Week 138
This weekend we watched Olive dance on stage at Festival in the Park for an hour, at least. Every time she made her way back over to us, she would tell us she wanted to go back and dance just a little bit longer. She loved when her friend Cait joined her, but she was just as happy dancing by herself.
If you were a bystander, you would think that she wasn’t happy about it. She took dancing very seriously. She studied what the older kids were doing. Her dance moves were small and contained. But she loved it and never wanted it to stop.
After the clowns were done, the famous Mr Nigel came on stage and if you’ve ever been to one of his shows, you know that it is loud. We thought for sure that would be the end of Olive on stage but it wasn’t. I couldn’t believe that the child who made me hold her ears closed through the entire circus because it was too loud was up there right next to the blaring speaker like it was no big deal.
Something we’ve gotten used to regarding life with our toddler is that her mood and behavior will tank every six to eight weeks. She’ll be crabby and whiny and testing for a couple of weeks and then she’ll sail into smoother waters again. After being in one of her slumps for a few weeks, she suddenly perked up a couple of weeks ago and life with her has been super fun lately.
This week she’s been enjoying the company of her friends. Tuesday was dinner with a group of her friends and then ice cream after. The kiddos ran themselves exhausted and played Ring Around the Rosie and London Bridges while giggling and smiling like crazy. Thursday was an impromptu cake pop date at Dean and Deluca where she ate her cake pop and then finished her lunch from school. And Friday was Talk Like a Pirate day and she and her friends dressed up to earn a free dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme. Olive loved dressing up and couldn’t stop stroking her fuzzy faux mustache.
It was loud and crowded in the donut shop and she turned to me with a concerned look and said, “I’m a little nervous about having my picture taken.” I put away my camera and gave her a reassuring cuddle and told her that I thought it was loud and chaotic, too. But then the next day, at Festival in the Park, none of the trepidation was there as she and Cait tackled ride after ride. Until the tall bouncy slide tested her mettle.
She and Cait scampered up to the top of an inflatable slide and Cait quickly zoomed down and climbed back up for another trip down. Olive jumped around the top platform for a bit before realizing that she would need to slide to get to the bottom. She began making her way back down the ladder and Ryan ultimately needed to rescue her. No big deal, she went back to riding the amusement rides.
The next day we went back and she asked to go up the really tall, twisty turny inflatable slide. This is the one that is very steep to climb up and once you’re at the top, it’s all enclosed so we would have no way to know if she was freaking out or not. We gave her the tickets and she paid the man and up she went. It was a slow climb up and we were surprised she had the strength to pull herself along. There is a rope along the side that you can use to pull yourself from one rung to the next and once she found that, she was good to go. I wish I had my camera out but I didn’t. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t have a whole lot of faith in Olive’s bravery. But, ZIP, down she came with the biggest smile on her face. She was so stinking proud of herself!
It’s so fun to watch her enjoy life. I love that she’s always true to herself and always willing to tell me just how she feels about things. I hope she never loses those attributes and always trusts herself and never does things simply because others are doing them.
Week 138
This weekend we watched Olive dance on stage at Festival in the Park for an hour, at least. Every time she made her way back over to us, she would tell us she wanted to go back and dance just a little bit longer. She loved when her friend Cait joined her, but she was just as happy dancing by herself.
If you were a bystander, you would think that she wasn’t happy about it. She took dancing very seriously. She studied what the older kids were doing. Her dance moves were small and contained. But she loved it and never wanted it to stop.
After the clowns were done, the famous Mr Nigel came on stage and if you’ve ever been to one of his shows, you know that it is loud. We thought for sure that would be the end of Olive on stage but it wasn’t. I couldn’t believe that the child who made me hold her ears closed through the entire circus because it was too loud was up there right next to the blaring speaker like it was no big deal.
Something we’ve gotten used to regarding life with our toddler is that her mood and behavior will tank every six to eight weeks. She’ll be crabby and whiny and testing for a couple of weeks and then she’ll sail into smoother waters again. After being in one of her slumps for a few weeks, she suddenly perked up a couple of weeks ago and life with her has been super fun lately.
This week she’s been enjoying the company of her friends. Tuesday was dinner with a group of her friends and then ice cream after. The kiddos ran themselves exhausted and played Ring Around the Rosie and London Bridges while giggling and smiling like crazy. Thursday was an impromptu cake pop date at Dean and Deluca where she ate her cake pop and then finished her lunch from school. And Friday was Talk Like a Pirate day and she and her friends dressed up to earn a free dozen donuts at Krispy Kreme. Olive loved dressing up and couldn’t stop stroking her fuzzy faux mustache.
It was loud and crowded in the donut shop and she turned to me with a concerned look and said, “I’m a little nervous about having my picture taken.” I put away my camera and gave her a reassuring cuddle and told her that I thought it was loud and chaotic, too. But then the next day, at Festival in the Park, none of the trepidation was there as she and Cait tackled ride after ride. Until the tall bouncy slide tested her mettle.
She and Cait scampered up to the top of an inflatable slide and Cait quickly zoomed down and climbed back up for another trip down. Olive jumped around the top platform for a bit before realizing that she would need to slide to get to the bottom. She began making her way back down the ladder and Ryan ultimately needed to rescue her. No big deal, she went back to riding the amusement rides.
The next day we went back and she asked to go up the really tall, twisty turny inflatable slide. This is the one that is very steep to climb up and once you’re at the top, it’s all enclosed so we would have no way to know if she was freaking out or not. We gave her the tickets and she paid the man and up she went. It was a slow climb up and we were surprised she had the strength to pull herself along. There is a rope along the side that you can use to pull yourself from one rung to the next and once she found that, she was good to go. I wish I had my camera out but I didn’t. I’m ashamed to admit that I didn’t have a whole lot of faith in Olive’s bravery. But, ZIP, down she came with the biggest smile on her face. She was so stinking proud of herself!
It’s so fun to watch her enjoy life. I love that she’s always true to herself and always willing to tell me just how she feels about things. I hope she never loses those attributes and always trusts herself and never does things simply because others are doing them.