Christmas in NY

Monkey! Monkey! Olivia likes to call out "dog" and "cat" and even "horsey" when she sees them but none of them get the enthusiasm like when she sees a MONKEY! It sort of fits being that she acts like a little monkey herself. We were so fortunate to be able to spend Christmas in NY with the NY Melvilles. We had a fantastic time. There was so much to look at and take in that the first whole day Olivia just walked around the house saying "oooohh", "look" and "wow". For as eye catching and fun as everything was, she did a great job of just looking and/or touching things very gently. Look below at how gingerly she picked up her stocking....at first.

This next one is more like it should be at almost 2! Then come the presents! Lots and lots of presents.

As if presents weren't exciting enough there was also SNOW and her first time sledding.

Grandpa Melville made this sled by hand when his first granddaughter was little 14 years ago. It didn't take her long to find it once it was brought out of storage. Doesn't she look anxious to ride it...still in her pajamas and not even out of the kitchen yet and she was on it.

I have some fun video footage of everyone sledding and hope to upload it in the next day or so. You know what you need when you are in NY during the winter? Furry boots!!! Doesn't matter if they come all the way up to the top of your leg and then some...as long as you've got some.

Olivia's vocabulary has really taken off. Each day she is learning and expressing more. We have noticed that she is putting together some great sentences. The one in the video is a pretty long one and Mike is helping her put it together but on her own she will ask "where's dada" "dada working?" "Olivia have juice?" (ok it's actually Lala have juice... she tries to say Olivia but it comes out Lala) "i don't want it" and it's opposite "may i have some?" . I'm enjoying watching her label and figure things out. We used to hear a lot of "i love you" but now we hear " i love you momma" & "i love you dada" and perhaps not AS endearing but definitely very cute is when she is putting on her boots and says "i love boots...Lala loves boots". She has been practicing pointing to everyone andn everything she sees and saying their name ...Marley,pencil, book, MONKEY, Lynn, Cuca (as Luca is affectionately refered to), and as of today Uncle Max is no longer Uncle Mack...she has gotten the X sound down! Another thing I heard today for the first time was "excuse me". We haven't worked on that with her and yet she said it clearly and used it appropriately. She has been sipping ginger ale since she hasn't been feeling well so she burped a few times today and each time excused herself. I guess she's listening to us even when we don't realize it! (hey, we have a lot of gas around here...what can i say? ha ha ha) Speaking of her not feeling well...I should log off before she wakes up. I'll post again soon.

Duke, Santa & a bathing suit in November

We're baaaaccckkkkk! It's hard to update a blog when you don't have a computer so huge thank yous to Mom and Dad Melville for getting us back up and running! Just in time to share some wonderful Olivia news! As part of a follow up study that Duke is doing on very low birthweight babies we were asked to bring Olivia in for an evaluation/assessment. They administered what is called the Bayley exam. It is a standard series of measurements used to assess the motor skills (fine and gross), language (receptive and expressive) and cognitive development of infants and toddlers 0-3. Here is Wikipedia's definition....they can explain it better then I can. ~~~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayley_Scales_of_Infant_Development~~~ The results...........................................................drumroll please .............................................................. the results confirm that she ROCKS! To quote the doctor "you should put all of your preemie worries behind you." "Not only is she not delayed but she is doing exceptionally well." Of course my eyes were welling up at this point but the tears really started flowing when the supervisor came in to say that not only did the doctor (who administered the test) report to her that Olivia was doing a wonderful job developmentally but that she was also taken aback by just how pleasant, personable and attentive Olivia was during the testing. She administers a lot of these tests and Olivia really stood out. Don't get me wrong, I already knew all of this in my heart of hearts. All of us have known. It is just so different to hear it from professionals with so much experience in this particular field. So to respect her achievements (and to acknowledge how silly I have been to have it in the first place) I have removed the "adjusted age" birthday ticker from the heading above. She doesn't need that margin/allowance for "adjustment" .... she is developmentally on track to be exactly what she is! (26 days shy of being a full fledged TWO YEAR OLD!!!!) An expressive almost 2 year old at that! Check out her "style". She has really been into getting dressed (and undressed ~ regardless of her father's disdain for it) throughout the day. On Thanksgiving she decided she had to have her bathing suit on over her clothes.... She accessorized with daddy's hat.... And then Savanah's shoes.....

And then Grandma's cell phone....

Santa!!!! She was more excited to see Santa then what it appears like in this picture. 2 hours late for nap + lots of things going on around her that looked like fun = a so so picture. I didn't have my camera with me so I had to use my phone but I believe family took some good pictures and I'll need to get copies so I can post one where she is at least smiling.

(below) On our way to Duke in the weee hours of the morning.

*as a side note, Mike said it felt much better to be leaving Duke this time since we were able to bring Olivia out with us...unlike all of those times where we left heavy hearted and empty handed. (he'd probably want me to add some sort of disclaimer about how he is NOT a softy, he was just making an observation. tee hee)