The photos speak for themselves...Willa's walking! It didn't happen overnight like everybody said it would. She has been taking a few steps here and there over the last month. But as of today, she has given up crawling. The photos were taken today as she was strutting her stuff out in front of the shop. The adorable dress was a handmade, custom-designed birthday present from my friend, Sondra. She is so creative and talented, and always knows just what I like...I mean, what Willa likes. Check out her
Etsy shop and buy a piece or two.
There's more...Willa has also mastered a couple of signs, 'milk', and 'all done.' Finally. Mastered. It is the coolest thing I've seen her do yet. I am so glad I stuck with it, because the ability to communicate clearly with a one year old child is nothing short of amazing. They say that once a baby picks up a couple of signs and begins to grasp the cause and effect factor, the other signs will follow quickly and easily. We'll see about that. For now, I'm just signing and talking and reinforcing by meeting her every non-verbal request. I'm going to try to get a video of her doing it, because words can not do it justice. Her gestures are perfectly precise, sharp, and intentional. And it is precious!
I have tried reading to Willa off and on, since her birth, but she has had no interest in it and doesn't sit still for five seconds. But lately, she has become fascinated by books and loves to leaf through them. So I have started reading her a story most nights before bed. She points at the illustrations and turns the pages for me. She still has a pretty short attention span, but we get further and further through them each time. Today, she was playing with a little board book while I was drinking my morning coffee, and she brought it to me and handed it over as if she wanted me to read it to her. I sat her next to me on the couch and read the whole thing. (All four pages.) We're making progress.
She seems to have "Mama" and "Dada" down. She points to the door after Sean leaves and says "Dada," for instance. She says "hot," (but that's old news) and meows when she spies the cat. Today, she pointed to a dog and said "dot" and "woof-woof." And my mom swears Willa repeated the words, "Alli" and "diaper." I don't know about that...I'm sure she's a prodigy, but still, I'm going to have to hear those for myself.
She LOVES bracelets and plays with them all of the time. I have a whole bunch of bangles in the bottom drawer of my bathroom, the one we allow her to rifle through. She puts two or three of them on and wears them around the house. Could this mean that she's becoming girly? Oh, I hope so!
But her favorite thing of all is dancing! Who would have thought that my greatest fear would be my daughter's greatest passion. Nothing really surprises me anymore. She dances to every beat she hears, even the beat of the washing machine. I'll try to get a video of this, too. It is hilarious.
