Isla at 18 months

It is so weird to me that this will be my last post with Isla as an only child! She is such an amazing , energetic little girl that is constantly surprising me. The word that comes to my mind the most is silly when I think about her. She loves to be silly and run around doing silly things. She is always so happy and her smile will melt my heart. She definitely has her "dramatic girl moments", but I can't help sometimes but just laugh when she throws herself down on the floor dramatically and cries her little fake cry over something so mundane.

First day of nursery! She did really well, we just dropped her off and picked her up two hours later. Simple as that!

 One thing that her nursery teacher told me after her first day of nursery was that she was the only kid in the group that could point out Jesus in all the pictures that they were showing during the lesson that day. This surprised me for two reasons, one: She is the youngest obviously because it was her first day and two: I have never really taught her how to do that. I honestly had pointed out the picture of Jesus in the foyer at church one time before and we have a picture of Jesus in our house that I have pointed out a total of twice to her. She just picks up on things so fast I don't even know how to keep up with her.

She loves trying on any shoes left around the house or going into her room and pulling out all of her shoes and trying to get them on.

She loves her "shwimming suite" as she calls it and "sun lasses". Would wear them all day if I let her.

 At her 18 month appointment her doctor said with kids as tall as she is that they may be a lot more comfortable forward facing now rather than waiting until two. This has definitely been the case with Isla. She is so tall her poor little legs looked like frog legs facing back in the car. Also the seat belt would dig into her leg and cause her pain so we took the plunge and she is now happily facing forward in the car. So much more comfortable for her!

We have been doing A LOT of swimming this summer. If you would have asked me a few months ago if having a pool was worth it I would have said no without hesitation. They are ridiculously hard to upkeep and expensive for the amount of time you actually use it! I have changed my mind though... I have never been so grateful to have a pool in my life right now! This has been one of Isla's favorite activities for the last two months. We literally go out swimming every day if not twice a day. It's been great because it's so hot outside there is not much else to do and it sure felt good on my achy pregnant belly and back! It entertains Isla and keeps her occupied and thanks to the miraculous puddle jumpers that have been invented I don't need to hold her and she can do her own thing!

Isla in her puddle jumper.

 She is such a great little swimmer with her puddle jumper on. She knows how to hold her breath under water and kick her legs to get around places. The only thing I worry about is that because she is so comfortable in the water with her puddle jumper on she thinks she can do anything in the water with it off too. She is quit fearless and will jump in without a moments hesitation so I just have to always have her float on her and thank goodness for our fence we have now!

Just being silly

She is getting so big.

Isla at 18 months:

• Starting to put short sentences together. Like " bye bye daddy" or " I got you" or my personal favorite "I love you"!
• Climbs everything she can possibly attempt to climb.
• 100th % for height, 40th % for weight and 10th % head circumference.
• Favorite activity is reading books.
• In the process of learning her colors. She can point out the color yellow, white and purple and also pronounces those three colors very well.
• Loves to play ring around the rosie's and do the actions for "wise man" a song she learned in nursery.
• Loves to dance and give hugs and kisses.
• Still loves to watch videos on youtube like Sesame Street, The Muppet's and Baby Einstein. 
• LOVES shoes, bows and looking at pictures/ video of herself.

It is such a blessing having Isla as our daughter. It it also a great blessing to have Steve as her father, he is an amazing father. He always knows how to make Isla happy and have a good time as evidence from this video.