19 Months

Isla is a bundle of fun right now.
She is really 'feisty' and exerting a lot of independence right now. I've been giving Isla lots of opportunity to be in charge and make choices, but she still 'has her moments." On one hand, it is a lot harder to be the parent ignoring your child screaming as you put her in the shopping cart than the therapist ignoring a screaming child, but on the other hand, I don't think Isla is capable of many of the behaviors I've dealt with in my profession. While these new behaviors have been more challenging, I am constantly reminded that when I comes to parenting I've been blessed, thus far, with a very light load.

I tend to avoid anything academic with Isla (a 19 month old doesn't need academics when there is a world of play, nature and socialization out there). Despite this, or perhaps because of this, Isla loves counting and is OBSESSED with the ABC's. I have to sing the alphabet song about 10 times a day and she can sing the whole thing herself too. She also pretends to read books by pointing to the text ans saying parts of the alphabet.

Other favorite activities right now are singing, pretending to put on make-up and talk on the phone, dressing up, wearing stickers, reading books (she has an amazing memory and recognizes most of her books by their cover remembers the title), going on the slide (over and over), and visiting with her friends & cousins.

Isla has an allergist appointment on Friday. I've been putting her allergies on the back burner for the past 6 weeks and I'm hoping the doctor will just tell us that she is completely fine!