Thanks so much a helping me

I found Willa's name traced on one of our moving boxes. I vaguely remember writing it and then having her trace it. Must've been trying to distract her with something. I wanted a picture of one of these tracings for posterity. Pretty cute, and I think this was maybe only the third time she had ever done it.

She has been cracking us up these days. She says the funniest things with the cutest intonations. She's started saying, "Thanks a helping me." Or, "Thanks so much a helping me." We must say it a lot. It's most funny when she has actually helped us do something - like helping me make cookies. She loves this particular Minnie Mouse puzzle that she needs help with, so this phrase comes in handy a lot. She also says, "This puzzle is tricky!"

She's really into the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ever since she got the toy that I showed in a previous post. She sings softly along with the opening music and does Mickey's hand actions (if we're not watching). Since a lot of shows these days have the characters ask a question, pause, and then answer the question, she has started doing this too. I use the squirt bottle on her hair every morning. She loves to squirt it so we've had to institute a rule to only squirt outside. As I was doing her hair, I heard her hold the squirt bottle and say, "Should we squirt this inside or outside?... Right, outside."

She's also interested in how brave or patient she can be. It's high praise indeed, and she also likes to discuss past events so that we can talk about how brave she was. She'll often do this when company like Aunt Rebecca is over. I think it's kind of her secret way of bragging in front of them. "Mommy, I go to doctor yesterday. I so brave at doctor. They put baggie on me, I so brave and patient." She uses the word "yesterday" to denote past tense. Makes sense to me.

I've had to suction poor's June's nose out a lot the last few days and one day Willa was watching intently. When I finished she said, "Mommy, June so patient?" It was a rare moment of sympathy and empathy. Mostly, with regards to June we hear Willa say, "Sshh!" Or, "Enough!" Or, "That hurts my ears!" Those may or may not be responses we use towards intense whining or tantrums of a certain three-year-old. I try to explain to her that June doesn't have any words, but it's not cutting it right now. It's especially sad/funny when June is doing happy baby talk so sweetly and Willa keeps saying, "SHhhh!"