Thanksgiving

Willow was thankful to spend Thanksgiving week with Gramma and Grampa. She enjoyed making cinnamon rolls with Gramma, being chased around the house by Grampa, lots of playing around the house, and a trip to Inflatable Palace (where Grampa had just as much fun as Willow!).

Willow says, "This is the biggest 'snack' I've ever had!"

Helping dada paint the last canary yellow wall in the house - yah!!

Inflatable Palace is fun for "kids" of all ages!

(this is a scream of joy, not fear)

Willow's getting better with saying animal noises. Here's her giraffe roaring (she'd been doing the lion right before the video)

We can add "pop" to the clear-list. (only "special bubbles" wait on the floor to be popped!)

Willow was a good helper assisting Gramma in making cinnamon rolls.

Happy

Willow is getting more and more words each day. Some are pretty clear (like mama, dada, no, more, Alli, apple) while others aren't yet. We now can add "happy" to the clear list! I love her sweet little voice saying it!

Willow Libby, you make your mom and dad very HAPPY!

Random Cuteness

Willow has quite a personality these days. It's hard to be around her and not smile!!

Fall Fun

We took advantage of another unusually warm fall Saturday and enjoyed the morning at the park with Willow's friend Mckenzie. There's a nice playground area and some farm animals to walk around and see. They had a great time together, as always!

All she wants for Christmas is...

Sometimes entertainment is so cheap!

Yardwork

The perennial gardens that we ordered online arrived recently so we spent took advantage of the 65-degree weather to do some planting! Willow was more than willing to spend some time outside and help out!

I'm actually very thankful she wasn't able to open these bags...or else we'd have unlabeled bulbs everywhere!

Willow helped make sure we were following the directions!

Hopefully this...

and this...

will end up looking like this and this!

Of course we had to take time to stop and play in the leaves!

Go Aunt Kim!!

We braved the 38 degree weather to go cheer Auntie Kim as she ran the half marathon today. We were able to see her in two places! Way to go, Auntie Kim!

After 20 minutes of waiting, it took Auntie Kim about 15 seconds to run by:

Photobooth fun

17th month

Here are a few developments and firsts from October, Willow's 17th month:

- There are a few words and phrases that Willow's added to her vocabulary this month: oh no, uh oh, wawa (for water), go, purple, nose, Nana, eat, hi (especially cute when she holds the telephone to her ear), choo-choo (said every time she hears a train), beep-beep (said every time a car horn blows or the microwave/toaster oven beep). She's even tried to say her name. She's getting more courageous in copying words that we say.

- She blew her nose for the first time when Gramma was here, but hasn't done it since then, but we'll count it as a "first" anyways =)

- She started doing the sign for "eat" but usually says the word at the same time.

- She enjoys pointing to parts of the body - particularly toes and parts of the face.

- Willow enjoys singing songs. She loves going to storytime at the library and singing the rhymes/songs. They must sing "Twinkle Twinkle" a lot at school, because she sings "up-abo" (as in: up above the world so high) and raises her hands above her head.

- It's been fun to see how much Willow understands. I can talk to her for a few minutes now, without gestures, and she'll understand what I'm saying and do it, most of the time. I think that knowing some signs and being able to say more words has helped Willow feel more understood herself, which has helped eliminate some frustration for her (and us!!).

- Willow's tooth count is up to 14 with the addition of her top two canines having just popped through!

Here are Willow's stats from her 18-month appointment:
Weight: 28.6 lbs (93%ile)
Height: 33 3/4 in (90%ile)
Head Circum: 19 1/2 in (>95%ile)