We've been waiting for this...

...Willow's playing nicely with Alli and...Alli's playing nicely back!! Willow's definitely been interested in playing with Alli ever since she could sit up practically, but was either too rough causing Alli to run from her, or Alli didn't want to be played with and would bat at her. Lately, though, Willow's been able to throw her ball for Alli to chase or, like below, Alli's played with her feathery toy while Willow bounces it around. Hooray!!

Yep, she's a crazy cat.

Cookies

Of course Willow uses her oven mit to take the cookies out of her oven! =)

We're going to gain a lot of weight eating all of these cookies this winter. Come on spring!

Silliness

See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil.

This one makes me giggle...

Playdough Fun

(Yes, these videos were "set up" with colors and letters she can say, not recognize)

Genuine Sweetness

As a parent, I am LOVING this stage of Willow's development! I love seeing her little mind at work and seeing her personality start to come through in her actions. I wanted to stop and write down (for "scrapbook" purposes) some moments we've had lately as I've been relishing in her genuine sweetness.

* Willow continues to adore our cat, Alli. If you're looking for Alli, you'll typically find her either asleep or going crazy running around the house. Her favorite sleeping spots are on the living room couch, our bed, the bathmat by the space heater, or the bathroom windowsill. Alli was sleeping on our bed and Willow must've thought she needed a toy as she brought Alli her mouse toy and laid it at her feet. I also love watching Willow give Alli sweet, gentile kisses when she's laying down.

* Willow is showing varying levels of interest in the potty, but one day she had her stuffed giraffe sitting on the potty. I asked if he was all done and she took off out of the room like a woman on a mission and headed for the stairs. Not knowing what she was after, I let her go upstairs by herself and waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs to find her coming back down with a wipe in her hand. She marched herself right back to the bathroom and promptly wiped the giraffes' bottom. Of course!

* Willow missed about 4 weeks of "school" due to Christmas break and having family in town. When I picked her up after her first day back, both of the teachers couldn't stop talking about what a great day she'd had. Ms. Frances described how she was talking all day and mentioned what a contagious laugh she had. She said that Willow would burst out laughing and the other kids would look at her then start laughing as well. I love imagining what that would've looked/sounded like!

* Willow has been very sweet to her friends and other kids she's playing around. When walking with friends, she'd prefer to be holding hands. She's also been very good about sharing toys. She's also quick to bring a toy to another kid who is crying. Willow is always taking things in and I've noticed her stop playing dead in her tracks and get such a concerned look on her face when she sees other kids crying. I try to reassure her that they're ok because they're with their mommy. Here are a few pictures of her sweet friends from recent playdates:

We love you, sweet girl!!

For Uncle Paul and Aunt Linnie

We love you both! You're in our prayers!

Ham

Willow has become quite the ham lately, loving attention from anyone. She's also starting laughing until all the air is out of her lungs - it's quite humorous! Here's a video of her laughing at herself each time she stacked her pretend food. (This time it didn't sound as much like laughing as it usually does.)

Family picture

Our family has grown a bit since last year - not only Willow's size being bigger but the addition of Kim's boyfriend to the photo.

I refer to this one as Willow's "school girl" photo.

We've earned every one of those teeth, so she'd better show them off!!

This one reminds me of this one (3 months).

More Christmas vacation

We had a couple "warm" winter days last week so we headed out to a couple local parks. Willow loves being outside!

Checking out the pigs at the farm/park.

Willow says, "Playing with Nana and Grandpa is fun!"

19th month

Here's an update from December, Willow's 19th month:

- The biggest change this month has been in Willow's pretend play. She'd been doing some pretend play with her dolls, but it has really taken off now that she has her kitchen. Her pretend play now includes abstract objects (like holding a pretend box of cereal to pour into her bowl, picking up a cookie from a page in her book, etc.).

- Willow continues to imitate some words we ask her to say, but mostly gets by with the words she's been using regularly, the signs she knows (adding "thank you" this month), and non-verbal communication.

- She's a very sweet little girl and has started initiating kisses. She's also enjoyed saying "night night" and giving hugs and kisses to everyone (which is especially cute since we've been around family a lot during the holidays).

- Willow is starting to help dress and undress herself more - pulling the shirt off her head, putting her arms in/out, putting on pants from a standing position. Whenever we get undressed for bathtime, Willow always puts her clothes in the laundry, her hair clips in the drawer, and her diaper in the trash. She usually insists on carrying everything at the same time.

- Willow has become quite a little Miss Independent. When offering help, she frequently will push your hand away, insisting on doing it herself.

- Here are a few of Willow's favorites:

Favorite word: No

Favorite color (to say): yellow

Favorite books: Nursery Rhymes

Favorite activities: chase, playing in her kitchen

Favorite fruit: clementines

- The combination of Willow's determination and favorite word being "no" has led to a deadly combination, causing us to start timeout this month. She's done VERY well staying seated in the timeout location (thank God!) and the threat of timeout has calmed her down a couple times. We did have to sigh, though, when she voluntarily put herself in timeout when being good one day.

We love our Willow Libby!!