Thank you, Patricia and Amanda

Willow had her end-of-preschool-year picnic yesterday at the “train park” in Santa Fe. She wasn’t in much of a photo-taking mood, but I did manage to snap one shot of her with her marvelous teachers Amanda (on left) and Patricia, to whom we are so grateful for offering Willow a great first school experience.

Playing with Bubbie and Zayda

We were all recently in Montreal for Willow’s Auntie Sharron’s birthday party. We were all very pleasantly surprised how attached Willow became to her grandparents Ralph and Clara. It was the first time Willow called them “Bubbie” and “Zayda,” the affectionate Jewish names for grandmother and grandfather. Willow loved going to the park and blowing bubbles with Bubbie, and watching TV and playing catch with Zayda. They adore Willow as much as she does them.

Willow hits the pool

Willow had her first swimming lesson yesterday at the Genoveva Chavez pool. While initially slighty rigid and reluctant, she soon relaxed in the water quite a bit and, as you can see, quite enjoyed herself. Many thanks to instructor Jim Kemper for teaching me and Gong how to help make her comfortable. We think she’s going to become quite the otter.

Willow at the barn

We took Willow to see “mama’s warse” (mama’s horse) today in Taos and while there Gong snapped some lovely shots of Willow in her super cool pink cap and snazzy 70s-era jacket. This one is my favorite.

Snowbunny

Willow had her first snow day from school today. We had about a foot and a half of snow in our backyard, so I got her a $14 plastic toboggan (she picked the color) from the local hardware store. We had a blast in our little backyard with the dogs tearing around while we sledded. Check out our athletic Waylon (dark brown chocolate lab mix) at about 0:48 into the video. And, no, those growls aren’t anything to worry about – that’s just our young pit bull Bailey just playing really really hard. We’re still working on the snowball thing, though…I love winter.

Cousins

Willow and her 1 year old cousin Lulu Clementine had a blast together over Thanksgiving.

Willow on the verge…of talking!

Willow has been doing these long monologues more and more lately, and it’s so incredibly exciting to see how much she wants to express, how expressive she naturally is, and how she really seems to enjoy “conversating” with Bonnie. She has been with us just a little over a year, and, man, she’s changed so much! She’s really come a long, long way. You will hear in this monologue many recognizable words that she intersperses with Willow-speak. She really, really, wants to speak!

Birthday Guitar

Willow Turns Two

Musical Willow