The Kids...

Milestones keep flying by and I keep thinking, "I need to write that down," but by the time I sit down to write it has already slipped my mind.

Ike - At 11 months, Isaac is taking our new home by storm.  On his 11 month birthday he started saying, "light" and although that is his only word, he thinks he has about 100 more. He regularly talks our ears off and is delighted with oral motor skills.  One morning he spent 20 minutes blowing kissy faces over and over.  I was laughing until my sides hurt.  Ike is also whizzing around the house.  He crawls quickly and cruises with ease.  To Andrew and I it looks like he is on the verge of walking.  He is getting into EVERYTHING!  He pinches his fingers opening and closing doors all the time.  On Wednesday he officially graduated from Cranial Tech (his last appointment was two weeks ago, but his helmet came off on 10-3.)  He seems happy to have the helmet off, but is bonking his head left and right.  Isla and Isaac have started to play a little more.  Mostly they wrestle and Isla makes monster faces and growls at Isaac.  Isaac just laughs at her and tries to grab her hair.

Part of getting into everything means getting redirected.  Ike now understands the word "no" and looks at us when we tell him "no" to see how serious we are.  When we use our most serious voice he actually stops.  If we aren't quite as serious he shakes his head at us and laughs.

Ike has had 3 sinus infections and 3 ear infections since June, which is a lot anytime, but especially during summer.  His allergist ran an immune panel and it came back indicating "humoral immune deficiency."  Isaac's body is not creating antibodies to some of his vaccines.  He is going to get another vaccine booster and have some more testing.  If his vaccine titers are fine then all is fine.  If not, Ike will add one more specialist to his roster.  Along the same lines, In late October he will be having an endoscopy to make sure everything is going well in his GI tract.  In early November, Isaac will be getting PE tubes and possibly an adnoidectomy.  This was such a successful surgery for Isla.  I hope Ike benefits just as much! 

Last night I peeked in on Isaac and he woke up.  I gave him a bottle and then held him until he fell asleep.  Isaac is really snugly and gives great hugs.  His favorite position is to be held upright and he wraps his arms around my neck and shoulders.  It is pure heaven!  I forgot how much I loved feeling his soft whispy baby hair with his helmet on.  He is a complete delight right now.  I'm so blessed to be his Mama.

Isla is filled to the brim with enthusiasm right now.  She is eager to share her thoughts with anyone who will listen and loves speaking with my collegues, who all know her from preschool and because we are always in the office.  She has a 1st time teacher with two very experienced aides and she LOVES her teacher and especially loves one aide, who seems to share her sentiments.  All of the students in her class are new to her, but she has already made friends with all of them.  Every day I hear details about the fun they've been having.  On Thursday she and a little boy named Christiano were bubbling over with excitement about a camping game the played.

Isla is going through a love of arts and crafts.  She spends tons of time coloring and gluing and stenciling and stamping.  Her drawings are starting to be recognizable, but she usually colors right over the initial picture in her quest to fill the entire page. She has a new found confidence in her ability to do arts and crafts.  Last year she wanted me to do everything.  This year she is quick to do it herself and then show us her handiwork.

She has a bigger room now, and can turn it into a debris field in a few minutes, but she is learning to quickly clean up.  Her motivation is hit or miss, but it is still impressive.

Isla is still a fashionista and loves combining her clothes and hair accessories in new and exciting ways.  We still take turns picking out outfits, but she generally likes to throw on a dramatic detail to anything I pick out.  I've been biting my tongue, remembering that she's inevitably going to be hipper than me any day now, if she isn't already.  
She can't wait for the season of holidays coming up and is absolutely ecstatic about Christmas!  She is concerned about Santa fitting down our chimney and knowing about our new place.  We will be writing to him early to make sure he has the new address. 

Isla is an amazing mix of conscientious and carefree, silly and serious, thoughtful and oblivious and temperamental and easy going.  She is so darling, I love hearing her take on things and watching her thrive in her new surroundings.  I always check on her at night too and lately it is the only time I can still see that tiny little angel that I first met over 3 and a half years ago.

With her brother getting a birthday and some extra medical attention, we have a surprise for Isla.  I am taking her to Disney on Ice with her friend Julia from her class.  I plan to tell her tomorrow.

Here are some pictures from our last hike in the canyon behind our old house before we moved.  It was a perfect Fall day and we walked to the park.