Isla at 3!

Fashion forward watermelon.

My big helper!  She decided towels should be rolled and rolls all of my clean towels for me.

Isla is testing her boundaries at school, home, her friends houses, and everywhere else.
She is very good at waiting until the absolute last second before complying and Andrew & I have really had to tighten out reigns.  Her initial response to almost any request is no, but she still manages to be a delight.

Three feels like a little preview of 13.  She just has so much internal struggle going on.  To obey or not to obey.  She gives us lots of aggressive hugs and I can almost hear her internal monologue - "Pull Mommy's hair and get a big reaction or not and just get snuggles?"  My heart goes out to her...I don't remember 3, but I do remember 13 and it isn't easy.

All my mommy friends have confirmed that 3 is tough and her little "Two's class" in preschool has suddenly burst into chaos with Isla, Dante and Charlotte at the helm.  We have had some very serious chats and a new reinforcement system and that issue seems to be resolved.

Happily, the one person Isla continues to be nice to is Isaac.  She occasionally tries to exclude him, but just as often ask me to wake him up "because she misses him."  Isaac thinks Isla is the greatest person on earth and loves to laugh at anything she does.  She is getting very good at trading toys with him. 

We've been reading the "Alfie books" - beautifully illustrated books about a little boy and his little sister and Isla loves their interactions.  She really relates to Alfie.

She is still "besties" with her friend Charlotte.  The great each other with giant hugs, like they haven't seen each other for months.  They also provoke each other and argue over anything and everything.  We started a reinforcement system.  The girls are working together to earn a slumber party.  Every time they have a good playdate they get a star.  10 stars = slumber party.

We've re-challenged walnuts, pecans and almonds and Isla was fine!  No allergies!  She is still getting a reaction to avocado (a hivey rash on her face), but it is small, so we are letting her have them in moderation.  She was thrilled to take her allergy bracelet off and is obsessed with her new nut-eating privileges.  She "cooks" pecan cakes with pecan frosting that, "Bro can't eat because it has nuts."

Isla has been saying some of the cutest things.  I wish I had the time to write them all down, because they slip my mind in a few hours.
- Isla frequently says, "I promise NEVER to EVER [do the naughty thing of the moment] AGAIN!"  I tell her that I hope she will try really hard not to do it again.  Now she says, "Mama, I promise to try really hard to not [fill in the blank] again."

- Isla kept saying "poo-poo" today and laughing (we've entered the toilet humor phase). I asked her to stop "because we don't talk about poo-poo," and she said, "I wasn't saying poo-poo, I was just speaking Spanish."

- She has also been making up a lot of words.  If you ask her something she doesn't know she will say I don't know.  If you ask her to guess, she will adapt a word. (e.g. "Bill Peat is the author.  What did Bill Peat do?"  Isla - "Bill did the authoring." (sort of right I guess...  :-), or "What were you doing when the teachers had to talk to you and Charlotte?"  Isla - "We were actioning.")  Her other strategy is to make up something new entirely (e.g. "What do you want for breakfast?"  Isla - "Blerffzzt"  "What is 'blerffzzt?'" Isla - "It is another word for toast.").  The other day she told me a new word for "exactly" and told me I had to start using it instead of "exactly."  ...and like Francis of her beloved Francis books, Isla also likes to "spell" words too.

- Tonight Isaac was "crying it out" and I heard Isla (on her way to the bathroom), say, "It's ok Isaac.  What you need to do now is just go to sleep, ok?"  Later I went in to calm him down and Isla came out of her room for yet another potty trip.  She was so excited.  She told me that she told Isaac to sleep and even though he was crying now, he did go to sleep for a little bit.

- Isla has been interested in comforting Isaac a lot lately.  It happens the most when I'm not obviously paying attention.  Yesterday while I was loading groceries in the car I heard her say, "It's ok Bro.  Sister is here."  It melts my heart!