One Year's Old!

Dear Olivia,                                                                                  June 26, 2014
I write you this letter two days before your first birthday party and ten days before you first actual birthday.  I can't believe you are turning one now.  This year has gone by so quickly, so much faster than with Brandon.  I remember like it was just yesterday we were bringing you home from the hospital.  Life has kept us busy.

You are such a delight.  It has been so much fun having a girl this time and getting to dress you in all sorts of cute clothes and bows.  Daddy says you may hate me for some of the stuff I put you in later when you are a teenager looking back at photos.  You have probably changed the most from 10 months to now.  You began really walking just before 11 months.  This was a full month earlier than your brother.  You are a nimble agile little climber.  You climb on things that Brandon never thought to climb on even at 2 years.  I am just glad that your crib is so low, at least we can hopefully contain you in there for maybe at least another year.

When you started walking, you were so proud of yourself.  You beamed all over and walked around clapping your hands.  You were so happy to be able to keep with big brother.  You also love to chase him around the house now.  You love to dance and move to music.  You got some good moves.  You love to wave to people.  You are so smart, you really understand what we say.  You can do simple directions like "come here" and "bring this to me."  You can identify by pointing where mommy, daddy, and Brandon is in a picture.  You are also quite verbal and quite loud!  I guess you need to be loud to get a voice over your brother.  You are also quite good at voicing your displeasure when you dislike something already.  You have thrown several tantrums (something that Brandon did not do that early on) well before your first birthday. 

You love your big brother Brandon and really look up to him. You love to chase him around the house and for the most part tolerate him really well. Sometimes he does get a bit rough with you but you are good about letting him and us know when you have had enough. You guys are playing and interacting so much more now. This is why I wanted to have you two so close in age. It is so fun to watch your relationship grow.

You are working on your fifth tooth right now as we speak.  You do not do well when you get teeth unlike your brother who it did not seem to bother.  You get cranky and it seems to disrupt your sleep the most.  When you got your front two teeth you woke up at night with them bothering you several times.  This go around with your two front side teeth you aren't at least waking up at night but you are napping less well and are a pain to get to nap.

Speaking of sleep, you are not as great of a sleeper as your brother (but hardly any one probably is, he is one of those rare kids that just love to sleep and is super easy to get down for naps and bedtime). You generally go to sleep any where from 7:30-8:30 depending on when you had your last afternoon nap and generally sleep from 6:45-7:15 AM.  You still nap twice a day, usually around 9:00 or 9:30 AM and also in the afternoon at around 2:00 PM.  I try to get you and your big brother to nap at the same time in the afternoon as you but that does not always work.  You still often take one of your naps sleeping on me or your daddy and now are taking one nap in your crib usually.  You generally nap about 45 minutes in the morning and at home in the afternoon anywhere from 1-2 hours.  At school, your naps are a whole different story.  You love going outside at school and playing with the kids and outside time at school is at 10:00 AM when your morning nap normally is so you usually don't go down at school until 11:15-11:30 AM and then take a nap again in the late afternoon around 3:30-4:00 PM.

You like going to your day care.  You like your teachers and you have several baby friends.  You especially like your friend Grant who is two months older than you.  Brandon is friends with Grant's big brother Gavin.  Daycare is very stimulating and some times you are tired.  It is nice that your CiCi comes and takes care of you twice a week.  You get a nice rest and you get to do fun things like going to the park, going on walks, and going to the children's museum with CiCi.  You also get nice naps sleeping on CiCi's tummy which you love. 

You babble quite a bit. Very long strings of babble like sentences. You sometimes like to squeal quite loud; you like to be heard. You can say dada, mama, dog, and just recently hi, bye, and night night. I think you are going to be a talker. You love dogs and get quite excited when you see them. 

You are way more petite than your brother at this age.  I measured you myself and right now you are about 29" tall and 20.5 pounds (your one year doctor appointment is in about a week).  Your brother at this age was 26 pounds and 3 ounces and was 32 inches tall!  He was well into wearing 18 month clothes and started wearing some 24 month clothes a few months later.  You can still fit into some 6-12 month clothes and fit in 12 month clothes perfectly right now and probably will be in them most of the summer.

Your favorite foods are carbs.  You love pancakes and any type of pasta including gnocchi pasta from Trader Joes, spaghetti, and penne noodles.  You love applesauce; in fact you love applesauce so much that we would put it in your vegetables and meat baby food that you did not always care for to get you to eat it.  You also love fruit, especially strawberries and watermelon.  You can eat anywhere from three to even seven strawberries (you did that one night!).  You have also tried a little ice-cream which you love.  You do not eat as much as your brother did but do like to graze on food throughout the day. You still are nursing quite a bit.  You nurse about 4-5 times a day still although you are going down closer to 4 times a day now.

You like to cuddle.  You love your mommy and daddy the most and your CiCi.  You love to be held and often will follow me around the kitchen tugging on my leg for me to pick you up.  You love sleeping on whoever will hold you although you are doing better napping in your crib.

Olivia you are such a happy, sweet, smart, and loved little girl.  I am sad that this year has gone by so fast and that you are becoming a little girl in front of my eyes instead of a baby, but I am so excited for the many fun memories to come and to watch you grow into your own little person.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of you over the last year: