Seriously, I want to remember the good, the bad, the ugly...the hysterical and precious moments that are so completely fleeting I find myself freaking out sometimes. Literally - freaking out. I mean, when I got Holland dressed a couple Friday's ago for the Princess Birthday Party she had been anxiously looking forward to, mostly because it meant she could wear her Princess Sofia dress-up dress, I had tears in my eyes as I placed a plastic tiara on her head. Plastic. What the heck? Yep, I'm totally THAT mom! And get this, the tiara was a "treat" she picked out at the Dollar Store to put in her "poop basket" as a reward for going poop on the potty. Since #2 has yet to end up anywhere near the toilet, I couldn't help but grab it for a final touch to her outfit for the party. So, ya, it's these details that I want to remember.
Speaking of the "Poop Basket" (or as Holland says, "Poop Basick"), Holland has been potty training and doing a phenomenal job...as far as #1 goes. We attempted, as you may recall, to begin potty training around her second birthday, but the no-pants-for-three-days-potty-training trick did not work in this house. I finally gave up and decided that when she is ready she'll show more interest and then, I hoped, it wouldn't be so hard. And guess what? It's been CAKE! A few weeks ago, right before we went on a mini-vacay to St. George and Vegas (post about that soon), Holland told Tyler one night that she needed to go potty. And so it began. Even on vacation, although we still kept her in diapers, she would say she needed to go. So when we got back we started putting undies on her and now it's been three weeks and she's only had a few accidents. She's a rock star! Oh ya, except for the poop. We'll figure that one out...eventually. Until then, the "Pee Basket" sees a lot more treats disappearing than does the other basket.
Holland turned 33 months a couple weeks ago. (I'm totally laughing that I just wrote her age in months. I used to shake my head at people like that. Eating my words I guess.) That means, sniff-sniff, she'll be THREE in just THREE months! Holy cow! When grown-ups/parents (I really didn't consider myself completely grown-up until I became a mom) used to talk about how fast time goes, and how they couldn't believe so-and-so was so grown up, and how they remember when Joe Schmoe was just 'yay-high' I really thought they were a little (or a lot) over-dramatic. But I 'm here to say that I was wrong...or to say that I am now one of those over-dramatic people. But seriously, time goes so fast!!!!! Remember when Holland was just super tiny and all she could do was sleep, eat and poop. It was yesterday, right?
So Holland lately has just seemed so not a baby anymore. Maybe it's that her bum is so tiny with only undies on and no diaper, and that, in turn, makes her seem taller and thinner. {Oh ya, she stills wears diapers/pull-ups for sleep time...but often wakes up dry! Way to go, Miss Bliss!} Maybe it's that her vocabulary is quite incredible. She says some of the funnies things. Like the other night, while rocking her before bed, she cuddled up to me really tight and said, "Daddy smells yucky." Then she took a long, deep sniff into my neck and said, "Momma, you smell yuuuummmmmyyyy! You smell like marshmallows!" And then she kissed me on the cheek. Ahhhh!!! Tyler later told me that she told him the same thing, and he vowed to shower after the gym before snuggling with Holland.
Speaking of funny things that Holland says, here are a few of her one-liners: "I was totally freaking out." "Oh, mommy..." Both of these things in a totally teenager-ish voice. "Darn the darn." "And I was like, what?" On Sunday I asked her how church was, and then asked her who her nursery leaders are. Her response: "I suppose I don't really know, actually." Uh. For real? Who is this girl?? She's still two, right?
Holland loves to play make-believe lately. Maybe I've mentioned this before, but we are always characters of different TV shows and/or movies. For instance, we are regularly characters of Berenstain Bears (self-explanatory) and Planes (Holland = Dusty; Tagg = Skipper; Tyler = Echo; Me = Echo; Grandpa = El Chupacabra; Grandma = Dotty). Also, Cars, but this one only Holland has a character and it is, drum roll please, Lightening McQueen, of course! She pronounces it 'Lie-ping.'
This little lady of the house continues to to amaze us with her language, knowledge, memorization, and just smarty-pants-ness in general. We checked out a book from the library a few days ago, read it to Holland and Tagg and bed time about four or five times, and then today Holland 'read' (recited) it to me word-for-word. She loves books and can at least a couple times a day be found sitting in front of her bookshelf in her room looking through books. She loves to ask 'Why?' and 'What does that mean?' and 'How do you say that?' She begs to get on www.abcmouse.com every day. And, I love that she calls it that, 'abcmouse.com' - it cracks me up. But really, what else is she supposed to call it? It's just funny to me to hear a two-year old say a web address. Anyway, It's an online preschool curriculum that Holland is plowing through. And, seriously, it's so refreshing to know that some of her screen time each day truly is educational. But, ya, she still loves TV as well, but we try to keep it to a minimum and as educational as possible. (See Below about things that drive me crazy!) Lately she really only watches a couple shows in the morning, Cat in the Hat and Curious George. But then afternoon hits and I have to work and - dang - she also likes Berenstain Bears, Caillou (this one drives me a little insane - his voice - ugh!), Poppy Cat, Sid the Science Kid (ditto what I said about Caillou), Zou, and Bob The Builder. But her all time fave lately is 'Kipper.' Not really educational as far as I can tell, but she laughs through every episode I've let her watch. It's this dog with an English accent. I seriously LOVE to listen to her when this show because she laughs so hard. Just hearing her laugh like that makes me laugh. I love it! Oh, and there's Princess Sofia on the Disney Channel. Hence, Holland's love of the color purple.
Purple! Everything must be purple lately. Every Sunday she comes home with a purple drawing. It kind of cracks me up. She's MY daughter. Growing up I claimed purple and yellow as my favorite colors. She wants to wear purple, color with purple, play with purple - seriously, all things purple!!! Well, except 'Pink Baby' who is still pink and Holland is still attached to her. I love that she has something that brings her comfort that we can take anywhere to give her a sense of security. I'm seeing this is a crucial thing for kids - and I'm all for it.
Holland does drive me crazy sometimes. But really, the driving me crazy times are far outweighed by everything else. But, remember, I said I want to remember everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!
Holland sucks at eating. It makes me insane. Literally. We've tried pretty much every tactic, and everything we've tried gives me huge flashbacks to my childhood where my very own mom tried the exact same tactics - where I won most of the battles, not her. Sadly. And so I've finally decided that this is a battle that I choose to not overly fight. She has to try at least one bite of everything on her plate, and that's it. She'll learn. She's only 2. Right? Right.
What else? She's somewhat addicted to screens. I take the blame for this. Totally and completely my fault for using the TV, the iPhone, the Kindle to buy myself a little more time to work or get some things done around the house. I'm trying to put more strict limits on all three. It's hard.
She get's the most wired right before bed. I have somewhat of a love-hate for this time of night. I love her silly side, I just wish it would blossom mid-day instead. I love the one-on-one time when it's my turn to put her to bed. But I find myself longing for the time when she would just snuggle up and let me rock her and she'll fall sound asleep. I could rock her forever. Now she's all chit-chat and I want this and that. Her delay tactics are improving by the week.
She's kind of a little bully with Tagg at times. I don't think she means to be. I think she doesn't know how to express some feelings yet. She sometimes gets really excited and wants to hug and kiss him and he's just not wanting it. Then when he's ready to be her shadow she's needing her space. Ugh! And she has this obsession with poking his cheek. Not sure how to get this to change, but I count to 10 about 10 times a day so I don't explode over such a little thing.
I love Holland's personality. She tells me daily that I am her "Best Ever." Melt my heart! I love to hear her say, "I love you , Momma." She gives the best compliments, some that you would never think you would hear. Like when she tells me that I am "yummy." Who would have thought? She tells us "good job" when we do simple tasks for her, like helping her put on her clothes. It's the cutest.
A few other things that I want to note so that I can remember, which is what this post is about: Holland is great at putting her own coat, socks and shoes. She even puts her shoes on the correct feet nine times out of ten. She always asks, 'Is this the left? Is this the right?' She is amazing at puzzles and is getting really good at coloring rather than just scribbling all over the page. She recognizes the separate pictures and colors each, albeit not in the lines. She loves music! We have a Pace Dance Party in the living room several times a week. And not to kiddy music mind you, but stuff like Houdini by Foster the People, which she calls "Disappeared." She loves her little bestie, Carson Matsala. They play rough and tough and I think it's so darn cute. She doesn't really play well with other kids yet though. Maybe I need to schedule more play-dates? She loves her Grandpa Charlie and talks about him quite often. Well, him and his 'blue swing.'
Holland loves her daddy and calls for him first thing every morning. She hangs out with him in the garage and loves to "hang out" with him, which means snuggle on our bed and watch The Simpsons. She's inherited the "obsessed with trains" gene from her daddy as well. Put she got my crooked pinkies.
Holland is so good about letting me do her hair and dress her in the outfits that I pick out. She loves it most when both of those things involve something purple though. She loves to wear hats, all types. She loves to go bowling, get balloons and/or ice-cream at Maceys, ride in "car" shopping carts, play at the park, go for walks and she love-loves for us to drive 'wiggley-waggley.'
I can't imagine not having this little girl with such huge spark in our family. She is the one that made me a mother and for that, and so many other reasons, I am eternally grateful to her. I'm not sure she will ever truly know how much I love (am obsessed with!) her. Maybe when she has her own daughter. Oh my. Gasp. Time. Slow. Down!
I love you Baby Cakes, Miss Bliss, my Holland!
Speaking of the "Poop Basket" (or as Holland says, "Poop Basick"), Holland has been potty training and doing a phenomenal job...as far as #1 goes. We attempted, as you may recall, to begin potty training around her second birthday, but the no-pants-for-three-days-potty-training trick did not work in this house. I finally gave up and decided that when she is ready she'll show more interest and then, I hoped, it wouldn't be so hard. And guess what? It's been CAKE! A few weeks ago, right before we went on a mini-vacay to St. George and Vegas (post about that soon), Holland told Tyler one night that she needed to go potty. And so it began. Even on vacation, although we still kept her in diapers, she would say she needed to go. So when we got back we started putting undies on her and now it's been three weeks and she's only had a few accidents. She's a rock star! Oh ya, except for the poop. We'll figure that one out...eventually. Until then, the "Pee Basket" sees a lot more treats disappearing than does the other basket.
Holland turned 33 months a couple weeks ago. (I'm totally laughing that I just wrote her age in months. I used to shake my head at people like that. Eating my words I guess.) That means, sniff-sniff, she'll be THREE in just THREE months! Holy cow! When grown-ups/parents (I really didn't consider myself completely grown-up until I became a mom) used to talk about how fast time goes, and how they couldn't believe so-and-so was so grown up, and how they remember when Joe Schmoe was just 'yay-high' I really thought they were a little (or a lot) over-dramatic. But I 'm here to say that I was wrong...or to say that I am now one of those over-dramatic people. But seriously, time goes so fast!!!!! Remember when Holland was just super tiny and all she could do was sleep, eat and poop. It was yesterday, right?
So Holland lately has just seemed so not a baby anymore. Maybe it's that her bum is so tiny with only undies on and no diaper, and that, in turn, makes her seem taller and thinner. {Oh ya, she stills wears diapers/pull-ups for sleep time...but often wakes up dry! Way to go, Miss Bliss!} Maybe it's that her vocabulary is quite incredible. She says some of the funnies things. Like the other night, while rocking her before bed, she cuddled up to me really tight and said, "Daddy smells yucky." Then she took a long, deep sniff into my neck and said, "Momma, you smell yuuuummmmmyyyy! You smell like marshmallows!" And then she kissed me on the cheek. Ahhhh!!! Tyler later told me that she told him the same thing, and he vowed to shower after the gym before snuggling with Holland.
Speaking of funny things that Holland says, here are a few of her one-liners: "I was totally freaking out." "Oh, mommy..." Both of these things in a totally teenager-ish voice. "Darn the darn." "And I was like, what?" On Sunday I asked her how church was, and then asked her who her nursery leaders are. Her response: "I suppose I don't really know, actually." Uh. For real? Who is this girl?? She's still two, right?
Holland loves to play make-believe lately. Maybe I've mentioned this before, but we are always characters of different TV shows and/or movies. For instance, we are regularly characters of Berenstain Bears (self-explanatory) and Planes (Holland = Dusty; Tagg = Skipper; Tyler = Echo; Me = Echo; Grandpa = El Chupacabra; Grandma = Dotty). Also, Cars, but this one only Holland has a character and it is, drum roll please, Lightening McQueen, of course! She pronounces it 'Lie-ping.'
This little lady of the house continues to to amaze us with her language, knowledge, memorization, and just smarty-pants-ness in general. We checked out a book from the library a few days ago, read it to Holland and Tagg and bed time about four or five times, and then today Holland 'read' (recited) it to me word-for-word. She loves books and can at least a couple times a day be found sitting in front of her bookshelf in her room looking through books. She loves to ask 'Why?' and 'What does that mean?' and 'How do you say that?' She begs to get on www.abcmouse.com every day. And, I love that she calls it that, 'abcmouse.com' - it cracks me up. But really, what else is she supposed to call it? It's just funny to me to hear a two-year old say a web address. Anyway, It's an online preschool curriculum that Holland is plowing through. And, seriously, it's so refreshing to know that some of her screen time each day truly is educational. But, ya, she still loves TV as well, but we try to keep it to a minimum and as educational as possible. (See Below about things that drive me crazy!) Lately she really only watches a couple shows in the morning, Cat in the Hat and Curious George. But then afternoon hits and I have to work and - dang - she also likes Berenstain Bears, Caillou (this one drives me a little insane - his voice - ugh!), Poppy Cat, Sid the Science Kid (ditto what I said about Caillou), Zou, and Bob The Builder. But her all time fave lately is 'Kipper.' Not really educational as far as I can tell, but she laughs through every episode I've let her watch. It's this dog with an English accent. I seriously LOVE to listen to her when this show because she laughs so hard. Just hearing her laugh like that makes me laugh. I love it! Oh, and there's Princess Sofia on the Disney Channel. Hence, Holland's love of the color purple.
Purple! Everything must be purple lately. Every Sunday she comes home with a purple drawing. It kind of cracks me up. She's MY daughter. Growing up I claimed purple and yellow as my favorite colors. She wants to wear purple, color with purple, play with purple - seriously, all things purple!!! Well, except 'Pink Baby' who is still pink and Holland is still attached to her. I love that she has something that brings her comfort that we can take anywhere to give her a sense of security. I'm seeing this is a crucial thing for kids - and I'm all for it.
Holland does drive me crazy sometimes. But really, the driving me crazy times are far outweighed by everything else. But, remember, I said I want to remember everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G!
Holland sucks at eating. It makes me insane. Literally. We've tried pretty much every tactic, and everything we've tried gives me huge flashbacks to my childhood where my very own mom tried the exact same tactics - where I won most of the battles, not her. Sadly. And so I've finally decided that this is a battle that I choose to not overly fight. She has to try at least one bite of everything on her plate, and that's it. She'll learn. She's only 2. Right? Right.
What else? She's somewhat addicted to screens. I take the blame for this. Totally and completely my fault for using the TV, the iPhone, the Kindle to buy myself a little more time to work or get some things done around the house. I'm trying to put more strict limits on all three. It's hard.
She get's the most wired right before bed. I have somewhat of a love-hate for this time of night. I love her silly side, I just wish it would blossom mid-day instead. I love the one-on-one time when it's my turn to put her to bed. But I find myself longing for the time when she would just snuggle up and let me rock her and she'll fall sound asleep. I could rock her forever. Now she's all chit-chat and I want this and that. Her delay tactics are improving by the week.
She's kind of a little bully with Tagg at times. I don't think she means to be. I think she doesn't know how to express some feelings yet. She sometimes gets really excited and wants to hug and kiss him and he's just not wanting it. Then when he's ready to be her shadow she's needing her space. Ugh! And she has this obsession with poking his cheek. Not sure how to get this to change, but I count to 10 about 10 times a day so I don't explode over such a little thing.
I love Holland's personality. She tells me daily that I am her "Best Ever." Melt my heart! I love to hear her say, "I love you , Momma." She gives the best compliments, some that you would never think you would hear. Like when she tells me that I am "yummy." Who would have thought? She tells us "good job" when we do simple tasks for her, like helping her put on her clothes. It's the cutest.
A few other things that I want to note so that I can remember, which is what this post is about: Holland is great at putting her own coat, socks and shoes. She even puts her shoes on the correct feet nine times out of ten. She always asks, 'Is this the left? Is this the right?' She is amazing at puzzles and is getting really good at coloring rather than just scribbling all over the page. She recognizes the separate pictures and colors each, albeit not in the lines. She loves music! We have a Pace Dance Party in the living room several times a week. And not to kiddy music mind you, but stuff like Houdini by Foster the People, which she calls "Disappeared." She loves her little bestie, Carson Matsala. They play rough and tough and I think it's so darn cute. She doesn't really play well with other kids yet though. Maybe I need to schedule more play-dates? She loves her Grandpa Charlie and talks about him quite often. Well, him and his 'blue swing.'
Holland loves her daddy and calls for him first thing every morning. She hangs out with him in the garage and loves to "hang out" with him, which means snuggle on our bed and watch The Simpsons. She's inherited the "obsessed with trains" gene from her daddy as well. Put she got my crooked pinkies.
Holland is so good about letting me do her hair and dress her in the outfits that I pick out. She loves it most when both of those things involve something purple though. She loves to wear hats, all types. She loves to go bowling, get balloons and/or ice-cream at Maceys, ride in "car" shopping carts, play at the park, go for walks and she love-loves for us to drive 'wiggley-waggley.'
I love you Baby Cakes, Miss Bliss, my Holland!
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