Happy 3rd Birthday Sweet Baby Girl!

Isla is quickly outgrowing her "baby" status, but of course, she will always be my baby. She is the baby that introduced me to the wonderful world of motherhood and I love watching her grow into clever, beautiful, caring child.

At three, Isla is such a sweet little soul. She has become very conscientious and whenever Andrew & I are upset or mention someone's problem she wants to try to fix it. She will ask us questions to learn more about the problem and then will offer suggestions to fix it. When the Charger's were continuing their shame spiral of a season Isla would always give Andrew a hug at the end of a particularly tough play or game. There were a lot of hugs.

She occasionally has a hard time controlling her physical reactions when she is upset, but she is learning to inhibit pushing or hitting and use words to communicate her feelings and wants.

Her language continues to be outstanding and she is very interested in learning new words and phrases. When she picks one up, she tries it on for size in every conceivable application. Right now some of her favorites are, "Ally-Oop!," "Reference," and a few more that are escaping me right now. She likes poems and stories and stays up late looking at books in her bed. Lately she is interested in "reading" books to us and telling us stories. She is also interested in number concepts and is very good at counting and 1:1 correspondence.

Isla is a bit slow to warm in novel situations, but once she has warmed up there is no stopping her. She is lucky to have some remarkable friends and classmates with whom she is completely comfortable. If you saw her around these friends you'd never know she can be shy or inhibited.

Right now we are immersed in a major princess addiction. Isla LOVES the Disney princesses, along with their dolls, books, dresses, stickers, music, and anything else you can slap a princess on to. She loves changing her clothes and constantly wants to wear princess dresses, so we have some rules about what can choose to wear out of the house. At home it is either princess dresses or PJ's accessorized with lots of hair clips and head bands.

She has learned a lot of the princess songs and loves to sing them and dance to them. She enjoys putting on dance and vocal recitals for us. She has also memorized Grace and recites it at dinner each night.

Isla is a wonderful big sister. She is very concerned about Isaac spitting up on her and eating her things, but she is also very concerned about Isaac's happiness and well being. She likes to talk to him and tell her what she is doing. Tonight when Isaac was looking at and cooing to her balloon she said, "Why are you talking to the balloon Bro? It doesn't have a mouth." (in other words, can't talk back.) Whenever we are eating a treat Isla wants to know when Isaac will be able to eat it and asks me to save some for Isaac "when he is old enough."

Isla has an independent streak and wants to try to do things on her own. This has helped her develop some great skills, including 100% dressing, with the exception of buttons & engaging zippers. She has become a big help to me around the house, helping get breakfast ready, set the table and do other small tasks. She aims to please and is very conscientious. She also has a wonderful goofy streak and can get very silly. Recently she has started telling jokes. Isla has a very active imagination and has excellent pretend play skills. Sometimes we get to play with one of her imaginary friends, like Georgie the ghost, and sometimes we get to pretend to be one of the imaginary creatures she has invented, like "groundies" (a prairie dog like creature, we think). Occasionally her active imagination leads to some fears, but she is very good at expressing them and trying to problem solve.

Isla's favorite word of the moment is, "Why?" She says "Why?" almost automatically in response to anything and everything. It isn't always easy to answer her questions, but this has led to some wonderful discussions.

Current favorites include: pink & purple, princesses (especially Ariel, Beauty, & Rapunzel), In & Out burger, chocolate & vanilla, tomatoes, her dress up gowns, her best buddies - Charlotte, Michael & Ethan, reading books, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, "Happy Manny" (Handy Manny), the "Sea Horse Park," foam stickers, and snuggles.

Current Stats:
3 feet 2.78 inches (81.89%)
38 lbs (94.78%)

As always, when I try to sum up my sweet girl in a few paragraphs I find the effort grossly inadequate. Just as it is impossible to capture her, it is impossible to express my love for her or the wonderful way she has transformed my life...


Isla, we love you more than words can ever express. Thank you for bringing laughter, joy and love into our lives everyday. We are so blessed to have you as our daughter!