Olive is 3! Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!!

Today Olive really showed some bright ingenuity, and I had to write about it.

First, this afternoon she came into the kitchen while I was cleaning and said, "I want to make a box house." I said, "You want me to get a box, and then we can make a house out of it?" "Yes," she said. So I got one of Chris's millions of drug boxes out of the garage. I asked her a bunch of questions, and she gave me very specific answers and instructions until we came up with the box house she had imagined (picture 1). The house is orange and has a brown door with a black door knob. The roof is purple. The back of the house has a pink garage. There are two windows on the front of the house and one on the back. She did most of the coloring, and I did all of the cutting. After it was finished, she played with the Little People with it for hours.

picture 1

Then at dinnertime, I was busy getting things on the table when suddenly I looked down and saw this (picture 2). She had taken the separator from the pizza box, which obviously resembles a tiny table, and put her Little People at it to eat their dinner while we ate ours. Chris put a single pepperoni on their table to finish off the scene. Pretty awesome.

picture 2

Olive saw her first movie in the theater today! Beauty and the Beast was playing for a limited time, so she and I went and saw it. 

Showing our tickets.

Eating popcorn.

She thought it was a little too loud.

Having fun!

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.