"Ball"

Willow is full of gibberish but is slowly adding English words to her repertoire. Sometimes her monologues remind me of the scene in Finding Nemo when the little sea turtle is describing to Marlin how to get to the EAC but he's talking like a surfer and Marlin says to himself, "It's like he's trying to talk to me." Sometimes she looks so intently at you then goes off on a monologue full of Willow-speak. Besides "mama" and "dada," Willow also says "no" (yep...3rd word...didn't advertise that one too much), "Alli," "bye," and "ball." Whenever Willow sees Alli, or any cat in a book, she'll point and say "Alli" which comes out more like ah-ee. There's a cleanup song that we sing that goes: "Bye bye blocks (or whatever we're cleaning up). Bye bye blocks. Bye bye blocks, we'll see you next time." So now when she helps clean up she says "bye" as she puts the object back in the basket. Tonight she was having a great time kicking her ball around the house while saying "ball" which comes out more like bah. I suppose at some point we'll have to put an end to running around the house kicking balls...

Family Snuggle Time

Kim caught this sweet moment for us tonight on the couch after dinner.

New Experiences

It's amazed us lately to figure out how much Willow knows and understands. She's able to point to a lot of objects in books that we name. I love watching her eyes search the page until she finds what she's looking for. For her birthday, Willow got four little animals on wheels that she ADORES! She loves when we "race" them on the carpet in her playroom, then she chases them down and brings them back for another race. A couple weeks ago I was making dinner and Willow was insisting on being held, which wasn't working out well with trying to cook at the same time. I told Willow to go get her lion, zebra, monkey, and hippo and we could race them on the kitchen floor because it would be faster. I put her down, not knowing what to expect, and she marched her little self into her playroom and came back around the corner with two in her hand! I named the other two that we needed and she promptly went to get them and brought them to the kitchen! So, now that it's obvious that she understands us, I've been asking her to do more (and probably should have been for a while now!)...put the balls in the basket, get your shoes from the kitchen, etc. I'd noticed that when Willow picks up shoes from her pile, she'll pick up matching shoes, so we thought she might be ready for playing Memory (not so much "Memory" but just finding the matches).

We found this game at Target:

but apparently it's supposed to make 0-3 yr olds very, very sad

Willow helped pop out the pieces...not sadness so far...

She's even found some success in finding matches for us. These videos were our first time "playing." She definitely doesn't have the ability (or desire?!) to sit down and focus on it for a long time, but she always impresses us!!

In other new experiences, not known for making 0-3 yr olds very sad, Willow tried watermelon for the first time. Like most other things, it went over very well.

In the food-related category, Willow has been eating off of a plate now instead of her tray. We need to get plastic plates for her to ease our unease while she eats off our regular plates, but she's done really well and feels like such a big girl. Lately she's done VERY well with keeping her sippy cup on the tray (up until now it's been tossed on the floor 3-10 times during every meal...sigh...). We got her some utensils which she enjoys using, but hasn't quite figured out how to accurately pick up food on the fork though she does diligently try!

Our first time painting...and yes, edible paint would've been a better idea...lesson learned.

It was bound to happen sometime...the double-knee scrape. And no, she isn't a fan of bandaides. They lasted about 30 minutes before she'd pulled them both off and I'd re-stuck them so many times that they didn't stick anymore and I gave up. She's a determined little one!

Inflatable Heaven

Once again, Willow thoroughly enjoyed being at the Inflatable Palace. I think it's a toddler's dream come true.

Willow's favorite activity always: driving

Cadence tells Willow not to drive so aggressively.

Looking very pleased with herself and her little stroller.

I guess we need to get one of these things for our backyard!

Cow Appreciation Day

Remember this costume from Halloween?

It didn't quite zip up today but, along with my old white tanktop with newly added black spots, scored Willow and me free Chick-Fil-A combo meals because of Cow Appreciation Day.

Before our free lunch, Willow and I went to story time at Barnes and Noble where they had a special appearance by a Wild Thing. Willow wasn't scared (which I'd feared) but wasn't sure she wanted to walk over to it like the other kids.

Still crazy about Aunt Kim

2 months:

14 months:

(no, she doesn't still wear 0-3 month clothes)

4th of July cookout

Auntie Kim and Mr. Chad came over for a cookout to celebrate the 4th. Of course, Willow had to have the perfect outfit! (and yes...she is!!)

Little Miss Wiggleworm couldn't hardly be still for a picture with Mama!

Miss Independent decided she's ready to hold her corn-on-the-cob herself!

Willow let Mr. Chad read about half of 20 books:

Then we enjoyed a short swim in the backyard pool!

All around great day!! No fireworks for Willow this year...

Flashback to last year: