Friday, March 30, 2012

Isla: 2 Years, 7 Months

 This big girl is becoming quite the little ham! She loves to make cheesy faces (good pictures are hard to come by these days) and show off when any company is around yet she also has a shy side to her as well. It's difficult to say at this point whether she's an extrovert or introvert but it sure is fun to see her personality shine! Isla loves people watching and wants to know the names of everyone we pass but refuses to ask them herself. She is very independent right now and wants to do everything by herself (pick her clothes, buckle her carseat, wash her hands).

She comes up with the funniest little phrases. Her latest is "Are you going to ______ (insert a whole multitude of activities: get dressed, put on your shoes, go potty etc)? Or not?" I don't know where the "or not" part came from but she says it all the time. The other night I was trying to get dinner on the table (which has become quite chaotic lately when Graham is working--cooking for Isla and I, getting Emma's food ready and all the while trying to entertain a baby who needs to nurse, eat solids and be in bed 5 minutes ago....) Anyway, back to the other night. I'm trying to dish up Isla's plate in between slipping spoonfuls of solids to Emma who is screeching every time time she is not receiving a bite, and also trying to feed myself somewhere in there. Isla had placed Ducky in an open seat at the table and she looks at me and in a totally no-duh sort of tone goes "Are you going to feed Ducky or not?" Ummm. Not!! Sorry girlfriend, but the live objects at the table take priority!
 I honestly could not have asked for a better relationship between Isla and Emma. Isla just adores her and is such a big help to me in keeping her entertained. That's one "easy" thing about having two--they occupy each other!!!

We got to go away for our anniversary and Isla stayed with our friends the Welchs. She is very much in the what and why phase and reportedly asked them what everything in their house was. Multiple times. She was also quite obsessed with their dog Clover and would not stop asking "Where's Clover's poop?" That's my girl!

Isla got to come and watch me run my 10K on Sunday. On Monday, she woke up and immediately wanted to go for a run herself. She loaded Ducky into her stroller and tied her "dog" (the pink balloon--her own idea!) to it and raced around the house. She named her dog "Marfa" (Martha), just like our friends' greyhound. Too funny!
 We've entered into a new phase of disobedience over the past few weeks that has been somewhat trying. Isla is testing, testing, testing and we are working on teaching her to obey the FIRST time. I've found myself, without realizing it asking her to do things over and over because it's hard to figure how much of it is that she's an easily-distracted 2-year-old and how much of it is defiance. Well, the defiance piece is a little more obvious these days (i.e. she runs the other way when we ask her to come here) so I'm focusing on following through if she doesn't obey the first time. Easier said than done!

After Isla has a time out, we always go to her and ask "Isla, do you know why you had a time out?" She started responding with "Wud I do, Mom?" and I have to fight so hard not to laugh every time!
Isla's current favorites include going to the library, feeding her Ducky and babies in Emma's new-to-us high chair, going to the park to swing on swings), going to the mall (I'm serious-she asks to do it almost every day), visiting coffee shops, painting, eating snacks (ok, that's not a new one!), and sitting on Mommy's potty (an attempt to let her feel in control to see if we make any progress!)

We have been working on identifying the letters and sounds of the alphabet. Isla has mastered "I for Isla, E for Emma, C for Crozier" and a few others. She finds them all over books and signs now which is fun. She also really enjoys it when we name all the things that we can think of that start with each letter. I usually say something like "C is for ____" and then make the "c" sound and let her fill in the blank with cat or car or what have you. The other day we started with A and wouldn't you know it, the first thing out of her mouth was "A is for a$$!!" I'm not joking. She does NOT hear that word in our household so I'm not sure if she thought she was making up a word or what. I tried SO hard not to give her any response but kids are amazing. They somehow just know they said something that riled you up so she proceeded to repeat it a few times. Oh Isla! :)
And lastly, Isla was soooo excited to realize that Daddy had a Sounders shirt, just like hers so they wore them together on Wednesday. She kept repeating "Daddy, you have a Sounders shirt too!??" She can kick a ball pretty well and we're trying to keep her to catch one but she continues to call all sports baseball. Or "baseketball" (now that's a new one!) Neither of us anticipate she'll have a career in athletics (coordination isn't her forte just yet) but one never knows!!

No comments:

Post a Comment