Monthly Newsletter — Month 15

munchkin cheeks, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

You recently passed the 15 month mark, and I am a few days late getting this posted because our lives are such an amazing whirlwind these days, it's amazing I have time to get anything done.

You are an absolute delight in all of our lives, little girl. You are all sweetness and light, at once impish and mischievous and affectionate and charming. One of the sweetest things you do is "give loves"; I'll crouch down and say, "Isla, can you give me loves?" And, when you are feeling up to it (because sometimes you just shake your head with a cheeky grin when you don't feel particularly like "giving loves") you will come to me, your arms outstretched, mouth open for a big wet kiss and hug me close. And sometimes... the BEST times... you will just spontaneously come over to me and wrap your arms around my legs, looking up at me with a sweet smile, and then you'll toddle off again, the urge to "give loves" satisfied.

One of your WORST habits these days is screeching at the top of your lungs. I mean, it is literally ear-piercing, and you mostly do it when you are in your high chair and we are all sitting down to eat. I think you like the fact that Owen and Edie laugh at you when you do it, which makes you do it all the more. But it is so bad that you have actually been given time outs in your crib because of it. so that the rest of us can eat dinner WITHOUT our ears ringing painfully, thank you very much — and then you cry woefully at the indignity of being sent to your room when you had been having so much FUN!

You are also now quite good at taking directions. I can point to something on the floor and ask you to pick it up, and you usually will do it, or I can hand you something and say, "Take this to Daddy (or Owen or Edie)" and you will do so, big grin plastered on your face because you are such a great helper! Sometimes, however, you are a little TOO eager to "help," and your help is often a hindrance... but I delight in watching you, so pleased with yourself to be engaging in such big girl activities.

Owen and Edie have begun spring sports, baseball and softball, respectively, and as a result, our lives are a constant refrain of shuttling to and from practices or games, amid other things like Daisy meetings for Edie and CCD classes for Owen, plus homework and life and, oh yeah, that crazy project I just decided to embark upon that involves swapping yours and Edie's room with Owen's — an undertaking that has created such havoc in our home that I currently look like one of those people on those hoarding TV shows, so much stuff is piled haphazardly throughout the house. But you and Edie nowhave a new room, a butter-yellow confection that is all airy and light, and you slept there last night for the first time, the two of you, both of you thrilled with the new arrangement.

By far, the thing I notice the most about you these days is how much you just want to be WITH people. Last night as I was reassembling your crib in the new room (since no, of course it can't just fit through the door, that would be too EASY — I had to disassemble and reassemble instead), you were bobbing around me, alternately picking up allen wrenches and crawling amid the myriad crib parts, and you kept attempting to sit on my knee, which made my job just that much more difficult... but I loved it all the same.

I hope that you always want to spend time with me, my sweet, sweet girl. Thank you for blessing my life.

Love, Mama