At bedtime, I layed with Willow 'til she fell asleep. Then she slept 'til 4 am, and then woke up hollering - not terrified, just wanting me in there. I layed with her again and she was back to sleep right away. Her sister is the one who kept me up after that - telling me about life while I was gone, telling me how much she loves Willow, and other things unimportant at 4am. Willow slept 'til 8:30 this morning. At breakfast I gave her oatmeal, which she wouldn't eat, and a clementine. As you can see, Lily had to cover her eyes while Willow ate the clementine - it was dripping down her arm, into her sleeve, and down the front of her PJs. I am frustrated with her eating because she's just not eating much. I keep offering her things, but she shakes her head no at just about everything. She ate a banana last night before bed and for lunch she ate deli ham and lots of grapes. And bread. I will be so relieved when that bread from Guat. is gone and we have to find new things! Or maybe it will get ugly around here when that bread is gone and I'll be finding some way to courrier a shipment to our door.
They both love coloring - they did this for a long time this morning
At first Willow tried to eat the playdough, which is totally understandable considering we use plastic forks and knives to play with it. But when I told her "no no. icky" she looked right at me and put in her mouth again. I took it away from her for a minute and then gave it back - she didn't cry or complain at all. Then I gave it back to her and said the same thing "No No icky" and she never put it in her mouth again. They had a BLAST playing with playdough - they must have sat there for an hour with little baggies, bowls, and plastic silverware. I took this picture at the very beginning, but the end, there was playdough all over the table, all over the floor and all over Willow.
The walk seemed like a good idea until the way home. At first Willow was laughing and talking and pointing. She loved her stroller rides in Guatemala. After 45 minutes she was completely done, wanted me to hold her, and screamed the entire way back. Lily never complains when Willow screams. She just plugs her ears and offers explanations of why Willow could be mad: could be cold, could want me to hold her, could be scared of the snow, could be anything. When we got home she was instantly perfectly happy. My aunt and uncle (Jeff and Debbie) and Grandma King stopped over and Willow was happy the whole time there were here. 
Finally she's in her own bed. She's not crazy about it, but I just lay with her 'til she's asleep and go back when she wakes up.
Lily adores her sister. This morning she was trying to get Willow to follow her - constantly. "Come here, Willow." "Look at this, Willow" "Want to play with this Willow?" on and on and on. Willow did pretty good with it, considering her personality. By afternoon, Lily was just running around doing her own thing, and Willow followed her everywhere. She copies everything Lily does - when Lily coughs, Willow pretends to cough. When Lily crawls across the livingroom, Willow does the same.
Today Lily whispered to me that Willow doesn't like it when I hug Lily. I whispered back that Willow doesn't know I am Lily's mom too. Lily said "Maybe we should just hug when Willow isn't looking." She was like that all day today - constantly trying to help Willow. At the airport she layed on the floor to show her how they're going to lay in their beds at night. When I told Lily we could do anything she wanted today (at home) she said "I think we should go to Cost Co and buy a rocking chair so you can rock Willow. That might make her happy." I didn't know Cost Co sold rocking chairs, but that's beside the point I guess. At bath time last night, Lily acted like that bath was the happiest place on earth to try to get Willow to not be scared - I hadn't giving Willow a bath yet because every time I ran the water she screamed in genuine terror and I just couldn't force it. Lily poured water from one bowl to another, laughing and acting like this is what she always does. It worked. Pretty soon Willow was handing her things and throwing toys in the water and then she wanted to step in. She hated it as soon as she was in there, but I quick washed her hair before I got her out.
When Willow was sad tonight at bedtime, she reached for me for the first time in her sadness. She's never pushed me away, but tonight she held out those little open arms for comfort. She also puckered up asking for a kiss. It was the sweetest thing in the world. Bedtime drug out for an hour because she cried so long. I don't know if she's used to falling asleep to the TV or what - but at the hotel she went to bed great and fell asleep fast. The two nights here have been long and miserable even with me laying next to her. And Lily : Lily just lays in her bed quietly waiting for it all to end so I can lay with her. Last night she fell asleep before I got to lay with her, so tonight we started earlier and had time for big girl stuff (a card game and chocolate).
It is all SO much easier than I'd feared! I imagined myself sitting in the middle of the living room having a nervous breakdown while the girls ripped the house apart and fought. Instead we all had a mellow day - they played, I got unpacked and laundry done, and we even got our teeth brushed! I was worried that Lily would be sad and jealous and she's not at all - at least she's not acting like it if she is. Instead it's Willow who doesn't like me giving Lily attention. Sandra emailed me about that this morning warning that Willow might bite Lily - that she'd done that when kids hugged Veronica. I don't see any sign of that kind of rage right now.
At one point tonight both girls had a snack and Willow started to walk out of the kitchen with it. I said "No No Willow. Stay in the kitchen." and led her back. When she was done eating, she stood at the edge of the carpet and looked at me, waiting for permission. She didn't understand the whole thing, but she obviously understood something and was willing to follow my directions without screaming or crying.
