15 Months

(I love how Isla had to have everything with her in order to settle and sit for a quick shot: her toothbrush, ducky....)

How fitting that Isla's 15-month monthiversary should fall on Thanksgiving? I was eluding to it in a prior post but I am just so thankful for this little girl and the many ways she has brought new joy and excitement to our lives. I have been sorting through pictures from 2010 this week and it has been a blast from the past. When you have a baby in the house, so much changes over the course of just one year. It blows my mind that Isla looked like this back in April:

I look at this picture and my heart swells with gratitude and love. Wow. I don't mean to be overly gushy on this blog but I just can't get over how much I love this girl and my days spent at home with her. With that, we have lots of achievements to report this month.

-First off, her new words: "hat" and "hot" (both always spoken in a whisper), "bath" and "oww" (learning this in response to the busy street and other things that might hurt her).

-Isla is such a good "mother" to her duck. She wipes his face, brush his feathers, tries to give him a bath and gives him a never-ending supply of kisses.

-She has learned to get to standing position without using a wall or piece of furniture to push off of. She can also get down off of the couch and bed by sliding backwards--most of the time...

-As I'm sure you've noticed, Isla no longer looks at or smiles for the camera. I'm super lucky if I can get her to do one or the other but never both.

-Isla's first tooth was spotted on Halloween!!!! This is the best shot I've been able to get of it so far.

-Since that tooth broke through, Isla has been sleeping 13-14 hour stretches at night (!!!!!) from about 6:30 PM to 7:30 or 8:30 AM. I think I've died and gone to heaven! In addition, she continues to take a ~1 1/2 hr morning nap and an hour afternoon nap.

-Isla figured out how to "spin, spin, spin!" and loves to make herself dizzy as she twirls in the kitchen. Then she cracks herself up as she crookedly tries to walk across the room

-Isla enjoyed her 2nd snowfall these past few days (the 1st was when she was only a couple months old so only sort of counts). She was quite curious at first and had a hard time walking but quickly gained confidence and was trudging as fast as she could toward the busy street (hence her also learning to say "oww).

-Isla loves going outside. Her new thing when we are leaving the house is to book it as fast as she can out into the culdesac as soon as someone opens the door. The girl literally runs which has made things quite interesting... She loves getting the mail and so we usually make the daily walk to the mailbox together.

-Isla has learned to say what the monkey says, thanks mostly to her monkey-feet jammies and her parents who have been demonstrating ape-like sounds. She says "Eeee, eeee" in a high pitched tone whenever she sees a monkey (like in Trader Joe's where "George" perches atop the bananas). She is also learning to say what "Clover" says (our good friends' Australian Shepherd). It sounds remarkably similar to a monkey. :)

-Isla figured out how to drink out of a straw this month (via my water bottle). I think she's significantly increased her fluid intake ever since as it is now so much fun to flip the straw up and drink.

-Poor Isla got her first goose egg while I was at work 2 weeks ago. She fell and hit her head on our new "soft" coffee table (the cushioned ottoman we'd purchased to replace our sharp-edged chest...) Apparently a 1/2 to 3/4 inch raised bump appeared almost instantly and we spent the week watching it change colors like a rainbow from purple to black to blue to green to yellow. Boy did we get a lot of looks when we were out running errands! It probably didn't help that she also had a cold AND was teething so had a dripping nose and drool-covered chin to go along with it.

-I'm not exactly sure when this started but I've come to realize that Isla has grown quite helpful when it comes to getting dressed. She now pushes her arms through sleeves all by herself and does the same with her legs. Such a big girl!

-She understands lots of new commands/phrases such as: "Can you put that away?" (we're teaching her to clean up), "Let's go get the mail" (she runs and waits by the front door), "Go to your highchair," "Do you want to take a bath?" (heads upstairs to the tub), "Do you want some cheese?" (goes to the fridge), "Blow your nose" (blows through mouth--close!) and, I love this one: "Where's Daddy?" (climbs upstairs to check in our bed).

-We have a Veggietales CD that we often listen to while I'm fixing dinner. Isla has apparently memorized some of the tunes because as soon as the intro music for "If You're Happy and You Know It" starts to play, she begins clapping her hands. She is working on stomping too but ends up just starring at her feet and squatting, wondering why they don't step up like she wants them too. She also occasionally puts her first up in her air for "Hooray." So cute!

-In other news, Isla has finally been able to correctly identify her belly! "Isla, where's your belly?"

-Isla has a new communication sound. It is a catch-all "Ehh, ehh, ehh ehh" which could mean basically anything. Good luck figuring out what she wants! I can tell you this much: if she says it while point to the counter, it means she wants a slice of bread. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine! I hear it a lot. All day.

-Isla continues to love giving kisses and is quite generous with them. If you're lucky enough to be here when it comes time for bed, I can almost guarantee you'll get one! She hasn't figured out the smacking motion with her lips but more or less nuzzles her face into your cheek and starts humming. Graham and I wonder if she'll continue to hum when she kisses from here on out. We kinda hope it sticks around for life. I'm sure some boy will find it as cute as we do. For now, I can only pray she sticks to kissing us, her ducky and her bear.