The Willow Update, May 8, 2012

Willow got a kick out of having her very own
sandwich for lunch today.

We're only five days from Willow's first birthday, and oh what she has learned in the last couple of weeks. She's starting to look and act like a 1-year-old.
Willow's biggest accomplishment is she's taken off walking. I mean "taken off" as in a rocket ship heading to space. In a matter of weeks (it really seems like days), she's gone from creeping around furniture to almost running through the house (she's not running yet, but I bet it won't be long).
She never crawls anymore, and I don't think she's crawled at all today. She and I even walked, hand in hand, a bit on the greenway (Willow kept wanting to veer off into the rough part off the path while sourpuss Daddy wanted to stay on the path).
Here's some other things she's been up to (Warning: Cherish is in denial about Willow growing up, so tread lightly when you're around her; keep reminding yourself that Willow is just a baby and don't accentuate the toddler stuff Willow is doing):

• Willow has started helping with dressing herself. You can take a shirt off while she's standing there, up right over her head, and you can put a shirt on her while she stands, given she isn't doing something. She even knows to put her arms through the holes.
• Willow has started to give up her morning nap. This is in transition. Some days she skips it, some days she just takes a shorter one in the morning.
• Willow is keen on putting things into baskets, buckets and drawers. I've found Cherish's and my shoes in the hamper, Willow's shoes in one of her drawers, odds and ends in the wastebasket and laundry in a decorative basket in the hallway. She even puts dirty clothes into the washer for me (but she usually takes them right back out).
• Willow has started doing bigger-kid things at the playground. She likes climbing up the steps of the jungle gym. Today she and I went down the big, twisty slide at the park.
• Willow lights up when she's around puppies and ducks. Sometimes she'll say "Doug," but I don't know if she's calling out for a man named "Doug," pointing out a duck or trying to get a dog's attention.
• Willow has started sitting on the couch with Mommy and Daddy, but she doesn't like to stay up there long.
• Willow is taking on bigger meals. Today she ate half a pimento cheese sandwich, all by herself, just took bites off it. She's also eating bites off bananas while she holds the banana. We've started feeding her chunks of chicken took (and pieces of Daddy's meatless meats, YUCK).
• Willow has been drinking cow's milk from strawed cups. The transition from bottles to cups and from formula to cow's milk has been seamless.

She's been up to all sorts of stuff, but I think I've hit the highlights.