Visit from Grams & Grampa Part 1

Yay Grams & Grampa are here!

Listening to Grampa play the guitar

Playing the guitar!

Eating my first gnocchi!

Helping with laundry

I am standing!

Swinging with Grams

This has been such a fun time with Grams & Grampa. Isla has changed so much in the past few weeks. She just seems older somehow. She has been getting more & more confident standing on her feet without holding on, and is all over the place side stepping while holding on to furniture and whatever else she can get her hands on. Isla has taken over our short, narrow coffee table that Taylor built as a temporary fix many years ago. She now plays with her toys standing up over it and walks around the table while holding on to it for support. She is ever the mover. She went to the park several times with Grams & Grampa to swing, and enjoyed the beautiful weather for a good portion of their time here.

Isla is very much enjoying eating "big girl" food, especially anything she can feed herself with her fingers. She tried mom's family's ricotta gnocchi, and I am pleased to say is in love with them. She could truly eat them all day. She "double fists" the food she likes, with one piece of food in one hand and another piece in her other hand, so as to never run out. She also LOVES avocado and could seriously eat a whole one in a day. It is so great to watch her feed herself. She gets kind of serious and focused. Very adorable.

Isla has been singing even more. We now think she sings to herself and chats with the things in her crib, as she is falling asleep. It is great to listen to (on the monitor). She is experimenting with LOTS of sounds, including a throat clearing sound (which we think she was copying all those who got sick this past week), a humming sound, and a gurgling sound. She is also experimenting with lots of tongue movements as well, including chewing on her tongue. She is quite a character, with a huge, seriously huge, personality!

Visitors & Fun

Swinging!

Daddy look-alike

A fun visit from Katie!

Isla tells Katie: "I like your style!"

Daddy time!

My first fever & ear infection. Kate was nursing me back to health.

Lots of visitors over the past few weeks, and more to come! Very fun. Kate came from NYC and then the following weekend Uncle Will, Molly, Uncle Wade, and Kate & John ALL came to visit for Taylor's Birthday. It was VERY fun. Local friends Alex, Bates, Tim & Josh also came to help T. celebrate. The big kids had Southern style food, and Isla actually was a little sick with an ear infection. Her first illness. So sad to see her hurting and unable to tell us how to help. But, even when she is fussy with a fever, her sparkling smile is never too far away.

eight months, unbelievable.

Strawberries!

Moving sideways on her feet.

Punky Brewster!

Guitar playing fun.

Winter at the beach

The Doggies

Beautiful Beets!

Playing with my friend Kaelyn!

Nico's snowball collar

A February Winter Wonderland!

With Nick & Matteo!

fun ears, a la Bernadette

Hand printing for Isla's first Valentine's Day (with Jamie & K)

A typical day's food palette... (inlcuding Mom's coffee, of course)

So much has happened in the past month. Isla is changing a little bit everyday, and it is an amazing thing to be apart of. She is now feeding herself some easy to pick up solid foods and making an amusing attempt to chew them with her one TOOTH! She actually sometimes places her little puffs or an individual pea right on her tooth to then chew/gum. It is perfectly adorable. She is also clapping, and this almost feels like a new window into her mind. She sometimes really seems to be communicating her happiness with this gesture. Not that we have much difficulty knowing when she is happy, as she is a HUGE smiler. She sometimes claps when Taylor or I come into a room, and often claps when the dogs come into the room, especially when she first sees them in the morning. This week she started clapping while we change her diaper. Point well taken.

She still LOVES to play with Mommy's phone. LOVES video chatting online with her Grams & Grampa, and Nonna & Papa. She is doing a lot of this casual kicking back and forth of her leg. She does this when we are holding her and when she is in her highchair. She also kicks both legs in excitement, for example when we have music blasting through the house. The simultaneous leg kicking is her I-can't-yet-walk-but-love-to-dance move. We have pretty regular dance parties every evening in the dinning room, and Isla adores them. She gets so excited as we dance around her and with her and for her. She is loving Beyonce and Alicia Keys and Jay-Z, to name a few. She is a very hip little gal. But really she also loves ALL music, and singing in particular. Speaking of music, she is a bit of a wild woman at Toddler Tunes these days, crawling ALL OVER the place, including up to the musician Robert's chair. She then stands on her tip toes holding on to his chair with one hand and trying to touch the guitar with her other hand. (Yes, while he is performing/leading a mess of kids & parents in song) I imagine it is a bit distracting, but he takes it all in stride. She is definitely his biggest fan. She also crawls in every direction visiting dancing toddlers, and seated babes. She touches their shoes, their faces, climbs up to standing on their chairs, and sometimes even explores with her pointing finger dirt chunks on the floor. You might get the picture by this point. Somehow, Toddler Tunes ends up being exercise for Mommy... Did I mention she is VERY into pointing.

It is winter, full on, here in CT. We have had a few perfect snows over the last month. Beautiful, winter wonderland types. And, a few less exciting slushy snows as well. Isla is brave in this weather. We go out for walks despite the cold, and she enjoys it. She is so captivated by people. She engages everyone around her with her huge & inviting eyes and smile. As you might imagine, she is good at making friends. Her captivation with the guitar singing Toddler Tunes Man is, I think, in large part because her Daddy often plays the guitar for her, sings to her and then lets her strum the instrument herself.