Olivia has a stuffed "Diego" doll (he's Dora the Explorer's cousin) that has become an almost constant companion. She adores Diego; Dora has been her favorite thing to watch on TV and she gets really excited if Diego is on the show. We have Dora books as well, and one of her favorites is "Meet Diego" of course. Just recently Diego got his own TV show, Go Diego Go, and Olivia is just thrilled! Diego's family runs an animal rescue center in the rainforest, so he saves animals. Cora will often say she doesn't like Dora or Diego, but if the show is on she ends up watching and gets into it just as much as Olivia does. Dora & Diego are bilingual so they use Spanish sometimes and the girls seem to be picking up quite a few Spanish words from them. They can often be heard shouting out Spanish words to help Dora or Diego and get quite involved in the show. It's funny to hear Olivia say "go Diego," "packpack" (her version of backpack), "map," "abre," or other things from the show when she won't even attempt to say her own name!
I was cleaning up around the house this morning (Wed, I guess I should say yesterday morning) when I came across a lock of hair on the floor. I didn't think much of it at first, but then I found more here and there around the room. I collected a handfull and began to wonder where it had come from. When Cora got up I asked her about it, had she cut her own hair? She told me that she had not. I told her that I had found some hair and she then asked me if it was Olivia's. I didn't know if it was Olivia's or Cora's, but I had assumed it was Cora's because of the color. She told me very matter of factly that she had cut Olivia's hair and that Olivia had liked it! Later I took a look at Olivia and noticed that there was an area on the right side of her head that definitely looked as if it had been cut, Cora gave Olivia her first haircut! Luckily it's not too noticeable. Cora still hasn't ever had her own hair cut, except to cut out really stubborn knots. Maybe Olivia should do the honors...
Cora asked me to help her make a sign this evening. She told me exactly what to write on it and she set about hanging it on the wall, setting a box in front of it, covering the box with a blanket, and putting a toy inside. It was a trap meant to catch Olivia. After some coaxing from Cora, Olivia was in fact captured, Cora said she might like to catch some more "beasties."Cora's big news these days is that she is sleeping in her own room in her own bed, instead of in our room. We took the crib and changing table out of their room and now Cora & Olivia sleep in the trundle bed, Cora on top and Olivia on the bottom. They've been doing a great job, despite the fact that Cora doesn't really want to be there. I think it's been more than a week now, with Cora pretty much sleeping through the night and waking up happy. She has been rewarded for her efforts with a new barbie doll (Princess Anneliese has rarely left Cora's side since she got her), and going to the movies for the first time with Daddy. Andrew took her to see "Valiant," a G movie, although apparently not very memorable in itself; Andrew said it was pretty boring. But it was a fun experience, Cora had popcorn and they even went out for rootbeer and french fries afterwards.
I have to try and gather up my Cora & Olivia quotes that I have been collecting, written here and there on any little scraps of paper I can find at the time. I think I have quite a few to share from the last couple of months.
