Isabella passed her 15 month check up today with flying colors. The doctor said she looks great! She got two shots, but there was not a single tear. They were both in her arm. I thought for sure she would let me have it, but she barely moved when she was stuck. I hope all her shots are this easy in the future!
Here are her stats...
Height - 32 inches Weight - 28 lbs, 3 oz Head - 18-3/4 inches
Isabella has always been a chatterbox, but now she is starting to say things we can actually understand. She started saying words shortly after her first birthday. Her first word was "baby", and that's still one of her favorite words. She loves to look at pictures or in a mirror and point to the "baby". Her next word was "this" - as in what's this? At least that's how we interpreted it. :) After "this" came "ball". That was no surprise because she loves to play ball. She throws a ball quite well, and she can sometimes even catch a ball. Isabella's next word was "sooock". Every time we put her socks on she tells us "sooock".
I am of course proud of any word she picks up on, but her next word was truly a proud moment for me... I was getting ready in my room, and Isabella had wondered down the hall. I went to find her, and she was walking down the hall holding my shoes and saying "shu, shu, shu"! She's definitely my little girl! Isabella loves her socks and shoes - really anybody's socks or shoes. One of her favorite games is to pick up the shoes we leave around the house and move them to another room - one shoe at a time. If she finds her shoes laying around she immediately wants them put on her feet, and she'll keep saying shoe until I put them on her feet.
I will not bore you with a list of her other words, but she is picking up more and more each day. She's up to 15 words now that she says consistently (we counted b/c we wanted to be able to tell the doctor). We love the interaction and cannot wait to see what new word she is going to say each day.
I know, I know....it's been forever since we've posted any updates. Rather than delaying it anymore by trying to catch up I'm just going to start with the present. I'll go back at some point and update the stuff we've left out.
I'll start with a walking update...
We posted some video of Isabella taking her first steps in mid-Oct. She spent the next two months making progress each day. She did a lot of walking between Jeff and me and then from one piece of furniture to another. Over the holidays she had plenty of practice walking from one person to the next. Christmas Day she really seemed to take off. With her arms in the air for balance she started venturing from one toy to the next.
Santa brought Isabella a basketball goal for Christmas, and a couple days after Christmas she was not only walking on her own, she was bending down to get the basketball and then dunking it. It may be slow, but it's a dunk. ;o) Her Daddy is teaching her how to hang from the rim and dish out trash talk, like he does to Uncle Jack.
Now she's up, her arms are down, and she's almost running. Isabella LOVES to chase Maggie (or Magg as Isabella likes to call her) around the house and then let Maggie "chase" her. Really, Maggie just stands up to move out of her way, but Isabella thinks she is jumping up to chase her. Isabella will run away giggling the whole time. Then she realizes Maggie is not behind her, so she runs back to poor Maggie who usually has laid back down to try to sleep again and the game starts all over.
In Sept we took a trip to Atlanta for a Georgia Tech football game. We got to visit several friends and some family while we were there. One of our stops was to see Aunt Laura and Uncle Craig. We were we were showing off Isabella's new skills for them (something I swore I'd never do, but it's hard not to when you are a proud parent). Isabella showed them how she could clap first. Then I asked "how big is Isabella"? Expecting to have to lift her arms for her as I said "So Big", I was quite surprised when she lifted them above her head all by herself! I guess she was saving that new skill it for an audience. We're glad Craig and Laura got to be a part of one of her firsts. And here's the video (this is a more recent video since we did not get the first one on video)...
Peek-a-boo with Uncle Craig.
And Craig wonders why Isabella is sometimes not so sure about him. ;o)
We've spent many days this Summer at the pool trying to keep cool. Isabella has loved the water since day one. Her favorite water activity is splashing around (i.e. soaking whoever is holding her). Here she is having fun with Granddaddy at Nana and Papa's pool.
Cathy, Brett, and Andrew came to visit us over Labor Day weekend. We had a great time going to the beach, hanging out at the pool, shopping, and relaxing. Isabella had fun watching and playing with Andrew. She loved to just sit and watch him run from thing to the next to the next. It was live entertainment for her! Isabella and Andrew also had fun at the beach playing in the waves and the sand. Thanks for visiting us!
Ahhhhh, matching hats!
Isabella had her first taste of sand. We should have guessed her hand was going in to her mouth at some point. She was not half as horrified as her Daddy was! ;o)
Lucia, Sarah, and Cathy. It was great to see you Lucia!
Ok, here go the updates for the last two months....
Friday before Labor Day (Aug 29) Isabella starting clapping her hands by herself. Ever since we started working on getting her to do this, she would just grab our hands and clap them together. After plenty of practice doing that she got it on her own!
She clapped normally for a week or two and then she went through a phase of pounding her fist in to her other hand when we asked to clap - like someone was about to get it. I still think Daddy taught her to do that, but he denies it. She's finally back to clapping with two open hands, so she's not scaring off the other kids anymore.
