Oh my sweet, sweet Holly,

I love you so much! I can't even describe accurately how special I feel our bond is. It's just easy to love you because you love me so freely. Of course you still have tantrums and blow-ups, but most of the time you are truly so calm and sweet and kind. Your little voice is sooo cute. You are the biggest snuggler (with me, at least) -- you snuggle me in my bed after I get you up, in your rocking chair before and/or after sleep times, and almost anytime I sit down on the couch, you make your way over to snuggle with me. Plus you tell me frequently that you want to snuggle me on the couch 😍 I'm excited for us to add a little brother to our family, but I sometimes worry about how it will affect our relationship -- you love to be close to me so often, and I know I won't always be available to be so close once baby brother gets here. I know we'll all figure it out, but I just hope you always know how much I love you through that big change. I'm so incredibly grateful that you are part of our family :)

I love you, Holly B!

Love, Mama

Stats

28.8 lbs (30%), 36.25" (32%) -- she's grown 3 inches in the last 6 months! No wonder she's seeming so tall lately!
Size 5 diapers for sleep
2T-3T. Dresses have to be 3T because 2T is definitely too short now!
18 teeth -- 10 on top and 8 on bottom. No idea when those 3yo top molars came in!

Milestones

We potty trained her around 33 months old, and she's been doing so well! Training took 1-2 weeks before I felt like things were solid, but she almost never has accidents now (the only time she does is if she gets really upset [crying, screaming, etc.] when she's already been holding pee for a while). For a while she usually pooped when we had her in a diaper (we use diapers for all sleep), but now she usually poops in the toilet. She still pees in the diaper most times because she frequently refuses to use the toilet before naps and bedtime. She holds her pee LIKE CRAZY. Like, she usually doesn't go at all in the morning because she's gone before I get her out of bed, and then she holds it until I put her in a diaper for her nap at 1pm! Then she goes during naptime, but not again until bedtime usually. I should probably encourage her to drink more water 😅 If she DOES go potty before her nap, she typically keeps her diaper dry.
She insisted on sitting in real chairs (rather than the high chair) around 2.5 years. It's a little messier than I'd like, but she does pretty well.
She can finally count to 10! I don't really push academic skills at this age, but for a long time, she'd count, "1, 2, 3, 1..." But once we really worked on "3, 4," (literally in the last month) she could do the whole thing.

Favorite things/Obsessions

It's harder to see Holly's favorite things/obsessions because Ada is always here taking control, but from what I can tell --

Color: Probably pink
TV show: Baby Bum and Cocomelon (and definitely NOT Bluey -- every time Ada says, "do you want to watch Bluey?" She says, "NO!"
Food: PB&J sandwiches, ramen noodles, pears, bananas, treats
Movie: She suggests Home a lot. She also likes a bunch of the Barbie movies.
She loves dancing to movie credits, and she always wants someone to dance with her, too!
She loves to pretend to cook and serve food.
She loves family home videos and photobooks 😍

Funny/Cute Things She Says

She's super quick to say "sorry, mom!" if she bumps into me, and she's also SUPER good at saying "thank you" appropriately! She doesn't even have to be reminded (unlike her big sister 🙃)
If I get dressed up nice (or sometimes just dressed at all), I'll often come down and she'll sort of gasp and say, "You look beautiful, mom!" Such a little sweetheart!
"I sure do!" "It sure does!"
One day, after I put a really cute outfit on her, she kept saying, "I'm beautiful!" OVER and over and over again 🤣
Earlier in the year, she would say, "I want to spoon/fork you!" to mean "I want to give you a spoon/fork 🤣
Started saying, "I love you, mom!" of her own accord/without prompting, around 2y4m.
Once when I was washing you at the big sink, she said, "Hold me! It's dangerous!"
Once when I was trying to get her to poop on the potty, she said, "I'm not poopy, I'm just stinky!"
"Happen-en-en-en-ing" -- like a BUNCH of "en"s in there. But I don't think she does this anymore.
"doctor" for "helicopter"
"I want another one this."
"wiggly" hair to mean "messy" hair -- "It's so wiggly!"
"Are you kidding me?!" 🤣
"My face is in my hair!"
She adds on an "ee" sound to a lot of words -- buggie (bug), huggie (hug), etc.
She calls "minions" "onions."
"X is my best friend" about different people (mom, dad, ada, stuffed animals, baby boy) ALL the time.
Ada came out after we put her to bed (while we were doing bedtime for Holly), and Ada wanted a hug and kiss from Holly. Holly said no at first, but then agreed. The two gave the CUTEST hugs and kisses, and then Holly said, "Okay Ada, go to bed now!"
Sometimes, when I don't hold things together, I'll say, "You're driving me nuts!" or "You're BUGGING me!" to Holly or Ada. One time Holly said, "You're bugging me nuts!" and now she sometimes says "You're wiving me nuts!"
Instead of "can I try?" it's more like "ca my try?"

Random Tidbits

She's really good to hold hands when I ask (like when crossing a street), which is nice.
She was pretty dang good at blowing her nose and coughing into her elbow alllll the way back close to her 2nd birthday, and she's especially good at it now that she's older and we're back in sick season.
Could open doors around 28m.
She talks with her mouth full all the time and expects us to understand. We do not.
She likes to pretend to freeze us with Elsa-like hand motions 🤣
Ada's hair was so long at this age because I never cut it, but I cut Holly's when she was about 2.5y, and I love her hair shorter! I've cut it again since then, but it's been a while. Time to cut again if we want to keep it the shorter length. Also, she lost her baby curls 😭 Her hair isn't as straight as it is in her 3 picture (I straightened some of the wonky waves), but it's pretty straight.
Lately, she is sometimes WILD at bedtime. Like she just doesn't want to do anything I ask her to do. It's a real party 😅😅
Eating: She likes things one day, and refuses to try them the next. Usually loves fruit (especially pears and bananas). Loves ramen noodles and pb&j sandwiches. Hesitant to try new things.
Sleep: In bed from 8pm-8am, but asleep more like 8:45/9pm-7:15am (10.25-10.5 hours). She naps every day from 1-3pm. She falls asleep quickly for naps (usually, but very occasionally she'll skip the nap entirely. Maybe 1x/month), and her wakeup varies -- sometimes I have to wake her at 3pm, other times she wakes on her own between 2:30&2:50pm.

We had struggles with crib climbing around 2.5y, and again around 2.75y, but she is currently doing well staying in bed all night/nap long. Her new thing is to take off her pajamas at some point in the night, though!

Still sucks her thumb to self-soothe. We'll break the habit sometime before her next birthday. She also loves to sleep with a sleep sack (not on her -- more like it's a comfort item to hold on to), and she sometimes sleeps with a bunch of "friends" (stuffed animals) and sometimes throws them all out. We just made the transition to having her leave her sleep sack in her crib/room instead of being able to take it all over the house (after an unfortunate afternoon when I searched the house for 20 minutes and couldn't find it anywhere, and had to put her down without it).

She requested NO sound machine a few months ago, so we stopped using it. I still turn on a box fan in the hallway to help with any noise, though!

She's still in a crib and will likely be in there another 8 months or so -- until baby brother needs the crib for sleep training!