"No, Mommy, No!" Doctor says Willa is right on track at her 2 1/2 year check-up

Willa isn't difficult, but she is two years old. There are so many little personality quirks at this stage. I have to constantly remind myself that she is developmentally right on target and that defiance/disobedience/tantrums/opinions are all part of this whole tamale. Of course, there are also hugs and kisses and laughter and lots and lots of fun right now too.

I had to put the "No, Mommy, no!" in the title of this blog post because it is our inside joke these days. Willa was sleeping one afternoon and I could hear her talking in her sleep saying, "No, no, no!" Then few days ago, Ryan heard her talking in her sleep in the middle of the night, but this time she was saying, "No, Mommy, no!" It makes me laugh because it so illustrates a toddler's world right now. Willa is up for anything and she is going to argue until she gets it. She must view me as the total wet blanket always trying to disrupt her fun. Sometimes while I'm driving she will start arguing and I will ignore her and so she just argues with herself. "Juice, uh-uh, juice, uh-uh, juice, uh-uh, juice!" It is pretty hilarious when I am in the right mindset, which I constantly have to remind myself to be in. When I'm not in the right mindset, it's best if I just turn on the tv for her and go simmer down somewhere before I explode.

She is saying and doing so many funny things these days. She likes to sit at the lever harp and play the strings. She wants me to sit in the chair next to her like I do with my students and she asks, "Like this, mommy?" while she plucks the strings. Today, I was counting and clapping out loud with a student and afterwards, Willa sat at the harp and clapped her hands while counting to ten. I poured some Lucky Charms for her the other day (aren't I a great mom!) and she told me, "Careful with that!" when I carried the bowl to the table. She still loves helping. She was underfoot one evening while I was trying to clean up dinner, so I pulled a chair up so she could play in the sink while I loaded the dishwasher. She LOVED to "wash dishes" and kept saying it over and over. She even had to get Ryan's attention (he was with June) and said, "Look daddy, I washing dishes!"

She knows her colors, shapes, the alphabet, and can recognize and say her numbers up to ten. I am super proud of her. She stepped on an ant hill two weeks ago, we gave her Benadryl immediately and slathered her foot in Hydro cortisone cream, but within an hour her face started breaking out on hives even though the ant bites were on her foot. They were spreading fast so I gave her another dose of Benadryl and that finally stopped it. I talked to the doctor about it and he thinks we should go see an allergist. The ants are everywhere here and it's going to be hard to avoid them. This climate!!

Here she is swimming at Dan and Melinda's hotel pool. The water, air, and wind were FREEZING but she loved it. She cried when we took her out and was able to make out the words, "MORE!!!" with her chattering teeth and blue lips. Sadly, she asks every day if we can go to the swimming pool, but we don't have our apartment pool to go to anymore and the community pool doesn't open until Memorial Day.

Helping Ryan wash the car. She was extremely excited and proud of herself.  I also just want to remark that I know her hair looks like a crazy mess in most pictures. It usually gets done each day, but it is usually a fight. Then, it always looks crazy after her nap, so sometimes if we are staying home in the morning, I won't do it at all until after her nap. So, yes it looks crazy but it occasionally gets done. I think the trick with curly hair is that you can't really mess with it or the curls will frizz out. There are so many ways for a toddler to mess with her hair so I think it's going to look bad for the next several years.