Growing So Fast!

Things have been busy around here as we get ready for the holidays...Isla has been a great sport running errands with me and crawling around under my feet as I get baking done. I made her a special play drawer in the kitchen about a month and a half ago and it continues to be a lifesaver!

Isla seems to be learning something new every minute! She has two new words ("hoo hoo hoo" for Owl and "Treh" for our Christmas tree). She tries to imitates Andrew and me all the time and loves engaging in reciprocal silly noises – raspberries, clicking her tongue, blowing, and lots of other noises. (She also has a few other words, but they are not as consistent, so I'm not sure if they count.)

Owls are Isla's favorite right now! Her room is decorated with an owl poster and there are owls in her bedding. She looks at them and says "hoo, hoo, hoo." She will also say "hoo" if we say "Owl" or if she sees Owlie and Howlie, her favorite stuffed animals. Owlie, in particular, has been a constant companion lately. Isla drags her around the house either by holding her leg or occasionally holding her foot in her mouth. She likes to bring Owlie on car rides too. The cutest is when she sees Owlie sitting in her play area in the morning (Owlie is a little to big to go in the crib)... She reaches for Owlie, saying "hoo" and then grins and gives her a huge hug. Another cute thing is that when I give Isla a kiss sometimes she'll hold up Owlie so that I can give Owlie a kiss too (the pinnacle of baby humor.)

Here's Isla saying, "Hoo."

Isla is still crawling everywhere and walking holding on to furniture or our hands, but she is standing for a few seconds all by her self more and more frequently. Today she stood for 10 seconds and then realized that she was standing alone and immediately plopped on her bum.

Isla is also a little music lover. About two months ago she started nodding her head to the side. It was incredibly silly and endearing, but a little odd too. About a month ago the head nodding morphed into body bouncing and dancing. Now she be-bops whenever we put on music – either bouncing her head, sitting and bouncing her body or standing and holding on to something and completely rocking out (see photo above).

We've been playing patty-cake a lot lately.  Isla loves clapping and waving and waves spontaneously to her favorite people and things, and occasionally surprised shoppers at Target.  I thought she wasn't into peek-a-boo any more but it turns out she just doesn't like peek-a-boo with Mama & Daddy.  We visited her cousin Malia today and Isla was ticked pink to play peek-a-boo with Malia for about 20 minutes.

Isla moved up to a big girl seat last month. Here she is coordinating with her new ride. The seat is huge. I call it “the tank.” It looks like someone squeezed a lazy boy in our back seat, but Isla seems to enjoy it and we love that she can stay rear facing for such a long time.

Snuggling with PBB - Pink Bodied Bear

Snuggling with Mama

Snuggling with clean clothes