The Park

I wanted to post a few pictures of Adelyn too, since Holton has been getting so much blog attention lately.  She is already proving herself to be a wonderful big sister.  She is so gentle with Holton - she touches him very lightly and loves to gently rub his hair while saying "soooft" in a sweet whisper.  She will become concerned if he cries, and she'll say "Holton crying" or "Holton sad".  If she hasn't seen him  in a while, she'll say "See Holton, see Holton".  She now includes him in her prayers and anytime she lists all her "important" family members.

She loves to play outside, go for walks, and she especially loves her "new stroller".  She loves the park and wants to "swing" or "slide" for as long as possible.

She loves having her hair put up in pigtails, and as you can see, she is also consistently wearing bows.

She loves to count and sing the ABCs.  She loves all types of music, and she will dance to just about anything.

She is continuing to be a fairly good eater, although she is definitely exerting her independence in this area.  We try to give her choices and let her feed herself as much as possible.  She hasn't quite gotten the concept of rewards down yet, so we haven't been able to bargain with her yet (if you eat this apple, you can have this yogurt).  Her favorite foods are spinach (baby food style - we still do some baby food veggies because she will eat all of them readily, whereas she's not too sure about the real thing yet - i.e. raw spinach will get thrown on the floor!), yogurt, hummus, veggie straws, animal crackers, her gummy vitamin, milk, strawberries and all other kinds of berries, eggs, and muffins (see my last post!).  We are trying to teach her not to throw food on the floor ("no throwing food"), and if she does, I give her "the look" and say, "what do you say?"  She usually first replies "please", and when I say "no, that's not what you say", she'll say in a soft voice "I sorry Mommy"... to which this mommy's heart promptly melts because she is just so adorable!

She continues to surprise us with new words (today, she said "Bible school" when we went to visit a local church preschool for next fall - she must have picked learned that at church???) and puts multiple words together.  It's amazing to watch her development.  As independent as she is, she is still a cuddlebug - especially when reading or at bedtime.  And reading is probably her favorite activity - any book, often over and over and over again!

I think we have found a wonderful Mother's Day Out/Preschool program at a local church to enroll her in for the fall, two days a week.  My baby girl is growing up.  I got teary-eyed earlier today when they said she would need a backpack for school.  Wasn't she just Holton's size yesterday?  She's not old enough to carry a backpack, is she?  Where does the time go???

I love you Addy!  Don't grow up too fast!