She played in this chair for a long, long time this morning. She'd hold her baby in it, play with those stacking cups in it, wave to me and then say "a ba" (which I think is her version of "peek a boo").
Notice the American Girl doll from Grammy and the outfit Yaya let Lily pick out last week:
Yaya brought us all this food last night. A week's worth of groceries and a menu planned to include all the food they brought. As you can see, we'll be having home made pizza, melted turkey and swiss sammies, parmesan chicken with rice (had that tonight and it was awesome), mac and cheese for lunches, lasagna left over from the dinner she brought us last night, pasta and sauce, grilled cheese sammies, soups, and lots of fruit and veggies. Willow only ate apples, grapes, and yogurt for dinner. Before bed she had two clementines and it was as big a disaster as ever - she needs a bath afterward, which is another story. Seriously - no pictures, but...
Willow hates the bath. You may remember reading that I didn't give her a bath in Guatemala because she started screaming every time I ran the bath water. She loved swimming and she loves playing in the bathroom sink and brushing her teeth. Sandra says she had a bath every morning in Guatemala. I was optimistic that when she saw Lily in the tub, that'd be all she needed. Well, the first night back Lily layed it on thick - having a party in the tub. It got Willow in, but she screamed the minute her feet hit the water and screamed the entire 90 seconds it took me to wash her hair. So last night I tried the same thing, thinking she'd been here 2 more days (??!!!) and it might go better. However, she would not even get to the point like the other night where she WANTED to get in the tub. So I got my swimming suit on and climbed in the tub with Lily. Can I just say that again? I got on my swimming suit and climbed in the tub with Lily. Willow finally reached for me to get in the tub with us, basically because I raised the stakes and quit handing her the toys she wanted to throw at us until she agreed to sit on my lap (explained with lots of gestures and patting my lap). She SCREAMED bloody murder once I was holding her. She sat on my lap in warm water, I washed her hair in, I'm sure, less than 90 seconds, and she had the nerve to scream. I quickly got her out, and said to her screaming face "Willow. This is not scary. This is fun. Your mom is in the bath tub with your sister and you are screaming. You are screaming about a bath." Lily, without looking up at me, said "Mom, you sound mean." I wasn't yelling. I wasn't even really sounding that sassy, I was more humiliated for trying this hard I think. I said "What Lily?" She goes "Your words sound mean." This time she looked me right in the eye. She's right. It wasn't the tone or the sarcasm. It was the words. To Willow it was scary and I was ignoring that. My Lily.
Back to today. We went to the library. Lily loves to play on the "pooter" (computer) and Willow loved the board books and the bead maze thing. I sent her Good Night Moon in Spanish when she was in Guatemala. I wonder if she'd read it a lot and gravitated toward it today because of that. They sent about 5 books home with us, so I know they read to her often.
After the library we went to the park and both girls had a blast. Willow would holler for Lily whenever she got far away from us. She says her name by moving her tongue over the front of her teeth making an "L" sound full volume. Lily didn't have the courage to go down slides 'til she about 3 years old - that is not an exaggeration. Willow climbs up the stairs by herself and shoves my hand away if I try to help. Then she flies down the slide full speed, laughing all the way. She pats the bench to show me where to sit to watch. 
Lily spent most of the park time playing with the big kids, which I was happy about. She is so devoted to her sister I worry that I messed her up with all my prep-talk about being patient and not being mean to Willow no matter what she does, etc. So seeing Lily find her own friends today and letting me deal with Willow was a relief. She did find us at the end of our time there and went down the slide a couple times with her sister. 
At dinner Willow was hollering and pointing at Lily every time she talked. She does this often, but mostly she has fun playing with Lily. She doesn't like it when Lily and I are talking to each other too much or hugging each other. Well, I decided Willow's adjusted enough for me to turn on my stern voice and so I sternly said "Willow, be NICE to Lily." I didn't yell at all, but it was very serious. I wanted to shock her a little - and she is difficult to shock. Willow just gave me a mean look and went back to her apple. Lily said "Mom, remember? We have to say 'Be nice Willow. King girls talk nice to each other'" all sing songy. Again, my Lily. I was totally humbled and convicted. I forgot. That's how we teach Willow to be nice - by being nice. Not by shocking her. Thank you, Lily. After dinner we went for a walk. Lily rode her bike, and Willow tried to keep up. We had to go back to the house at least 5 times. Willow will not wear a diaper after it had even a tablespoon of potty in it. Every single time she wets even the tiniest bit she's patting her butt hollering at me to change her! I'm switching to the cheapest diapers I can find and praying this means she'll be ready for potty training early. At one point I foolishly thought I could get her to forget about her bottom, and she pulled her pants and diaper down right in the middle of the side walk. That's when we made one trip home. Mommy surrendered when the neighbors had to suffer with my power struggle. Another time Willow refused to let me help her get off her little bike (the kind with no pedals) and she fell flat on her back in a big, sloppy MUD puddle. She screamed at the mess like she'd been beaten. I mean SCREAMED. Again, I wanted to lay on the sarcasm - you refuse my help and then are shocked when you wipe out? And now you're mad at me about it?!
Willow is brave and silly and fun. The upside of her strong spirit is that she is generally happy and confident and extremely affectionate. She hugs me with this squeeze around my neck that I can't even describe. She puckers up asking for kisses many times each day. She mimics every thing Lily does and loves to follow Lily around the house. Her belly laugh is as fierce as her temper. I am totally head over heels for this little thing!
