest are slow coming, but I'm sure it's getting through to her on some level. She's a really smart little girl.

Also today, we were playing on the floor and then she went into the other room. I was very sleepy, so I laid my head down on the floor. When she came back into the room, she picked up my arm and then tried to pick up my head. She helped me stand up and then led me by the hand into the kitchen and she said, "Snack!" My cute girl.

I'm sure I've mentioned what a fish Olive is. Her confidence in the water is amazing for her age. Recently she even started jumping in from the side of the pool. As long as she's wearing her floaties, she doesn't need to be caught. She goes down the bigger little kid's slide at the aquatic center, and she enjoys have the waterfall fall all over her. I think most kids her age would avoid the waterfall or at least be flinching like crazy. She loves it. She's just such a natural in the water. It's great.

Olive loves her cuppy. Also her blanky. The two of them together make euphoria for her. She has been going to bed with her blanky and her cuppy since about the time she turned 1. But we're starting to prepare for potty training now, and one of the things we'll need to do during training is not give her a drink for the last couple hours of the day. So tonight I decided to start putting her to bed without her cuppy. Today was kind of out of the ordinary because she didn't sleep her usual 12 hours last night and didn't get a nap today (we were all over Henderson, it was crazy). Needless to say, she was pretty delirious when it was bedtime. I gave her her blanky, and told her to say goodnight to her cuppy, and we left it on the kitchen counter. She dramatically cried out, "Cuppy!" as we were walking away, but then she fell asleep within 10 minutes of getting into bed. Again, it's an out of the ordinary day. So I don't know if tomorrow or the next day will be as easy. Hope so.

In other news, Olive has recently figured out how to cluck her tongue and she was trying to wink earlier this afternoon. She also likes to whisper secrets. Very cute.

Olive has started saying Elmo. I think it's funny because I rarely say his name, and I certainly don't encourage her to like him any more than any other characters we see on TV. But when he shows up, she points at him and says his name clear as day. She must really like him! Lots of other words are making their way out of that little mouth of hers as well. She's really learning and growing a ton these days.

She has moved from 2 naps down to one. Our morning routine goes breakfast/scriptures, Sesame Street, and a little bit of play time. I used to put her down after that between 9:00 and 10:00, but now we wait until noon. She still goes to bed for the night between 6:00 and 7:00, sometimes 7:30, and always sleeps for a good 12 hours. Lately she hasn't been very resistant at all to going to bed, which I love. She just wants me to give her her cuppy, cover her up with her blanky, turn on the humidifier, and she's all set. She absolutely does not want to sleep with or even near us, which is a bummer sometimes when I wish she'd cuddle up to me to fall asleep. But it's mostly a good thing because she goes to bed so easily in her own room. Besides, she's pretty affectionate throughout the day. She gives kisses and hugs. And I love when she squeezes her arms around me and pats or rubs my back. Oh my goodness! What's better than that?

I know I've mentioned it about 1,000 times so far, but lately Olive's dancing has been happening way more often with way less compulsion and with lots more groove. Holy cow! Sometimes she'll even hold a "microphone" up to her face and dance and sing. Yikes, what do we have on our hands!? Such a little character!

18 months

For Family Home Evening on Monday night, we read a recent conference talk, sang "I Love to See the Temple," and then showed Olive pictures of the temple and tried to teach her the word. She said it! It was so neat.

"Shoes" is another word Olive has started saying lately. And she's also been wearing my shoes around. Very cute.

We got a turtle a few months ago. We're not sure if it's a boy or girl yet, but we named it Don Mattingly. Chris has been getting Olive acquainted with it, and she just recently started saying turtle. It's so cute to hear her say it. When Chris gets it out of its cage, Olive loves to watch it walk around and eat.

Olive wants to help take care of Lucy. She gives her her pacifier, and pats her back when I'm burping her, and is always pretty concerned and interested in her. She kisses her a lot, and she lays with her or on top of her. Sometimes her affection gets too aggressive. But mostly she just wants to be helpful and sweet with her, and I love that.

Olive pooped in the bathtub tonight. That makes twice! Chris and I were in the living room and we heard her fart in the tub. We looked at each other and laughed. And then when I went in there to get her out I realized it was more than just a fart. Yuck!