Catching Up

For Holly's birthday, I got her some outdoor play toys. Actually GETTING them was a huge ordeal, and putting them together was almost as bad. I went to two different ToysRUs stores looking for what I wanted and didn't find them at either one. I ended up having to order them online and paid shipping (Grrr!) for what I should have been able to pick up. After I got her slide/swing completely assembled, I realized they had sent me the wrong one! I called, had them pick it up, and then had to reorder the correct one. I was just about to give up at that point, let me tell you, but I will do anything for Holly and this is a case in point.

Finally, after all that ordeal, here she is playing the little sailor this afternoon.After losing interest in that, Holly played in her new sand/water box. It has sand on one side and water on the other. Of course, she loves to mix the two together or just throw the sand onto the patio. Good thing the bag of sand seemed to be way more that I would ever need for it. I guess ToysRUs knows more about little kids that I do. :-) The great thing about this toy is that Holly will play there for a long time and I can just sit on the lounge chair and read for however long she's there. What a luxury!
Here's Holly thinking that she can climb up the slide. That was the very first thing she tried to do when I got the thing together. Of course, she can't go up, but she did remember how to climb up when I took her around to the other side. What a smart girl she is!
She absolutely adores the swing and giggles the whole time she is on it. Here she is when I first put her in, before she even started moving. Just chillin' out waiting for Mama to finish with the darned camera!

Up until just a few days ago, Holly hated the grass and wanted nothing to do with it. She would cry or scream every time I would set her down in it. Sometimes, she would tolerate walking in it (in shoes of course), but freaked when she fell down. It was pretty humorous watching her try to figure out how she would stand up again without having to touch the grass with her hands. No worries, Mama to the rescue! However, she has just recently discovered dandelions, and has decided that grass isn't so bad. I also think it has something to do with the fact that she can now stand up without having to pull herself up on something, so she doesn't have to crawl across the grass to get to something stationary. She just has to touch the grass once to get up and go.

Playing outside works up an appetite, and Holly can eat more than I ever thought a little kid was supposed to. Here she is finishing up some spaghetti and meatballs. It goes without saying that she liked it. Her face may get really dirty, but she hardly spills a bite when she is hungry.

After a bath and getting into her pj's, Holly likes to play for a while before drinking her "ba ba" and going to bed. She has taken a particular liking to her tunnel, as has the cat, and often chases Salem through it or sneaks up on him by crawling through it and surprising him on the other side. What a tricky girl! Although, let me tell you, Salem doesn't see the humor in that nearly as much as either Holly or I do.
Recently, Holly was just sitting on the couch and playing with her little feet, giggling and talking about something that was very funny. Here she is in the middle of that conversation with herself.
I am spending a lot of time chasing the little speed demon down because she loves to run, run, run these days. Here's Holly giggling and running away from the nightlight after a warning not to touch. I thought she was going to trip over all those doll clothes that she had just drug out of their crib, but she managed to zip right by them on her way to the bookcase to take all the books out.
Last weekend, we went up to Grandma and Grandpa's for Mother's Day. Grandma had bought Holly a little bench to have on the back porch that is just her size. Holly spent the weekend practicing how to get up on it, turn around, sit down, and then get back down to start all over again. Of course, she had to do this with a toy pan, a rock, or Bunny in her hand at all times. It was very entertaining watching her try to reach down from a sitting position to grab Bunny when he fell off the bench. Obviously, that didn't work because of gravity, but she did figure out that she needed to get off to grab Bunny, then get back up there again. You can see how pleased she is with herself and how much fun she had doing this.
Holly is also talking up a storm! She has added words like monkey, giraffe, grandma, hi, that, done, fishy, and many others to her vocabulary. Now, let me say that they aren't always clear, and you have to know that is what she is saying, but she definitely knows what she is saying. She also loves to sing along to her music cd in the car, in her own little language. I am amazed that she knows the tunes to the songs, and sings to the tune, even if the words don't make sense. She wants to talk more than she is so badly! She often forms words with her mouth as you say them, but almost always practices them in a whisper until she knows she has them right. Its fascinating to watch the process, and I wish I knew what was going on in her head!

I look at my baby every day and shake my head in wonder about how fast she is growing up. She's not a baby anymore, but a very independent little girl. It amazes me that it was only May 17th of last year that I got a call from Journeys of the Heart, telling me that they had a referral for me. In one year, I have gone from wondering if I would ever get "the call" to being the mother of an energetic one year old delight. She rocks my world and it makes me tear up to even think about it! I waited so long to be a mom, and I am enjoying every minute of it. This Mother's Day was incredibly meaningful to me, but I also sent up a prayer for Holly's birth mother (even though they don't celebrate Mother's Day in Taiwan), hoping that she knows how happy Holly is and that my daughter completes my life in so many ways.