Olivia at 18 Months: Week 80

This week, we went to the zoo with one of our favorite mommy bloggers and her family!! Yes, Ali (aka 7x7xmommy) is just as wonderful as you’d imagine if you read her blog, and Abby and Mac were such sweeties! I loved watching the three girls interact – Abby so sweet and protective, Mac so independent and curious, and Olivia a bit shy but totally absorbing it all.  And I could tell she really liked her new friends. Some of my favorite moments included Abby sharing her strawberries with Olivia, the three girls sitting on a bench together (and then running around the petting zoo like they owned the place) and Abby refusing to go on her favorite ride because Olivia wasn’t tall enough to ride with her.  We did wind up going on the carousel, but O was suspicious of the brightly colored animals and insisted on being held the entire time. Anyway, we had such a great time on our first “family date” that we didn’t take many photos, but Ali (whose photography skills I really admire) got a few great shots on her phone.

Also, this week, Olivia:

• Likes to hold our hands and pull or direct us places. She pushed me to the couch, positioned me in front of it, told me to sit down, and then ran to her playroom to get me a book to read to her.
• Started using chalk to doodle outside
• Went to her friend Blaire’s first birthday party! The highlights of the afternoon included: when O saw some people drinking beers and went up to them and said “cheers”, when everyone finished singing “Happy Birthday” to Blaire and Olivia continued to sing at the top of her lungs “Happy Birthday, Olivia” and Olivia devouring an entire cupcake