Swim Time!

Lisa arranged a week-long guest pass for us at her ultra-swanky gym so that we could use their pool. It was very fun and got Willa all prepped for our little apartment pool. Check out her cute little bathing suit cover-up from Claire.

 Willa already knows where our apartment pool is located. We've had to stop taking her on walks outside, because she makes a beeline for the pool and then screams and throws a tantrum when we won't let her get in. She has done this in very cold weather, when swimming outside in an unheated pool seems as unappealing as drinking hot cocoa on the Fourth of July. One of the (many) frustrating things about this part of the world is that they clean the pools all year but they don't heat them or open them. So, when it's 75 degrees in January, the water is too cold even though the weather is not. All the little neighborhoods have nice pools but they are only open in the summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day. What's the point of living somewhere that is warm in the wintertime if you are only going to open the pools in the summer? I mean, every state in the U.S. has pools open during the summer, but the real joy of a warm climate is being able to swim outside in the winter! Okay, get off that soapbox and breathe.

I wanted to record a few of the cute things Willa is doing lately.
- She loves when we use the computer printer and responsibly will grab the newly printed paper and trot it over to me.
- She knows how to work the drain in the bathtub and is a great tease with it. She will unstop the drain and sign "all done" and then she laughs and stops the drain, then unstops it again and signs "all done" Repeat ad infinitum.
- We have the keyless entry on our Explorer so she sees me push the buttons on the door to unlock it. Now she likes to push a few buttons and then reach for the door handle.
- I took her to the grocery store yesterday sans cart and she was so obedient! She stayed close to me, when she pulled something off the shelves she put it back when I asked her, and she even heeded the word "No" when she wanted to get something else.
- She understands the word no, but doesn't really obey if it's not convenient. She knows that she's not supposed to use the keyboard or the mouse, so she gets really close and puts one hand on the desk and looks at us. When she is into mischief, we get down to eye-level, take her by the shoulders, and firmly say "No" to her, then we try to redirect her elsewhere. I think it's actually effective, but she laughs when we do this and refuses to make eye contact because she knows she is being a stinker.