Holly

A wildflower among wildflowers this summer at Mt. Rainier

Holly is a sweet and remarkable girl who will influence a lot of people for good on her path in life.  In fact, she was the inspiration for starting this blog as a record for our family; I often think to myself that her fun and funny ways deserve to be recorded for us to enjoy in the future.  Since she is now two and a half, let's just quickly recap her cuteness to date with a photo-video montage:

2 weeks old

                                                                       2 months old

4 months

5 months

Army crawling at 5 months

Praying at 9 months

10 months

Valentine's at 10 months

One year old

First summer of exploring the world on two feet

15 months

Jam on the couch

Dancing at Toddler Time

First snowman with Dad - 21 months

Pink shirt, pink shoes

                                                                Synchronized snoring

23 months

Ready for church

Trusty sidekick

2nd birthday

Preparing for Baby Ben's arrival

First day as Big Sis

A little sunshine

Hiking on Rainier

Nearly two and a half years old

Holly has a lot of love for everyone she knows, especially all the people in our family.  She thinks everyone she meets is her friend, and when anyone comes to the front door she invites them in to play with her.  One of her best qualities is her zest for life.  For example, the moment Holly wakes up in the morning, she always exclaims, "It's morning time! I woke up today!"  She is a great person to spend all my time with because she is so positive and excited about nearly everything.  This summer we hiked at Mt. Rainier a couple of times, and later went down for an overnight stay.  Holly was so thrilled about it and to every person we saw there, said, "We're goin' to Mount Ray-neer!" Just this morning we were driving Adam to catch his bus to work and saw the colors of the sunrise.  Holly pointed to the sky and said, "Look, Mom, it's so beautiful!  The sun made us beautiful colors!"

Holly is excited to learn about all kinds of new things and has an excellent memory.  By her 2nd birthday, she had learned to count to ten, recite the alphabet, and by this summer could identify most of the alphabet letters.  She can spell her name now and recognizes it when she sees it written down.  Anytime she spots a letter H on something she shouts, "H for Holly!"  I think one reason she learned this so quickly was that the alphabet and counting numbers were really just some of her hobbies. She is always adding new words to her vocabulary.  The other day she heard me say "hopefully" something would happen, and she said, "Mom, what means 'hopefully'?"  I said, "It means you really want something to happen."  A few hours later, she asked for a fruit leather snack, and as I was opening it for her, she said, "Oh, hopefully I have my fruit strip now!"

Holly loves to sing and has learned dozens of songs over the last several months.  Some of her favorites are "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home," "Jesus Once Was a Little Child," "I am Like a Star Shining Brightly," "Go, Diego, Go!," "Jesus Wants Me For a Sunbeam," and "Do As I'm Doing," "Goodnight, Sweetheart" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." We spend a lot of time singing around here.  In the car we listen to our 3-disc set of 150 Toddler Tunes, and I can't believe how often she knows what song it is upon hearing the intro. We usually sing several opening songs for Family Home Evening, and a few every night before bed, and that way she learns lots of Primary songs.

One special trait we've seen in Holly from early on is her concern for other people's feelings.  It is important to her that everyone is happy, and she has always felt sad when she can see someone else is sad.  Around 18 months, when Holly would refuse to share her toys with other kids, I could almost always get her to change her mind by pointing out how sad the other kid was that she wouldn't share, and telling her that if she would share, it would make him or her so happy.  Then her face would light up at the idea of making someone happy and she would freely hand her toy to the other kid.  I couldn't believe how often this reasoning would work.  We've witnessed her empathetic nature enough times to know it is a trait she will always have.

Even now, when Holly can tell I'm frustrated or stressed, she says, "Are you happy, Mom?"  Or if she has just been naughty and I give her a look, she says, "Are you just a little bit happy, Mom?"  Or, if she is pre-meditating a naughty plan, she will say, "I want you to stay happy, Mom, okay?" 

Holly has all kinds of nice things to say.  Here are some that we hear most often throughout the day:

"Thank you!"
"It's my favorite, the best one!"
"Sure!"
"It's so beautiful!"
"I will never do it again!" (after getting in trouble)
"I'm okay!" (after falling)
"I'm sorry.  It was just a accident.  How about a hug?"
"I love you so much."

And we love her too.