Olivia's favorite toys

Olivia got a ton of toys for Christmas (a few too many to be honest) but I thought I would share her absolute favorites, well.. favorites for now at least. I'm always surprised at which toys she likes the most, it's usually something I didn't think she would be interested in.

Playskool Pounding bench - So this actually came with a hammer type thing but Olivia already lost it. It's not a big deal because she didn't really use it anyway. She sits and plays with this for ten minutes at a time, it keeps her quiet. She takes out each peg and then puts it back in and I've been using it to teach her the colors. I'm quite impressed with how she matches the peg to the right color hole. She doesn't get it right every time, she mixes up blue and purple sometimes but that's okay. I was surprised at how much she loves this toy, she plays with it all the time.

B. LapTrec: Liv really loves this. At first, she just liked putting the little animal stamps in (like a puzzle) but now she loves to draw on it and erase it (over and over). It's great because she loves to color but this is much less messy and doesn't require fifteen sheets of paper. I had one of these when I was younger but this one is a lot nicer, it even has a little cushion on the back. I really love the brand that makes it and I think she will use this for a long time.

Leapfrog - My own LeapTop: Olivia always harasses me when I'm on my laptop so I figured this might keep her busy when I am. I love it because it's an educational toy and she loves pressing buttons so it's perfect. Every time she presses a button, it says the letter, sound and shows an animal that begins with that letter. Her favorite is the "R" button because it shows a rabbit jumping across the screen and she gets a big kick out of that. It also plays music and reads "e-mails". I would definitely recommend this one.

Retractment of a favorite

I posted my favorites at the beginning of the week and I was on the fence about the tablet. It was not exactly what I had thought it would be. It was too difficult to type on (I know, that makes me sound super old) and Olivia is still pretty young to need a tablet. When she is a little bit older, we will possibly get one for her. I just couldn't find a need for it right now so I returned it. I ended up getting a laptop instead (which was only $40 more than the tablet). So far I really love the laptop, I had no idea that I could get one for so cheap. I'm not going to lie, Windows 8.1 is new to me so I am having a little bit of trouble navigating around it but Google has been a huge help. I may do a review on the laptop within the next few weeks but so far, so good!

The past few days have been pretty busy, I've either been working or running around with Liv. There has been a lot on my "to do" list that I have been meaning to get around to for a while now. Luckily today was my day off from work so I was able to get a lot of it done, I feel pretty accomplished. It's amazing what I can get done when I skip my afternoon nap, I love when I surprise myself. By the way, posting on my blog was on that list so I can check that off now too!

On Thursday I took Olivia to playgroup like always and she had so much fun. She was in the best mood (I wish I could say that all the time). She gets so excited when the teacher blows bubbles, all the kids do but Olivia and two other kids start yelling excitedly and run around trying to pop them all. It's so cute, everyone gets a kick out of them. After playgroup I had to stop by the store for some groceries. As we were walking down the aisle, Olivia spotted some Dora fruit snacks and started reaching for them so I let her hold them (bad move, I ended up buying them). When we got home, I tried them but they were a little too chewy and I'm paranoid of her choking so I never gave her any. I don't think she cared about anything but the box anyway. I'm pretty sure that seeing Dora on the box was Olivia's highlight of the day.

"Mommy, you can't say no to this adorable face!"

Today, I had to run a bunch of errands (returning the tablet, getting the laptop, going to the bank, picking up food, etc.) and it was pouring out the entire time, I was soaked by the end of it. I also had to do laundry, give Liv a bath and organize some stuff. Like I mentioned earlier, I got a lot done. I took Livy to one of the stores with me and every time we passed by a mirror, she would smile at herself and start playing with her hair. She is seriously my entertainment, I love her.

 Left: My mom sent me this picture while I was at work and it melted my heart.

Right: She has been obsessed with sitting in boxes/buckets lately. Silly girl.