Three years and one day old....

This picture about sums it up. I am sure Olivia doesn't nap well when she is at school and I have been told she is often the last one to go to sleep. A few weeks back I picked her up at three o'clock and she was still sleeping on the mat. Napping at three in the afternoon is not a good sign for bedtime since she turns into a night owl. However, on this particular day after her birthday, I was hoping she would go down for an afternoon nap since mom REALLY needed one too. No such luck there, she was in my room 3 times crawling into my bed and flying over or on me. When we got ready to sit down for supper that night, Olivia could barely keep her eyes open as she was just so thrilled to see veggies on her plate, right? She didn't seem interested in eating and just put her arm down on the table and rested her head on it. Within minutes she was sound asleep and Andrew and I decided we would enjoy our dinner with a little peace instead of bringing her up to bed. This all occurred around around 5:30pm. So the big question now was should we let her sleep because if we do we know she will be up in the middle of the night. We decided to let her sleep and she made it all the way to 11:30 and was wide awake! Andrew took her back in her room two more times after this and on the fourth try mommy decided she would lie down with her on her sleeping bag which is on the floor. Of course, my body could only handle this so long so I kissed Olivia good night and reminded her that angels were watching over her and she needed to stay in her room. Thankfully, it worked but now this was 4:30AM, which is such a pleasant time of day. URGH! Olivia woke up the next morning for school at 6:30AM and I got her ready for school with one eye open. The naps are slowly fading away at the Tang
house :( Another sign that my little girl is growing up (big sigh).

Birthday treats everyone.......yum!

I mentioned to Olivia that we would be making birthday treats for her to bring to her class and share with her friends and teachers. I always wanted to make these ice cream cone cupcakes and they actually were very delicious but a little messy since I kept pulling them out to check to see if they were done. You have to stand them up in muffin tins and any little movement of one makes it topple over onto the other. Olivia helped pour the batter into each cone and then I let her frost them and apply the colored chips and some received much more than others. She had a great time and enjoys sampling her efforts as you can see. She had a great time with her friends at school the day of her birthday and enjoyed opening two of her presents that night. It was great to see her getting into her birthday this year with more excitement and realization. Stay tuned for more birthday week updates tomorrow. Olivia was having so much fun she couldn't keep her eyes open long enough.........

Having fun outside in the pool.....

Here is my dancing little hula girl just being her silly self again. She loved the grass skirt that came with her new bathing suit. Today was the first day of swim lessons at the high school within walking distance of our house. Olivia did swimmingly!!! First thing she recognizes is the teenagers jumping off the diving board and says,"I wanna go on that!" I said oh......... well, you are going to have to do a lot more swimming first before you can do that. Well, half-way through the class what does the instructor say, " Okay we are going to have everyone go over to the diving board and the parent can lower your child down to the coaches into the water. The mom next to me said she would watch with her son and I agree with her. Olivia starts seeing the kids few kids line up and she decided she has to try it, REALLY! So we did and she did fantastic! She was even more thrilled when mommy got her attention to watch her jump off the diving board into the water and of course my technique was flawless, Ha Ha! Olivia had the most surprised look, half-smile on her face when I submerged. It was great fun! She was so relaxed in the water and even allowed me to put her on her back. She's not into blowing bubbles in the water yet as we do in class but she handled water on her face like a champ!! I was SO proud of her and can't wait for more lessons!!

Almost a three year old..........

Yes, she IS growing up right before our eyes and the changes in how Olivia shows affection now have really brought delight to my soul. For the past few months, Olivia has expressed her love for us on her own and I can't even describe how great this feels to hear her say "I lub you mom or dad." She is beginning to recognize not only how affection looks but feels. My heart just bursts with gratitude to God for allowing me to be a parent. Olivia has also grown recently in the way she hugs us or holds onto us. In the past, if she wanted to be held or cuddled, she would just lay her arms across your shoulders without her hands making contact with your body. It is such a good feeling now when she needs a hug or wants to be held her hands are flat against your arm or back and it really feels great to know that we have more of her trust and love.

The past few days we have been practicing the songs we will be singing at Vacation Bible School next month and Olivia has really gotten into it. We have the bible in song in each of our cars and I'm telling you this girl can sing her heart out for Him. She even knows the somber slow sounding songs because she'll say this is a sad song mommy. Anyways, I decided I will not be a crew leader in her room this year since she seems to "act out" when I am present. I just can't wait for her to experience other sources of God's instruction this year like VBS and Sunday school in the fall. I agree that three years old will be an amazing time of wonderment for our family to experience in the coming days and year ahead..........I can't wait!