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.