2 Years Old

Rebecca had her 2 year check up yesterday.  The doctor says she's doing great!  She's growing well and developing well.  Rebecca still wasn't a fan of the doctor's office.  But at least she only cried a little instead of the entire time :)

Rebecca has grown quite a bit in the last 6 months.  She is now 27 lbs. (50th %) and 33 1/2 in. (25th %).  Only time will tell if she'll stay on the short side like Mommy or if the Voogt genes will kick in and she'll be a little taller.  For now she's still our petite little girl :) 

We can tell she's been thinning out a lot over the last year.  Almost all of her clothes from last summer still fit!  Back then she needed a 2T for her waist.  Now she needs 2T for length :)  Some things actually fit better this year than last year.

As usual the doctor was very impressed with Rebecca's development.  He said she's about a year ahead in her cognitive development (speaking, numbers, letters, etc.) and that it's already obvious she'll be very smart.  She is meeting or exceeding her developmental milestones in every area.  Our concern is keeping her challenged and not letting her get bored :)  We might work on teaching her some Spanish.  At this age she will pick it up very quickly.

We asked the doctor about Rebecca's bad chewing/choking behavior...if she doesn't like food she swallows it whole instead of chewing it or spitting it out.  Not sure how she learned that, but he said it's a bad habit she's developed and that it will just take time for her to get over it.  Hopefully she won't have to learn the hard way that swallowing food whole is dangerous! 

In the mean time we need to continue to cut her food in small pieces and encourage her to chew well.  And to let her know it's ok to spit something out if she doesn't like it.  It's better than the alternative :P

We are very happy to have made it 2 years with no ear infections!  The doctor said she beat the odds.  95% of kids have at least one ear infection by the time they are 2.  Rebecca has been sick a few times this winter and last winter...but no ear infections :)

Overall a great check up!  No shots...which makes both Rebecca and Mommy happy :)  And Rebecca was very anxious to get her stickers when we left.  She had to put them on her paper as soon as we got home :)  Now that Rebecca is 2 she only gets a check up once a year.  And hopefully we won't need to see the doctor between now and then.

Rebecca is still learning new things and growing each day.  She still LOVES music.  She is constantly learning new songs.  And she loves to sing with Mommy and Daddy or sing to her animals and dolls.  Her latest song of course is Happy Birthday to You :)  And she likes to tell us that she's 2.

Rebecca is acting more and more like 2 now as well.  She has strong opinions and doesn't like to be told no.  She seems to think that no always means something is permanent.  Like if it's potty time and we tell her to put a doll down she thinks she can't ever have it back.  She starts crying saying "you can't have it."  Hopefully at some point she'll understand that it's only for a minute.  In the mean time whenever we need to do something (like run upstairs for a minute) she feels it's necessary to pick up every toy in a 10 foot radius that she can possilby hold in her arms and take it with her :P  Just in case.

We're excited for the summer this year.  Rebecca LOVES to be outside.  She cries when we have to come in after being outside.  I'm sure there will be lots of park and playground action in our near future :)  Rebecca is really into sand this year.  We're working on cleaning up her sandbox right now.  That'll be a favorit activity this summer as well.  She isn't too interested in balls, bikes, misc. outdoor toys so far.  She mostly just likes to run and explore the yard...see what rocks and flowers she can find and bring back to her playhouse.  Hopefully we can get her to help with the garden a bit this year...get her interested at a young age.  We are also looking forward to lots of family biking.  Rebecca loves to ride along.  She jumps right in to the trailer before we even have it hooked up.

Rebecca continues to do well with her letters, numbers, counting, alphabet, shapes, colors, etc.  She still loves to read and memorizes books after reading through them once.  Her latest favorite is one of her birthday presents - One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  She wants to read it over and over.  She has now learned the phrase "one more time." :)

Rebecca's imagination is also developing quite a bit.  She loves to play with her dolls and animals and make them do things or take care of them.  She got some baby bottles for her birthday and wants to feed her new baby (baby Joe:) all the time.  It's so fun to watch her take care of her dolls, "make" food, be creative with play-doh and play dress up.

There is always more that could be said.  But we'll stop at that.  Rebecca is a strong, healthy, smart, creative, loving 2 year old.  She is such a joy to watch.  She gives the best hugs and kisses.  And she is our little miracle.  A true blessing from God.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Rebecca!!

Our little girl is 2!!!  We can't believe it.  She's growing up so fast.  We had a fun family day yesterday to celebrate.  In the morning we went to the Frederik Meijer Gardens.  First we visited the butterfly exhibit.  Wow, so many butterflies!  It was like being in a rainforest with butterflies all around you.  I think Mommy and Daddy enjoyed it more than Rebecca.  She wasn't a huge fan of having little things fly near her head :P  Then we visited the children's garden.  Rebecca had a blast!!  We were bummed that it was so chilly but we still had fun.  And at least the sun was shining.  We went to the info center where Rebecca tried on butterfly wings, made wood butterflies, read butterfly books, played with animal puppets and used a magnifying glass to look up close at butterflies.  Then we walked around outside.  There is so much to see and do outside...treehouses, a log cabin, puppets, a beaver cave, the Great Lakes water area with boats, a small garden that has stuff relating to all the senses, a huge sand area and even a special little door into and out of the gardens just for kis.  There is more, but we didn't have time for all of it...and it was too cold to stay out too long.  We're hoping to go back sometime this summer when it's warm.

Daddy had an orchestra concert in the afternoon, so our celebration continued when he got home :)  We opened presents a little before dinner.  Rebecca got a few books, a wood puzzle, some Barbies, a doll, baby bottles (her favorite present by far...she can finally feed her babies!:), baby diapers (she always want to "change" her babies), a hula hoop and a matching/sorting/counting game.  Then for dinner we had some of Rebecca's favorites - hot dogs, roasted cauliflower and brussels sprouts and homemade french fries...and ketchup of course :)  She cleaned her plate.

After dinner was cleaned up we had cake and ice cream.  Mommy made a rainbow Dora cake this year.  Rebecca requested sprinkles and rainbow ice cream.  So she got it all :)  She loved when Mommy and Daddy sang Happy Birthday too her.  She had a huge grin on her face the whole time.  The grin was quickly erased when it was time for candles :P  She attempted to blow them out.  And when Mommy helped and the flame went out she decided she wasn't a fan.  But she stil enjoyed her cake and ice cream...again cleaning her plate.

We had a wonderful day celebrating Rebecca's 2nd birthday.  She is our little miracle and a true joy.  We can't wait to see what the coming year brings.  She has her 2 year check up tomorrow.  We'll update more after that.  There are tons of new pictures in the photo album.  Be sure to check out all of our birthday fun.

Happy Birthday Daddy!! Happy Easter!!

Today is Justin's 30th birthday.  Happy Birthday!!  We celebrated as a family on Saturday.  In the afternoon we opened gifts and had homemade cake and ice cream.  Then we got take out from Brann's and watched the MSU basketball game.  Today Justin is bringing a cake to work to celebrate with co-workers.  This evening he's heading out with some friends to watch the final tournament game.

We also celebrated Easter yesterday as a family. We went to church in the morning and had our big ham dinner in the evening. Rebecca was very excited to have ham :) We managed to get a few good shots of Rebecca in her Easter dress. But she got sick of it pretty quickly :P It was a fun weekend celebrating another year of Justin's life and our promise of eternal life.

Butterflies and Birthdays

Yesterday morning we took a trip to East Lansing to see all of the Hollebooms and go to the MSU 4H Butterfly House and Children's Garden.  We started in the butterfly house.  There weren't a ton of butterflies yet (it's still early) but it was still neat to see the ones that were there.  The kids just enjoyed running around, walking along the path and going over the bridge.

After the butterfly house we walked over to the gardens.  Since we have so many March and April birthdays we celebrated all of them at once.  There was a big gift exchange.  The kids had so much fun opening presents.  Rebecca got some really neat gifts.  We can't wait to try her play-doh ice cream shop from Uncle Dan!!  He knows Mommy and Rebecca well :)  Rebecca has already been enjoying her new pots and pans, Barbie, apron, shovel and pail set and Dora puzzle.  Whenever the weather gets nice again we'll have tons of fun trying out her bubble stick.  Mommy is really looking forward to doing some Mickey coloring and cool science cards with Rebecca.  And she got some much needed summer clothes.   Rebecca also got a special gift from Grandpa and Grandma Holleboom...her first bike!!  She wanted to hop right on and was sad when we had to put it in the car.  But she got to try it out again at home.

After presents the kids ran around the garden for a bit.  Everyone else left just before noon to meet Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Van for lunch.  We had a nice picnic lunch at the garden and played a little more.  Rebecca was so worn out when we left.  She was asleep about 60 seconds after we started driving down the road.

We enjoyed relaxing at home the rest of the day.  In the evening Justin went to the Good Friday service at church.  Rebecca and Mary stayed home since Rebecca seems to have come down with yet another cold.  And now Mary is getting it too.  Hopefully it will be short lived and Justin won't get it so we can enjoy Easter and Justin's birthday (Monday).

Today we are celebrating Justin's birthday with cake, ice cream and gifts in the afternoon.  Then we'll get take out dinner and watch the MSU basketball game :)  Go Spartans!

Aside from family events we've been enjoying the nice weather and spending lots of time playing in the yard.  Rebecca can do so much more this year.  She's loving her swings, slide and play house.

This is a fun weekend with lots of family time.  And we look forward to celebrating Easter tomorrow...celebrating our risen Savior!!