Olive's World: Ma ma!

Ma ma! (The flowers in my hair are courtesy of mommy.)

Me, the first day we moved into our new
house. Daddy's boss sent us a delicious
fruit basket -- it was the size of me!!

Two nights ago, I said "ma ma" while staring into space (as I usually do) when I was with mommy as she was in the process of putting me down to sleep for the night. I looked nonchalant, but mommy gasped and was amazed. But daddy wasn't there and although he heard mommy gasp and say "Olive, did you just say ma ma?" over the baby monitor, he could not independently verify that I had in fact said "ma ma." Until today.....when Melissa heard me say it a number of times and asked mommy whether I had learned to say "ma ma" in the 2 weeks that she had been away? Mommy was overjoyed that with Melissa's objective verification, it is now official! I can say "ma ma." I don't say it intentionally yet -- it is just part of my daily babbling repertoire, but just you wait!

I am really good at walking (with a little bit of help still) now. I will walk all day as long as I have 2 hands to hold. This is back-breaking work for whoever is holding my hand, but I love it! I get to explore and to lead the way! So much to see! I can't wait to be walking on my own soon!

Getting ready to crawl ... or at least
to scoot around in a circle!

I am also getting better at crawling. I can push myself up off my belly for a few seconds, and I am quite good at moving/crawling backwards, and turning in circles. Not so much in the way of forward progress yet, but I am working on it.

In other news, I can clap on demand to requests made in both Chinese and English. Can you believe it?! 8.5 months and I am already bilingual! And, I can give kisses (mostly an open-mouth kiss/lick) upon request as well, but I will only do it without fail for mommy when she requests it. With daddy I only acquiesce about 50% of the time.

Me at the playground! (Photo courtesy of
Melissa.)

The weather has been wonderful the last few days, which has meant that I have got to go outside a lot with Melissa! Yesterday, Melissa took me to the nearby park and playground, and I got to ride on a ride-on car. It was a lot of fun! And today, mommy surprised me by coming home in the middle of the afternoon, and we played outside in the yard (with our socks off) the rest of the day! Daddy also came home a bit earlier than usual, an hour or two later. It was so much fun! I went outside and played with my friend and neighbor Norah, who is 14 months old, from across the street. We kissed hello and goodbye. We are good friends now because we see each other and play together almost every day! I am loving spring and can't wait until summer!!

So, I know I have been away quite a while, so I am posting a lot of recent photos to make up for it. Enjoy!