Maybe she IS listening

One of the rules in our house is "no throwing." It's the rule Isa hears most often because whenever she's tired or frustrated or cranky, she likes to chuck toys (or anything else she can get her hands on) across the living room floor.

When a toy is thrown, I put that toy into a time-out up on the mantle and she doesn't get it back until the next morning. Since she often just moves onto the next toy to throw, I wasn't sure that this approach was actually teaching her not to throw.

This afternoon, Isa put an old-school Little Person on her finger (yeah for the toys from my childhood that my parents saved!). Then she flicked it across the floor. Before I could say anything, she turned to me and said "no throwing." Then, she picked up the Little Person, walked over to the mantle and held it up for me to put in time-out.

I sat there with my mouth wide open. Hurrah for self-disciplining! Now if she'd just remember the rule and apply it BEFORE doing the action......

New Orleans or bust

In the wee hours of the morning on Sunday I leave for a work conference in New Orleans. I'll be gone until late Thursday night. It's the first time I'll have been away from Isa for more than a single night. I'll admit to being a bit panicked, although also fairly excited about the idea of 4 nights in a row of uninterrupted sleep!

My dad is going to tag along with me- he's always wanted to see New Orleans and this is his chance for a free room at the Sheraton in the French Quarter. My mom is going to come up at stay with Isa at our house. I've put together a bunch of ideas of how to spend the time here at home- directions to the closest playground and a nearby beach, how to get to the Arboretum, directions to the zoo since I know my sister is coming up one day to do that with them. Now that the weather is finally nice, there's always the option of just walking up and down the sidewalk, playing with rocks (her current favorite activity), and the sandbox and little slide in our own backyard. Doesn't it look like todder paradise in our yard now?

I know that she'll be fine. I think the days will actually be harder on my mom than Isa. :) I guess I'm more concerned about the fall-out once I get back home. Extra-clinginess? A few more meltdowns? Who knows?

And we won't really have time to do much recuperating. The following Thursday, we're flying back to MN for a visit so that all of my friends from college can finally meet Isa. We're staying with my friend Katie who has a daughter, Isabel, who will be 3 in September. (I know, funny isn't it? Katie & Isadora plus Katie & Isabel) While I'm not looking forward to the plane trip with a now very active toddler, I know Isa will have a BLAST back there. And I can't wait to show her off.....

On that note, here's a belated birthday wish for Katie in MN (with a little improv at the end):

Isa-bot

Sometime in the last couple weeks, some evil doer stole my darling, sweet Isa B and replaced her with a constantly short-circuiting Isa-bot.

She goes from happy to wailing in 2 seconds flat. For no obvious reason. And then back to happy again when you aren't looking. This is especially apparent during meals. She has gotten very adept with a spoon or fork, so she's mostly feeding herself lately with utinsels rather than fingers. She can be in the middle of a bowl of food that she's enjoying, suddenly throw the fork across the table and start sobbing. Why? Who knows?

Another sign that the Isa-bot is obviously malfunctioning is her erratic sleep schedule. Today, for the second time in as many weeks, she slept until 9:30. That's right- 9:30 a.m.- 3 hours longer than normal. Even after this morning's sleep marathon she was ready for a nap by 1 and has been asleep for 2 1/2 hours.

Granted, her last 3 incisors are tthhiiisss close to breaking through her gums and in the last month (based on clothing fit) she's had a HUGE growth spurt- she's grown at least an inch, likely more. So perhaps everything from her mouth on down just hurts from all the outward/upward progress. That would make me cranky, too.

Or maybe I do have an Isa-bot on my hands. In that case, anyone know a good robot repair shop?

ETA- Final total for today: she slept an extra three hours this morning, took an almost three hour nap, and went down like usual at 7. CRAZY!

It's oh so quiet

In an effort to provide me with a little more time sans Isa, my parents graciously offered to start taking her for an overnight once a week. We dubbed it "Grandparents' Day" and today is our first one!

This morning they drove up and swept Isa away. They have outfitted their backyard with a climbing toy of some sort as well as a sandbox. They'll spend today playing at their house and then she'll spend the night with them. This will be the first time she's ever woken up without me there, but I think the combo of Grandma and Papaw will be more than enough to keep her happy. Tomorrow they have another fun day planned playing with my sister, who Isa adores. I'll drive down in the afternoon and we'll likely spend the night again before coming home on Saturday.

As I mentioned, I've never had a night off in the 14 months or so that we've been a family. I just wasn't ready until now. I was also waiting until Isa was reliably sleeping through the night because it just wasn't fair to force anyone else to watch her until then. I'm a bit apprehensive- not about whether she'll have fun or about my parents watching her or any of that. I'm worried that I'm going to be too lonely without her constant chatter all day. Silly, no?

I have a list about 4 miles long of things to do. After they left I took a shower- with no one else in the bathroom but myself (gasp)- and now have a mud mask on my face. Extravagent! It's highly probable that I'll paint my toenails at some point today and I expect a nap is also in my future. Shocking! Tonight I'm going out for drinks and dinner with my friend Autumn as a late birthday celebration for her. Scandalous! And I know you'll all be surprised to hear that tomorrow morning I have no plans on getting up at 6 a.m. :)

Of course, there are also plenty of chores to be done around all the fun stuff as well. I do an acceptable job of keeping the house picked up but it could really use a deep clean and full-on organization. I hope to get some extra work done to try and catch up from the missed work when we were in Kansas City. Laundry is a never-ending job around here as well. I expect to get a fair number of those things done, too.

But for now, I'm going to wash off my mask, pour myself another cup of coffee, and watch The View in my now silent living room.

Happy, happy, happy

Isa's favorite new word is "happy."

Two little videos of her from today using her new favorite word. As you can see, she decided her socks were better suited as gloves.

Almost famous

It's probably not a surprise, but people tend to comment on Isa when we're out. "She's adorable." "She looks a little doll." etc.... (And then she starts "talking" in her not so delicate voice and the image is shattered!) I have to admit that it's quite fun to bask in her reflected glow. Honestly, when I go out by myself it's a bit disappointing, as no one pays any attention to me whatsoever.

I even get to experience a little bit of fame from time to time. Last summer/fall we walked into an Ethiopian restaurant with another adoptive family for lunch after church. As we walked in a mom at one of the tables seemed to be staring at Isa. Since her family included a beautiful habesha baby, I assumed she was just pleased to see some other adoptive famlies. Not quite. She said "That's Isa B!" and told me that she followed our blog. Seriously- what are the odds?!? Turns out they live in the same town as my parents, which isn't too terribly far away. So, fame has it's rewards- we've had several play dates with this family since then and adore them.

But perhaps, in the not-so-distant future, we'll be experiencing a little fame beyond our tiny pie of the blogging world.......

Another comment that I got on a fairly regular basis was that Isa should be in modeling. I certainly wasn't going to go out and get head shots or such nonsense, but the idea of perhaps a little extra income just for Isa being cute wasn't a bad idea. So, on the recommendation of a friend, I signed Isa up with a local modeling agency. Nothing crazy- just emailed some of my own photos to the agency with Isa's stats. They said there wasn't a big market for infants/toddlers in this area, but they'd like to keep her info on file. Fine by me.

Well, they emailed last week to get updated stats and called today because a client is interested in seeing Isa! Unfortunately, the go-see (yes, I watch America's Next Top Model and have all the lingo) is on Thursday, when we'll be in Kansas City. Keep your fingers crossed that the client is interested enough that they'll wait and see Isa next week.

I'll keep you posted.....

Pack Rat

Last week I did the seasonal cull of Isa's clothes. Now I have yet another large plastic storage box full of outgrown clothes to put in the basement. There is very little space in the basement, yet virtually every item got packed up rather than bagged to be given away. As I packed it up, I remembered when she wore all the various items and it made me a little sad.

You see, I'm keeping all these clothes because deep in my heart I'm hoping that Isa won't be my one and only. I want another little girl to wear those dresses someday. I want to get to do this wonderful Mommy-thing again and I want Isa to experience the joy of sisterhood.

But the reality is that I'm single and not in a career that pays a lot. I live in Seattle, which has a high cost of living and my mortgage payment eats away at least half of the income I bring in each month. Add in all the other bills and I'm lucky if I have anything left over. I am actually pretty far in the hole after being down one contract for several months last fall. I certainly can't work 70 hour weeks the way I did pre-Isa in order to speed up the debt repayment and grow my savings.

We also don't have the space for another family member. We live in a teeny 1000 sq ft house with 2 small bedrooms. Sometimes I feel we are literally busting at the seams in here. There's no way that two children could share the room Isa is currently in. And having the money to either buy another house or- ideally, since I LOVE my neighborhood- add onto this house may never happen (see the previous paragraph).

Honestly, another adoption is not something that I plan to pursue in next several years, even if there were no material obstacles in my way. And life could take a million different turns in the coming years opening up all sorts of new doors. I guess I'm just a little sad when I think that everytime Isa does something for the first time, it may the only one of those "firsts" that I get to experience.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue my pack rat ways because you just never know. Those dresses may come in handy some day.......