Twenty

Oh Isla Colleen,

How has 20 months already passed us by? You are leaving your babyhood behind, day by day, and I am sad to see it going. It is a nutty place, but a happy place, when there is a baby underfoot. Someone to always pause and smile at, give a little kiss and hug to, lift up on your hip even though you finally let me put you down only a short time earlier. I'm always doing that with you, little one. A few minutes after I've finally got my hands free to do something on my own, I catch a glimpse of you and lift you back up unconsciously. You seem to belong on my hip.

Not that you are a Mama's girl, however. Far from it. You are all about "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy". You run past me to him when we come to pick you up after a sleepover with your grandparents. A sleepover! There I am, ready and willing to cuddle and nurse you after a night's absense, and you turn your nose up and reach for him. Keeping me on my toes! I love it, though. It is all part of your funny personality.

Things I want to remember about you at this age:

You sing ABBA songs, although your vocabulary is small.

You like dancing and you shake your butt until you catch somebody watching you. Then you get shy.

You looooove your big brother Shea. The boy rarely gets a break. For a year he was told "oh, just let her have some". Now we've created a monster who screeches at him and he instantly hands over whatever he's eating. We're working on getting him to wait until you ask nicely, but he has trouble resisting you. We are fully to blame for your behavior, but you're just so cute! And we are reassured by the fact that your siblings are well-mannered and eventually you will be too. (please?)

You let your big sister mother you. You are patient if she is dressing, feeding, diapering you. You are never this patient for me.

You love to do art. The older kids know that any art supplies left in your eyesight are fair game to you. We catch you with paper and a pencil crayon constantly. Yes, sharp pencil crayons that are not appropriate for someone your age, but you want what the others have, always. It is a miracle our walls aren't covered but you seem quite happy to scribble on paper only. Whew.

You love to walk outside, along the sidewalk. Especially in the opposite direction from us. Oh, spring will be fun!

When you want someone to swoon over you, you say "Goo Goo Gaa Gaa"

You are slowly losing your "baby" language and gaining language people outside of our house can understand.

You like to play "chop chop timber" with Mama and Faire on the big bed.

You like to attempt to put on your own socks and pants. Too cute. Really.

You like to lie on the floor, on your belly, with your knees bent so your feet are swinging. You prop yourself up on your elbows and look at a book, or colour. You look like a teenager on the beach, but in a miniature body. I look at you when you do this and I think equally that you look heartbreakingly adorable, and also that you will be a teenager before I know it. Also heartbreaking.

Also teenager-like: When your Daddy does anything remotely silly, you say "Daaaa-dy!" in that "you-are-such-a-weirdo-I-can't-believe-you're-my-dad" kind of way. I swear you are rolling your eyes.

You could care less about watching television. Yay! It's kind of a pain though, when we want to watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie as a family, like we did tonight and you wanted to sit your naked butt on the mini-DVD player. Or our heads.

You want to sit on the toilet all the time, which you refer to as the "poopy". You haven't done anything on it yet, but I can feel it coming! Not that I'm comparing or anything, but your sister decided out of the blue to wear underwear at 21 months. Just like that. OK, maybe not comparing, but encouraging...?

You have your mother's sweet tooth. Sorry kid.

You love hats.

You suck your thumb and poke your finger into the corner of your special blanket when you are tired or going to sleep. And you can't go to sleep without the special blanket, so there are 5 of them, three at home, and one at each of the grandparents'. Thank you Grandma Kathy for sewing them!

Grandma Marilyn taught you to dunk your cookies in her coffee so now none of our mugs are safe. You will even dunk bread in a glass of water.

You have eaten, and enjoyed: blue cheese, pickled herring, black licorice, smoked fish, and other strong flavours.

You don't eat much at Grandma and Grampy's house because you know if you wait long enough (not long at all), Grampy will start sneaking you cookies. And Grandma will give you ice cream.

You give sweet little kisses to us all, every day.

Oh, Isla Bean...you are so very loved by all of us. Thank you for being you. A bright ray of sunshine in the winter. A sweet voice to call our names as we come home after work, or school, or running errands. It feels like parenting you is easier somehow. We have let go of the pressures and expectations we clung to with your big sister and brother. Now we know, it's all good, it's all love. And when it's hard, we know it will pass. And we just enjoy you.

Happy 20 Months!

Oh, and photo above? I just love the eyebrows. You look at us like this all the time. I wonder what you're thinking...