My Life in Toddlertown: Easter

Easter was a great chance to spend time together as an immediate family and to spend time with our extended family - more and more cousins! We were especially excited about Julie and her kids coming to visit since they were not here for Christmas and we didn't get a long visit that time. I also couldn't help thinking how it was Maggie's first Easter as a Holt. I can't imagine what her first Easter was like - probably not even given a second thought - and I definitely prayed for all those kids in Russian orphanages with no hope of adoption by an American family right now.

As I was thinking back on the day, I realized that I had "missed" Maggie's 4 month anniversary of Gotcha Day (April 27). It was a crazy week last week with lots of doctors appointments for Ward and Maggie and we had our meeting with our social worker to get our 6 month report ready to send to Russia. I still can't believe that it has been 4 months. She is such a different child than the tiny angel I brought home. Physically, she has filled out, broken at least 9 teeth (and 4 more molars on the way according to our first dentist appointment last week), and is growing out of a lot of clothes! Her hair is growing like a weed and she is sporting a great mullet. She refuses to let me to put anything in her hair to get it out of her face, so it is in her eyes a lot. I am not going to cut it until I can get it all even and in a bob so she is just going to continue to look a little white-trashesque for a while. The hair goes perfectly with her dirty "Walmart feet." She does not like shoes at all and I think it might be because she always had on tights, socks and shoes when she was in the orphanage. As soon as she started playing with her toes, she was hooked. She even refuses to wear footy pajamas because she likes her toes free!!

Developmentally, she is running all over the place, literally. She loves to play "chase" and she is still obsessed with throwing balls and loves balloons. She has great hand-eye coordination and I love watching her trying to put things back in their place. She is learning how to whine (like a true Holt) and I think frustrated that she can't communicate better with us. I totally remember this stage with my other kids and see it as a positive development, although it can be very annoying and trying when I am tired. She also has learned to blow kisses which still brings tears to my eyes when she does it!!

Here are some pictures from Easter to show you all the craziness in our house --- better than me telling you!