We went to a parade a few nights ago. We are always looking for stuff to do so when we heard about a parade going on that evening, we decided to do it, even though it was a good 50 minute trip north in traffic. The parade consisted of 104 various group, politicians, businesses and organizations, looking to get a little cheap advertising. Many groups threw candy to the kids and had other gimmicky and entertaining ways to amuse the crowd. One of the first groups was a clown troupe. I'm not a huge fan of clowns and I don't think Olivia has ever seen a "real-life" clown. There was a traditional, run-of-the-mill clown, a nurse clown, an old man clown, and tiny-car-driving clown, and a few others - all equally creepy. I asked Olivia, while they were all passing in front of us, if she liked clowns. During our little conversation, she spied another odd looking creature. "Here comes another one!' she observed excitedly.
Nope...that's a middle-aged, bearded, boys scout leader from the next group...

I used to sell Usborne books. They are awesome and it made me a total children's books snob. About half of our kids' books are published by Usborne. Olivia received the Usborne bible stories book this past Christmas from my cousin's family. It came with a CD which has been playing, seriously, non-stop in our car for the last two or three months. She has become very familiar with the stories in the book and has lead to some interesting conversations.
A few nights ago, we were listening to the story of Jairus's daughter. We got to the part where Jesus asked everyone to leave the house except for the girl's parents and the disciples right before he raised her from the dead.
O: The dee-cycles (disciples) got to stay? Why?
Me: Because they were Jesus's special friends. They got to watch Jesus do lots of miracles.
O: They watched quietly?
Me: Yep.
(How many times has she heard us tell her to do something quietly?)

And then last night while she was taking a bath:
O: What is the Christmas story about?
Me: Christmas is when Jesus came to the world as a baby. Easter is when he was a grown man and he died on the cross to take away our sins. A sin is when we do a bad thing, but we can ask God to forgive us and then he does! Have you ever done a bad thing?
O: No.
Me: Yes you have. Do you think I have?
O: No.
Me: Yes I have! Everyone has sinned. Everyone does bad things some time.
O: But not Kyle.  (my brother)
Me: Yes, even Uncle Kyle has sinned.
I'll be sure to tell him Olivia has elevated him to saint status.

The other day after buckling her doll into Evie's car seat: "I'm taking my baby to Nazareth."

While eating lunch last week (making her fork "walk" across the table)  "This is Jesus. The people laid palms down for him. He was their leader."

I can only imagine the things we'd be hearing if she were listening to junk radio for all those hours...

Evie is a spit-up machine. We were unprepared for that since Olivia almost never spit up. She often wears a bib to catch the mess so I don't have to change her outfit eight times a day. Yesterday morning, she had already gotten some spit-up on her jammies (I don't sleep her in a bib) so when she spit up in her bouncy seat, I didn't bother to catch it. I was going to change her anyway as soon as I got Olivia ready for the day. Olivia and I watched as the white liquid spilled out of her mouth, down her chin, and around both sides of her neck, filling her (many) neck folds. Olivia watched with amusement and then said, "She wearing a necklace of spit up!'

Olivia fell off the stairs today...the bottom step. You would have thought she fell down the whole flight.
She cried and whined for a while. When the storm had passed, we were talking about the incident. "I thought I broke my head! But I didn't. Then you wouldn't have been able to see my whole face. I would have been like a puzzle!"
I'm pretty sure she was visualizing Humpty Dumpty...

While on the swing at the park.

Olivia: Look, my hands can reach! [the chains]

Me: You're growing so fast!

Olivia: I'm growing like a flower.

Me: You're getting bigger and blooming!

Olivia: This flower dies.

Whaaaaa? 

Motherhood has made me so emotional. I know that's true for many people. Talking about my kids, or even thinking about them, often makes me tear up. I'll probably weep while writing this post. Maybe.
I took the girls to a nearby park the other day. I had Evie in the Baby Bjorn and we followed Olivia around as she navigated the less frequented big-kid side of the park. She decided to take on climbing ropes. As a somewhat cautious kid, any amount of climbing up the ropes is a feat for her. She made it to the second rope and felt maxed out; she looked at me for approval. At that moment, a girl a few years older than her nimbly scrambled up to the top rope to the right of Olivia. She proudly looked down at Olivia and gloated in a [incredibly bratty] sing-song voice, "Look how high I am! You can't touch me!" hoping, I'm sure, to get a reaction from Olivia.
My sweet Pie, totally adorable and unbratty smiled and said back to her, "You're doing great!"
Then she looked again at me. "Mom, am I doing great?"
My heart could have burst. Those are the kinds of things that make me go in to her room 20 minutes after putting her to bed, just to snuggle her and tell her I love her one more time.

Moooo

I breastfeed. I believe in it and am committed to it. I'm not convinced I'll match the 2+ years I breastfed Olivia, but I'll keep it up as long as I can. But it's a pain sometimes.

Olivia watched me pump for the first time the other day. Not surprisingly, she had a lot of questions about what was happening, which I answered honestly. The day after our conversation, she came into the room while I was pumping again. She told me, "I'm going to pretend you are a cow." I said that was fine. She grabbed a book, sat down beside me, and said, "I'll read to you, Cow." 

Thanks for helping me pass the time...uh, Calf.