Mmmm...chocolate...

Yesterday I woke up and suddenly realized that Olivia is old enough to do things like arts and crafts and baking. So, we made a fish. Then we made "Mmmm, Mommy, chocolate!" Chocolate is everything from chocolate milk to brownies, which is what we ended up making. She helped me stir the brownie mix, insisting on a new spoon after every turn (she even tried to put the dirty ones back into the crock by the stove that holds all my mixing things). This girl can really fling it, let me tell you. We had a really good time until I put it in the oven. She was mortified that we had to bake it, though she's a big fan of the finished result.

Here are some other things Olivia enjoys doing:

1. Dancing and jumping on Mommy's bed...picture Will Ferrell in Flashdance...
2. Calling her pink crocs. When it's time to go "dye-dye" we tell her to go find her crocs and put them on. She stands in the middle of the room and calls for her "cocs" repeatedly until we tell her where they are. Do you think she's lived with dogs long?
3. Wearing Mommy's high heels and bras. She wears my bra so that the cups go over her ears. She looks a lot like Princess Leia.
4. Sitting on the potty.
5. Kissing and pinching Mommy's fat tummy.
6. Taking bubble baths.
7. Claiming everything as her own. "No, Mommy, mine. Mine."
8. Hogging her Daddy. Don't try to come between them, he's another "mine".
9. Doing laps around the dining room table.
10. Taking her babies for walks in nothing but a necklace and her black Sunday shoes. And I mean nothing.

It's a lot of fun to watch her grow up because she's so independent. She's always been that way, though. She weaned herself, taught herself to eat and drink from a cup, taught herself to do all her puzzles and play with her blocks and taught herself to use all her appliances in her little kitchen. About a month ago she announced to us (in a rather passive way, really) that she was done with her crib. She sleeps in her toddler bed now and likes to sit on the potty whenever she has a wet or dirty diaper. She also buckles herself into her carseat and her high chair and prefers to get herself dressed. The latter one doesn't happen unless there's no where to go--she is prone to putting her pants on upside down or both legs through one arm hole. But heaven forbid you help her in any way. Unless you're grumpy, it's super fun to watch!