Livy

Livy absolutely LOVES game! That is the first thing she asks when she wakes up. "Will you play a game with me."
Livy loves riding her bike, gymnastics and playing spies with Calvin.
She loves joy school, but still tries to act like she is shy when i drop her off.
She is always trying to "play" on the computer. (Meaning rearrange everything on the desktop and delete things into the abyss, never to be found)
She is constantly begging to do her homework. (which makes not wanting to send her to K next year a bit harder.)
One of her favorite past times is playing family and being Jackson's "Mom"

Joy School

Today was Livia's first day of Joy School. We did a very low key pre-school last year with Nathan and Lizzy Beck when Melissa still lived here, but this was her official day of Joy School. I wanted to take pictures, she was so excited about it for the past two weeks. And then the true Livy came out. We were getting ready to go, 15 minutes early just to be sure, and her real colors came flying out. She didn't want to go, she was screaming and kicking on the floor. Nothing could console her. I had to get ben to carry her out to the car, and even then she hung on to him wiht a death grip adn wouldn't get in the car seat. Thankfully, Ben talked her into getting in the car. And I go t her there, of course 10 minutes late. She had to sit on my lap for a while, but after about 10 minutes with Jessica's awesome distraction techniques and kindness, she was happy as a clam amidst the kids. As I left i thought how much better I handled this than in the past. I feel like i really know Livy better these days. She acts very fun and outgoing, but deep down she is scared. Its not that she doesn't want to do things, but she is much more nervous. She is also shy in front of people. Unlike Brooke, who likes to put on a "show" that she is shy, Livy really is shy and does not want the attention. As I thought about this coming home (excited to get my house clean with only one child in tow), I want to really remember how important it is to really dig deep into your kids behavior. Finding out who they really are makes it so much easier to process the situation and keep control. Not that it is easy, but today I felt glad inside that I could really understand Livy, instead of getting mad and frustrated with her actions.
I know she will love Joy School, and hopefully i can get a good picture of her on thursday morning and just act like it was her first, and happy, day.

Annoying Me

Brooke and I were singing a nursery rhyme/song while playing on the carpet. And Livy screams out, "Stop singing. Its ignoring me!"

Brooke and I started laughing and, of course, it made Livy more mad.

Livy Day

Yesterday Emma, Brooke and Tyler came home from Emma's house and surprised Livy with a super cute bag with fur on it, pictures they had colored, two lollipops, a bakugan card, and a plastic spider and declared it a LIVY DAY! In true Livy fashion, Livy hid behind the door and let out these crying screams. Until they finally pulled out the lollipops she ate one, then she was so happy. It was so cute and nice of them.

This morning when Ben saw the pictures and and "purse" on the table (he has been gone all weekend at a Conference) he asked why the picture said Livy Day?

As I was about to tell him about it, Brooke piped up and said, "It was Livy day yesterday. We let Livy play with us all day. So now it is Livy day on Saturdays." (Yesterday she is explained it to me as: Livy can play with us on saturdays, but Emma and Tyler and me get to play alone on the other days.)

Ben said, "That is so nice. Who's idea was that?"

Brooke, "Emma's. It was so nice of her. I almost started to cry at her house when she told me."

Ben, "Cry because you were happy?" Brooke, "Yeah."

Ben, "Did Livy like it?"

Brooke, kind of smirking, "No, she cried."

Ben, "You cried because you were happy for Livy day, and Livy cried becasue she was sad for Livy day....did she like it after you showed her the presents?"

Brooke, "No, not until we showed her the lollipops inside."

Moral: Livy hates a lot of attention, but loves candy.

Happy Birthday Livia!!

The top three things I love about Livia!

1. I love how she dances! She did it so much while we were at Disneyland with all the music playing everywhere. And it is even better when she sings along. That girl loves to sing and dance! And rock back and forth on her feet! It is so cute.

2. I love how she talks. Her L's are a w sound, like Disneywand. Her C's are a t sound. She even has this high pitched voice that is so dang cute! I have been trying to catch it on video more. Sometimes I close my eyes and listen to a sentence and try to engrave it on my mind hoping I can replay it later in life. It is so precious!

3. I love her sayings. Her new favorite is "I wove it, mom!" or "I don't wove it." And my other favorite saying from the week is when she puts on her tiger mask for Halloween, she says "Rar! Did I stare you, Mom? You were stared!" I love it!

4. And since number 3 kind of falls under the #2 , I love her hugs. She often times will run up and throw her arms around me and squeeze my neck so hard! Its heaven!

Livy is three today! And she has been so excited about it for weeks leading up to her birthday. I think it had something to do with the fact that we went to disneyland this last week for her birthday! (We had to squeeze in one last trip while she was still free, since the rest of us have passes, and I have always wanted to go to Disneyland at Halloween! So we packed it in!) And she would be over the moon about it being her birthday today, but she woke up not feeling well. It was our primary program at church and we had two friends coming, so Ben and I decided we would take the kids to Sacrament and then bring Livy and Jackson home (Jackson had thrown up earlier in the morning. I thought it was because he had eaten too much...that kid chows. But now i think it is a bug.) Luckily i had taken Livy out to the Foyer because she wanted a drink of water. And I just held her out there, while our friends sat in there by themselves. I was feeling like a horrible "host". But thankfully i stayed out there and was near the bathroom, because she threw-up all over me. I bee-lined it to the restroom where she puked some more, i'll spare the details. So i stripped her down and cleaned everything up (which is not an easy task with soap and paper towels, I think the floor is still a little sudsy, but better soap than other liquid.) I walked home with her and held her on the couch.

A pretty yucky birthday if you ask me. Thankfully we celebrated a little in Disneyland though.

Happy Birthday Livy!

Livy

Livy is getting REALLY, REALLY cute. We are starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel with her crying antics and lots of tantrums. They still happen, a lot, but not quite as frequent.

Some of my favorite sayings from her lately are-

"Mom, you ont to play mobbles wit me?" She asks at least 4 times an hour. And I am trying really hard to do it at least twice a day.

"Mom, yook at my iding pace." translation: Mom, look at my hiding place.

"I win."

"Book (and sometimes it is more like: Ook), yook at me. Yook at ME!"

"I want a tippy tup." (Sippy cup) And then she laughed at herself and said, "I talded it a tippy tup." (But she always calls it a tippy tup.)

She looks so, so, so adorable with her hair cut! It even makes her tantrums look even cuter. I'll have to post pictures sometime.