Isla turns 2!

Wow, we have a 2 year old daughter...still doesn't sound right!! She is amazing. We love her so much and I have had so much fun being with her everyday!! She starts school in August at Carrollwood Day School (it's like a pre-kindergarten program at Brandon's school) and I can't imagine not being with her everyday, all day anymore! Uh, I get sad just think about it.

At the age of 2 this is Miss Isla Marie:

Big Sister. She is a good big sister.  She loves on him, takes care of him and loves making him smile. Every morning she wakes up the first thing she says is, "Bubby? Where's Bubby?!"   She chooses when to share with her little brother, and for the most part she doesn't...but on the occasion that she does, she is all in. Sharing her toys, paci, blankie, and even baby dolls!! Sometimes it goes too far with her trying to share juice, goldfish, and grapes! She is so loving towards him with sugars, hugs, and makes him laugh (alot like the way her big cousin Kaden was with her at this age)!  The other day I was trying to get ready to take them to the park and I was packing the diaper bag with my back to them both. They were sitting on the floor playing when I heard Isla say, "Bubby, bubby, are you okaaaay?" In the .05 seconds it took me to turn around I was thinking, oh dear Lord what did she do, or  what did he put in his mouth. I was sure I checked the area they were playing and made it injury proof. Oh, no what is it and why don't I hear him making a noise!? When I turned my head, he was fine - laying on  his back on the floor smiling at Isla.  She must have seen him tip over and was asking him if he was ok... I don't know how to describe the scene to do it justice and explain just how adorable it was to hear, "Bubby, Bubby are you okaaaay?" Melted my heart!

Isla taking Everett for a walk

Feeding Everett his bottle

Loves to talk. She has been babbling for almost a year now, but at about 18 months 'real' words were coming out faster than I could keep up with and within the last 3 months she has been stringing her words together. It use to be, "ha-ple pees" (apple please) and now it is, "mama, i want ha-ple pees".  She also uses the word, "ok" a lot. Example: "Isla we are going to take a bath and then get ready for bed," she replies, "okaay". It's so cute and sincere.
It makes it so much fun!! However, she started saying the word, "no" way to much and with way too much athuority. So we tried to work on, "no thank you" and that wasn't catching on so now we say, "no please". She does great with it...it just sounds a little backwards!

Learning. She is learning colors, numbers and shapes.  She can count to 3 and sometimes 5. She attempts the ABC's but it's kind of a jumbled mess, but she gets the tune!! She is learning how to cook and loves to stand on a chair in the kitchen wearing her apron helping out. She is a good listener. I don't give her enough credit and get frusterated when she "chooses" not to listen...but for the most part it is pretty amazing how much she comprehends and responds to with "oooo-kay".

Finger Painting and Learning Colors

Cooking Eggs...with no pants on :)

Dance Machine. She hops with both feet (this took a little while to master). It started with her favorite song in Tiny Tots, "Jump in turn around, Splash in the puddle". Her jump was a litte more like a skip but Brandon kept dancing with her and showing her the two feet hop and we went nuts when she got it!! haha. She loves dancing to the music on American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.  Anytime we are in a store, out at the pool or in the car and she hears music she stops what she is doing to start tapping to the beat and the next thing you know she is jamming!!

Potty trained.  We wanted this completed by her 2nd birthday (mostly just to get one of our babies out of diapers).  She got it down by 22-23 months.  We started around 22 months and within the week she got it, it just took a couple more weeks to go without an accident each day. She loves her big-girl underwear :)

Swimming. She started swimming lessons 2 weeks ago. The first two lessons were brutal as she screamed and cried the entire time. She still went through the lesson, just while screaming and crying. The third visit was amazing...she got a little upset when she went into the pool and I stayed in the parent watch area, but by the time she got in the water she was good to go! She loves it now and is learning so much--I can see a huge difference in her already by just putting her head in the water, kicking, breathing etc. So fun!

Bite Bites. Loves to eat watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, corn, green beans, cheetos, grilled cheese, spaghetti, toast, oatmeal, cereal, pizza, oranges, bananas and waffers.  She drinks water and milk and occasionally juice.  She is at the stage now where eating just interupts her play time, so she eats like a bird.  She is a healthy eater for the most part, and chooses fruit over almost anything!