Saturday, May 28, 2011

2 corrected years

Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been so long between posts. Our weekends have been busy lately...although June is shaping up to be even busier! Josh is working long hours lately too - this is the busiest time for lawn irrigation.

There isn't much news anyway, but I have some photos to post. I'm hoping this computer holds up - lately, randomly, the space bar and the letters N and B stop working. Then later they start working again. It's hard to make much sense without those things. We really need a new computer soon - this one is ancient.

Willow turned 2 years old corrected on May 22. I wanted to update her age "ticker" at the top of this blog, because the little ticker thing was an infant. But they didn't have a "big kid" ticker option for the preemie version that shows both ages. So, I went back to a plain old age ticker. Which is probably good anyway. "They" say you're supposed to stop correcting at age 2 anyway and the kid should be "caught up". I'm not so sure I agree with that...at least not for physical milestones anyway. I'd rather compare Willow to the chart for her corrected age - at least then she is on the chart! :) Oh, the big kid ticker I ended up choosing was a little girl with a winter jacket throwing a snowball. It was either that or a fairy princess girl with a wand. It will be winter soon enough, I figure.

Spring has finally arrived here. Willow's been spending lots of time outside, with Linda and with us. We also got Linda a car seat, so she can go more places with Willow. I think they will both be happy to get out of the house a little more!

The first few photos are indoor photos, just hanging around the house.

I just thought this one was a nice smile. I think I was tickling her, actually.
















What she is doing a lot of the time: RUNNING! I thought this picture was funny because it pretty much sums up a 2-year-old. When she runs she lets you know...by yelling, "RUNNING!" while she runs. She also points to runners when we're out in the stroller and says "RUNNING!".

















Perusing Time magazine:















Little beggar girl:
















In her robe with a barrette in her hair.



















The rest of the photos are outdoor photos. We love playing outside!

For Mother's Day, we went out to McLain's park. We were about the only ones there. Willow was running around like a...well, like a toddler. Getting into everything. Here she is heading down to the beach, and on the beach throwing rocks for Scouty. (Happy birthday to Scouty, too, who just turned 9!)


















Willow definitely loves living near the water. One of our stroller routes is down on the bike path along the canal. She loves it so much that as we're leaving the driveway in the sroller, if I turn the direction away from the canal, she points towards the water and goes "that way!". If I keep going in the "wrong" direction she puts up a fuss. "that way, that way!". She gets over it, but then every time we pass a cross street where she can see the water, it's the same thing, pointing and shouting "that way! and "wala!" (her word for "water"). I like to walk by the water too, so I do it as much as I can. When I do turn that way, she cheers.

With dad and her favorite new toy - the sandbox! Grandpa made it for her. I don't think I ever mentioned in this blog that my dad recently retired - congratulations Dad! Linda assigned him the sandbox project, and he had it done in no time. The sand is from the beach on Big Traverse where we got married. When I got home the day it arrived, I asked Willow, "what did Grandpa bring you?" She said, "dirt". Ha.
















In the yard, chasing Daria. There haven't been many sundress days. This was one random hot afternoon. (Andi, you might recognize the dress!)
















Smelling the tulips.
















Willow loves to explore in the vinka (sp?). I like that we sort of have a little forest right in our yard. When I was a little kid, my friend Susie and I played every day in this forest in our neighborhood. It was a vast forest, dark and dense, with miles of trails. When I went back to it as an adult, it was just a little square of trees. But it seemed so huge to us back then. Maybe Willow will feel that way about our yard.



















I'll end today with a quote I found in a magazine at work, by no other than teen pop star Justin Bieber. You might have to click on it to make it bigger to read it.

Who knew the kid had so much wisdom? :)


Saturday, May 7, 2011

The circus

Willow and I went to the circus yesterday. I am sort of opposed to circuses but I thought it would be worth it to let Willow see an elephant in real life. It was pretty fun! We sat in the seats and for the most part she watched the show. At a few points she got really excited about something and would point and scream/laugh. At halftime, they opened up the floor, and you could pay extra to do various things like ride the elephant, ride the camel, get your picture taken with a snake, etc. Obviously I should've anticipated there would be stuff like this, but I didn't, and had no cash on me! Bad move. Luckily, I think Willow is still little enough that she didn't really mind. At least we got to get up close to the animals. She did really want a balloon and said "Boon, Willow", a few times. Man, did I feel like a bad mom. I will not make the same mistake if we go next year. The one thing that was free was talking to the clowns, so we did that, and they stamped Willow's hands with a smiley face stamp, which was pretty exciting for her. After halftime the show was getting a little long and Willow had the wiggles and was hungry so we left a little early to beat the traffic jam. Here are a couple photos.






















The other news of this week is that we have new stats for Willow - she had a doctor's checkup on Wednesday. She is now 21 pounds and 31.5 inches tall. She's still following her curve for weight, which is below the charts for her real age and at about the 7th percentile for her corrected age. I even looked in my preemie book at the growth chart for "premature girls who weighed less than 1500 grams at birth". On that chart she is at about the 10th percentile. For height she gained some ground, and is nearing the 5th percentile line for her real age. Woo hoo! Anyway, the doctor said she is doing great and we are no longer concerned about her size. She's just a small kid.

Pretty soon she'll fit into mama's shoes. :)