Isla: 2 Years, 9 Months (33 mo)

By far, Isla's favorite thing to do these days is dress up. This came upon us so quickly that I haven't had a chance to put together a dress up box but she doesn't seem to care in the least. Her own drawers (and mine!) seem to supply her with plenty enough "costumes." She is frequently striping down and appearing downstairs in a new outfit and her floor is ALWAYS covered in clothes. A couple of weeks her obsession was with swimsuits; this week all she wants to wear are dresses, skirts and baby legs. She has developed quite the opinion on what she wears each day and it is always exciting to see the final product. She usually ends up in all shades of pink "because they match." Sometimes I wonder if I should start taking daily pictures of her just to document her style! See?

I'm proud to announce she is officially potty trained!!!! It sort of just happened and looking back I realize we probably could have succeeded quite a while back had I taken away the diapers and put her in underwear. All it took were a few accidents for her to get it. Her big motivator was a promised bus trip to the park once she went in the big girl potty. Now we owe her another bus trip as she has mastered #2 in the toilet as well. She still wears a diaper at night but wakes up dry about twice a week. Hopefully we can take those away before long but I'm just not ready for regular middle-of-the-night sheet changes just yet.

Isla is really into fill-in-the-blank story telling. Before her afternoon nap, she usually asks if we can lay on the guest bed (where she is napping these days) "for a few more minutes" and either "talk about taking the bus to the park" or "tell a story about a little girl named Isla." We usually begin the story and just pause here and there and let her fill in the blanks. She LOVES it and comes up with quite the creative tales about the little girl who likes to eat pasta and green beans for breakfast and who has to wait for her turn on the swing at the park.

Isla has finally reached the stage where she is offering compliments. I LOVE IT!! At dinner, she usually says "Thank you for the delicious dinner Mommy!" at least 3 or 4 times. The other day she was watching me arrange the throw pillows on my bed when she exclaimed "That looks beautiful Mommy!" I am hoping the words of affirmation that we try so hard to say to her are paying off. Sometimes I even catch her affirming herself with things like "I'm wearing such a beautiful dress!"

With the bout of warm weather we've had this month, we've spent a good deal of time outside in the yard. Isla absolutely loves "swimming" in the kiddie pool and playing with buckets of water. She's going to be a great helper in the garden this summer with all the watering she wants to do! She's helped me plant most of my veggies and herbs too and is so excited to watch each grow. She also discovered the broom for our back patio and now begs to go outside and "ride the broom." I'm totally serious.

Isla's curiosity with the human body is blossoming. She is obsessed with breasts and breastfeeding and even asked Graham yesterday if she could touch his "nips" and if he "was going to feed Emma on his nips." No, we don't call them "nips" but apparently she does!

Isla is doing a wonderful job of playing WITH other kids now, not just with their toys. She's definitely the boss and likes to keep things in order and tell everyone what to do. I had to laugh because she had her cousin Liam (2nd cousin, technically) who is 4 days older over a couple weeks back. They shared a classic girl vs boy moment: Isla was asking Liam repeatedly, "Liam, do you want to dress up in your swim suit!?" (total girl). Meanwhile Liam, who was banging some blocks together and responds "No Isla. I'm busy breaking things!" (total boy). :)

Isla continues to take one mid-day nap (hallelujah) and sleeps from ~7/7:30 PM to 6:30/7 AM (the wake up time keeps inching earlier....) At bedtime, I lay both girls in Emma's crib for prayers. It's become a fun routine that they both love and we usually end the day with giggles.