(almost) 16 months

Isa's (delayed) 15 month check-up was yesterday.

Stats:

Weight- 23lbs 6 oz (back up to 50th percentile)
Height- 30in (stable at 25th percentile)
Head circ- a gi-normous leap to the 50th percentile

And her hair was up in two poofs, so I know the hair didn't account for the head growth (that was my first thought....)

She's right on track developmentally. I expected to be chastised for having her still on the bottle (just before nap and bedtimes), but happily the ped didn't even mention it. Isa was her usual boisterous self- showing off her belly, yucking it up in the mirror and, of course, ripping the heck out of the crinkly paper on the exam table.

She had to get two shots, which went fairly well. The look on her face after the first needle was priceless. She looked up at the MA with a face that plainly said "what the heck did you just do to me????" Luckily, the office stocks little packages of animal crackers and as soon as the MA pulled one out, Isa promptly stopped crying. Blessed, blessed animal crackers!

And, finally, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am one of those moms that hears "words" that my child really isn't saying. I swear she says something akin to "moma" for snowman and "nanta" for Santa. Yes, I probably couldn't tell what the words were without context, but if she consistently says them when pointing to the object or "repeated" to me when I say the word, that counts right?

I promise pics soon- need to load recent shots into the computer......

What's in a name?

The most recent post got a comment asking about Isa's name and I realized that I've never actually blogged on that particular topic. So here goes.

Her full first name is Isadora. After my grandmother passed away, my mom and I went through her desk and found a bunch of old family photos (all the way back to tin types!). There were several photos of my grandmother's grandmother, who was named Mary Isadora. I loved the name instantly. Doesn't hurt that I'm also a dance enthusiast and Isadora Duncan was an icon in the world of dance.

Originally I made her nickname-to-be "Isa-boo". But then I found out that Rachel Ray's dog is named Isa-boo. Um... that was out. But our last name starts with B and since the vast majority of my friends in high school and college called me Katie B (rarely just Katie), it seemed appropriate for Isa to become Isa B. And it stuck. There was actually a time a few months after coming home when she wouldn't respond to Isa or Isadora. Isa B only.

I did retain her Ethiopian name as her first middle name and added Mary as a second middle name. My grandmother, my mother, and I are all the first born daughters with the first name Mary. I didn't want Isa to have to use her middle name like I do (total pain in the arse), but I thought it was important that she was a Mary as well.

Oh- one last thought on her name. I pronounce it Izza but I don't mind at all if folks say Eessa (the way it would be pronounced in Spanish, for example). Call her Isa, Isa B, Isadora, Iz. Just DON'T call her Izzy. For some reason, I absolutely abhor that particular nickname. :)

Warning- excessive bragging ahead

So, Isa B finally decided she wanted to walk for good (the day after I posted that I was done guessing when she'd start, of course). After a whole week and a half, she is now zooming furiously around:



You can see that, much like her Mommy, Isa likes to talk with her hands. Heck, the girl just likes to talk. Often. Loudly. To anyone who might possibly be in earshot. She walks around all the time talking and waving her hands like that- very entertaining.

Now that she's no longer focused on learning to walk, her vocabulary has just exploded. She had the same four or so words since around her birthday (kitty, mama, duck-duck, and sometimes doggy) and now suddenly she has so many more. In the last week she's decided that she LOVES the word "no". Sometimes she even says "Nope" which is hysterical. And the best part is that she really does use it appropriately. She'll go up to something she knows she shouldn't touch, shake her head, and say "no-no." Of course, she doesn't always follow her own advice..... Other new words include "choo-choo", "neigh-neigh" (horse), "Papaw" (Isa's grandpa, for whom she used to say"dada"), and "num-num" (i.e, "I'm hungry). It's always obvious at the point in the evening when she's ready for bed, but now when I ask her if she wants to go "night-night" she'll respond back with "nigh-nigh". Hmm... lots of word doubling, huh? Here's a clip of her talking- she's saying "Nina" (her godmother), then she pants (which is her usual way of saying "doggy"), and finally a very distinct "no-no."

She has recently discovered her two baby dolls and likes to walk around with them in her arms. It's about 50-50 whether she's smacking the baby's head on the ground or giving her a kiss. We're working on the concept of GENTLE. :) Here's a moment where she's loving her baby.

To add to all the other accomplishments, she's getting better at self-feeding as well. Here she is inspecting a piece of apple and then showing off how great her teeth are at chomping.




Bottom teeth #3 & #4 just broke through. Isa has had several bouts of extreme crankiness in the last couple days and one of her bottom gums feels like a molar is imminent. Fingers crossed that it comes through quickly.

And that's the report from here!

Bliss

Last night, Isa went down uneventfully around 7 p.m.. I planned to stay up and finish my A&P homework, perhaps do my online test for my other class. Instead I got a GINORMOUS headache. The kind where 2 Tylenol make very little dent. All I could do was snuggle up on the couch and rest (more precisely, fall asleep-the best headache remedy I know). My parents were spending the night to watch Isa during this morning's class and my mom in her infinite wisdom sent me to bed at 9 p.m..

And now you're thinking, but wait- this post is titled "bliss"??? What's blissful about a massive headache???

Ah, yes. Isa B proceded to sleep until 6 a.m. That's right. I got 9 (count them-9!!!) hours of sleep last night.

Heaven. Sheer and utter bliss. Almost makes a girl weep with joy.

Randomness (and lots of pics!)

Isa B turned 15 months yesterday and we are approaching the 9 month home mark. Wow, wow, wow- time is FLYING by!!!

As the title suggests, this post is a total mish-mash of randomness.

First off, I finally have a new contract in place. Yeah for money!

Isa still refuses to walk by herself. She's totally capable. Excellent balance and she barely pulls on your hands at all when she walks but she just doesn't believe she can do it yet. I can get her to take a couple little steps at a time, but then she purposefully sits down and crawls. I know that one of these days she's going to take off but have decided to stop making guesses at when!

Her hair continues to grow like crazy. Here is what she typically looks like in the morning:

I'm going to work on being more creative with her hair since I usually just do two barrettes in the front and occasionally 2 not-so-little puffs. She certainly has enough hair to work with, I'm just completely inept. :)

Isa has finally decided that self feeding isn't such a bad thing. This is wonderful! She used to start playing with her food after a few pieces, but now I can put a little bowl of food down in front of her and she'll eat the entire thing. No food being flung off the tray to the floor. No need to actively spoon-feed her. I think she's eating more this way as well. Good all around.

And finally, her favorite new thing to do is kiss people. Particularly other babies. She made sure to get around to all her buddies at our music session yesterday to give them each a kiss. Here she is giving a smooch to her friend Gracie (another beautiful habesha baby!). And then one where Gracie is going in for some lovin'....

ETA- well maybe it won't be that long until she walks after all..... :)

The return of Fav Foto Friday

Well, after a long hiatus, FFF returns to the blog. This week's theme is "favorite family photo." Here are some of my favorites:

our first meeting (look how tiny she was!!!)

at her birthday in August- totally captures her personality

As I've mentioned before, we don't have too many photos of us together. We definitely need to have some professional photos taken!

VOTE!!!

Vote!!! Vote!!! Vote!!!

My usual absentee ballot voting status somehow got changed when I finally updated my address on voter registration this year, so for the first time ever I'll go to the polls and vote. I'm very excited to get my "I voted" sticker... they really need to include those with the absentee ballots.

Of course I would love everyone to vote the way my conscience votes (I live in Seattle- it's pretty obvious how I lean) but regardless of your stance JUST VOTE!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow will be historic- we'll either have an African-American President elect or a female Vice-President elect. Wow.