Enjoying summertime.

I am aware that we are well on our way to October, but this summer was hot.  And there was no rain to bring periodic relief.  (We are more than 26 inches behind in rain.)  The trees look like fall, and we don't get 'fall colors' around here without a nasty, nasty drought.  Somehow, they're not pretty.

The evenings are becoming quite comfortable, and the days are warm, but not so bad.

Recently, we have enjoyed evening walks around our neighborhood - sometimes walking to the snowcone stand at the edge of our neighborhood.  We love it, and Olive loves it ... and it gets us and Zoe out.  So despite rumors of fall, we are enjoying some great outdoor time.

The Bathroom.

I've delayed (and delayed and delayed) posting this photo, because, in person, the results aren't quite what we hoped for.  But, looking at this photo now, it doesn't look so bad.  And, it is a lot more 'us' than it was when we moved in.

Still, I will sum up.
First, paint helps, but it doesn't work miracles.  The light pink tone we selected reads almost white and just doesn't help warm the room up.  As light and almost white as it is, it is a little cooler tone than we prefer. 

Second, the pop of color we added to our mirrors is very pop-py.  We aren't totally sold on it.  So, we learned that mirrors don't work miracles either.  (Although, it helps if you hang the mirrors properly.  We spent some time wondering if the newly painted mirrors were in fact the same size before we pulled out our handy-dandy measuring device to confirm that we didn't hang them quite right.)   

Third, we really aren't fans of the pink tile.  A few tweaks to the room help, but the real change won't come until we have saved our pennies and agreed to demolish the tile. 

After all that, we are considering a warmer, yellow paint color.  Maybe yellow paint will be just the miracle we need.

Maybe not.  :) 

Funnies.

We are having a great time with the Little Miss lately.  She totally cracks us up.  We may not be the most impartial judges, but we'll share a couple of stories anyway!

***

Olive recently developed a habit of waking up earlier than normal (for her) by about one+ hour.  For the most part, she discovers that her binky fell out of her mouth (and then out of her crib in the night) and expresses displeasure. 

(This all started about when we took her bumper out of the crib in preparation for the transition to toddler bed.  Now the binky can freely fall through the crib rails without the bumper reigning it in.  Boo.)

Not sure what to do, but knowing that she (and we) could use the extra sleep, we decided to bring her the binky, remind her that it is still sleep time, and then leave. 

On the morning of this procedure's maiden voyage, Olive woke up early.  I went in, gave her the missing binky, and told her it was still sleep time.  She quieted, and I left.

Ten minutes later.  Olive started crying.  I went in, gave her another binky, reminded her that it was still sleep time, and left the room.

Ten minutes later. (Fun times, no?)  Olive started crying. I went in, but she had one binky in her mouth and another in her hand.  I reminded her that it was still sleep time, and asked her what she was doing and was she ok.

Without any hint of tears or sadness in her voice, Olive responded,

"I crying Mameee.  I crying."

I managed to contain my laughter until I was outside of the room.

[Post Edit - Because I re-read this and realized that perhaps the funny wasn't appropriately communicated.  My bad.  Still, I'll add some explanation. - First, Olive told me she was crying in the same tone she might have used to say, "I am eating pizza, Mommy."  So, I laughed not because she was upset, but because she was clearly not upset.  Second, I did suggest to Olive that perhaps, rather than crying, she could sing some songs for the duration of sleep time, if she did not want to rest.  She said, "OK," and was then silent for the duration of her sleep time.] 

***

Olive is learning to dress herself.  Shirts are hard, but she is (kind of) getting the hang of pants, skirts and shorts. 

Generally, she doesn't stop pulling them up when she reaches what would be for most a comfortable waist or hip level.  I frequently watch her pull the waist band clean up to her armpits.  I wince, but I enjoy her pride in having done it herself.  High fives and big grins are exchanged.

One evening recently, Olive decided to 'sit potty' and read a few books.  This is not an uncommon activity for us.  (We're still letting the potty be a comfortable place, and are not putting any pressure on her or us to move things along quite yet.) 

Tonight, however, Olive sat for a few moments.  Then, she stood and pulled her pants up from around her ankles to her favorite high-waisted stopping point.  (I tried to get her to take the pants off when she sat, but, when she responded with wails of "Maaa Paaaants!", I decided it wasn't a battle worth fighting.)

Then she declared, "I sit potty," pulled the pants back down and sat on the potty.

For about 10 seconds. 

Then, she stood up and repeated the whole process. 

Again.  And again.  And again.  And again.

I think she took her pants off and on about 30 times.  (It felt like 300, and, near the end, I was totally surpressing my giggles.) 

She is becoming more and more proficient at getting the pants over her little bum.  I suppose practice does make perfect.  (I sure hope so, because those wedgies she gives herself cannot be comfortable.)

Ah. What a Year It Has Been.

One year ago this month, we moved to this new-to-us house in Houston.  We loved it then, and we certainly love it now.

Recently, we popped a bottle of bubbly to enjoy the milestone, and enjoyed a chat about what may come.  It was lovely.

Fun Times at the Park.

Last weekend, we enjoyed a great birthday party in a park for our friend Annette's second birthday. 

The weather was perfect, and the park was wonderful.  All of the equipment was specifically designed for toddlers.  Olive loved it, and we loved not having to steer her away from "that one big slide" that every park seems to have.

Olive also enjoyed the cake. 

A (Very Late) Present and A Little Bit of Craftiness.

Olive's birthday was almost two months ago, and I purchased her birthday present at least two months before her birthday.  But, we didn't give it to her until last week.

I found a cute doll house/book case on Craigslist.  It was much less than the cute one Pottery Barn sold at the time.  Unfortunately, it was painted a variety of ice-cream-sherbet-flavor colors.  Still, I purchased it and planned to paint over the sherbet-y goodness.

The project itself did not take that much time.  I just took a long time to get around to it.  (Not that I have any really good excuses.) 

I opted for a clean, simple color-scheme.  White house, bright blue roof and trim.  Santorini in a peaked-roof dollhouse, if you will. :)

Olive totally loves it.

It is fun to see her understand the purposes of each furniture piece.  She knows her 'lady' sleeps in the bed (front left of the photo), and sometimes Olive twists herself onto the floor and puts her head on the bed, declaring, "Sleepy." 

It doesn't quite fit in its current location, but we are contemplating a furniture fruit-basket-turnover.  Maybe it will fit better in the near-ish future.

The Bathroom. Still.

The wallpaper is finally down.  Kyle even filled all of the scars I put in the sheetrock.  Even our painting is nearly complete.  (Only two small patches are needing re-sanding and re-painting.  The walls and ceiling?  Done.  The cabinets?  We opted out of painting cabinetry this time.) 

Ah, what color did we choose?  The name is something like Pink Sea Salt.  Which really means white with a whisper of pink.  A very whispery whisper.  (I mean, not for the ceiling, that is pure white ... but in the right light you can't really tell the difference.) 

We replaced our standard, rectangular, vintage mirror with two almost square framed ones ... the frames need painting (because we aren't grooving on the gold tone they currently boast), but they are hung.  The window covering and shower curtain are still hanging around in the guest room ... until the painting is 100% complete.  They will make their way back to the bathroom soon.

We DIY at a snail's pace to be sure.  But the progress feels (and looks) good.

Our Weekend.

Somehow, the last week slipped away from me.

We participated in our usual activities: work, school, sleep, eat, walk, color, read.

But we also enjoyed some play time over the holiday weekend.

We went to my cousin David's twin daughters' third birthday party (whew! that was a mouthful!) at the Children's Museum of Houston.  It really was wonderful.  All of the kids had a great time, and the parents seemed to enjoy themselves too!

We enjoyed an early Labor Day dinner at the Lake with family.  There were twenty-three of us altogether.  It was an extravaganza to be sure, but it was a great time.  Olive spent most of the afternoon following the other six kids around.  We already knew that she is in love with Hayden and Elise (my cousin David's twin daughters), but she also loved my cousin Dan's four kids (Lydia, Micah, Noah and Josiah).  Olive was the youngest of the bunch, but she kept up! 

We also took Olive in the pool to test out some of her new swimming skills (and decide whether to enroll her in another group of lessons).  We swam both at the Lake on Sunday and at a church pool in Houston on Monday.  (The First Methodist Houston Noah's Ark & Pool is super cute.  It isn't exactly next door to us, but it was worth the drive - and the price of admission.)  Olive enjoyed the water fun and is definitely developing some water safety skills.  Next set of lessons? Yes. Please!

The rest of our weekend and holiday we filled with chores (boo!) and simple relaxation (woo hoo!).

(And, yes, one day soon I will get my camera back out and snap a few photos.  I feel a little light on images lately.)

Halloween?

I know.  It isn't quite September, and I'm already nosing through catalogs and websites in search of a good Halloween costume for Olive.

I do not want something over the top.  I would love something that she understands, and that possibly she could play dress-up with.  And, I really want to avoid princess costumes - at least this year.

Cute Piggy?

Carter's has a cute cat costume (that I can't seem to catch an image of).  And Hanna Andersson has a cute Zebra dress (similar image issue, also Olive was a Zebra last year).

Kyle isn't a fan of Halloween. But, I might convince him to be Will Schuster, if I find Olive a cute red track suit. Not that that Sue Sylvester would pass the "something she understands" part of the test.  Yup.  We're Gleeks.  We're not proud of it, but we own it.  (And dressing up as Emma Pilsbury actually sounds like fun to me too ... or will I just be that prim lady handing out candy?)

Ahh.  The difficult questions that plague our lives ;)

Wanna Know ...

... what we did this weekend?

Nothing.

I mean ... we didn't go out to dinner, or lunch, or grab coffees or bagels.  We hunkered down (and not in the natural disaster sense of the phrase).  After quite a few weekends out of town and lots of very (wonderfully) busy weekend this summer, we decided to take it easy.  Very easy.

We did a few chores and went to church on Sunday.  We hung out at home and took a couple of walks around the neighborhood.  Other than that.  Nothing.

It might sound supremely boring.  But.  It was absolutely wonderful.

Golf Cart Crazies.

We recently had the pleasure of spending some time with my brother and his family.  I loved seeing Olive and Kate have so much fun together.  Rockin' out in a golf cart.  What could be better?

Haircuts?

Olive's hair is getting longer, but it is also getting pretty wild and crazy. 

I love, LOVE her little curls.  And they are super cute when she wakes up and her hair is messy.  But, Kyle recently determined that she has an almost mullet.  I refuse to agree, and I will NOT endorse the comment by posting a photo.

Suffice it to say, I am now seriously considering getting our girl her first non-mommy haircut.

(August is not a good hair month in Houston.  I've been dreaming about wash and wear, pixie cuts all month.)

Potty Time.

On the day that Olive joined the 2-year old class at her school, the teacher gave us a potty training video and asked us if we were potty training the little miss. 

Uh. No?

Whew.  I felt pressured to make a change we didn't feel ready for, but also excited about the prospect of washing fewer (or no!) diapers.

We resigned to start the conversation with Olive, but to put no pressure on her to move away from diapers.  We bought a little potty, and a few books ... that was it.  Olive enjoys using her potty as a her-sized chair, but we hadn't really gotten to the part about using the potty.  (In particular, she likes reading her potty book on her potty.  "Mameee ... Ma potty boooook.  Maaaaa potty book."  We did not name it; she did.)

Earlier this week, Olive's teacher told me that she asked Olive to sit on the potty after swim class - while the teacher was preparing Olive's diaper and putting up Olive's wet swimming suit.  Olive obeyed, and then she USED the potty.

When we found out, Kyle and I were both a little shocked. 

Then, later that evening, while enjoying some time at home on her little throne, she USED the potty again.  I nearly cried.

Now, Olive is NOT potty trained, and we aren't going to spend an intense weekend getting her out of diapers.  But.  This is a development that points to changes in our future.  The part of me that is super tired of washing diapers is super happy.  The part of me that already misses my baby being a baby is shedding a few tears.

Woo. Hoo. Library.

Our neighborhood library is new.  Well, we are new to the neighborhood, and I understand that there has been a library in this spot before.  But.  When we moved in, the library was closed and under construction.

The new building is finally finished, and it is beautiful!  They hung the "NOW OPEN" sign earlier this summer, and Olive and I strolled over one Saturday morning.  No. Such. Luck.  The library was closed on Saturdays.

(Yes, I could have Googled first, but it was a nice - though sweaty - walk.)

I know many people enjoy weekday library jaunts, but we are a two-working-parent family.  Weekday library time doesn't work for us.

HOWEVER.  I just learned that the library will now be closed on Mondays but open on Saturdays!  Now we CAN explore the library, and check out books instead of shelling out clams for them.  I appreciate this is, for many, a dry, mundane change of events. 

Still.  I am super excited! 

Roar. Lion.

Olive has started pretending.

For the most part, she pretends to be different animals.  Cats, horses and lions are current faves. 

The other morning, I went in to her room and was greeted by, "Roar. Lion. Meow. Cat."

Her horse act includes the requisite sound effects, and is accompanied by a 'gallop' that is super cute.

Post Edit -

8/23/2011 This morning Olive woke up in a snake-y mood.  As I changed her diaper, she repeated, "Sssss. Snake. Mamee. Sssss. Snake. Sssss."  Thankfully for my diaper changing task, there was no associated wriggling.