Holly had her two year check up today. I was very interested in how much she weighed and how much she has grown since her 18 month appointment. In October, Holly weighed 21 lbs, 11 oz., putting her into the 14th percentile for weight. She's now up to 25 lbs, 6 oz., or the 36th percentile. Quite a jump! They were very impressed. I know some of you with boys who weighed 25 lbs. when they were 9 months old are a bit envious of what a light little girl I have, but in my head for some odd reason, I feel like 25 pounds is a milestone of some kind. I know, strange!
As for height, Holly went from 32", or the 62nd percentile, in October to 34" and the 57th percentile today. If I think in terms of percentile, she is average, but looking at her next to kids WAY younger than her, I know she is shorter than most kids her age.
Don't read this like I'm complaining. Just observation. Actually, I like that she doesn't weigh so much I can't lug her around fairly comfortably and that she fits into clothes that match her age. There may be a time when this changes, but its convenient on a number of different levels.
She only had one shot today, her last Hep A shot. She won't have to have any more (other than yearly flu shots) until before kindergarten, but I will probably space them out so that she doesn't have to have 4 shots all at once when she's 5. One or two a year is more manageable and is easier to tolerate, I think.
As usual, she charmed the socks off all the staff and her doctor! She did great, even though she hadn't had a nap all day (my fault) and had just fallen asleep 20 minutes before her appointment. I figured she would sleep all the way home, but again, only about 30 minutes! Maybe she will sleep in tomorrow...one can only hope!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Happy Easter almost a week late!
Easter weekend was quite eventful. We went up to my parent's house. On Saturday, we went into town to the Lion's Club Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Here is Holly's very first picture with the Easter Bunny. (I was sick on the couch last year over Easter weekend. Good thing she won't remember her first Easter) No smiles from Holly.
While we were waiting for the egg hunt to begin, a lady kept looking at me and finally said "I know you. Well, not you, but I remember meeting your daughter." Huh? It turns out that we DID meet her and her son, Dominick last year sometime before Valentine's Day in a quilt shop in town. I have pictures of the two of them together that were so cute! (look back at my blog posts from January 2008) Here they are, together again!
Holly figured out the concept of an egg hunt very quickly. She was very nice and shared her eggs with Dominick, since he had a kinda claustrophobic meltdown right before it started. She also gave some of her eggs to a girl who got to the Easter egg hunt right after it was finished. The girl was about to cry, but Holly went up and started shoveling eggs out of her bucket into the girl's basket, which made the girl very happy - and not cry!
If the kids picked up a golden egg, they could take it to a Lion's Club member, who would let them choose a stuffed animal. It AMAZED me how many parents were coaching their kids to "only pick up the gold eggs, not the colored ones." What the heck is that about?! Teaching poor sportsmanship when they are only TWO?!!! It kinda pissed me off, if you can imagine that...
While we were waiting for the egg hunt to begin, a lady kept looking at me and finally said "I know you. Well, not you, but I remember meeting your daughter." Huh? It turns out that we DID meet her and her son, Dominick last year sometime before Valentine's Day in a quilt shop in town. I have pictures of the two of them together that were so cute! (look back at my blog posts from January 2008) Here they are, together again!
Holly figured out the concept of an egg hunt very quickly. She was very nice and shared her eggs with Dominick, since he had a kinda claustrophobic meltdown right before it started. She also gave some of her eggs to a girl who got to the Easter egg hunt right after it was finished. The girl was about to cry, but Holly went up and started shoveling eggs out of her bucket into the girl's basket, which made the girl very happy - and not cry!
If the kids picked up a golden egg, they could take it to a Lion's Club member, who would let them choose a stuffed animal. It AMAZED me how many parents were coaching their kids to "only pick up the gold eggs, not the colored ones." What the heck is that about?! Teaching poor sportsmanship when they are only TWO?!!! It kinda pissed me off, if you can imagine that...Holly was thrilled with the eggs that she got. We were all happy that she still had 5 in her bucket after sharing. They were Cadbury cream eggs, after all. 
The Lion's Club either had extra stuffed animals, or people didn't go get them if they had golden eggs, because one lady thought Holly was so cute that she gave her a stuffed bunny even though she didn't get a single golden egg. Here is Holly with her basket full of eggs, toothbrush supplies (from the local dentist!), and her blue bunny. Quite a haul for your first Easter egg hunt!
We had to stop by the grocery store, and there was another bunny in the mall next door, so we stopped by to see him/her/it. Holly wasn't thrilled to sit next to the bunny, but was perfectly happy to take the bag of candy that she got! She even said thank you.
At the grocery store, there was yet another bunny handing out treats! As you can tell by the little smile, Holly finally figured out that Easter bunny = candy. 
The Lion's Club either had extra stuffed animals, or people didn't go get them if they had golden eggs, because one lady thought Holly was so cute that she gave her a stuffed bunny even though she didn't get a single golden egg. Here is Holly with her basket full of eggs, toothbrush supplies (from the local dentist!), and her blue bunny. Quite a haul for your first Easter egg hunt!
We had to stop by the grocery store, and there was another bunny in the mall next door, so we stopped by to see him/her/it. Holly wasn't thrilled to sit next to the bunny, but was perfectly happy to take the bag of candy that she got! She even said thank you.
At the grocery store, there was yet another bunny handing out treats! As you can tell by the little smile, Holly finally figured out that Easter bunny = candy. 
All those Easter bunnies wore Holly right out and she slept the whole way back home.
Back at Nana & PopPop's house, we went next door to my aunt & uncle's, where they have some baby chicks they had just gotten to raise for eggs & meat. Holly was in love with them the minutes she saw them. They were pretty darned cute! Good thing she's too young still to understand how they go from cute chicks to dinner.
She watched closely to see how Nana caught a baby chick for Holly to look at.
Holly even got to pet the babies. She was very gentle with them. And, yes, she washed her hands afterward with antibacterial soap!
Sunday, we went to church. They were going to have an egg hunt, so Holly took her bucket. She insisted that the duck go with her to church.
With lots of help from the youth group, Holly did manage to end up with some eggs. She was at a disadvantage being the youngest kid and not being familiar with the classrooms in the Sunday school wing of the church.
After church, the whole family came over for Easter dinner. It was nice to get together with everyone and it was an absolutely fabulous weekend!
She watched closely to see how Nana caught a baby chick for Holly to look at.
Holly even got to pet the babies. She was very gentle with them. And, yes, she washed her hands afterward with antibacterial soap!
Sunday, we went to church. They were going to have an egg hunt, so Holly took her bucket. She insisted that the duck go with her to church.
With lots of help from the youth group, Holly did manage to end up with some eggs. She was at a disadvantage being the youngest kid and not being familiar with the classrooms in the Sunday school wing of the church.
After church, the whole family came over for Easter dinner. It was nice to get together with everyone and it was an absolutely fabulous weekend!Seattle Part 2
At the Children's Museum with George.
Driving the fire truck. A challenge to get the picture while the hat stayed ON the head!
Outside Pike Place Market on the famous pig! Good smiles for such a cold day.
Through the locks on the Argosy cruise through Lake Union & Elliot Bay. Not as impressive in the picture as it was in real life. I loved the sudden smell of salt water and the barnacles on the inside of the locks!
Holly's second favorite place we went: Woodland Park Zoo! She loved the giraffes and waited patiently for all the loud, obnoxious kids (who were scaring the giraffes back into their building) to leave the area so that the mama & baby would come out to see her!
My favorite picture of the entire day! They must have had microphones hanging in the lion's domain because when this guy roared, it was LOUD inside the building we were in!!!
Holly was sitting just on the other side of this window. This big gorilla was just laying around until he decided to get up and come see her through the window. It was really cool to watch him check her out. He was more interested in Holly than she was of him. She barely noticed because she was watching the baby gorilla play on top of its mama's tummy.
Two somewhat grouchy girls who were very cold! Neither really wanted to have their picture taken, but I loved this look, so they begrudgingly complied.
This lizard with some big fancy name was longer than Holly is tall.
By far, the best part of the zoo was the aviary. They had so many birds it was crazy! You could buy a stick with bird seed hot clued to it (is this healthy?) and the birds would fly right down onto your hand to eat the bird seed. It was really cool and Holly was very interested.
Then she kept saying "I do it. I do it." I tried to talk her out of this, but you know, she IS two now...
Driving the fire truck. A challenge to get the picture while the hat stayed ON the head!
Outside Pike Place Market on the famous pig! Good smiles for such a cold day.
Through the locks on the Argosy cruise through Lake Union & Elliot Bay. Not as impressive in the picture as it was in real life. I loved the sudden smell of salt water and the barnacles on the inside of the locks!
Holly's second favorite place we went: Woodland Park Zoo! She loved the giraffes and waited patiently for all the loud, obnoxious kids (who were scaring the giraffes back into their building) to leave the area so that the mama & baby would come out to see her!
My favorite picture of the entire day! They must have had microphones hanging in the lion's domain because when this guy roared, it was LOUD inside the building we were in!!!
Holly was sitting just on the other side of this window. This big gorilla was just laying around until he decided to get up and come see her through the window. It was really cool to watch him check her out. He was more interested in Holly than she was of him. She barely noticed because she was watching the baby gorilla play on top of its mama's tummy.
Two somewhat grouchy girls who were very cold! Neither really wanted to have their picture taken, but I loved this look, so they begrudgingly complied.
This lizard with some big fancy name was longer than Holly is tall.
By far, the best part of the zoo was the aviary. They had so many birds it was crazy! You could buy a stick with bird seed hot clued to it (is this healthy?) and the birds would fly right down onto your hand to eat the bird seed. It was really cool and Holly was very interested.
Then she kept saying "I do it. I do it." I tried to talk her out of this, but you know, she IS two now...So I bought her a stick and she held it out. Down flew three birds and freaked her right out. She tried to drop the stick, but I shooed the birds away, took the stick back from her, and let the birds come back to me while Holly clung to me for dear life. It was quite funny from my perspective because I knew that is what would happen.
Van thought the whole thing was really cool, too.
We all agreed that this was the prettiest bird in the entire aviary.
Our entire trip was fabulous, but way too short! Van is already on a mission to try to talk me into going to Hawaii for spring break next year when she comes back here. Maybe if she's buying the plane tickets...just kidding!
Van thought the whole thing was really cool, too.
We all agreed that this was the prettiest bird in the entire aviary.
Our entire trip was fabulous, but way too short! Van is already on a mission to try to talk me into going to Hawaii for spring break next year when she comes back here. Maybe if she's buying the plane tickets...just kidding!Monday, April 13, 2009
Seattle - Part 1
Over spring break we went to Seattle for a few days to get away and have some fun. I had loads of stuff planned to do while we were there. The first day we got there, we went to the Space Needle because the weather forecast wasn't looking too promising for the days that we were there. I figured we better go while we could see something and it wasn't pouring down rain!
Van really liked the telescopes that you could look at different parts of the city up close.
Holly didn't like the wind so much, but she was a good sport and liked looking at everything...especially from inside where it was warm!
I love this picture of the two of them with Puget Sound in the background.
We also went to the Seattle Children's Museum the first day we were there, but I forgot my camera, so I had to take pictures on my iPhone. They had a really great Curious George exhibit that Holly finally warmed up to and had fun in. The problem in this area is that EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL is on spring break at the same time, so it was jam packed with crazy kids running all over the place.
Van really liked the telescopes that you could look at different parts of the city up close.
Holly didn't like the wind so much, but she was a good sport and liked looking at everything...especially from inside where it was warm!
I love this picture of the two of them with Puget Sound in the background.
We also went to the Seattle Children's Museum the first day we were there, but I forgot my camera, so I had to take pictures on my iPhone. They had a really great Curious George exhibit that Holly finally warmed up to and had fun in. The problem in this area is that EVERY SINGLE SCHOOL is on spring break at the same time, so it was jam packed with crazy kids running all over the place.The next day it was raining, so we got up and went to the Seattle Aquarium. I think this was probably Holly's second favorite thing we did on the trip. She loved the floor to ceiling fish tank in the entry way, especially since the guy in scuba gear waved to her and put his hand on the glass for her to "touch" him back.
Both Holly and Van had a great time looking at all the fish.
It took some convincing to get Holly to stick her face in the octopus hole.
And she had to study the other kids playing for a few minutes before she would move fish around on the fabric aquarium that they have to play with.
She liked touching all the tiles that were painted like an aquarium.
I think this picture is super cute of the two of them. Van is always complaining how short she is, but I have gotten used to her being that short, because I was shocked when I saw that Holly is almost exactly half her height! Van doesn't even come up the the dorsal fin of this shark!
After spending the morning at the aquarium, we went up to the outlet shopping mall north of Seattle. We - that means I - got a lot of shopping done. It was a long, but fun day!
Both Holly and Van had a great time looking at all the fish.
It took some convincing to get Holly to stick her face in the octopus hole.
And she had to study the other kids playing for a few minutes before she would move fish around on the fabric aquarium that they have to play with.
She liked touching all the tiles that were painted like an aquarium.
I think this picture is super cute of the two of them. Van is always complaining how short she is, but I have gotten used to her being that short, because I was shocked when I saw that Holly is almost exactly half her height! Van doesn't even come up the the dorsal fin of this shark!
After spending the morning at the aquarium, we went up to the outlet shopping mall north of Seattle. We - that means I - got a lot of shopping done. It was a long, but fun day!I'll post more about out trip and Easter weekend (hopefully) tomorrow.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Happy Birthday Holly!!!
Happy second birthday to Holly! We've been practicing saying how old she is and holding up two fingers, but Holly doesn't quite have the dexterity yet to hold up only 2 fingers by herself.
You would think that with her birthday at the END OF MARCH that the weather wouldn't be so crazy, but we woke up to snow on the birthday girl's big day. Granted, it was just a little, but still!
Holly had her usual cereal for breakfast and actually gave me a real smile when I asked her to, although I had to wait until breakfast was almost gone before she showed any interest in doing so.
After breakfast, I let her have one present. Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to wrap it and also because it kept making noise, so I decided that having a new toy to play with all day was better than having to wait until right before bedtime for every single present. She was very serious about feeding her baby!
At nap time, I baked Holly's birthday cake and got it frosted and decorated. Every year (all two of them) I make two cupcakes in addition to Holly's big cake. One the cupcakes, I write Mother and Father in Chinese. Although birthdays and other important occasions are days of celebration, it is always important to take a few moments to remember that this is probably a sad day for her birth family, and at some point in Holly's life, she could very well feel that her birthday isn't a day to celebrate but is a day of sadness and mourning what she has lost. So, on this special day, not only do we celebrate Holly's birth, we honor her birth family in every way we can.
I had the perfect (for my artistic ability) cake decorating going until the blue oily part of the frosting glopped out of the tube on the "thd" of birthday. I was SO annoyed!!! I kneaded the tubes of frosting just like they said, but I guess I didn't get the blue mixed up enough, so Holly ended up with a big blob smack in the middle of her cake. (Yes, I know she didn't care because she doesn't know any better, but it irritated me for the rest of the day!)
We all had a tasty dinner of teriyaki chicken, rice, asparagus, and fruit salad. Holly, however, just picked out the bananas and played with the rest of her fruit salad. She ate all her rice, as usual, though.
After clearing the dishes, she got right to work opening presents. She definitely knows what to do, but she made me laugh every time she would rip some paper off, hand it to someone, then say "thank you" for taking it and helping her clean up! *Sigh* I'm guessing that doesn't last long, does it?
She stopped to play with every single present she opened before moving on to the next one, even if she had 2 or 3 piled up in front of her. Here she is reading "The Little Engine That Could."
She got a fabulous BIG purple ball from Aunt Barbie & Uncle Bruce. She had a great time playing with it in Nana & PopPop's house - bouncing it, kicking it, rolling it. Now that it has come home, it will definitely be an outdoor toy!
Holly also got a super cute cow lawn chair. She spent her afternoon today sitting in the chair watching her one of her new Ni Hao Kai Lan videos that she got.
The Dora floating bath toy that she got was a H-U-G-E hit!!! You pour water in the top of the palm tree and Swiper shows up in a little window in the trunk of the tree. I told her that Swiper was in the tree but would only come out when she took a bath. So, for the rest of the evening, Holly would ask "Swiper bath?" I would think that we had distracted her for a few minutes, and out of the blue she would ask "Now Swiper bath?" Yes, she did end up getting her bath to play with Dora and see Swiper in the tree!
I know she looks so serious in this picture, but it had been a long day and smiles were just not forthcoming! She has her hand on a new softball set with a pink bat, 2 pink balls, and a batting T. Ya gotta have priorities, ya know?
After presents, we finally got around to singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles on her cake. Even though we had been practicing blowing, Holly wanted nothing to do with that and I ended up having to blow her candles out for her. Maybe next year...
The best part of Holly's day may have been the ice cream. I had to really stir her cake into the ice cream or else she would have just skipped that part all together! The girl really likes her ice cream!
Besides breakfast, this is probably the best smile I got out of Holly all day long. And I think its just adorable...but I may be biased. :-)
We all had a fabulous time celebrating Holly's birthday. I can't believe my baby is two! Its amazing to watch her grow up and I am so fortunate to have the honor of being her Mama! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!!
Tomorrow morning, we leave for Seattle. I'll post pictures of our great adventure when we get back.
You would think that with her birthday at the END OF MARCH that the weather wouldn't be so crazy, but we woke up to snow on the birthday girl's big day. Granted, it was just a little, but still!
Holly had her usual cereal for breakfast and actually gave me a real smile when I asked her to, although I had to wait until breakfast was almost gone before she showed any interest in doing so.
After breakfast, I let her have one present. Mostly because I couldn't figure out how to wrap it and also because it kept making noise, so I decided that having a new toy to play with all day was better than having to wait until right before bedtime for every single present. She was very serious about feeding her baby!
At nap time, I baked Holly's birthday cake and got it frosted and decorated. Every year (all two of them) I make two cupcakes in addition to Holly's big cake. One the cupcakes, I write Mother and Father in Chinese. Although birthdays and other important occasions are days of celebration, it is always important to take a few moments to remember that this is probably a sad day for her birth family, and at some point in Holly's life, she could very well feel that her birthday isn't a day to celebrate but is a day of sadness and mourning what she has lost. So, on this special day, not only do we celebrate Holly's birth, we honor her birth family in every way we can.
I had the perfect (for my artistic ability) cake decorating going until the blue oily part of the frosting glopped out of the tube on the "thd" of birthday. I was SO annoyed!!! I kneaded the tubes of frosting just like they said, but I guess I didn't get the blue mixed up enough, so Holly ended up with a big blob smack in the middle of her cake. (Yes, I know she didn't care because she doesn't know any better, but it irritated me for the rest of the day!)
We all had a tasty dinner of teriyaki chicken, rice, asparagus, and fruit salad. Holly, however, just picked out the bananas and played with the rest of her fruit salad. She ate all her rice, as usual, though.
After clearing the dishes, she got right to work opening presents. She definitely knows what to do, but she made me laugh every time she would rip some paper off, hand it to someone, then say "thank you" for taking it and helping her clean up! *Sigh* I'm guessing that doesn't last long, does it?
She stopped to play with every single present she opened before moving on to the next one, even if she had 2 or 3 piled up in front of her. Here she is reading "The Little Engine That Could."
She got a fabulous BIG purple ball from Aunt Barbie & Uncle Bruce. She had a great time playing with it in Nana & PopPop's house - bouncing it, kicking it, rolling it. Now that it has come home, it will definitely be an outdoor toy!
Holly also got a super cute cow lawn chair. She spent her afternoon today sitting in the chair watching her one of her new Ni Hao Kai Lan videos that she got.
The Dora floating bath toy that she got was a H-U-G-E hit!!! You pour water in the top of the palm tree and Swiper shows up in a little window in the trunk of the tree. I told her that Swiper was in the tree but would only come out when she took a bath. So, for the rest of the evening, Holly would ask "Swiper bath?" I would think that we had distracted her for a few minutes, and out of the blue she would ask "Now Swiper bath?" Yes, she did end up getting her bath to play with Dora and see Swiper in the tree!
I know she looks so serious in this picture, but it had been a long day and smiles were just not forthcoming! She has her hand on a new softball set with a pink bat, 2 pink balls, and a batting T. Ya gotta have priorities, ya know?
After presents, we finally got around to singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candles on her cake. Even though we had been practicing blowing, Holly wanted nothing to do with that and I ended up having to blow her candles out for her. Maybe next year...
The best part of Holly's day may have been the ice cream. I had to really stir her cake into the ice cream or else she would have just skipped that part all together! The girl really likes her ice cream!
Besides breakfast, this is probably the best smile I got out of Holly all day long. And I think its just adorable...but I may be biased. :-)
We all had a fabulous time celebrating Holly's birthday. I can't believe my baby is two! Its amazing to watch her grow up and I am so fortunate to have the honor of being her Mama! Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!!Tomorrow morning, we leave for Seattle. I'll post pictures of our great adventure when we get back.
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