Monthly Newsletter — Month 21

IMG_3547, originally uploaded by JenSig.

Dear Isla,

Oh my goodness, you have grown in such leaps and bounds in the past few weeks! Suddenly you speak in sentences! You demand things! You have a sense of humor! You feel remorse! It's hard to keep track of all the new tricks up your sleeve, but I'll try and recall a few here.

First — your sense of humor. You are FUNNY, little girl, and the best part is you KNOW it. One of the new things you do now is when I go to get you out of your car seat or stroller or something you suddenly pretend to be sleeping; your eyes are closed and your mouth is pursed with a slight pucker. Then you wait for me to say, "Oh, look! Isla is sleeping! Shhhh!," at which point you open your eyes and burst out laughing, thinking you played a trick on me.

You are speaking more and more, as I said, even using simple sentences. The other day we were looking for something, and when I asked if knew where it was, you held your two hands up in the air and said, "I don't KNOW!" Now, mind you, your speech is still not very CLEAR — this came out sounding more like "I wo WO" — but you and I both knew what you were saying. You also will call out things like, "Daddy, where ARE you?" And the best one that you say (generally when prompted) is "I love you," which comes out sounding like "I wuh woo." Makes my heart melt every single time you do it.

You also know about 8 letters of the alphabet — all of the vowels and several consonants as well. Smart, smart girl.

You absolutely adore Owen and Edie, and you get so excited when it's time to pick up "O" and "Deedee" from "cool." I'm sure that being without them for most of the day, now that school has begun, must seem odd for you, although you do seem to enjoy not having to fight for what you want. Owen recently started sitting with you on a skateboard, both of you wearing little helmets, and he wraps his arms around your middle and the two of you coast down the cul-de-sac, at which point you immediately yell for "mo mo mo!" You love it immensely when the big kids play with you, and you seem to be a bit of a thrill seeker, attempting to ride scooters and skateboards and anything else the big kids are doing.

You also generally understand when you are in trouble and you also often realize that you deserve it — I know this because when you get scolded you will hang your head and look at your toes before muttering, "sorry" ("toddy") and then you usually offer a sweet little hug, as if to emphasize that you really are sorry.

You are such a delight in all of our lives, little one. Every day brings new adventures, and each day I try and remind myself what a blessing each moment with you (and your siblings) is.

Love, Mama