Isabelle the Barbarian.

Isabelle had her 16 month check up today. She got some booster shots, cried, then gave the nurse a high-five. She also got weighed and measured. It appears that some trends continue (weight-30.5 lbs.) and some don't (height-31.5 inches):




Isabelle continues to be above the 100th percentile in weight and is now in the 78th percentile in height. And I would be lying if I said she didn't quite literally throw her weight around sometimes.

Take for instance Mother's Day. We decided to go to Target and do some shopping for storage items (because her toys overfloweth). I let ITL run amok for a while to burn energy and assist her creative mental development. She looked at things, touched things, spoke baby babble to random strangers, hugged one woman's leg, and squealed with delight. She also pushed a little boy and made him cry.

Now -- don't get me wrong, I don't think Isabelle was out of line at all. She and the little boy who was almost 2 and who,I am quite sure, did not yet weigh 30.5 pounds, were staring at each other in that other-small-person wonderment phase. Isabelle is touchy, she hugs and pushes (not viciously mind you just a push) and pokes you in the face. She is a baby - she is exploring. So little boy gets pushed on the shoulder and falls down and starts bloody wailing. Sigh.

His Mother, Ms. I-Am-Raising-A-Victim tells him to tell Isabelle "no" and glares at me. Whatever. Her kid is a wimp. I wish i could say I felt bad, but I didn't. For goodness sake she is 16 months old and little crying boy's mother acted as if she had, with premeditation, lopped off his left foot. Am I wrong here?

Apparently, yesterday at the park (she was there with Dad) she also tried to cover two little boys in bark chips, which didn't make them happy. Am I seeing a pattern here?

Isabelle is continuing with her word play. She has been talking more and more in baby speak -- we think she must be getting ready for the 18-month word explosion. She continues to say "yeah" for yes and "no" for, well, no...although she has started to say "no-ee." We aren't really sure where this came from as we don't add too many "ee" sounds to words (with the exception of doggie and birdie) so her word alteration in one of her own creations. It's very cute.

She continues to love to watch herself on video -- especially the ones where she speaks or squeals. Over and over and over again. She also is liking the Wiggles (especially the Wiggly Safari with the late Steve Irwin) and she still likes Little Einstein's. She loves her books and of late I have noticed her really concentrating on pages as she looks at them - its as if you can see the little sparks of data being processed in her baby mind.

Words of wonder.

Isabelle has not yet hit that verbal stage where she really starts talking, I understand that will happen somewhere around 18 months. Her vocabulary is, however, expanding. Both is what she can say, tries to say, says with sign language and understands. The latter category seemingly is the largest. The Baby has an excellent ability to understand what you tell her and respond accordingly. She is such a smart baby.

So what does she say you ask? Here is what I can think of as of this moment (as shown by the correct word and what it sounds like out of her cheery little maw):
1. Dada
2. Mama
3. Mini ("Mimee")
4. Ball ("Ba")
5. Banana ("Nana!")
6. Sock
7. Shoes ("shus")
8. Llama ("mama")
9. Ring ("wing-wing")
10. Pants ("pa-pa")
11. Baby
12. Zach ("Za")
13. Molly ("Ma")
14. Wait ("uway")
15. No
16. Yes ("yeah!")

Number 16 is one of my favorites. She learned to say "yes" in about and hour. Now when she points at something and you pick up one of the 1262 things it might be you get a "no" (which has an inflection on the end making it sound almost like a little question) or an enthusiastic "yeah!" It's very cute.

Her newest signs are for "bird," "airplane," and "hear." Airplane is a toughie though and usually we get bird for an airplane too. Hear is cute because she puts her little hand over her ear and looks to where the sound is coming from.

What amazes me both, as described above, is Isabelle's ability to comprehend what we are saying. I could never describe everything here, but it really is strange to be able to tell her something rather complex and have her follow right along. For instance, I can tell her that "Daddy is in Mama's bedroom" and off she will toddle to find him there. I can also ask her to "lay back" when I am changing her diaper and she will do so. She also understands outside - so if I tell her that we can go outside once she put her shoes on, she will go get her shoes and bring them to me and when I stand her up she will go wait at the door.

Of course she also understands "eat cat food" and will happily chow down on some Senior Science Diet even when she has just signed being "all done" with her dinner. The good thing about the feline delicacy is that with it I have taught her "one" and she knows to pick out and eat a single piece of crunchy meaty delight at a time (well most of the time--if left unsupervised I will find her with chubby handfuls of cat food being shoved in her mouth). If often count out the cat food as "one-two-three" pieces, so I am thinking she probably knows that too.

Oh, and I have bought her two little potties. If I catch her at the right time and sit her on the potty and tell her to "pee pee in the potty" she will almost always try and go, even if a little about 60% of the time. I think if we consistently worked on this she could be potty trained by 18-20 months. I (knock on wood) can't imagine she won't have trained herself by two. She already wants to flush the toilet whenever I use it.

Lastly, she seems to be ever expanding her repertoire of what I call "baby-jokes" -- those little things that show she understands humor. As you know she knows what many an animal says (i.e. "a cow says moo"). Well, while on vacation she decided that when I would ask her what a lion says, instead of responding with her customary "roar" she would say "bock bock" -- you know, what a CHICKEN says. She thinks its very funny.

Aloha Baby!

We just returned from out week in Kauai. It was a much needed break for me and a lot of fun for all of us.



We had great weather, it rained only twice while we were there and was about 80-85. The hotel was nice, although if you heard a giant explosion sometime on April 25 it was my head exploding when they told me Isabelle couldn't ride down the big water slide at all -- even on my lap. Being that the water slide and pool was the reason we picked the Hyatt over a hotel on Maui or on the Big Island, I almost came unglued...Luckily the island breezes (and a pina colada or two) cooled my lava-spewing-anger and I opted to try and not dwell on the hotel's crap-rule and concentrate on the fun and beauty around me.

The hotel did have wonderful pools, including a meandering saltwater lagoon and multi-level freshwater pools. Isabelle loved them all. Here she is digging in the sand at the saltwater lagoon.





We were lucky when she dig for sand, given that most of the time she ate the sand. Lest you think I am kidding (a) see prior video of her eating several handfuls of dirt and (b) you didn't have to change the diaper that I-kid-you-not must have been 1/3 sand. Let's just say Isabelle's little system was clean as a whistle by the time our trip ended.

During the trip Isabelle developed a severe case of Mommy-itis, and while I usually would be secretly happy by her total preference for me after 6 hours on a plane and several days of only wanting to be carried by me, I rethought the whole "favorite" idea. Not that I didn't love it and get to share many happy kisses and snuggles, but the child weighs 30 pounds! The right side of my back felt like it had been beaten with a cat-o-nine-tails by the time we were ready to leave. Nevertheless, the Mama and Baby time melted my heart and even made me forget about my ever increasing Quasimodo-esque posture.




Did I mention what a cool baby Isabelle is:



And although the hotel-nazi's wouldn't let her on the big slide ($&*^%$#%*&!), she did get a few rides on the baby slide in the freshwater pool. Paul would push her up and Molly would send her down. Isabelle loved the little slide, which she could do quite well in her floatie.



The first time I sent her down the slide it was sans floatie,however, and with Molly at the receiving in. It wasn't such a glorious moment. Now Molly is fabulous with Isabelle, but couldn't touch the bottom of the pool just where she was. Needless to say, Isabelle fell back, beat her head against the slide like an egg on granite and went sliding into the watery abyss. Isabelle being Isabelle -- we only got a bit of protest and she was happy to go again (enter stage left: floatie).

Isabelle loved the water. She drank it (including the salt water...), she rolled in it, she blew bubbles in it and she swam like a polliwog. When we needed to take a break for lunch and she was being carried by the pool she pointed. When she got sat down, she made a bee-line for the water. She splashed and squealed and had a wonderful time. And, of course, she was like a little celebrity, smiling and saying "hi" with a coy wave and huge grin to almost everyone she encountered. She also attempted to steal strangers beer cans and fruity drinks. She is nothing if not a magnanimous flirt. She would walk the aisle of the plane, stopping to greet people and smile. Everyone loved the baby.

In addition to the pools, she also sat in the ocean in a calm little area where the waves were tamed by rock. She was mesmerized by the ebb and flow of the tide.





Have you ever seen a cuter physique on a hula dancer? I think not!




Other things that Isabelle enjoyed at the hotel were the birds (she can now do the sign for "bird" in ASL), pointing out the moon ("mun") at night, and watching the fish in the hotel's coi ponds. One of the hotel's ponds surrounds the restaurant. When we went there for dinner, they gave Molly a cup of food to feed to the fish. Molly shared with Isabelle, who happily threw food at the fish. Had we let her go she would have also happily gone into the fish pond with the many colorful fish ("fsh-fsh").



The days in Hawaii were busy and full and new. Molly made Isabelle laugh, hard belly laughs, on a regular basis. She swam and flirted and played. And at the end of those days, or even in the middle, we never had a problem with naps (with Sheepy and Llama of course). Isabelle played hard and slept hard. She was herself. She was a good baby and we can't wait to go back next year for more.