Miss Izzie.

Next week Isabelle will be 21 months old. SHE IS ALMOST TWO. Seriously, that kills me, I can’t believe she is growing so quickly. I took her to her well-visit last week and she was 25 pounds and 34 inches tall- 50% for her weight and 95% for her height! Whaaaat! She is such a tall, thin little thing. Maybe she will grow up to be a dancer. Or to play basketball. Or just reach the high shelves in the kitchen. She wears mostly size 24 month/2T clothes, though the majority of her her pants/shorts are still 18 month.

I remember when I was pregnant, we were in disneyland with our family and I was watching Madilyn while the adults were on a big fun ride. She had a dirty diaper so I went to change it and I was astonished how HUGE the size five diapers seemed compared to the newborn diapers we had stocked up in our nursery. I couldn’t imagine ever changing my own baby with such a giant diaper. We bought our first box of size fives this week and I almost cried. Isn’t that silly? Stupid pregnant hormones.

Isabelle loves to eat, though sometimes she picks and chooses. Some days grapes are her favorite, and other days they get thrown on the floor. She loves mac and cheese, rice, applesauce, yogurt, fruit snacks, pretzels, and anything sweet. However, she does not eat the purple fruit snacks…just not her thang. She also does not eat much meat, I think the texture freaks her out and she immpediately slops it out of her mouth. Her favorite thing in the world is cold milk- and if we let her she would have a cup of milk in her hand at all times.

I think the thing I want to remember most about Isabelle at this age is how extremely opinionated she is. She definitely has outfits/shoes/toys that she prefers and will let us know if we have made an incorrect selection. A great lesson my mom taught me is if it doesn’t really matter, let it go. If Isabelle wants to wear crocs with a summer dress, let her. If she wants to bring her baby in the car, bring the baby in the car. If she wants to walk around with her toothbrush, no big deal. It won’t hurt! As much as I like to control things, having Isabelle has made me relax about things like that. Izzie also has started to throw fits. If she doesn’t want to leave, her body goes totally limp and she lays on the floor.

I love watching Isabelle play. She is getting so good at pretend, she loves to mix things in her kitchen and bring them over for me to sample. She really likes repetition, we often play the same games and she remembers exactly what to do. This morning I was cleaning the kitchen and she wanted me to play so she came and got me and walked me to the carpet and pointed to the floor and said “down.” And my heart exploded. She is talking a bit more- she sais “hehwhoa” into the phone when she holds it up to her ear. The funniest thing she says is a whole sentence, squished together- she means to say “No, I don’t want to.” But it sounds like “NoIdonwaaaanto.” Hard to describe via blog post but you should hear it because it’s so cute. She is sleeping through the night 99% of the time now and taking great naps. IT IS AWESOME. This is why people have more kids! They learn stuff! And they sleep! Exclamation point!

I am loving this stage. I love how smart and receptive she is when I explain things to her. I’m amazed how much she understands when she listens. I love that she skips and runs and laughs at silly things. I love her tiny baby teeth and her fluffy mullet hair. I love the smell of her skin and the little birthmark on the back of her leg. I love the way she says mama and whacks me on the leg to get my attention. I love that she is obsessed with her babies and has to sleep with them tucked perfectly under her body every single night. I love that she twirls and shows off her outfits and shoes to anyone who will give her the attention. I love that she knows to kneel her little body down and fold her arms when it is time for prayer. Occasionally I get this overwhelming feeling that I am so lucky that one, I have this beautiful little child in my family, and two, that I actually love being with her everyday.