43 Weeks

For those of you wondering if these weekly posts are going to end, I've officially decided to continue for 2 more months (until Isla turns 1). Since time for blogging is hard to find these days, and I seem to only be able to write but once a week, I'd like to diversity my subjects a bit since it was never my intention to have a baby-only blog. :) It has been amazing to me to look at Isla's life week by week though. I always think, "This week will be a short post" but then when I sit down to write, I realize just how much she's learned in seven days time.

Now on to the topic of interest...I think I already mentioned that Isla grew obsessed with French bread on our trip. At the beginning of the trip, we were ripping the bread into pieces but toward the end of the trip, we let her have a big chunk. She figured out how to clamp on with her gums and tear off pieces herself and she could do it really quickly (so much for using bread as a mealtime distraction)!

She pulled herself up to a standing position for first time on a stair at a restaurant (on 6/16). I think she would have done it a lot earlier except for the fact that we don't really have furniture low enough for her to reach at home.

I can count on one hand the number of times there was a highchair for Isla to sit in on our trip. She must have gained some arm strength this week because she also figured out how to reach up and pull on the head rest and turn completely around to what would have been a standing position in the chair if we didn't grab her first (French high chairs don't have straps...)

Isla became an efficient crawler this week and cruised around our hotel rooms and under the bed. For some reason she always made a bee-line for the bathroom whenever we set her down. Gross.

Her new favorite game this week is having her Daddy chase her. We accidently discovered this when I was carrying her in the backpack and Graham was behind us. He wasn't intentionally coming after her but she looked back, saw him, and starting squealing and burying her head into my back in attempts to "get away." So it began. I've never heard her laugh so hard! (Graham's making a guest appearance in this post as Isla is having some very clingy days of jet lag and refuses to be put down for more than a second).

We coined a new term this week and decided that Isla is what we call "spacially challenged." I know some degree of this is normal, but she appears to have no concept of space. For instance, she'll try to crawl right off the bed and do a nose dive toward the floor. Or she'll be at the table eating and reach repeatedly in the same direction, each time bonking her forehead on the table. Sometimes she'll also run into walls repeatedly when crawling. I'm sure she'll grasp it all eventually but it sure cracks us up now (until she does actually manage to fall off the bed...)

Something really happened to Isla this week. It was like BAM, her personality erupted out of nowhere. Long gone is quiet little Isla who would sit happily in your lap playing as long as you gave her attention. Now she is loud, loud, LOUD! She'll make constant noises and humming (sometimes whining) sounds, particularly during meals, for up to a half hour at a time. She also likes to make these sounds anytime she hears we are having a conversation. I think she wants to be a part!

Isla has really got her wave skills figured out. It was like a parade boarding and deplaning the airplane on our trip home. She waved at everyone and did whatever she could to capture the attention of strangers. She is such a joy and boy does she make us LAUGH!