The County Fair and Summer's End

At the end of August, we took Willow to the County Fair. We went early on Sunday morning to avoid the crowds. She had a great time! We were surprised at how independent she was, going on the rides all by herself. I took her on the carousel first, which she loved.




















Then she went on the train all by herself (really all by herself – there weren’t even any other kids on the ride!)


















This picture is classic – she loved driving the car, even though she had to be the back-seat driver. These cars had a super-obnoxious horn, and one kid pressed it and held it down for most of the ride We have a video that is pretty good, but that horn sound was so annoying we’ll spare you.















She bravely climbed the ladder of this inflatable slide, but then got scared at the top and wouldn’t come down. The carnie had to go rescue her.




















She also fed some goats…


















…and checked out the chickens and bunnies. Her favorite was the monkey, but for some reason we didn’t get a photo of him. He was playing with baby toys, which she thought was pretty cool, and talked about it for days afterwards.
















Here’s a little update on Willow at age 2 ½. She’s definitely entered that independent stage and wants to do everything herself, even if she is really not capable. Her favorite phrases are “Willow do it!” “Self!” and “Mama (or Dada) hands away!”. The potty-training has had its ups and downs over the past several months. Earlier in the summer, she seemed to enjoy sitting on the potty and there were a few days there where she stayed in the same diaper all day long and kept it dry. The last couple weeks she’s regressed a little though. She doesn’t want to sit on the potty anymore, but if you can persuade her to sit, she’ll usually pee. She has never been very good at telling you when she has to go…except in the last week or so, she will tell you, but then she wants to pee outside. I know…pretty uncivilized. But we’re tolerating it for now. We figure another couple weeks and it will be too cold anyway.

















She’s become quite a good eater, and will try most anything we put in front of her. She even eats some veggies now. She likes green beans and carrots right from the garden. Here is a picture of her with some of our bountiful harvest.


















Even though she eats well, she still hasn’t grown much. Well, she has grown more than an inch taller since her May doctor’s appointment, but as far as we can tell with our scale, she hasn’t gained any weight- it still usually tells us 21 or 22 pounds.


She still loves to play with her little plastic figurines. She likes to ride her trike around the house. She is just starting to figure out pedaling, but still just pushes along the ground with her feet most of the time. She loves to “read” her books. Some of her favorites she sort of has memorized, so I think she likes to pretend she is actually reading them. She turns the pages and says the words. Her speaking is pretty articulate. I don’t really know if it’s average for her age, or above or below, since I don’t have much to compare her to. But it seems good to me. She sings all the time too. Her favorites change weekly or daily, but the past week it’s been “the Bear Went Over The Mountain” and “Happy Birthday”.

She still loves Elmo and Da the best, but one night last week she favored the dolly Aunt Jill made her. I thought you’d appreciate this, Jill.

















She’s a pretty agreeable kid most of the time and doesn’t really have tantrums…except at bedtime, which is a struggle every night. I was comforted to read in Charlotte’s blog that they have this same problem. (I meant to comment on that, Katie, but never got around to it!) I guess misery loves company, ha.

One big milestone Willow just reached is that she finally weaned. In early August, I went to a bachelorette party and Willie Nelson concert in Duluth for 2 nights. Willow stayed with Dada. When I got back, she asked for na-nas, and Josh said, "they're all gone". She didn't protest too much, and that was basically it. Of course it's a little sad, but also a relief to have my body back! I feel pretty good that I was able to keep at it for that long.

So, that’s age 2 ½ Willow in a nutshell. It’s pretty fun. Here are a couple fun photos to leave you with.