What's New

Holly's new thing is paper. Fortunately, not so much putting it in her mouth as just tearing it up into little tiny pieces. Then, if she gets bored, she will eat it. Here she is with paper from somewhere. Either mail or an advertisement, I think. She was busy walking around, talking all about the paper, tearing it up into little bits, and tossing them on the floor as she went about her business.

In the background of this picture you can see the empty box to a new baby gate that I had to purchase. One of three, I should say. The day after we went shopping, she showed Mama that she now knows how to turn sideways and slither through the laundry room door that (I thought) had a chain that was too short for her to get through, but wide enough for the cat. She was ever so proud of herself and showed me over and over that she hadn't forgotten how to do it. Hence, the new baby gate; the cat can just jump over it to get to his food. Also, the box is where the garbage can USED to be. She is tall enough to open the garbage can and discovered throwing things away...just not the appropriate things. So now, the garbage can is on top of the counter. I am hoping this phase will be short and I can take it down again very soon. But I am not counting on it! Here is Holly taking a commercial break. Either that or Jeopardy just came on and she's looking up because the theme song came on. I think she looks like a little frog here, ready to spring into action. All she needs is a green outfit instead of Winnie the Pooh & Tigger.A more fun new skill, at least in my opinion, is that Holly loves to stack cups now. She has had a fascination with cups for a while, but has always put things in and taken them out, or stacked them inside each other. Now, she is turning them over and stacking them up on top of each other. I tried to get a picture of that, but knocking them down is fun, too! She has also started to "drink" out of any cup or cup-like toy that she has. She is very good at drinking by herself from a real cup and its so funny to see her take a slurp of water, then smack her lips and go "Ahhh!" afterward. Like she is really enjoying every drop. But she only does it with water, not milk.I had a school function at the park the other night and the high school girls entertained Holly on the swings (she screamed her head off when they started swinging her) and on the seesaw which, as you can see, she wasn't too keen on either! That is one of the few looks of panic I have seen on her face. I was also very puzzled about not liking the swing, since she likes the one at home just fine.

She much preferred hanging out where the food was - big shock! Holly always has a big smile for Kate or anyone else with a potato chip. She particularly liked the root beer float that Mama made. It went well with the banana that she scarfed down...after the chips and macaroni salad and slice of cheese that she had after dinner at home. Where does this kid put it all?! Anyway, this was by far the best picture of the day with her big old grin and the giggles to go with it.

We will be going up to my parent's house tomorrow for Memorial Day weekend. I have plans to finish my new floor to ceiling bookcases that my dad and I are building. I only need to finish staining and sealing them. I can't wait to put them up and get my books out of the closet in the spare bedroom. I will definitely post a picture of the bookcases, so I can show off our work. Its going to be spectacular!