let me tell you a little something about willow being 16 months old...i think its my favourite month yet. she has changed both physically and developmentally SO much in just this short time.
first off, she started walking. can i get a HALLELUJAH, AMEN???? holy moly, she was getting heavy for a while there, and i was quickly running out of hips to carry her on. not to mention the great laundry debacle of dirty stained knees! also, i think she knew how to walk all along, and that the more we encouraged her to walk, and tried to help her practise, the farther we pushed her from actually doing it herself. because as soon as she took more than one step, she walked across the whole kitchen (i have video to prove it! complete with a blubbering mother in the background!) and to further my point, even though that day she took her first steps, it wasn't for a whole week that she even took another step (and again, when she did, she walked around the entire house). then, in the weeks after that after that, she would choose which days were "walking days", until one day she decided to make two days in a row "walking days" and from then on, it has been her primary mode of transport! thank heavens.
second, she is becoming more "her". i mean, she has always had this special personality, of course, anyone could see it from day one. but its different now too, like everyday there is something new and wonderful that develops. and i think that is why its my favourite month so far, because i am seeing more of who SHE is. she's not just a baby with needs to be met, but a little human with a voice and a will. and actually, can we talk about her will for a second? i think she knows that its the first four letters of her name, because holy moly, it is a STRONG one. BUT (disclaimer) clay and i are both strong-willed (myself maybe more-so. plus, i am incredibly stubborn.) so we cant blame willow for that. we know exactly where it comes from. i just hope it works out to her advantage someday, that it will create in her an independence and uniqueness, the ability to make her own decisions and to not be influenced by others. (i guess that part is up to us for now. gulp!)
but as for the voice part, oh, its just wonderful! a voice that knows "mom" and "da", a voice that knows "bug" and "ball" and "bee" (which all pretty much just sound like "BA" but with different intensities), a voice that knows "vrooooom" (a truck or car driving by), a voice that knows almost every animal sound (from the chicken, being a very realistic "bahhhh bahhhh" to the ever ferocious lion, "rawwrrr"), a voice that can tell us when she needs her nappy changed, and a voice, the scariest of all, that knows the word "no" (complete with a shake of her head too).
there are so many more things that i see, like i said, on a near daily basis, that i cant even keep up with her. but i am loving every second of it. and the more i see, the more my love for her grows. she is such a good girl. through and through. i can only pray that we do right by her, that she continues in her growing in goodness, and that God is gracious to the three (soon to be four) of us.