20 Fun Facts about Buttercup

1- Her favorite person in the world is Oliver.
2- Her favorite foods are: blueberries, cheese, avocado, pasta, fish, bread, grilled cheese sandwiches, raisins, grapes, chicken, tortillas, applesauce, and yogurt.
3- One of her first words was "cheese."
4- At 15 months old, she is the size of the average 2 year old girl. She is almost the same exact weight and height of two of Oliver's 3 year old friends!
5- She probably spends an hour of every day clucking like a chicken and laughing at herself.
6- She loves to eat crayons. And sidewalk chalk.
7- Her favorite toys are balls.
8- She is a climber! She climbs onto the couch, the recliner, in Oliver's bed, onto the dining room chairs, onto the piano bench, etc.
9- She is much more of a daredevil than Oliver was at this age. She already climbs up slides backwards and slides down headfirst. She doesn't let the big twisty slides at the playground phase her one bit.
10- She loves to play inside the kitchen cabinets.




















11- She adores animals, especially chickens (see #5), cats, and dogs.
12- One of her favorite games is to crawl/walk into Oliver's room, open his lower dresser drawers, and throw his clothes around his room.
13- She rarely allows us to feed her anymore, and almost always smears her food in her hair.




















14- She loves listening to music and dancing, just like Oliver!
15- She can throw a ball overhand.
16- She loves people and is very outgoing. She won't always let other people hold her, but she'll always wave, smile, and say "hi!".
17- She's a very snuggly baby girl, and will never turn down a hug or cuddle time in the rocking chair.
18- She can destroy a magazine or paperback book in 5.8 seconds.
19- She loves to splash in the tub.
20- She loves to laugh, and is such a happy baby girl! We are just so blessed to have her in our family. :-)

Shark Attack!

Oliver loves sharks right now. LOVES them. He talks about them all the time, dreams about them, has several books about sharks, has a shark poster on his wall, and asks to watch shark documentaries when he gets to watch TV.

So it's no surprise that he picked out a huge stuffed shark toy from IKEA a couple of months ago! The shark's name is "Sharkie" or "Mommy Sharkie", depending on the day. Here's a picture of "Mommy Sharkie" about to take a bite out of Oliver's Mommy's leg. (note: Looks like Oliver's Mommy needs a pedicure.)

















Lately (probably from watching Shark Week videos) Oliver has been pretending that he is a marine biologist, "te-ta-bititating" (rehabilitating) hurt sharks. Here's a picture of "Mommy Sharkie" all bundled up and resting from her treatment.

Daddy-Daughter Time

Dennis had to work a night shift on Monday, so he was home all day Tuesday. That afternoon, he stayed home with Buttercup while I took Oliver to the park to meet some friends. This is what he and Buttercup did while we were gone!

Buttercup walking

Buttercup is really getting the hang of this walking thing! The past couple of days, she's been walking more than crawling, and she's getting really sure of herself. When she really gets going, she does this cute tapping motion with her feet before she takes another step. She is SUCH a cutie!

Oliver is also very excited about Buttercup learning to walk. He's been alerting me almost every time she starts walking around ("Mom, Buttercup is walking again!"). Last night at bathtime, I said that Buttercup was starting to walk pretty well. Oliver said, "Mom, will she be able to run soon?" I said, "Not too soon, but by the summer she probably will." Oliver said, "YAY! And will she be able to chase me??" I bet she will!


Here's a video of her walking last night:

Rainy Day Activities

It has been cold and rainy for the past 3 days, so we've been staying inside as much as possible! Yesterday morning the kids and I weeded out old toys to donate to Goodwill (read: Oliver and I weeded out toys while Buttercup climbed in and out and in and out and in and out of Oliver's bed). We ended up with two 35-gallon trash bags full of toys to give away!

After all of our hard work, it was time for a snack break. It was still raining, so we went in the sunroom for a change of scenery while we ate.




























After Oliver woke up from his nap, he and I wrote on the chalkboard while Buttercup finished up her nap. He was drawing a fire in this picture. :-)















After Buttercup woke up, Oliver and I played a couple of rounds of Go Fish at the table while Buttercup ate her snack. Then it was time to get down to business and wash some windows.

Wonderful Morning!

Yesterday morning was one of those mornings that I wish I could bottle up and save forever. Both kids woke up late and were so, so happy. We had breakfast, then we all played nicely for a little while. Then we went to the trail for Oliver to ride his bike. He rode and rode and rode -- for over 3 miles! He is such a big boy. Buttercup was in such a giggly mood, and she and I had some fun face time while Oliver pretended to fish in the duck pond. Just a wonderful morning! I'm so glad I get to share my days with these two!









































"I parked my bike in the bike rack because that's what the big dogs do."



























"Hey Mom, can I catch a duck?"

20 Fun Facts about Oliver

1- His favorite color is green.
2- He can spell and write his own name, but only when it's his idea to do it. ;-)
3- His favorite place in the whole world is Grammy and Granddaddy's house (specifically, their back yard).
4- His favorite store is The Home Depot.
5- Right now he wants to be a basketball-playing, bike-riding, front-loader-driving marine biologist when he grows up.
6- Yesterday morning he finally figured out how to put on a shirt, and he dressed himself for the first time!




















7- He loves to eat strawberries, pasta, and peanut butter.
8- He loves to dip his foods into other things, like hummus, ketchup, salad dressing, etc. He comes up with some pretty interesting food combinations. :-)
9- He loves to help me cook. I always try to find some way for him to help me when I cook.
10- He is really into sea creatures right now, specifically sharks. We've been watching some portions of the Discovery Channel's series Shark Week on our Roku player and Oliver watches the big sharks with his mouth open. "Mom, did you SEE that SHARK?!"
11- He is reluctant to admit it, but he really loves his baby sister. He has overcome most of his jealousy and alternates between playing nicely with her and roughhousing with her. Fortunately, Buttercup is a willing playmate (for the most part). They are going to have so much fun growing up together! :-)
12- He loves music and we often have "band time" where we all play instruments together.
13- He can sing almost all of the first verse of "On the Jericho Road", complete with vibrato.
14- He has outgrown some size 5T shirts and some 4T pants -- at 3 years old!
15- He is almost always on the move. The boy never slows down!
















16- He has been happily going to Children's Chapel at church by himself for almost 4 months now. I thought he would have a really hard time adjusting, but he sits next to his friend Nathan, eats his snack, and does the lesson + craft time with the big kids! He is such a big boy.
17- He can throw a ball across the yard and hit a ball with his bat on the first try. He's currently working on perfecting his catching skills.
18- He loves to dance, make jokes and laugh. He has such a happy heart!
19- He would probably eat a PB&J for lunch every day if I let him. :-)
20- He is just a fun-loving, awesome little boy, and I am so thankful that I get to be his mommy!