2 Years = 24 Months!

I cannot believe this little baby of mine has turned 2! Everyone always says it but it's so true! My little baby has morphed into a walking, TALKING, song-singing big girl!

And quite the singer she is! She can sing all of Twinkle, Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, the ABCs, Happy Birthday (although she never seems to quite get the "Happy Birthday Dear so-and-so" quite right) and the Clean up, Clean up song. I love her rendition of "Clean Up." She sings "Clean up, clean up! Everybody, every better, clean up, clean up! Everybody do your share." It totally doesn't rhyme but is so adorable.

Isla had her 2 year appointment last week. She is growing great, weighing in at 26 pounds, 6 ounces (50%) and measuring 33 inches (25-50% but closer to the 50th). Our doctor was really impressed by her vocabulary and I was so proud of her! She wasn't the least bit shy and just chatted it up with the doctor and was totally ok with the entire examination. New things to report: Isla is not color blind (hooray--this is one area we can't seem to make progress on which I was affirmed is totally normal, Isla is now transitioned to 2% milk (or "blue" milk as we call it since the milkman now delivers it in blue cartons), it is time to start using real toothpaste on Isla's teeth, we should take her in for a dental exam (as soon as we get her on our dental insurance....), she has mild eczema in her "elbow pits" which we should treat with hydrocortisone ointment and vasoline, she can now have a whole kids multivitamin (she had been getting 1/2) and it is totally normal for 2 year olds to lose their interest in potty training and therefore we should not push it (which we haven't been).

She's been able to walk up and down stairs now for a month or two. I usually prefer she go down on her belly still but she can totally walk on her own with a hand rail.

Her hair is finally long/thick enough to put in a little ponytail on top of her head. We've been having fun trying out a couple of styles (including the tiny ponytail in the back pictured below) but it is still so wild and crazy and hard to tame. We love it though. 

We got rid of our high chair almost 2 weeks ago. Initially we were just loaning it out to friends but now that we realize how much space in freed up in our kitchen and that she does fine on our chairs, I don't think we want it back. It was becoming a bit of a hazard now that she can get up in it (and then jump down!) on her own. Right now her eating thrown is atop my Gourmet cookbook on one of our pub chairs, covered by a classy white trash bag (to "protect" the already-horribly-stained white cushions). I'm thinking we might still get a booster seat as baby will need a place to eat eventually but for now I'm enjoying my "larger" kitchen!

Isla really seems to enjoy moving furniture. One of her favorite activities is to slide our kitchen chairs to various parts of the kitchen (usually right up at the counter). Sometimes she sets great traps for me as I'm frantically trying to do meal prep. She usually does this while I cook so she can watch or "help." Lately though my cooking technique is not interesting enough so she loves to go through the silverware drawer and get everything out. She also has been getting into our "junk drawer" and likes to grab the scissors, matches etc (just when you think you're done child-proofing...!!) Yesterday, she painted her legs and fingers with White Out while Daddy wasn't looking. Oops.

Isla LOVES going to the park. If you ask her what she wants to do today, she'll usually eagerly answer "Park! Swing! Slide!" Once at the park, she will literally loop up the stairs and down the slide for 30 minutes straight if you let her. She's able to play pretty independently now on the big toys which is nice.

Isla continues to love reading and playing with blocks or the wooden train at her Grandma and Grandpa Crozier's. I will often find her upstairs in her room, rocking in the rocker and "reading" to herself.



Isla is paying attention!! I been catching her repeating things played on the radio on numerous occasions and was shocked when out of nowhere she finished the "Spirit one o five -- three" radio jingle in perfect pitch. The other day I was expressing to Graham how tired I was and said something oober-draumatic like "I literally feel like I could die." Isla proceeded to repeat "Mama die! Mama die!" for the remainder of the car ride. Another oops.

Isla is a little tomato thief. She loves to sneak out back and eat as many cherry tomatoes as she possibly can before we catch her. She knows the yellow ones are the "good ones" but she'll eat them green if she can't find any that are ripe. She does the same with my strawberries. It feels wrong to scold her for eating such healthy foods but she knows she is supposed to let Mommy or Daddy help her pick as she's been known to rip off entire branches by accident.

Unfortunately Isla picked up a little attitude in the past week or so. She's known the word "No" for quite some time but now she's added some force behind it when she says it and I'm pretty sure it's her new favorite word (she's 2, what can I say?)

Isla really seems to understand that a new baby is on the way. The other day she told us "Isla go to hospital." When we asked her what for, she looked at us with this look that totally read Duh Mom and Dad! and said "New baby!!" Lately she's been talking a lot about the baby in her belly or the one that is hiding in her bib.