Before I Forget

I know it has been four months since I last blogged and Isabelle is nearly 20 months old now!  This summer has been busy and full of fun.  We took her camping for the first time at Devil's Den and we slept in a tent both nights!  She did great and loved playing outside with rocks and dirt.  Swimming has not been as successful, she's pretty wary of the water, and it takes her awhile to relax.  Her first time at the zoo was fun and she loved all the animals even though it was HOT outside!  Isabelle is a seasoned traveler now, and does fairly well in the car as long as she has something to eat and she can watch Bubble Guppies on the DVD player.  We drive to Florida over Labor Day so I'll let you know how it goes!  I think she'll love the beach, but I'm not so sure about the water.  Her walking has improved a great deal and she even runs with a wide stance now.  Her physical therapy should be ending pretty soon.  At daycare they have taught her to eat at a table (no highchair) and all the kiddo slept on mats at naptime.  It is so cute to see them sleeping in a row!  We are going to start Mom and Tot gymnastics class this week and I'm super excited.  It is really difficult to find a class that is not during a weekday, so I was thrilled to find something fun for us to do together on Saturday mornings.  We are going to start potty training soon if I can work up the courage.  She has been indicating that she's ready, but I don't think I'm quite there yet!  Our baby has turned into a sweet toddler with personality for sure.  Here are a few things that I don't want to forget:

* I went to visit our family in Boston with my mom this week and when I returned Isabelle was so excited to see me.  I didn't expect much, but she kept on saying, "mommy, mommy" over and over again, formed her mouth in an "O" like she was surprised I was there, and proceeded to kiss me alot! 

*She has a newfound love for stuffed animals since we took the pacifier away a month or so ago.  She has named her favorites:  Baby (a pink bear), Jaff (a giraffe), Hop Hop (a rabbit), and Pooh (Winnie the Pooh).  Isabelle sleeps with one or more of them every night and even carries them during the day.  When I told her the name of the Winnie the Pooh bear for the first time, she laughed every time I said the word Pooh.  Obviously, she has her father's sense of humor.  Sean called me this morning and told me that he explained to Isabelle that she could only take one of the animals with her to daycare.  She understood exactly what he was saying because she proceeded to hug her Jaff and Baby very tightly and then whispered, "no Daddy" in a sweet voice.  Needless to say, Sean let her take both of them with her!

*Isabelle is learning to help around the house and I probably have daycare to thank for that!  She will say, "dirty" and pick up a wrapper/piece of paper and throw it in the trash can.  She also knows to put her dirty clothes in the hamper before she takes a bath!  I think we'll work on putting away toys next :-)

*She definitely is ready to start potty training.  She will squat when she goes now and will grab her diaper and say, "poop" when she's ready to be changed.  She even will pretend to wipe when she gets a piece of toilet paper.  She's only a few months away from turning two so I guess it is time!

*After we read to her at night before bed, she will sometimes take the book from us.  She turns the pages and talks in gibberish like she's trying to read to us too.  It is the sweetest thing.

*Her vocabulary is growing everyday and she is pretty good at repeating most of her ABC's one letter at a time.  She has also started forming phrases such as, "bye-bye daddy", "thank you mommy", etc.

*Sometimes when she gets restless on long car rides one of us will turn around and rub her foot and ankle to calm her down.  The other day we were watching television and we caught her rubbing one of her stuffed animal's feet the same way!

*For a little while she got in the habit of wanting to hold my hand while she ate.  I didn't mind a bit!

There are too many memories to list here because everyday she does something funny or sweet!  It keeps on getting better and better.