Christmas in pictures

Holly reminded us all again that what is so wonderful about Christmas doesn't come wrapped with bows. Here are a few photos from her holiday. Captions from top-to-bottom: riding the Dada Pony, Christmas morning with her doll and bongo, walking with Nanna, learning to fly planes with Grandpa, and playing in the snow back in Durham.

Have yourself a rockin' Christmas!

Walking on Sunshine

Finally caught on video, albeit briefly...

Kissing goats

Holly's little personality becomes clearer and clearer as the days go by. We've discovered that she's:

• Independent- the kind of girl who wants to walk and eat on her own.
• Loving- the kind of girl who made all the animals kiss each other when she was at the pediatricians office. In the photo she is pushing the two goats together and making a kissing noise. The goats also kissed a tiger, a giraffe and an elephant.
• Active- She wants to dance and play all day.
• Musical- She loves to make music! She plays her little piano and keeps trying to figure out the harmonica and the ukulele which Tom plays with her. She sways and bounces to almost any music we play.
• Loquacious- She only says a few words but she says them all often. Her first time saying "Bye-Bye" to me in the morning she kept repeating it for 10 minutes after I left. She also has a very special language of her own and she likes to talk to all of us even if we can't understand her.
• Persistent- She can get a little obsessed with things. Such as moving her cups from the shelf of her toy box to the bottom. Or putting two Duplo blocks together.

And much more!

Close Up

Many thanks to friend and fantastic photographer, Sarah Arneson, for this lovely close up of Holly.

Movie Star

I have no idea why I love this photo so much, but I really do. I think the reasons are:

1. She looks so serious! Like she is a movie star headed to a big event.
2. The sun glinting off her hair.
3. The pink glasses that I bought for her when we went to the sea because she loved mine so much.
4. The goat in the cup.
5. Because she is showing she's a little nutty. Much like her parents.
   

First steps

I am pleased to report to Holly's many fans that she is now fully mobile. She took her first unassisted steps on December 1st. We were in the kitchen waiting for dinner to cook. She stood up in the middle of the floor and took 4 steps towards me before collapsing in a heap of happiness and excitement. She was so excited about it that she kept doing the same thing, never taking more than 6 steps until Tom came home. When she flatly refused to walk for him which is why we have no videos. She has continued this trend of walking for everyone but Tom for a few days now. He's getting quite jealous! But here are two slightly blurry photos of Holly's early steps (not her first ones, but from that same night).