Doing a craft at the library -
this is one of our regular outings.

Olive is flourishing. She can write all the letters of her name, and we're working on writing them in the correct order. These days she is always carrying around a notebook and pencil, and she's always scribbling and writing. We even got her a special notebook for the cause. Even when we leave the house, she makes sure she has it with her. Preschool will begin next month, and she is really excited for that. There are so many opportunities every day to teach her something, and she's always very eager to hear what we have to say.

She did great at the summer dance intensive, her first time doing ballet. She shows us first position, and she's often prancing and dancing around the house.

She has enjoyed the water since she was tiny, and this summer she's really blossoming with swimming. We go to the pool several times a week. She jumps in, swims several feet under water, and then comes to the surface and swims some more, all without floaties or a life jacket. She's really strong in the water, and she's very interested in watching the swimmers on the Olympics right now.

Olive loves Penelope. (OK, so her name may not end up being Penelope; we'll see.) She is very affectionate and sweet, and we talk everyday about what it will be like when the baby gets here. I know she'll be so helpful and tender with her. Last week at my checkup, Dr. Long had Olive help her squirt the ultrasound gel on my tummy and find the baby's heart tones. She loved that. She had many questions when we were there, and even found a model of the female anatomy and asked what everything was. I told her that the uterus is where the baby grows, and she kept calling it the uterment. It was adorable.

Speaking of being helpful, that is definitely one of Olive's strengths. She happily obliges anytime I ask something of her, and she even offers to help in ways I hadn't thought of. Today I was grumbling around the house because I couldn't find a match to my sock. She was playing with my phone, which is usually something you can barely pry her away from, but she quickly put it down and said, "I'm a great finder, I'll help you!" She puts her dishes in the sink after meals, and she is usually so obedient when I ask her to put away her things.

We've implemented several changes lately, and Olive has happily and maturely obliged with each one. Both girls got twin beds at the beginning of the month. It only took a night or two for them to get comfortable in them. And Olive hasn't come to our bed to ask to sleep with us since the change. When Lucy wakes up to come see us, Olive often will coax her back into bed without even involving us. We also stopped putting them in Pull-ups a few weeks ago. She has had only a few accidents, and one night around 2 am she even came running in to our room and announced, "I have to go potty!"She has handled those changes like a champ. Also, we stopped watching television in the mornings. Dirty confession: I used to park the kids in front of the TV a bunch in order to get things done. My new goal has been to hold them off until after lunchtime, and then we watch a movie while everyone rests, then the television stays off or they are only allowed educational shows until we do a late afternoon activity. I thought for sure Olive would struggle with this one because that girl does love herself some TV. But she happily busies herself, or plays with the other kids and/or me, and doesn't ever complain about it.

In short, Olive is a delight. She's very social. She has a great sense of humor, and we're laughing with her a bunch each day. She adores Chris, and she loves me, and she's a good big sister.

Today was Olive's first day of ballet (we're calling it ballerina school), and she was beautiful.

Trying on her first pair of ballet shoes.

I took Olive on a few errands with me today. One of them was to go peruse the sales at Old Navy. They have a little table in the children's section where kids can sit and color while their mommies lose themselves in shopping. Olive parked herself there and started to color. Another mom came near the table with a baby, probably about a year old, in a stroller. The baby was really excited to see the kids' table, and wanted to get out. But the mom kept moving, and so the baby started to cry. Olive felt so sorry for the baby. She came to me, with her eyes really wide, and said, "Mommy, I want to give that baby my picture." So we looked around the store for a few minutes until we found the mom and baby, and Olive bashfully handed her picture to the mom while I explained. I was so dazzled by Olive's tenderness. She's a sweet girl.

I haven't laughed so hard in a while. I took the kids to the library for a teddy bear sleepover. All the children put their teddy bears in the center of this parachute so they could make them fly. Olive was one of the smallest kids there, and so when the kids pulled the parachute upwards, she hung on and actually left the ground! She had this look on her face like she was scared to death, but then really delighted when she knew she was alright. This picture is all I could manage to get of it, but it was so funny to watch! Maybe it's because I'm pregnant, but when I called Brandy afterward to tell her about it I wept so hard that I cried off all my eye makeup.

My adventurous, brave girl made her way up this rock climbing structure at the park today. She was a little nervous about coming down, so I talked her through it a little bit, but she did that part by herself too. Crazy kid!

Olive loves this time of year because we're in the water nearly everyday. There's a splash pad in town that Chris has taken the kids to a few times, and we have a bunch of water stuff in the backyard. She's a little fish.

She loves to wrestle Chris, and I'm figuring out that she definitely plays rougher than other little girls her age.

Olive scrunches the right side of her face when she's explaining something or when she's confused, or whatever. It's pretty cute. She knows I like it, because I do it back to her, and so she does it even more.

She will follow up most questions with a selection of answers for me to choose from. Like, if she asks a yes or no question she'll say, "No or yes?" after she asks it. Or like if something doesn't fit her, she'll say, "Is it too big or too little?"

She still adores singing and dancing. She sings on key, and she has rhythm, and it's fun to watch those talents arise in her. She is very excited to start "ballerina school;" her dance class starts in July.

Olive is like Chris in that she gets over things pretty quickly, I mean with regard to being in trouble or getting in a fight with Lucy. She just forgets about it and moves on fast. Lucy, on the other hand, is more like me.

Olive has always been pretty independent. Lately she's been scooting chairs or stools to places she can't reach. She does it several times a day when she wants to get a snack. And she even knows how to unwrap a package of popcorn, scoot the chair over to the microwave, and push the popcorn button. I don't know who taught her that one, but we've had a million popcorn messes lately to show for it. I appreciate her independence, but I love it when she wants to cuddle and rest with me too.

Olive has had a few nightmares lately. She wakes up upset, and tells us details of the dream. I've noticed it's started happening around the same time that she's begun to pretend. She pretends things all the time. So I think it's just her little imagination running wild. Still, I don't like her having bad dreams. Poor thing.

She's energetic and creative, and always wants to know what we're doing next or what friends we're seeing today. She runs the show, or at least thinks she does. She's charming and witty, and I adore her.