25th month

Here's an update from June, Willow's 25th month:

- Willow continues to develop into quite a chatter-box. Chris and I said that once she started walking, all she was going to do was run, which has proven fairly true. We also figured that once she started talking she wouldn't stop. We love hearing her talk more and more! It's fun to see her express her thoughts. Tonight at dinner she randomly said "Baby birds eat worms." Her favorite phrase lately is "Do it myself." She's been pretty successful on the potty lately, but if she's had a wet diaper she'll want to go upstairs to get a new cloth diaper by herself. She repeatedly says, "I throw it to you" and giggles excitedly when she throws it down the stairwell then comes down herself. My favorite thing Willow said this month was "Mama! Come here! Open the door!" upon awakening in the morning (sounded more like "Mama! Num 'ere! Open na' door!")

- She continues to absorb everything we describe to her. When seeing a motorcycle while we were driving, Willow said "helmet head motorcycle fall down." (She remembered our conversation about how helmets help protect a motorcyclists' head if he/she gets in an accident.)

- Willow's imaginative play continues to develop. We were playing with her stuffed animals one evening and Elmo was eating a strawberry. She reminded Elmo not to eat the green part. When he didn't listen she promptly took Elmo to timeout saying "Timeout Elmo no listening." Here's Willow layering about 20 return-address labels on my toe as a "bandaide."

- Willow is generally a very happy girl. She truly enjoys life and has a contagious laugh. When she does get upset, she'll often put herself in timeout ("sit by myself") and come back when she's calm and say that she's sorry. She's a very sweet girl and requests things by saying "please" without being asked the majority of the time.

- Chris and I continually seek God's guidance as we raise Willow and we pray that she'll develop a relationship with the Lord as we have. Willow knows our routine of praying before dinner and recently has occasionally said that it's her turn to pray. We pray and sing "Jesus Loves Me" before going to bed. I love hearing her sing it by herself throughout the day or as she wakes up in the morning. She's also singing songs on her own from the "Seeds" CDs we play in the car. It's a good reminder throughout the day when we hear her sing Bible verses like "All things work together for the good of those who love the Lord" or "The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" or "My soul finds rest in God alone."

- Willow loves singing and is able to sing all of the words to many of the nursery rhymes and songs that we repeatedly sing (5 Little Monkeys, Twinkle Twinkle, Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald) and is getting more clear with her ABCs.

- We took Willow to her first "show." Elmo Live came to town so we splurged on some good seats (in an effort to keep her attention for the entire show and make Elmo larger than a speck on a stage far far away). It's an understatement to say that she loved it! It's by far the event that she's spoken of most repeatedly after the event. "Elmo show. Elmo dance all around."

- Willow's learned the meaning of "like" and "love" and will randomly say "I loooove Elmo" or "I like chicken!"

- It seems like in the first year of Willow's life that it was easy to notice all of the physical developments of what she was gradually able to do. One physical development that Willow somehow hasn't accomplished the ability to do yet is to close her eyes voluntarily. Sure, we would joke about how her energy tank would have to be completely drained before Willow could fall asleep since it was so difficult to get her to sleep since Day One, but we assumed that she could close her eyes if she wanted to. I'd noticed that when praying at church she would use her index fingers to physically close her eyes. At dinner one night Chris and I really got to laughing at watching her reeeeeally try to close her eyes. She would squint really really hard but that's as good as it got, then she would use her finger. Silly girl...some day you'll get it...

- Here are a few of Willow's favorites:

* activities: singing, reading books, water play, painting, imaginative play in her kitchen, puzzles, anything outdoors, storytime at the library

* food: Chick-fil-A (she requests it by name now!), fruit (particularly pineapple), sausage, chips, pickles, raw onions, tomatoes, cookie batter

* book: Wacky Wednesday, This is My Hair, Fancy Nancy (we've read some books so many times she can finish the line if you pause)

* cartoon character: Elmo

* animal: Alli cat!!!

Willow followed the directions on the recipe and "combined" the sour cream, chili powder, salsa, and chicken:

Some additional random pics for you!

Arts Festival

Last weekend we attended a local art festival and had a great time! All of the activities were great for toddlers and it just so happens that Willow loves art activities and they all fell within her attention span =) We've had a bit of camera drama around here the last few weeks (hence the lack of posting lately) so these pics were all after-the-fact...

She decorated a hat and kite (on her arm of course):

She made a necklace with beads and a clay flower donated by the artist (the girl is seriously motivating me to go to Michaels to pick out crafts for her this summer - she demonstrated some major concentration in stringing the beads and did really well!):

She used paint pens to decorate a clay pot and markers and water on a coffee filter to make a fish. The picture was really neat - they had a doodle artist who adds to a scribble (done by a child) to make it into a picture. He had to turn the paper in all directions multiple times to come up with an idea but I thought it turned out neat =)

She also got to decorate a cookie, play with balls and hoola hoops, see the cats and dogs from the SPCA, and watch all of the other people there (a close tie for her favorite activity). She had a great time!

Happy Father's Day!

We love you Daddy!

Playing in the Rain

"I love playing naked in the rain!!!!!!"

Strawberry Faire

Despite Kim bailing on our 2-year tradition (I have to give her a hard time), we still ventured out to a local Strawberry Faire this year. The weather was much more enjoyable than it has been the past two years! Willow enjoyed alternating between walking by the vendors and taking in the sights from her stroller.

Much to our surprise, she wasn't too crazy about strawberry shortcake. Chris and I were happy to eat her share!

Of course there have to be corndogs consumed!

24th month

Here's an update from May, Willow's 24th month:

- Willow continues to impress us with how much she's absorbed in the last 2 years that she's now communicating with us verbally. We're happy to announce that "yes" has entered her vocabulary, which has replaced her enthusiastic "yah," which we unfortunately never got on video. Her baby word "wawa" has been replaced by "water" so now we're trying to get "nu-nu" to turn into "thank you." She has trouble saying the s and x-sounds so plural endings have been challenging for her. Instead of saying "lions" she'll say "lion" with a slight pause followed by a very distinct s-sound. I've also noticed it with words like "sticks" or "dogs." After being around Nana so much this month, Willow temporarily picked up the phrase "oof." She's also picked up on "oh my gosh," "alright," and "oops." She's putting more words together these days. We were looking at a book that had a picture of a car-carrying truck and Willow said "Black cars on it. Hold on cars!" Willow is starting to identify boys vs. girls. If she doesn't know your name, you are "boy" or "girl." Willow has added "welcome" (for "you're welcome") to her vocabulary and will often say "nu nu, welcome" both.

- Willow continues to be Ms. Independent. She's able to go up the stairs without holding onto the railing. You'll often hear her say "No hold on." She's even made it downstairs without holding on a couple times (while mom and dad hold their breath). In other gross motor developments, Willow has figured out jumping on two feet!

- Using the potty continues to be very inconsistent on her part. Early in the month she could go through the day with one diaper so we tried big girl underwear, though I think the sensation of a accident scared her a bit so we regressed after that. Some days she'll use it 1 time and others 5 times. She used the potty 4 times at school on Wednesday, then 7 times on Thursday so maybe we're getting back into it?!?

- Willow loves to help out around the house. She's good about cleaning up her toys when asked. She's now putting the clean silverware away and loves to help water the plants. Daddy even let her help wash dishes in the sink!

- Willow continues to love singing songs and is singing more than just the last word of each line of some songs. She's got most of "Five Little Monkeys" down and surprised us with her ABCs:

- Willow has warmed up to the idea of playing in the water again now that it's getting warmer. Here she is enjoying some time in the sprinklers:

We're so blessed to have you, Willow Libby!

Singing in the Car

Besides taking off her shoes, one of Willow's favorite activities in the car is to sing songs. I took advantage of being in the passenger's seat AND having a camera available (a rare opportunity) to capture some of Willow's singing:

She's not quite ready to go out on her own yet (...and she's easily distracted by dogs!):