2 year visit- the stats

Holly went in for her 2 year visit today. She's officially 3 feet tall (36 inches) which has her in the 95th percentile for height. She's 29lbs 12 oz (80th percentile for weight). She's very healthy! And Holly is pleased to report that they didn't make her get any shots. She did have to get a finger prick, but that wasn't so bad since they gave her a Scooby Doo band-aid on her finger. She's never seen the show, but loved hearing us sing the song. That's really saying something since her parents haven't watched the show in **mumble, mumble** years since they were kids and couldn't remember any of the lyrics.

The photo is unrelated to the visit. She's laying in the sleeping bag we bought her to take her camping. It was on super sale and since it's even longer than she is, we figured it would be ok to buy a bit early.

Two - the photos

Two

Well. Our baby turned two today. I seriously don't think it would be exaggerating to say that we had a really perfect birthday weekend.

Friday: I picked Holly up from Chelsea's and we went to the mall. Holly rode the zebra on the carousel. We found a really nice book called George Paints His House at the used bookstore in the mall. We played on the coin operated cars (no coins were inserted - Holly prefers them that way) until Tom caught up with us. We found the final piece to my costume for next weekend. Then we went home and all ate yummy quesadillas. Holly went to bed and we stayed up and watched an episode of MASH.

Saturday: Holly slept great and woke up a little after 7am. We all cuddled in the bed for a bit and then got up and got dressed. After eggs and grits, we played outside and waited for Ada (age 4) and Miles (age 2.5) to join us for a morning playing in the park. Holly was SO excited to have Ada and Miles at her house! Our morning in the park included too many fun things to count. We were sad to see Miles and Ada go. We made the mistake of telling Holly that we were going to have birthday fun after her nap, so she had a really hard time napping. She finally fell asleep at 3:50pm!!! So our evening festivities were delayed a bit so sleepy girl could get at least an hour of rest.

She awoke to find a brand new red tricycle (with- bonus- a long handle so we could push her) and a train set. Our friends joined us to watch her ride her bike and then eat Macaroni and Cheese followed by Pumpkin Cupcakes with fresh whipped cream. She also took a few rides around the block in her (new-to-us) bike trailer. She fell asleep pretty early that night.

Sunday: Another great night of sleep. I have to diverge for a funny story. Our house is a bit chilly but it's still too warm for footie pajamas. After two mornings of feeling cold Holly feet next to mine during our morning snuggle, she went to sleep wearing socks. When she rattled her door this morning to let me know she was awake (she still doesn't know how to open it yet) I opened it to find she was still wearing her socks. Only... they were on her hands. No idea. Anyhow... we had toast and boiled eggs and coffee (Holly's "coffee" was in a purple cup and looked a lot like air). And packed up and headed to the zoo!

We met up with 3 little friends (ages 1-4) and 4 big friends (let's just say we're all over 21). It was a lovely day. I think the highlight was seeing the one year old chimp play right in front of us. After a half-day around the park, everyone headed to the picnic tables where I served up some pesto pasta, apples, hummus, pita bread and more pumpkin cupcakes with whipped cream for lunch. We cleaned off some sticky faces and headed home. Holly fell asleep just about the moment we left the parking lot and slept all the way home (about 1.5 hours).

We were feeling a little restless after our car ride, so we rode on our bikes (Holly in her trailer) to the park where we played for a bit. Then headed back to our house so Holly could ride her bike around on the sidewalk before dinner. (I love leaving stuff cooking in our crock pot while we go play!)

So that was our lovely weekend! She has her 2-year visit this Tuesday, so I should be able to update her stats. But I can tell you that she's one happy, healthy, snuggly little two-year old right now. Happy birthday, sweet girl!

One week to TWO

Tomorrow marks one week until Holly turns the big TWO. It's hard not to think about what the last year has brought us.

• Holly stopped getting her nutrition from me and began drinking milk from a cow. Tonight she was eating carrot sticks with hummus. Followed by pumpkin cupcakes with whipped cream. She drinks milk from a cup (when we're there to supervise and try to avoid disaster) and loves to eat tofu off chopsticks.
  
• Holly started walking, then running, then dancing. Her latest love is to watch The Nutcracker on YouTube and dance like a ballerina. Photos of her are very challenging, as they're typically a blur of motion.
  
• Holly started talking and then... never really stopped. She talks when she walks. She talks when she eats. She talks when she bathes. She talks when she sleeps. It's so lovely to hear what she has to say now. We have conversations and she tells me about her dreams (oddly enough it's always about duckies). She is very much a toddler and loves the phrase "don't like it!" and sadly "MINE!" She tells us she loves us and asks for cuddles. She talks to Frank and Cubbie (the cats) about who knows what. Her vocabulary astound us and she has started identifying letters of the alphabet - although not always correctly.
• She got her first set of crayons when she was about 1.5 and they are now her favorite toy. This week, the store was out of finger paint so we got her the kind that use paint brushes. She begs at least once a day to paint. Of course, since the paint usually starts on the brush and ends up all over her belly... we have to limit it to just before bath time.
• She slept in bed with us until she was over a year and then slowly moved to her crib. When we returned from Thailand, Holly decided that she no longer wanted to sleep in her crib and is now in a bed all on her own. We put the mattress on the floor at first, because our previous frame was too high. Then last weekend we picked up a new bed at Ikea. That afternoon I ran to the grocery store for our weekly shopping trip assuming that Tom would wait until I came home to put the bed together. I returned to hear, "No, Holly, hand Dada the BLACK piece" and then "Holly helping Dada!" followed by "NO, NO! Don't touch the drill!" No injuries occurred and the bed looks great. She's asleep in it now.
  

I could go on and on with my remembering all that's happened in the last year. I (and my colleagues) can assure you that I can go on at length about her latest milestones. But I'll wrap this up by saying that it's been an amazing, crazy ride where I feel like someone stole my baby and replaced her with a little girl. We look forward to next weekend when we'll celebrate another year of crazy with some of Holly's big and small friends. Where else but at the zoo?!?!

Little Ballerina

Sing a little song

Holly has started making up her own songs. My favorite is still "Red Page, Blue Page" sung to her Ducks, Ducks, Ducks book (which oddly enough has a red page and a blue page). This one seems to be an ode to the nearby squirrels in their native language. Note that her parents aren't particularly good at matching up buttons on sweaters.