Willa

Two more pictures from Jayden's party. I need a nice camera like theirs!

 I need to write some details about Willa before the new baby comes and steals the excitement!
Willa is TWO years old and she is becoming so fun and so much more challenging all at the same time! I think I've got the mindset that if I let her play or do something that she wants to do for long enough, that after a while she will get it out of her system and then come do what I ask (like get her hair done or get dressed). I'm learning that that is not the case. Most of the time, she just wants to do MORE of what she has been doing. She is very independent and likes to shriek "mine, mine!" if I try to help her put on socks or shoes or other similar tasks. Ryan taught her how to squirt the squirt bottle that I use for her hair, so now she always wants to do that instead of letting me do it. She especially likes to sit on the bathroom counter squirting it all over the mirror as she yells "a mess, a mess!"

She is an awesome sleeper and takes two hour naps each day and sleeps about eleven hours each night. We read books, she gets two pacifiers, and then I just plunk her in her crib and she goes down without a fuss each time. When I tell her it is time for a nap or night night, she puts her hand over her mouth and gives a big, fake yawn.

She is talking so much and constantly surprising me by the words she knows and how well she is stringing some of them together. I love to hear her little voice chatter. My very favorite is to hear her say "mommy" while she comes running over to me. She is getting more and more loving towards Ryan these days now that she realizes that he is a lot more fun to play with than me. She likes to run after him on her tiptoes saying "daddy, daddy."

Her favorite activities are: running around the house naked, jumping and climbing on couches or beds (all the more fun if she can do this naked), playing outside, going to the park, playing at Bridgett's house, dancing to music in a very silly manner, tucking her babies into bed and giving them kisses, pretending to jump like a frog, "helping" mommy with every task, playing and banging on pretend drums, and of course, watching t.v. She is still very much enamored with Caillou, but thanks to a little boy I babysat a few weeks ago, she has branched out to enjoy the occasional Diego episode.

She often plays the "drums" and then after says, "Thank you, Thank you!" and takes what looks to be a bow. I was kind of surprised when I first saw her do it. A week later, there was an episode of Caillou on (which she had seen before), where Caillou is imagining himself as a drummer and does the exact same thing. It was hilarious and shocking, I guess these shows really are influencing her! I also think she got her frog imitation from watching Caillou. I surely didn't teach it to her, she just came to me one day and say, "Mommy, mommy, frog" as she started hopping. I need to be more vigilant about Caillou because not all she learns from him is so innocuous. For example, there is a song completely about machines and the chorus goes, "Machines save all of us." This is very strange and worrisome. Is Caillou a cartoon from a future ruled only by robots who have come back in time to try to indoctrinate us early about their dominance? Very troubling.

I hope I'm not complaining too much about her. Most of the time even her naughtiness is very hilarious, but as I reach the end of the pregnancy my patience wears a little thin. Sometimes she'll have been running around at the park for over two hours with Bridgett and there will still be a large tantrum when it's time to go. I've been trying to help her close out her play by giving a lot of warnings that it is time to stop a particular task. It helps, but she's not a perfect child. She's pretty nearly there, though, and I love her.