Water Park!

We made our first (of many) stops to the water park this weekend. It took Willow about 10 minutes of observing before she'd get her hands wet... then came the feet...then slowly she crept closer ...and she was full-speed from there. She was either smiling or running with her tongue out the whole time.

"I love the water park!!!"

Strawberry Picking

We continued our yearly tradition of going to the strawberry patch to pick our own strawberries. As always, this year was much different from last year and the year before. Even though kids under 12 are not "allowed," the told us that Willow could pick from the outside row. After being told by Nana that some that she was reaching for weren't ready, Willow started touching one but would then say "Ready?"

"This one's definitely 'ready'!"

(We had to wipe off Willow's face before going to pay for our strawberries!!)

The last few weeks...

Willow's been busy playing with Nana and Grandpa and loving every minute of it. She's changed quite a bit since they were here at Christmas! Meanwhile, I've been lacking in the "posting" department. Here are a few for you to enjoy...

Willow's new backpack (thanks Morgan for finding the great deal!). She'll probably be using it for real FAR earlier than I'm ready for her to!

We've gone to a couple of Daddy's church softball games. The kids mostly enjoy playing with eachother (and the dirt apparently). It makes for a late night for Willow going to bed, yet somehow she magically wakes up at her normal time. She does enjoy, though, saying "Go Daddy! Run!"

Willow's great grandpa used to make a lot of wooden toys. We are grateful that he dusted off his tools to make a wooden rocking horse and stool - both with her name on it!

We had a nice visit with Chris' childhood friend David and his wife Heather with their kids David and Chrissie. We enjoyed having dinner and watching the kids play together!

We've had a lot of rainy days lately but Willow loves the outdoors too much to keep her inside!

(Alli's a good guard cat though we've trapped her indoors more lately since the cardinals and blue jays are dive-bombing her...something about them wanting her to stay away from their babies?!?)

Peek-a-boo!

Willow loves going to storytime at the library! They have great leaders that teach them fun songs and rhymes and read books. We love singing the rhymes/songs (that I can remember) at home as well. Although Willow will "sing" and do motions to a lot of the songs at home, she's happier watching the other kids at storytime while she soaks it all up. We went to the 2-3 yr old storytime for the first time and learned a song called "Drive My Car." It's a cute little song although Willow refused to let me even move her hands to the motions while we were there. Now that we're home though...she's doing all of the motions and singing some of the words.

Conversations with a 2-yr old

One of my favorite times of day is in the evening after Willow and I have read books before she goes to bed. I turn on her music, grab bear and blankie, then hold her as we talk about our day, what the plan is for the next day, then pray. It's fun to have more "conversations" with Willow as she's gotten more confident in getting her points across, knowing that we understand more of what she's saying. Here's what our conversation sounded like tonight:

Willow: head boo-boo

Mommy: Did you get a boo-boo on your head today?

W: yah

M: You didn't get a boo-boo after mommy came home. Did you get a boo-boo with Nana and Grandpa today?

W: park

M: You got a boo-boo at the park? Did you hit your head when you were under something or did you fall over?

W: ...(silence)...

M: (realizes that the answer to this question is not quite within our vocabulary yet)

M: Did you stand up and bump your head?

W: ...(silence)...ladder

M: Were you climbing up the ladder to go down the slide?

W: Ready

M: (knowing that my mom has mentioned telling Willow to wait at the top of the slide until she's told her that she's "ready" at the bottom to catch her) Did Nana tell you she was ready for you to come down the slide?

W: yah

M: Did you hit your head on the slide?

W: ladder

M: ...(silence and confusion on what to ask next)...

W: duck mommy alligator (Her retelling of the end of one of our new library books [therefore, ending the retelling of her boo-boo story] about a duck who got away from it's mommy then swam over to her quickly when there was an alligator in the pond).

M: You're right. The duck needed to swim to her mommy to stay away from the alligator.

The translation from Nana was that she did indeed hit her head at the park. She decided to jump off of a little ledge into Nana's arms (unannounced, of course) but hit her head on the bar above her. When they got home Daddy was on the roof and climbed down the ladder to see them. It made perfect sense to her =)

Happy Mother's Day!

We're happy to celebrate Mother's Day with Nana again! We had a great day!

"Cheese!"

Celebrating Daddy too!

23rd month

Here is an update from April, Willow's 23rd month:

- Willow has put all of the pieces together and is using a lot of 2 to 3 word sentences. I feel like most of what I say in a conversation is a complete sentence version of what she says. For example, Willow's "Cadence horse back" becomes Mommy's "Yes, Cadence rode on the horse's back!" She loves to narrate what's happening around her (pointing out most pedestrians and identifying whether they are "walking" or "running") or relive experiences. She wasn't crazy about either Easter bunny that we attempted to get a picture with, but would say "Bunny lap cheese" all the way home. Some of my favorite phrases:

Kix all gone

All done crackers

Help me shoe

Doggie eating water

- A few months ago Willow couldn't get enough nursery rhymes. We have one book in particular that has about 14 rhymes in it that she would request every naptime and bedtime. I was reading it with her last night and she joined in for the last word of each line of Hickory Dickory Dock and Pease Porridge! It's amazing to me how much she's been "soaking in" that's now starting to be verbalized.

- She's able to identify all of her colors and the letters of her name, as well as the letter C (thanks Cookie Monster!).

- She's had some success with putting her shoes on by herself, though usually opts for assistance. Her best practice is while riding in the car.

- We're predominantly using a regular cup for drinks at meal times and she's had good success! Still not sure why she still sticks her tongue down in the cup though!

Here are Willow's stats from her 24 month appointment:

35 3/4inches tall (90%ile)

31 pounds (90%ile)

19 7/8 head circumfrence (+100%ile)

She was a "little" excited to have a cupcake after dinner tonight (on her actual birthday):

The third time was the charm in successfully blowing out the candles by herself:

Happy 2nd Birthday Willow!

We celebrated Willow's birthday with a backyard party with her friends. We went with a butterfly theme and Willow did a great job of helping prepare the cookies!

The weather wasn't quite as warm as last year, yet a few friends decided to brave the chilly water temperatures in the pool. Willow wasn't interested in putting on her swimming suit, but fell in twice while reaching for balls (therefore sporting three "wardrobe changes" during the party!).

I love the look on her face when we start singing "Happy Birthday"

Happy birthday Willow Libby!