Today is Willa's 2nd birthday. When you ask her how old she is, she replies "two olds!" I don't even want to correct her because it's so darn cute.
As is always the case with time, it's hard to believe it's been two years, but it simultaneously feels as though so many things have happened since she was born on a cloudy June morning in Seattle. We've all grown so much together. That is really the point of this all, isn't it?
There are so many things about Willa at this age that I want to remember. Some days I wish I could walk around and just record everything she says.
We've been working on potty training for the past while (seriously for a few weeks, casually for a couple months before that) and when we ask her if she needs to go (which I know you're not "supposed to" ask), she replies with a smile "I okay" or "I good."
For a month or two now, everything is an emphatic "do it self!" She's pretty pleased with herself that she can take off all forms of clothing. I personally can't wait until she can put them all on herself!
She is very thoughtful. She gets extremely concerned when something falls off a table or she sees a piece of trash where it doesn't belong. We're constantly taking things to a recycling bin or trash can when we're out and about. Lots of hand sanitizer necessary.
Despite my best efforts to hide my own fear from her, she's very concerned by thunder. Her face wrinkles up as she says "it's thundering." She's also scared of bees. She thinks flies are bees, and given how much she plays in the backyard, flies are always getting in the house, so we're constantly working on the difference between flies and bees.
Her interest in food has waned recently, and she's much more interested in getting down to play than in sitting at the table with us. Her favorite snack by far is "fig bar" which we buy at Costco. Whenever we run out of a food, she quickly tells us to "buy more! grocery store!"
She's starting to have a better sense of time. She'll tell me if something happened "yesterday" or will happen "later." Her counting is coming along, but she often skips "five" and "six." Her memory amazes us. Out of the blue she'll start talking about something that happened months ago. Her favorite memory to recount is about when she met the Easter Bunny at the park. He "waved at Willa."
I didn't start telling her about her birthday until a few days ago, but she got the concept quite quickly. She would exclaim, "mine!" when you'd ask her who had a birthday coming up. She gleefully ripped into her presents this morning and is delighted with all of them.
Needless to say, we love her so much. What a wonderful two years it's been.