Second Part of Olivia's Birthday

We had a little family party for Olivia's birthday.  I loved how Olivia knew it was her special day.  Everyone gave her very thoughtful gifts.  They sure do love Olivia.  I'm so grateful that they are so sweet with her and truly love her.

 (Very blurry picture of pin the bow on Olivia)

I had the kids play pin the bow on Olivia.  It was a hit!

Olivia Learing to Words

We have had a speech therapist working with Olivia for months.  I am not even sure how many months, maybe 10 months.  Olivia's progress has been very slow.  In fact for the past 3 months it has felt like a plateau.  Just recently I have been getting a little frustrated.  All day long I am constantly repeating simple words to her and singing songs and emphasizing everything we do with words.  Olivia has been able to say hi, bye, mom, dad, and nana (banana) for several months.  But she was not even trying to say any other words, just grunting.  Olivia would never imitate what I was saying to her either (example:  moo, baa, papa).  On April 18th Olivia had her Let's Play class.  Her speech therapist, Lizzie, comes each week to help with Olivia.  While we were in class we were finishing up an art project and Olivia said "done".  Lizzie and I both looked at each other and said "she just said done".  We were both very surprised.  Throughout the rest of the day Olivia just took off with words.  When we got home later that afternoon Olivia went and got the bubbles from the cupboard, brought them over to me and started to say "bubbles, bubbles".  Once again I couldn't believe it.  Boy was I excited.  During the rest of the day she said "ide" (outside), "aut" (hot), and baba (bottle).  I was just amazed at all the words she was saying.  Since then, it has been a week and a half, she has continued to take off.  She is now trying to imitate everything I say to her.  She is saying  "wawa" (water), "ight" (light), "moo", "neigh", "ruff", and when I say a word I can get her to say the beginning or at least try to say the word.  It is so fun to see her start communicating with words.  I think she feels pretty good to be able to use words now as well.  I love when we are able to jump over another hurdle with Olivia.  What a sweet girl that has come to our family.  We sure love her.

Olivia's 2nd Birthday

This little girl turned 2 today and boy she was feeling pretty good about it. She opened one present before Matt went to work. She got a set of pots and pans and cooking utensils. She loved them and played with the food she got from Christmas and her pots and pans all throughout the day. She doesn't typically sit down and play with too many toys, but she loved stirring her food in her pots.

Started off the morning with a surprise of decorations that Matt put up.

How did our girl get so big?

Olivia was feeling pretty special opening her very own presents.

She got lots of special attention. Pretty sure she was loving every bit of it.

Myles was pretty excited to give Olivia Holly Shiftwell from Cars 2. She also got a magnadoodle, a dress, toddler utensils, and a piano. The piano was Myles' when he was little, but it has been tucked away that didn't have batteries. We thought she would appreciate the piano now, so we brought it out and she loved it.

Happy Birthday Olivia!

Fun facts about Olivia:

-Olivia can crawl up and down the stairs by herself. She can walk up a few by herself.
-Olivia can say mom, dad, hi, banana
-Olivia signs more, milk, water, eat, I want, up, open, help, please
-Olivia loves to wave by and blow kisses
-Olivia smiles and tucks her head into your body when she knows you are talking about her
-She loves to wrestle with Myles
-When Matt says, "come over and be my pillow" Olivia will crawl over and lay down underneath his head
-Olivia loves having a bath. As soon as you turn on the water she tries to climb in with her clothes on.
-Some of Olivia's favorite foods are: yogurt, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cereal, fruit, and any sweets.
-When Olivia is ready to go to bed she will go to the bottom of the stairs and cry until we take her to bed.
-She loves to hang out in the front room and tear out the books in the book shelf.
-She loves climbing on everything. She will pull out a bucket from the pantry and stand on it so she can see what is going on at the counter. Olivia is always climbing up on the kitchen chairs and table.
-Olivia loves electronics. If we are ever at the computer she pulls herself up so she can see what is going on. The other day we were leaving the dentist and there was a lady in the waiting area reading a nook. Olivia went to the ladies side so she could see what she was looking at.
-Olivia loves to hide in the cabinet next to the laptop in the kitchen. She will pull everything out of the cabinet and hide in there.
-Olivia loves to pick at sticky things.
-Olivia loves pulling herself up in the little rocking chair and rocks herself.

First Steps

Today was a busy day. Olivia had Motor group from 9:30-11:00. Afterwards we had to run some errands. Olivia had fallen asleep a couple of times in the car between all of the driving. After we got home and she had a short nap she had OT. Chris and Christina both came to go over what Olivia is able to do at this point. Next month we will be making new goals for the next 6 months. During therapy Chris wanted to try to get Olivia to take a step or two. She had Olivia hold onto the handle of a wooden spoon and then Chris held the top. Once Olivia started a step Chris let go and Olivia took 5 steps towards me all by herself. Wow, that was such a great moment! I was almost in tears. Chris and Christina were also on the verge of tears. Olivia is a smart girl and caught on to what we were doing really quick. She did not want us to let go of her. She was able to take several more steps all by herself until the end of therapy. When Matt got home I showed him what she had done and Matt was also able to see her take a few steps all by herself. Everything has been baby steps with Olivia. It's amazing how you appreciate every single one of those baby steps that she does take. I am so very grateful for everyone who works with Olivia. They have done such an amazing job. Olivia absolutely loves this team. Her eyes lighten up when she sees them.

Just so I can remember myself of everyone who has contributed with Olivia's therapy I need to write it down. OT-Chris (has done such a tremendous job on overall development. I have had some really good talks with Chris that have help me through it all.), Vision-Terry (amazing with Olivia. Always has a new song to sing to Olivia and they are the best songs I've heard. Helps with her overall development. Love Terry.), PT- Tiffany and now Mark Jones (I used to work with Mark at Now I Can), Speech- Lizzie (just started speech last month).

Olivia has started to sign more, milk, and open. She can say mama, dada, nana (banana), hi, and here. Olivia loves getting into all of the cupboards and pulling everything out. Olivia loves the water including bath time and swimming. She loves singing songs and playing with Myles.