13 Months or so...

New family pic- starring Isabel, Annie, Jason and Winnie's nose...... thanks girl!

Well... I haven't been so good about giving monthly updates. I just can't seem to find the time to write- or when I have the time to write- I realize I don't have any new pics so I have missed a couple months. But here's what' new with Miss Isabel- I will try to remember it all because she is changing A LOT! In the pic above she is about 13 1/2 months old. We feel like she no longer looks like a baby anymore- she is ALL toddler. She is losing those baby chub cheeks and slimming down because she is on the move again. (That's right- no walking boot. Her leg is quickly on the mend!)
She has at least three or four new teeth (molars I think) but it is almost impossible to pry her jaws open to see them. That girl can BITE so you enter her mouth at your own risk. I have seen them though, when she is yelling (which she is doing a lot of lately) Isabel is getting very vocal. She isn't really saying that many words (mama, dada, and tickle tickle are about the only few we can recognize) but she talks all the time. She points at everything, shouts oohhh! or just says random vowel and consanant sounds. You can tell she wants to communicate with us. Supposedly, they teach her baby sign language at school but I have yet to see her use it (and we are bad and don't reinforce it at home) so mostly she just yells and babbles.
We have determined that she has a strong will and is stubborn. She seems to get fixated on one thing she wants and then is tenacious when going after it. (Her dad says that is what she gets from me) I don't think that is a bad thing :)
What else? She LOVES her books. She can point to things in the books now. For example, if you say where is Elmo? Where is the duck? Where is baby? She usually points to the right object. It surprises the heck out of us. Jason and I can't believe how many words she actually understands. Words we never "taught" her. (Guess we better be careful) I was saying something in the car about how long and crazy her hair is geting (kind of a mullet at the moment) and I looked back and she picked up her hair with her hands and smiled. What?! I had no clue she was listening or understanding me. Reminder to be careful about what we are saying.
Isabel is also a tiny dancer. She loves to rock out at school, home or in the car. She is really not picky about the music- classical, country, rap, K Love, or Elmo's Greatest Hits. She likes them all. She has about three signature dance moves now.... If I can ever catch one on video I will post it. It is pretty hilarious. Sometimes I will be driving her home with a song on, look back to check on her, and see her just bobbing her head to the music. Cracks me up.

As for food, she has gotten awfully picky. She would like to surivive on fruit alone (and somedays she does). We can't get her to eat much meat or dairy. She mainly just wants pears, apples, oranges, bananas or any other fruit you might have on hand. As you can imagine, this can make for some interesting diapers. She has discovered french fries and saltines- and when we go out to dinner these are staples.

Isabel's fave toys are her books, plastic food, and going for walks in her "car". She still puts every single thing in her mouth and likes to bite and chew on everything. I really wonder if she will ever grow out of that. She refuses to smile or sit still for pictures and loves to play rough- get spun around, swing upside dwon and get tickled by her daddy. We have only had one oe two puke episodes in the last couple of months - thank goodness and she is still a pretty good sleeper. Off to bed at 7:00pm and up at 7:00am . (Often still getting up once at night to say hello, be rocked back to sleep, or have a little milk) When I am home this summer I want to work harder to get her sleeping through with no waking up-

Overall, we are having lots of fun with our little toddler. She is spunky, loud, always laughing an playing "jokes" on us. She laughs when everyone else laughs- just so we know she got the joke too. She is playful and learning new things every single day. It is pretty amazing to watch.

playing with Grandma! Grandma watches her every Tuesday and Wednesday now so she doesn't have to go to daycare. They have so much fun together. It is the best feeling to drop her off with my momma!

Bel loves sitting on her Grandpa's lap and watching Elmo in Grouchland. This is her fave movie. She has seen it 400,000 times. She loves the songs and Jim Henson's puppets. I suppose it could be worse because I am a big Jim Henson fan myself. Grandpa doesn't mind- he loves the cuddle time!

Jason and I got date night this weekend too! We went to a horrible movie and a tapas restaurant ( I said tapas- not topless :) We have both been so busy all week and then we have plans every single weekend and so we hadn't had time to have a date in what felt like forever. I realize now, having a 1 year old, how you have to work and schedule to get time together. It's important!  We ar elucky to have our family so close to watch Bel for us.