I took Holly to Kindermusik a year ago, but we eventually had to quit because the timing conflicted with her morning nap.  Holly loves music and dancing, so once again I signed her up and we had our first class today.  There were seven toddlers between the ages of nineteen months and three and a half.  As it turned out, most of the group was around age three; a year and a half older than Holly.  I wasn’t totally thrilled about that because I don’t want the class to be more advanced than Holly can handle.  As it turned out, Holly kept up with the older kids beautifully.  She was clearly the baby of the group and wasn’t always on task, but I was impressed with how wonderfully she participated for the most part.  She knew to watch the teacher and the other kids and do what they did.  Her teacher was impressed too.  Holly loved playing the instruments and dancing and twirling with ribbons, etc.  I would even go so far as to say that she is better suited to the Kindermusik class (which is smaller and a bit more structured) than the Little Gym class, although I’ll keep her in both for now.  I’m pleased as punch at how well she did today.

Above is “monkey see, monkey do.”  Anything Linlee does, Holly has to do too.  No exceptions.  Poor Linlee has the sniffles again and a cough.  Boo.  Hope Holly doesn’t have to copy that as well.

And lastly, this is what I get for trying to update the blog when Holly is not sleeping…

She was sitting right next to me sucking on one of Linlee’s markers, but I wasn’t paying attention.  Ugh.

But she is only 19 months!  And I know, this face, terrible?  Really?  Yeah, Little Miss here suddenly has a lot of opinions and she certainly does not hold back when she is unhappy about something.  The other night I pulled her out of her bath before she was done because she refused to sit down (wanted to stand and jump in the tub).  The blood curdling shrieks brought Rob running from his computer room to see what happened.  I could tell by the look on his face that he was expecting spurting blood or something.  Nope, just an angry Holly.  Today at Little Gym, the teacher put away the parachute which Holly had been enjoying enormously.  Suddenly more blood curdling screams filled the gym.  Everyone turned to see my daughter clenching her little fists, jumping up and down in anger (which gives me the giggles) and then ultimately, throwing herself on the floor and howling.  Ah, what a proud moment (sarcasm).  Thankfully Holly has not been the only child in the class to display such emotion.  It was, however, our first public tantrum.  I predict that I am in for more.  Yippy-skippy.  I do want to point out that Holly is mostly a very happy little girl.  Mostly.

Thanks for all the advice on the lovey.  As it happens, I have washed the backup lovey several times and it is kept in Holly’s crib.  She still rejects it.  I decided the new rule (after finding the lost lovey) was to keep the original one in the crib at all times instead of letting her drag it around the house, so that we will not lose it again.  You can see from the pictures that the little stinker snuck upstairs and managed to get it out of her crib all on her own.  Hmm.

A picture of Holly holding her lovey at Christmas…

*** FOUND IT!  My goodness, I think the lost lovey was driving me more crazy than it was Holly.  She just sadly accepted the backup lovey tonight, but put it off to the side in her crib.  It was breaking my heart.  So once again I set out looking in all the places that Holly likes go, especially the ones where she is not supposed to be.  Sure enough, I went into Rob’s computer room and tried to look at all the surfaces with fresh eyes (I’d searched that room several times already).  This time, I spotted a bit of pink fluff peeking out of sack full of papers where she must have dropped it.  Ugh.  Rob’s computer room is so disorganized (sorry honey, but you know it’s true) that the lovey could have lived there indefinitely if not for a sharp-eyed, determined mommy who would not give up.  Heh.  Holly and I will both sleep better tonight.

My sweet baby before her nap.  Holly is nineteen months now.  She only gets a bottle before her nap and bedtime.  The rest of the time she happily uses a sippy cup or a real cup with a bit of help.  I know it’s a good time to wean her from the bottle altogether, but…  I don’t want to!  This is my last baby.  While in some ways I am eager to see Holly move forward, losing the bottle is not one of them.  I love snuggling with her while she drinks her bottle.  I loved it with Linlee too.  In fact, Linlee finally had to wean herself because I clearly was not going to get the process started (I think she was two).  Wonder when I’ll actually ask Holly to give it up.

While Holly napped, I made some cookies to have ready when Linlee arrived home from school.  The funny thing was, as I was getting Holly up from her nap, she kept saying “kuh-kay, kuh-kay” (her word for cupcake).  I realized that she smelled the chocolate cookies!  She already has a good little sniffer, doesn’t she?

Oops, maybe I spoke too soon.  Looks like Rob is dancing with the girls.

Belated Christmas presents!

Above, Holly and Rachel jumping on bubble wrap.

Holly was not into the “couch picture” session.

But Rachel and Linlee were super sweet together.

Awe…

And lastly, a picture of my pretty Linlee.  She had a wonderful night; lots of really great interacting and giggling with Rachel.  I’m so pleased for her.

At first, Holly wanted to walk, rather than ride.

Linlee wanted to be in front, but that didn’t work so well for Holly.

That’s better.

All the cars are lining this flat street because no one wants to attempt going down into their steep cul de sacs to their driveways!

Linlee’s upper lip is still red and chapped from her cold (which Holly is now catching).

I believe all but one school district in all of Western WA is closed today.  Many government offices are also closed.  The news is advising people to stay off the roads, if possible.  Rob is tucked safely up in his computer room, working from home.  The girls and I are snuggled in and enjoying the heck out of our snowstorm.

The girls were watching the sledders going down our hill.  (Clearly I dressed one of my children in what I felt was appropriate for a snowy, winter’s day and the other dressed herself.)

This isn’t a picture of the snowman on our front porch.  Look in the window.

I didn’t get any great pictures of Holly playing in the snow, but trust me, she was out there this morning.  She had a big, ol’ tantrum when I told her it was time to go in, too.  Here she is snuggling with sister after their morning romp outside.  (I imagine we’ll have to suit up for an afternoon one as well!)

Darn snowflake blurred out Linlee’s pretty face!

Holly looked at the snow coming down and said, “OH NO!” about a thousand times.