Isabelle and the Alphabet Blocks

Here's a video of Izzy with her blocks this afternoon. I know the quality isn't that great, but keep in mind this is also from my phone.

Happy Memorial Day!

It's been quite a weekend here. Lots of new learning and stuff going on. I finally bought an outdoor toy from a friend having a rummage so Izzy has at least one safe(er) place to climb. She loves it! On Saturday we woke up, Izzy had a head full of congestion and eyes full to boot. We were a little concerned so we took her to walk-in on Saturday....doc said it was just a virus, but she's been a grumpy, teething bear all weekend. However, I peeked in her mouth today and both 1 year molars on top are through, so those 2 shouldn't be bothering her as much anymore.

Isabelle continues to climb everything in sight....this includes Magnum and Dan or I if it's convenient. This has invariably lead to a few bumps on the head, the most recent happening this afternoon when she stumbled on the steps outside....concrete...ouch! She doesn't seem to mind too much though, and just keeps right on going after she gets a hug.

We all went out for lunch on Saturday. Three big things happened there....for one, Izzy started to want the ENTIRE half of her grilled cheese sandwich and take bites rather than eat the cut up pieces. This has gotten more prevalent since then....anything that I can give her whole, she prefers it so she can take bites. However, I have to be vigilant with watching her with big pieces, or she will end up with half a piece of bread jammed in her cheek (or something similar). The second thing was that she learned to drink from a straw. After she figured out how to do that, she simply couldn't get enough of Daddy's lemonade. Thirdly, as we sat down at the table, she pointed at the light hanging over the table and said "light." Both Dan and I heard it....and I believe both of our jaws dropped. Now that I think about it, though, Izzy had been pointing at the lights here and other places, and I've been telling her "light."

Izzy continues to learn and say new things. Newer things to her speech list include; more or 'mo,' MaMa or mom, dog or 'daw,' and ball or 'baw' (I credit this to the big purple ball that we've been so thrilled with since the last post). She understands so more and it grows all the time. She knows what it means to take a drink, sit down, stand up, put on shoes (which she's recently tried doing herself), give a kiss, wave bye bye (but she's stubborn with this one), among others that I can't think of at the moment.

Another cool thing that she learned this weekend while having breakfast yesterday...she learned how to hold, load, and eat off of a fork. She was thrilled with this new skill! It even helped her eat more lunch when she was convinced she was done and hadn't eaten much... (Mom and Dad are so sneaky...)

And today, despite all the grumpiness....we took a walk and then came back and played with the blocks. Usually, mom would build the towers and it was Izzy's job to knock them down. Now, however, she's gained the skill to build towers herself. I watched her build 2 block, 3 block and in one case a 4 block tower! She tried for 5, but it all came tumbling down. Could this mean that sooner than I think I'll have a lego partner? Maybe!

She still loves to take everything OUT of everywhere, but now...sometimes she will put back IN as well. In the routine tornado route that she takes through her room, she emptied all of the contents out of her bath basket onto the floor among the legos and shoes she was playing with as I was stocking diapers as wipes. What was different about this time, is that she picked up all of the items for the bath basked ONLY and put them back in the basket. Just to give her a little crap, I tossed one of her big legos into the bath basket.....it took her a second, but she gave me a look and somehting that sounded like 'hey!' (another new development...the beginning of sass) and took the item that did not belong out of the basket.

Here are some pictures from this week. I haven't had the camera next to me at all when taking these, so they are off my phone. I can never seem to remember to have the camera with me, but then again, Izzy is no longer immobile and we spend far less time in the living room than we used to.

Here is what I found Thursday morning when it was time to 'gettie uppie.' Someone likes to snuggle up when they sleep....

Someone is also more of a morning person than mom is....Our new climbing haven...

I don't think she likes it...do you?Here's Izzy stopping to smell the flowers today. It was a struggle to not pull the flower out and eat it...but we finally figured out that they're to be treated gently.

These boots are made for walkin....

Izzy and her shoes! Sometimes, not just any shoes will do....they have to be RED shoes. She spied a pair of "Dorothy" shoes that I had stowed in the closet for her when she grew into them (which will be soon, I might add). Since she saw those red sparkles, no other shoe will do for playing in the house....those are usually nearby.

I swear she's getting taller. Things on the edge of the kitchen counter are no longer safe. She's ALMOST able to get up on the couches herself as well. Today, watching Dad grill outside, she reached for the door handle and started pulling on it. Soon, soon she will become much more dangerous! LOL. She is already EVERYWHERE.

She was my little buddy this weekend, "helping" me out with EVERYTHING that I was doing with the house. Most of the time she had to be BETWEEN me and whatever I was working on so she didn't miss anything. Needless to say, that got interesting for some of the tasks I was trying to accomplish....like cleaning the toilet! Her teeth must have stopped their movement for the weekend or something because she was in the BEST mood all weekend. It's periods of time like this where you understand why people have lots of kids!

Isabelle is turning into a regular goof ball, with a great sense of humor. Her giggle is infectious (at least to mom and dad) and she has this sort of a-HA chuckle when she figures something out....it's hilarious.

I've also noticed that she says a LOT more than I originally thought she did, it was my interpretation and listening skills that needed the honing. She seems to be eager to learn more all the time as well.

Today, Izzy and I were doing the grocery shopping. She had been such a good, happy and helpful girl all weekend that when we came across a large bin of inflated bouncy balls near the end of the store, and she looked at them with wonder... I caved. I bounced out a big purple one and handed it to her. The look on her face said that I had just given her the equivalent of a million dollars! I spent the last 1/3 of the shopping trip talking to a big purple bouncy ball instead of Isabelle because she didn't want to let it go and the ball obscured the view of her upper half entirely. I warned her to keep talking to me so I knew she was still there. She obliged with her favorite phrase of the week... "Dawdle, dawdle, dawdle, dawdle..." After we got home, we spend a good while playing with the ball....inside, outside, showing it to Daddy, and Magnum (who wanted to share it SO badly...ha ha). Dad showed her how to bounce it much to her amusement, Mom showed her how to roll it back and forth between 2 people....what fun can be had with a $3 ball!

Izzy and I having fun watching dad-dee take the boat out for a test run

The red shoes...Walking tall in the sparklies....
Yep! We like 'em!Here's Izzy trying to make a fast escape before bed this evening...

No More Bottles, No More Formula, and 1st Year Molars....Who's Growing Up?

Isabelle, that's who. Sunday night marked the last bottle at the Sperfslage household. We will never again put a sleepy, snuggly Isabelle to bed after just finishing a big satisfying bottle. I will sorely miss that, it was my favorite part of the day. What I won't miss is the cost of the formula every week, to the tune of an average of $100 per month or washing out a sink full of bottles nightly. Whole milk is much more reasonable!

And I thought we were done with teeth for awhile until the incisors would rear their heads at 18 months....NOPE! her one year molars are working their way in, and boy oh boy, those feel like they're BIG teeth comparatively! Her top two are almost through. She's sporting some tender fingers from gnawing on her hands so much. I wish I could take the pain for her, but she's been showing that she's a tough cookie when she wants to be.

It seems like she's working on her climbing and communication skills now, and of course practicing walking everywhere. She understands so much more than I think she does, if I just slow down and watch her and listen, sometimes I can get a good idea of what she wants, what she's talking about, or what's frustrating her.

Her love of shoes is still strong. This morning she brought 2 shoes (mis-matched, mind you) to Dan as he was getting ready. He had to 'try on' each shoe and tell her they were too small before she would accept that she couldn't share her shoes with him.

She's been learning lately to give us things. She's been picking up EVERYTHING and bringing it to either Dan or me lately. I don't know where this came from, but she thinks she's incredibly helpful, whether she's giving you one of her Cheerio's, one of her toys, or one of her 'rock treasures' from outside. If you ask her if you 'can have this, please.' Most of the time she will choose to let you have it, which is much better than trying to take it and creating a power struggle/confrontation. Hopefully this will carry through, but I know that the older toddler years are coming.

In holding true to her independant streak, she now tries to do many things for herself...brushing her hair, brushing her teeth, taking off her clothes at bath time, etc, etc. When we're out on the deck, she will help mom blow bubbles for Magnum to chase. She doesn't quite know how to blow them herself yet....so she will take the wand, dip it in the bubbles and hold it up (VERY BRIEFLY) for mom to blow on it, then proceed to dip the wand again. I have a hard time catching the wand to blow bubbles between her dips, but she takes her duty very seriously!

Recent pics of the growing girl:

Izzy hamming it up outside

Trying things on our head is another new favorite. Could this be tied to trying to get her to wear a hat outside?

Trying on a too-big toothbrush for size

Izzy prolonging...ahem, I mean helping the folding of laundry

Goofball.

We're not quite sure what to do with the crayons yet other than taste them. We'll try again soon.

Been Awhile...

It's been awhile since I've gotten around to posting anything, so it's about time for an update!

Izzy continues to grow and change. At her year appointment she weighed in at 22.5 lbs and is 2.5' tall. She's slowed down growing a bit, as is normal for her age. She's now in roughly the 70 to 75th percentile for both height and weight. The doc says she looks great, is healthy and happy, and also assured me that the minor head traumas that she's been inflicting on herself since learning to walk are perfectly normal. He also commented during the check-up how strong she is (as he usually does during our checks). For some reason that makes me chuckle when a full grown man says that about a 1 year old girl (and younger in our previous visits).

Izzy continues to love other kids and going to the sitter. She has some pretty good buddies there to follow around and learn things from. There's also a little guy and gal there younger that she's been teaching. It's interesting to hear about.

She still LOVES playing with shoes, and recently she has begin to LOVE playing on and around and climbing up the couches too. Who says girls don't like to climb? She climbs where ever she can on whatever or whomever will allow it. (Poor Magnum - but he gets his rewards in dropped food at suppertime.) Speaking of Magnum...remember how Izzy learned to 'give me a kiss' awhile ago? Now she shows her love for Magnum too, which, I'm glad that they love each other so much...but still.

She's also starting to take a fairly keen interest in what mom or dad is doing at any point in time, which she always has, but now she really wants to participate. Whenever I'm putting in a headband she has to take the other one and try to get it on. Most of the time it ends up hanging around her neck like a towel, but she's SO proud that she got it on herself. Mom will help her put it in the right place, then we declare her 'pretty!' She smiles sweetly and then rips it out to hang it around her neck again. Whatever works, right?

Getting ready for trash day Monday night this week, Izzy wanted to do her part too. As I was emptying the smaller trash cans and collecting the little bags in the hallway to carry out, Isabelle just HAD to carry one for me and walk with me. She would have it no other way! It seems to me that she's a little young to want to be such a helper, but I'll take it anyway.

She also loves playing outside, which is no surprise since both of her parents are the same way.

I believe that she is working on her 1 year molars as well. She's been pretty crabby and clingy for the past couple of days and isn't sick (at least so far...*knocks on wood*) One day this week after work, she didn't even TOUCH her toys and wasn't happy unless I had her picked up, or she was in my lap. That was a long night, but sine she's working on teeth, at least there is a reason for her change in behavior. Thank goodness for Motrin!

Last week, Izzy started saying 'mama'! FINALLY! I'm convinced that if she could say just a few things that a lot of the whining would go away. She gets SO frustrated with things she can't quite do yet. So, I'm trying to teach her to say 'more, please' when she wants more instead of using the dreaded whine. Even if she just gets out 'mo pe' or something similar, at least it's giving her a tool to use instead of the whining.

It seems like she does so many new things all the time, it's hard to keep up.

Here are some recent shots. She's changed a lot, since even Easter, hasn't she?

I climbed up here all by myself!

I climbed up here all by myself, AND I'm conducting my very own orchestra (note the fast fingers...)

Where's Waldo?

Dad gets a smile before taking Izzy to the sitter. (And sends it to Mom who's already at work, and it makes her morning.)Mom, are you taking a picture again?

Who says girls don't climb???

Izzy giddy from climbing around. So much energy!

Happy Easter! & other Misc. Happenings

Happy Easter everyone!

Since figuring out that she could walk, Isabelle has been busier than ever, as I've heard would be the case.

There have been so many things happening with her this week, I will try to remember them all.

• Izzy has been developing the emotion of frustration. She will try to do something that she just thinks that she SHOULD be able to do with no problem, but having the normal coordination of a 12 month old...that's not always the case. She will then wave her hands in frustration, do what I call a 'baby curse,' throw whatever she's holding down, and SOMETIMES she will set her cheeks in her hands and squeeze. It's quite a sight. Sometimes it's a little scary to see some of your mannerisms looking back at you in smaller form.
• She is wild about her shoes. She has a pair of red dress shoes, that she inherited from our sitter. I was going to give them away because I didn't think I would ever put these particular shoes on her. Well, I soon found out that I'd better not. She's rather attached to these shoes, but not to wearing them. She'll carry one or both of them around with her as she toddles around the house. The other day as we were sitting down for a snack, she had her sippy cup in one hand, a red shoe in the other, and no hands left to pick up her cheerios. Her solution? To lean over her high chair tray and pick up her cereal with her tongue. I couldn't believe it when I saw her doing this! Problem solving at it's most fundamental!
• She's been a bit crabby lately....she's working on tooth #8.
• We've been reducing the formula in favor of milk. At current 'press time' we're down to only having formula in the one remaining bottle that we drink at bedtime. The bottles that used to be at 10 and 2 are now water or juice with snacks. She's starting to eat more and more like a little person! She LOVES pizza, pasta, ham, fruit, veggies, cheese, and lots more. She does NOT care for tater tot casserole or hamburger at this point.
  
• With the weather being a little warmer, we've been getting the bicycles out. Aunt Linda was nice enough to let us use her bike trailer for little tots like Isabelle. So we've been going on bicycle rides. Izzy loves it! She talks non-stop when riding in the trailer. On Sunday we took her to the dam in town and showed her the running water
• On Saturday we took a bicycle ride to the park that we have nearby. We put Izzy in the swings, which we already knew she loved. From there we rode the dinosaur, which she seemed non-plussed with. From there, though, we moved to the slides. Ooooh boy....did she LOVE the slides. Even the ones that were a little taller, Dad would sit her about at the top or part of the way up and let her slide. This caused BIG grins! It looks like we'll be making many more trips to the park as time goes on.
  
• Izzy did pretty well at Easter mass. There were some rough parts, but all in all she was pretty patient. From time to time, she would point at the people in the standing room along the pews. There was one gentleman that would point back to her. As his finger would get close to hers, she would quickly pull back and hide against Dad's shoulder. As soon as the gentleman would put down his hand, she would extend hers again, much to the delight of the other pointer and the people standing behind us.
  
• Later last week, while Izzy was in the bath, mom decided to trim her bangs away from her face so she wouldn't be bothered by those long strands hanging in her eyes. Unfortunately, mom forgot that hair shortens when it dries, and since she rarely holds still....well, her trimmed bangs looked more like a hack job than a trim. While I was out on a business trip today, dad took Izzy for her first real haircut, which was basically a fix of what I did, plus an evening up of everywhere else.
  

Here are a couple of pictures of Izzy in her Easter dress:

Isn't my dress pretty?

I am beginning to LOVE shoes!

We're done with church, so it's time to PLAY!!

Look Out! She's Walking!

A day after her first birthday, Isabelle decided to let go and become a member of the upright, walking community. It was only a few steps across the living room at first, but as the week wore on she became more and more confident relatively quickly. Now, I have a feeling we will have to baby proof in earnest!

Happy Birthday, Isabelle! (Ok, 2 days early)

Dan and I decided earlier this week that today would be the day we'd make special for Izzy. With her birthday being on Tuesday, it made sense to have our little party today rather than try and hurry to squeeze it all in after a full work day.

First we bundled up and headed down to Brookfield and into one of our favorite baby discount chains. It was time to bite the bullet and get Isabelle new, forward facing seats for our vehicles. On the way home, we joked about taking her to Chuck-E-Cheese's for lunch, but thought that most of the effect would be lost on a 1 year old. We headed to Uno's instead where we tried to teach her how to color as we waited for the food, but all she was interested in was eating the crayons. Maybe we'll try agian in a few weeks.

By the time we got home, it was time for a much needed nap. While she slept, I wrapped her birthday gifts and Dan installed her new seat in the truck, I would have to attack mine for the car later.

After the nap and once she woke up fully, Isabelle realized there were wrapped and pretty boxes in the living room! Well, those just couldn't go unexplored! She was much more efficient with the wrapping paper than she was at Christmas....oh the difference a few months can make! After exploring the gifts a good while and helping mom with the paper clean up, it was time for the birthday cake! She seemed to enjoy the cake MUCH more than the frosting....she takes after her mom that way, I guess.

After that...yes, there's more! Dan needed to take some movies back. He decided to take Isabelle for her first ride in her front-facing seat. He said she would not quit talking the WHOLE trip, and was getting a huge kick out of looking out the side window like a big kid.

While they were gone, I was able to get my seat installed, so now it's time to clean up the infant seat and put it away. I remember how small Izzy looked the day we brought her home in that seat.

Once they returned, it was time for supper and juice in the new sippies, bath time, and then bedtime! She was tuckered out after today, but she seemed to have a pretty good time! Tuesday will be special too, but we wouldn't have had enough hours in the evening to squeeze all this in!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today.

Isabelle sizing up her presents. Which one first?

The BIG one of course!!

The contents of the big box....sitting on it properly.

...and now NOT so properly. Note Mags had to check it out too, JUST to make sure it was ok for his little sister. After all, it makes funny noises!

Now onto one of the smaller packages. This one happens to be big, round toddler crayons. Judging from lunch today, these will have to wait awhile. Luckily they won't spoil! :D

Remind me again why we buy toys, and don't just buy oddly shaped boxes?

An overview of the gift aftermath...all in all, it was pretty tidy!

Isabelle presenting her birthday cupcake. This gesture covers how she waves, how she tells you what she wants you to talk about, and sometimes, like in this photo, what she would like to have. If oooonly her arms were longer.

Isabelle getting a closer look at her personal birthday cupcake. Thankfully you can't hear mom and dad singing Happy Birthday in the background.

What is this spongy stuff you call cake?

Mmmmm....cake is good!!Izzy in her new seat! She sure looks small in it....considering this seat can last up to 100 lbs, I guess she is small, relative to the seat. To me, however, she also looks like the beginnings of a big kid sitting in it, rather than a baby. Where did the time go?

Almost 1!

Izzy had been a mover and a shaker this week! How is that different than any other week, though? Today we walked around outside with her under her own power for the first time....holding onto only ONE of mom's hands, of course. We were lucky enough to find a wood chip and a stick to explore. From there, we spent some time in the baby swing and I told her all about the wondrous equipment that we'd explore in the park once it finally warmed up. She looked at me with the setting sun reflecting in her blue, blue eyes and grinned a sparkly grin at me....like she was actually picking up on what I was saying. ... Then she turned to the tree, pointed, and gave the tree a very serious speech. I can only assume that the tree now knows Isabelle's life's ambition while mom is left wondering what she said and puzzled as to why the tree warranted such a speech.

In other news, Izzy is down to 2 bottles a day, one right away in the morning (which won't be hard to drop because she really doesn't seem too attached to it) and one right before bed. THAT'S the one that's going to be tough on all of us to get rid of for various reasons.

Isabelle's new thing is taking buckets with toys in them or cups filled with water in the bathtub and upending them over her upturned face, where she's waiting for whatever the contents to spill down on her...open faced...and open mouthed. I believe if I would have let her, she may have drank the entire contents of her bath last night.

Wednesday, Izzy and I were having lunch and Dad came home to get one of the motorcycles to take to the shop. As Dan came in the door, both he and I could have sworn Isabelle said "Hi Dada." Later that same day, I could have sworn she said 'puppy.' I know she understands more than she can say, I can just SEE it....especially when she 'talks' and points to what she's talking about or wants.

I still can't believe my little "baby" will be ONE on Tuesday. ONE! With all the stress at work the last year...THAT time seems to be going SO slowly. However, the time with Isabelle seems to have flown. Didn't she just start crawling a little bit ago?

Here are some pictures from the week:

Isabelle (and Magnum) helping Mom on Wednesday..."hrm...I wonder what THIS button does?"

"hee hee hee.......I don't THINK I'm supposed to be messing around right nere...

Izzy taking advantage of snack time on Mom's lap. (That's me in the Iowa State sweatshirt)

Now you can see what I mean by 'taking advantage' of snack time in mom's lap. Not content to sit up in mom's lap, she must lay down, work her head between my arm and my body so her head is on the arm rest, my arm is around her, and stretch out to cross her ankles on the desk. She seems to think, "THERE! Now mom can't do ANYTHING else but pay attention to ME!" It's hard work being a momma's girl.

Here she is pouring out the contents of an old formula can. At least this time there was no liquid or sputtering involved.

And lastly (but not leastly) here's a picture of our often not mentioned, often climbed upon, always good natured, and once in awhile in-trouble for food surfing fur baby. He's quite the buddy for Isabelle.

Crawling is No Longer COOL Enough

All weekend Isabelle has been walking around the house with mom...but only holding onto ONE of my hands. I lost count yesterday how many times we've gone from the living room, down the hallway, to her room, to the patio door and back again. Sure, she can get places herself by crawling or cruising, but this mode of transport no longer seems to be COOL enough to suit our little stinker. It was just last week that she wasn't so sure about only holding on to ONE hand of mom or dad. Additionally, just before her nap she made up her mind and walked from the couch to a diaper box we happened to be playing with at the time...about 4 steps..all by herself! I believe she's realizing that she just might be able to do this thing without a wall or a helping hand from mom or dad.

Thursday, Dan and I also noticed that she can say 'baby'...and she says it often! So that was kind of cool to hear another recognizable word. She's starting to watch speech very closely and will sometimes try to imitate. Sometimes she will also try to imitate the inflection. My favorite is when she tries to whisper something.

Another development of the last few days is the advent of the pouting cry. By listening, you (or at least Dan and I) can immediately tell that it's fake...and that for whatever reason, something hasn't gone the way she wants, and she's bellyaching/pouting about it. This could be anything from wanting to get down from her high chair and it isn't time yet to being denied access to mom or dad's BlackBerry. This is just the newest chapter in the 'you can't always get what you want' lesson.