Isla: 39 Months

Dear God,

 

Thank you to whomever you gifted with the GENIUS idea of "OK to Wake Clocks."

They have saved my bacon.

 

Amen.

 

I'm not sure what to say other than Isla is in transition with her sleep habits! There are many moments where I wonder if someone has stolen my girl and replaced her with the energizer bunny. She wakes at the crack of dawn and can go all day without a nap and then well into the evening before she finally gives in to sleep. Sometimes I think it is time to drop her nap and then other days, everyone around us KNOWS without a shadow of a doubt that that time has not yet come. So, thanks to her new clock, we've instilled boundaries around sleep. Or more accurately: "sleep." Isla must wait until her clock glows green (7:15 AM) before she comes out of her room in the morning and then I set it for 1 1/2 hours at nap time. It works ~63% of the time but I'll take it! My alone time this year is precious and infrequent and so these boundaries are much needed. For both of us!

The best part about the whole clock thing is that she always, always, always carries the clock downstairs with her to show us that it's glowing - makes us smile! Feel free to ask her about the clock when you see her next. She LOVES to talk about it!

 

I've lost track of how many house guests we are hosting at this point in time but Isla's "friends" come and go frequently. Sometimes they are pregnant. Sometimes they need to nap. She has quite the imagination and she is such a social creature!

 

She wants to go to school SO badly and asks us all the time when she gets to. We are considering preschool next year but in the meantime I try and occupy her with her "preschool book." She's learning to identify numbers and letters and group objects together. She loves it and will spend almost an hour "doing school" with me!

 

Isla loves heaters. I'll find her snuggled up in front of one with a Better Homes and Garden Magazine and a blanket, just like someone else we know. She also likes to sit in front of the one in my room in the morning, claiming it helps make her hair "soft and curly."

 

Isla's leadership skills continue to develop and flourish. I tell her often "Isla, you are going to go places!" She usually responds with "Where!?"

 

The other day she was asking me where heaven was. I told her up in the sky and she gave me a look of brief concern before she confidently informed me: "No it's not. Because that's too high for us to reach." Oh, ok.

 

After she's been in trouble, I sometimes ask her if she's ready to obey. Her latest is to announce that she's "going to obey on Saturday!"

 

Then there was the conversation that went like this:

Me - "Isla, you need to wash your hands."
Isla - "I want to use hanitizer!" (hand sanitizer)
Me - "No, we only use that when we don't have soap and water."
Isla - "Why?"
Me - "Because that's what the doctor says."
Isla - "What does Jesus say?"

 

Oh and the other thing I should probably mention is her love of getting dressed. She is very particular about her outfit choices. She hates coats (she wears them for the 7 foot trek from the front door to the car only to toss it on the van floor once she's climbed in...) and would probably wear dresses or skirts every day if she had more that were cold weather friendly. A couple weeks back she came across Emma's Halloween costume and was proud to report "It fits!"