Reunion

We haven't gotten Cadence and Willow together nearly as much as we'd like, but we did coordinate a short playtime between their naps on Saturday.

Such a happy girl!

Pre-walking

Willow surprised me on Friday while I was talking on the phone. She was standing by herself about 2 feet away from me, then leaned towards me and took 3-4 little steps to get to me! Of course Chris and I then spent all night standing a few feet away from each other trying to get her to walk between us. It was hard to get a good video since it's so fast and we didn't have a third person to video for us, so here's the best evidence I have...

Signs of Spring

Willow and I enjoyed the beautiful spring weather by playing at the park on Saturday. She mostly enjoyed watching all the other kids run around, but did particularly enjoy going down this little slide. CAN NOT wait until summer!!!

My perennials are coming up!!!

Our church had an Easter egg hunt this afternoon. We "hunted" for Willow and she enjoyed exploring the plastic eggs.

"What in the world?!?"

Willow's friend, Emily, joined us at the park. Great minds think alike?!

Willow loOoOoves Ms. Kellie's stylin' glasses! Lookin' especially "posh" in her hand-knit sweater from Great Aunt Linnie!!

Trying out the spoon

Willow's been grabbing at the spoon the last two days, so I decided to relinquish some control about neatness and give her free reign. It became quite the sensory experience!

"Does this come with instructions?"

Mommy Blogging 101: Lesson 1

Lesson 1: Never, ever say that your child has decided to start sleeping all night, even if it's been over a week. It is guaranteed to turn around and bite you.

Lesson learned.

Backyard

On Saturday we had a short window of warm sunshine in between rainstorms so we hung out in the backyard for a while. At first Willow was content on the blanket playing with the leaves. She would put her hand on the grass then immediately pull it back. I was starting to get fearful that my dreams of playing in the backyard this summer would be diminished, but she was lured off the blanket by Alli (a clear motivator in many ways!) and decided that grass was okay. Phew!

(The "earthquake" at the end was caused by the crazy cat pawing at the camera)

ZZZZZzzzzs

Willow has been a tummy sleeper ever since she could roll over. She's recently adjusted to a knee-tuck position, which I think is adorable.

I love when Willow wakes up happy and starts talking to herself. Another favorite of mine is seeing her smile when I sing the "Good morning" song when I go in to get her.

We're also thankful that Willow has decided that sleeping all night is a good thing. Thanks Willow!

Good times with Nana and Grandpa

Willow enjoyed her week of Nana/Grandpa daycare. SHE kept THEM busy busy busy!

100 papers for the 100th post!

Yep...100 posts already. Don't count on this frequency for the rest of her life!

Willow decided to entertain herself by emptying out the paper recycle bin. Alli says "I think I'm going to like this."

This "activity" occupied her for a good 15 minutes. Notice that Alli stuck around for the whole thing.

Meanwhile Chris was singing (to the tune of "The More We Get Together"):

Oh I'm a taker-outer, taker-outer, taker-outer,

Oh I'm a taker-outer, not a putter-inner, that's me.

A little of everything

Willow loooooves pulled pork!

We're loving the warm weather AND the porch swing from Nana and Grandpa!

Good times with Aunt Kim

Trying to see how much trouble she can get into

Boy, the neighbors are going to be jealous when they see a limo pull up....oh wait, that house is boarded up.... (Grandpa rented a limo to treat Nana to a special night for their anniversary - dinner and a Broadway show!)

Willow's Racetrack

We got Willow a push-walker/scooter for Christmas. She's been able to push it around some in the sitting position and we've tried having her walk with it but she'd get going too fast for her legs and ended up scared of it. We hadn't tried it for almost a month, so we decided to give it a go again tonight and...she loved it!! Yet again, I found it difficult to narrow it down to a single video, so here's 5 (which is pretty good considering I had 22 to choose from!). You can see her progress and her confidence increase each time.

Eating Table Foods

Sometimes I think it's the cutest thing to watch her chew. Yet again...she looks oh-so-grown!

Starting Chores Early

She helps with the laundry and now she helps unload the dishwasher!

Thankfully she could only lift the plastic plates!

And while I unloaded the dishwasher, Willow promptly got stuck under the Exersaucer and melted down...

We love Skype and hamburger!

Interesting combination, I know... She did eat half a hamburger for dinner, then the other half for lunch though. She's a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl.

And we loOoOoOoOve Skype!! It's a great FREE way for Willow to see her grandparents and provided a great distraction for ear infection pain! Gone are the days of holding Willow in our lap to Skype, though. Now she insists on touching the keyboard and popping up screens we've never seen. Thankfully her arms aren't quite long enough to reach the keyboard when it's up on the couch (and she gets practice standing!) so that's working...for now... Here she is, looking oh-so-grown again, talking with Nana.