Here are a few things about my sweet Olivia, at 18 months, that I just have to share while she is still my baby, and my one and only favorite girl in the world...
*She is in LOVE with shoes. She plays with them all the time, and "shoosh" was one of her first words.
*She is SOO sweet. She loves to give kisses. She gives them to me, to Jon, to her dollies, duckies, doggies, etc. She also gives kisses to pictures, like pictures of President Monson, Baby Jesus, and baby pictures of herself. She has graduated from the open mouth kiss to the semi-puckered up kiss accompanied by a "mmmmmmm-ma!" sound.
*She loves to help mommy and daddy. She throws things away, gets things for us when we ask, etc.
*She is SO friendly!! She loves going up to people saying "Hi!" She also loves to say "Ba-BYE!" Exceptions to this friendliness include Santa Clause and the JC Penny Portrait lady. She doesn't like them at all. (We went to see the Mall Santa, and she refused to even look at him, let alone sit on his lap. Then at our Church Christmas Party, I showed her how all the other kids were sitting on his lap, and that he was giving out candy canes. When it was her turn, she walked right up to him, grabbed the candy canes, turned around and ran away! I tried to sit her in his lap, and she screamed, so I held her for a picture, which she still wasn't too pleased about.)
*She is learning SO many words. My favorite is "Ow-Búho" ("Owl" in English and then in Spanish). She says this when we go in the baby's room, which she cannot get enough of.
*She has a sweet tooth. She announces "nummy, nummy, nummy!" whenever she sees sweets, which, during this time of year, is quite frequently.
*She absolutely has a mind of her own. She does what she wants when she wants to. I wonder where she could have gotten that trait?
*She LOVES babies. She frequently points to my belly and says "bibi". She loves to give kisses to my belly too.
*She is a great sleeper! She typically sleeps 12-13 hours each night, and then takes a 2-3 hour nap. I have been spoiled...having a newborn again is going to be an adjustment.
*She STILL loves to dance. Our nightly ritual is to turn on some fun Christmas music, and let her rock out. She runs around, marches, shuffles, bounces, and has herself a great time!
*She loves the hymn book. One of her favorite things to do is pull the hymnal off the shelf and turn the pages. Sometimes she "sings" while doing so.
*She is a total girly-girl. She loves to wear her little string of pearls, and she watches me doing my makeup and wants me to put some on her. The other day I was painting my nails, and she came up holding out her hands and making her "I want that!" sound. So I told her I would paint her nails if she held very still, and she did! So fun!
She is my little sweetie pie, and I can't get enough of her. Unless she is throwing a tantrum. But we're working on that.
LOVE MY LIVI!
Chances are, if you have had a conversation with me in the past few months, you know that this time around, choosing a name for our baby was very difficult. We went through list after list, only to practically veto all of each others picks, and just feel so-so about what was left. The process for us is complicated slightly by the fact that we are raising our family bilingual (or at least, attempting to do so) and it is important to us that names we choose sound equally good in both English and Spanish. That eliminates a lot of names. At one point, we agreed on Sofia, only to find out, the very next day, that Sofia had jumped to #1 baby name of 2010. I just couldn't do it. In the end, it came down to a name that we had considered, but that had somehow been overshadowed by other names on the list. And suddenly, we knew it was perfect. So we have a little Anna Marie in our family. Anna, for my great-grandma, Anna Hendricksen Pratt, the great matriarch of our branch of the Pratt family. I have been attending family reunions of her posterity since I can remember, and could tell you all kinds of incredible stories about her, her faith, her dedication to family and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll have to post some of those another time. Marie, for Jon's great-grandma, Marie Cutler, mother of Gordon Cutler who floundered a bit before moving to California and eloping to Las Vegas with Alice Fares. When Marie came to visit the couple, Gordon forbade her from sharing the Gospel or the Book or Mormon with his bride. But Marie didn't listen. She gave Alice a copy of the Book of Mormon, and Alice found it to be true. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Gordon returned to activity in the church, they were sealed in the temple, and raised five wonderful children, one of whom they named Susan, who was also married in the temple, and gave birth to Jonathan, our Anna Marie's daddy. Also, Marie for her aunts, Lauren Marie, Maria Ann, Rachel Marie, and in honor of her other aunts, Diana Lee, Joy Elise, and Christine Elizabeth. We hope that she will remember, and emulate these great women as she grows. Welcome to the world, sweet Anna Marie!
