Painting

Holly loves art projects. I used to be so good at doing them with her, back when Josie was still taking a morning nap. Since Josie dropped her morning nap though, I have gone into crisis mode and have barely resumed functioning as a normal human being again. Thus we have done almost no art projects for the past couple of months.

I finally bought a second set of watercolors so Josie could join in on the fun, and we pulled them out one afternoon last week. Holly was thrilled to be back in her natural element of creating and making a giant mess at the same time.

Josie had fun painting on the paper...until she discovered that painting on her face was fun, too. It was everywhere, including in her ears. Painting had to be cut short, and Holly was none too pleased. She let me know by dumping her painting water all over the floor. Fun times.

Carnivore

Our little Josie is still...well, little. She barely passed the 18 pound mark by her 15-month well baby check-up. However, she has a voracious appetite that is not to be messed with. She just has really good genes, I guess!

One of her problems is that at mealtime, she pokes at her food and fusses for most of the meal. Then when everyone else is finished, she finally starts eating. (Notice Holly's empty booster seat next to her.) She usually eats her meal while I'm doing the dishes or checking my e-mail.

This particular evening we had chicken drumsticks and I thoughtfully cut Josie's off the bone. She finished all of her own chicken, then grabbed Holly's drumstick off of her plate and started tearing into it. It was amazing.

Bathtub Fun

Holly's present from the Pacifier Fairy was a Belle Barbie doll that goes in the bathtub. Her skirt is a bath pouf, and she comes with a bath crayon. This has provided hours of fun both in and out of the bathtub. Holly is very much obsessed with princesses and fairies, and Belle is her favorite.

Andrew decided to take advantage of the bath crayon and teach Holly some skills. On the left Andrew wrote out Holly's name; on the right is her version. Not bad, huh?

(Sorry that this was basically a post just to brag about my kid. Bragging over.)

Dress-Up

Holly got a dress-up box for Christmas, and it has gotten the most use of any present by far. The girls play with, in, and around the dress-up box pretty much daily.

Josie loves her a pair of fairy wings.

This is Holly's favorite item, which is a skirt that I picked up from the thrift store. She would probably wear it all the time, in the house and out, if I let her. Pair this with a fancy purse, and you have this little girl's heaven.

Dress-up is pretty much a constant activity in our house. I honestly don't know why I even bother getting the two of them dressed in "real clothes" every morning.

Another favorite is to take all of the clothes out of the box and then use the box as a bathtub, car, airplane...anything. And don't forget "swimming" in the pile of clothes on the floor! Some days I can hardly stand the mess this creates, but they have so much fun with it, who cares?