MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

Bye, bye pacifiers!

We finally did it -- we managed to get Olivia to give up her pacifier (or, as she
calls it, her "mimi").

I was tired of listening to her say "Mommy, I need my mimi"....and so, on Friday night, we told her that we needed her to put them all in a box and wrap them up for baby Emma.

She was all for it. We found a pretty gold box, filled it will all her mimis and wrapped it up in Disney Princess wrapping paper...and put it under the Xmas tree for baby Emma. Then we told her that when Emma is born she can bring the present to the hospital.

It seems to have worked. She went to bed Friday night without asking for the mimi. And since then she's only asked for it twice -- much less of a fight than Kevin and I thought it would be.

Now, we must work on potty training. I would LOVE to have that somewhat mastered by the time Emma arrives -- it would be nice to only have 1 kid in diapers. :)

Happy Halloween!

Off to trick-or-treat with Daddy!

By the end of the night,

Olivia's bucket was filled to

the top with candy!

Olivia dressed up as

Sleeping Beauty.

And what a beauty she was!

A visit to the pumpkin patch

Looking for the right pumpkin!

A day at the salon

Olivia had her bangs trimmed today...but one would have thought she was going in for a full day of salon services. She is such a girly-girl...I love it!

She had to show off her very blue tongue, having just enjoyed a blue raspberry Dum-Dum sucker.

I just love the shot of her looking in the mirror. What a girl.

Fall!

Olivia loves the falling leaves!

Tickle me elmo....or not

Olivia has decided on yet another potential name for baby.

Elmo.

Yep, that's right. She wants to name her new baby sister after the very cute Sesame Street character. We aren't sure why.

First it was 'Rella (short for Cinderella). Now it's Elmo.

I don't think either of those names are on the short list.

Olivia checks out the ultrasound photos

Olivia wanted to see photos of her baby sister...so we gave her the ultrasound photos. We aren't sure if she knew what she was looking at - she has a rather puzzled look on her face.

"Um, mama...what exactly is this?"

The Wiggles!

We took Olivia to see The Wiggles live in concert. She had a great time. Here are a few pics.

Pretty as a princess, part 2

All dressed up and ready to go...with flower in hand. Olivia is growing up SO fast!!!!

Olivia's first E.R. visit

Olivia made her first trip to the E.R. this morning. She is proudly displaying her injury in the photo.

Here's the scoop: She was brushing her teeth (and hates to be helped) and slipped off her step stool and BAM! -- hit her chin on the countertop and her top teeth went into her bottom lip. Instant hole in the lip.

The ever-so-unhelpful ped's office said "if she needs stiches, we don't do that here, so you might as well take her to the emergency room."

And so, we did. Olivia thought her admittance "bracelet" was rather cool...for a short time. And she freaked out when the doctor came in. But we came out of it OK - no stitches required and only 5 days on amoxocillin.

Pretty as a princess

Look at me!

I'm in my new dress, ready for church!

Bath time paparazzi

Hey lady! I said NO photographs during

bath time! Geez, can't a girl get a break?

Potty time with Olivia

No, this isn't about potty training...we haven't yet ventured down that road.

However, Olivia's fascination with the toilet continues....

Yesterday morning we put her down for an early nap and went outside to do yardwork. We thought (incorrectly) that she was sleeping.

When we finished the mulching and went upstairs we discovered what our little darling had really been doing. Playing in the toilet. The bowl was filled with toilet paper and the walls were dripping wet. And Olivia was very impressed with her work.

I caught her in the act today. I thought I heard her get out of her bed, but when I came upstairs her door was shut. Ok, I thought, I'm hearing things. And then I walked into the master bathroom just as my little darling was walking out...with wet hands and a guilty smile. Real cute.

Very tricky, this one. She shuts her door to make me think she's still in there....and all the while, she's in my bathroom.

Yeah, laugh all you want. My mom thinks it's hilarious.

We're buying locks for the toilets ASAP.

Ch-ch-ch-changes, Part 2

Olivia decided to do a bit of climbing on Thursday...right out of her crib!

She woke up from her nap, I opened her door and said "mommy will be right back" and all of a sudden I heard "thud" and the pitter-patter of little feet. And there she was -- standing in my room with a huge smile on her face. "Hi!", she said.

We figured it was only a matter of time before she figured out how to escape the confines of the crib...but it was still a bit of a shock.

I put her back in the crib and said "show mommy how you got out"...and without a moment's hesitation, she threw her legs over the side and PLOP!...she was out. It was rather hilarious to watch...she was so proud.

So that night, we converted the crib to the toddler daybed...and now we're just waiting to see if or when she is going to fall out. But at least if she does take a tumble, it's only a few inches to the floor...instead of a few feet from the top of the crib.

Sigh...my baby is growing up too fast!

Color me happy

Olivia has found a new outlet for her boundless energy - coloring. I've been trying for months to get her to pick up the crayons and color, but as usual, things have to be done on her time.

She finally picked up the crayons the other night and started to color - on a garbage can. I came downstairs to see why she was so quiet and there she was - sitting on the basement floor, coloring away.

And now, it's all she wants to do. She will sit for at least an hour or two surrounded by her washable Crayolas and piles of white paper, scribbling away.

I am not one to stifle anyone's creativity, so we're just letting her color away. If it makes her happy, we're happy.

In fact, we're going to buy her an easel so she can color more.

I'm actually hoping that the coloring will lead to other forms of expression - such as talking.

Olivia still refuses to talk, more than the occasional word like "hi" or "mama" or "daddy." She has yet to form a sentence, although I'm sure the words are in there. Kevin and I both think that she's being stubborn and one of these days it's all going to come tumbling out. [Hopefully, without all the colorful swear words that I'm always saying].

The coloring took a while, I guess talking will come in time.

In the meantime, I'll post some of her artwork soon.

A few more Disney pics

With Mommy, Chip and Dale...

In front of Cinderella's castle...

Testing the waters in Clearwater

Disney World

Olivia's first trip to the Magic Kingdom was wonderful. She seemed to be amazed every time she met a new character and wasn't scared of any of them.

However, we did have a minor lapse in judgment -- we took her on "Snow White's Scary Adventure" and she screamed thru the entire ride. I mean SCREAMED. Guess the "scary" in the ride's name should have been a tip off that it wasn't suitable for a 2 year old. Oh well, live and learn. At least she liked "It's a Small World."

Ch-ch-ch-changes....

Had to finally take down the pack-and-play today. I probably should have done it months ago (at least weeks ago), but I kept delaying the inevitable. [Plus, it was a nice place to plop the kid when I needed to do something, such as shower]. However, our little angel decided to climb out of her pack and play yesterday.

I was upstairs and suddenly heard a slight "thud" and then crying. As I ran down the stairs expecting the worst, my darling pre-schooler ran into the living room smiling and laughing. She was, I think, rather proud of herself. The crying..well, that was due to the fact that she left her sippy cup of milk in the pack and play. Apparently, this escape was not well-planned.

We're just waiting for her to figure out how to climb out of the crib. When that happens, it'll be time for the toddler bed. Next thing we know, she'll be asking for the car keys.

Kids grow up way too fast.

A minor name change

Decided that I had to make a minor change to the title of this blog.

Apparently, my 2-year-old is no longer a toddler, she is offiically a "preschooler." I suppose that I knew this, but it was confirmed in a monthly email I recieved yesterday titled "Your preschooler this month - 25 months old."

So, it's now Olivia's Timeouts - same content, just a different name.

Enjoy!

Cutie pie

Sometimes it's all about the cuteness.

Pack your bags..it's time for a guilt trip!

Olivia has mastered a new art form: the guilt trip.

As I was leaving for bar review last night she had a complete meltdown - crying, screaming, grabbing at my coat -- it was really enough to garner an Academy Award nomination.

It's not as if she's stuck at day care all day and never gets to see me. Nope, she spends all day with me - unless I have to teach. But almost every night when I get ready to leave for bar review, the waterworks start.

It makes me feel bad. I'm sure it makes Kevin feel bad (as in: "Hey kid, it's your daddy here. I'm gonna be taking care of you tonight...isn't that OK?").

I'm also sure that as soon as I walk out the door, she stops and is happy as a lark. It's all just a ploy to keep me from going to bar review. Smart kid.

Elmo's potty mouth

Olivia and I made the local news yesterday - and no, it wasn't because I finally gave in to my Starbucks rage and changed a poopy diaper in the middle of a coffehouse!

It was all about Elmo (as is usually the case in any household with a 2 year old).

Olivia received this book for her birthday called "Potty Time with Elmo" - it's one of those books with the sound buttons on the side. Well, little did we know what sounds would be coming from the book.

When we opened the book, my brother-in-law said "that's the book people are selling on Ebay for $60", because according to him, Elmo asked if someone wanted to die. I said, "oh sure", thinking that no way could that cute little red monster ever say anything terrible. I was wrong.

Sure enough, when you press the button for "Baby David" (Elmo's doll) it says "Uh oh! Who wants to die!?" -- in Elmo's cute little voice no less. It sounds rather sinister, actually. (It's supposed to say "Uh oh! Who has to go?")

Being the responsible mom that I am, I contacted the publishing company and informed them of the "defect" in the book. Within 5 minutes of my email being sent, I received an email from the company that said this: Thank you for notifying us about your experience with Potty Time with Elmo, We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused we aware of this problem and we are issuing a revised version of the book. We would be more than happy to send you a replacement. If you like please call me direct at 312-649-3619 or e-mail me your shipping information in order to make the necessary arrangements.

Now I'm thinking: ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

This company knows that the book is defective, yet it's still being sold to unsuspecting kids and their parents? Normally, when a child's toy is defective the manufacturer will issue a recall and replace all existing toys with non-defective ones. Not in this case. Rather than recalling all the "Potty Time with Elmo" books and replacing them with books that have the correct phrase, this company is WAITING for parents to contact them.

This is not only LAZY, but it's completely IRRESPONSIBLE.

So, I made a decision - I emailed the local ABC affiliate here in Toledo and told them my story. And yesterday morning a cameraman showed up and did an interview with me and Olivia.

We were on the 5 and 5:30 newscast and as I type, we are still the "top" story on the 13ABC website (http://www.13abc.com/). The headline is: "Elmo book has unusual message." To say the least.

[Continuing my "15 minutes" -- this morning I was a "guest" on a local radio show].

My whole point of contacting the media was to make other parents aware of this book and to maybe make local retailers take notice and voluntarily take the "defective" books off their shelves and get replacements from the publisher. My brother-in-law actually found several copies at a local Wal-Mart, and they all contained the "who wants to die" statement. Seems to me that the company is doing nothing.

Meanwhile, I am going to keep the offending book -- and try to get a replacement from the company.

[Note: As of 1-12-06, there were 4 copies of the "defective" book being sold on EBay. The highest bid as of today was $25.99].

Happy Birthday!!!