Time really flies by! In some ways I can’t believe it’s already been 2 years.  In other ways I can’t believe it’s only been 2 years. 

Isabel is awesome!  She’s at a really fun age and only occasionally has fits of ‘toddling’ when she throws whatever she’s holding or flops to the ground like Vlade Divacs in a fit of tears. 

Often we find ourselves saying things like “Isabel, we don’t negotiate with terrorists,” “You know we can’t do what you want if you’re crying or whining,” and “Are you done crying so we can do X, Y, or Z?”    She’s starting to understand and will equally often look up at us with eyes full of crocodile tears and panting breath and say “all done.  All done crying.  Up Please.”  It’s adorable and heart wrenching at the same time.    

At 2 years old, she is also a master manipulator.  Jake or I will say No to something and then 5 minutes later realize that we’ve slowly, but surely, accommodated her request through little concessions.  For example, we don’t let her eat food in our laps during dinner so we will say No.   Instead, she asks to 1) get down from her chair and go play – we say yes.  2) then she comes back and asks to come on my lap after I’m done eating and hang out – we say yes.  3) then she asks for milk or water while there – we say yes.  4) Then she asks to for something to eat – we say yes…then look at eachother realizing we’ve been bested by a 2 year old! 

Where did this accent come from?  I know I have a ‘hard A’ accent from the Midwest.  I think Jake has a mumbling New York accent.  But Isabel has developed her own weird accent combinations.  She says puh-lease for please and sounds like a true Southern Belle.  She also adds a ‘T’ sound randomly at the end of words – daddyt, puttyt, grammat, pillowt.  I have no idea where she picked it up or how to stop it.  It’s both amusing and baffling. 

Isabel’s milestones and firsts:

-          Learned most of her colors before age 2! 

-          Frequently says complete sentences

-          Slightly less frequently she ends those sentences in ‘please’

-          Knows the letter ‘I for Isabel’ by sight (although sometimes she mistakes it for a lowercase L or a 1)

-          Has familiarity with the letters P (for peter penguin), H for Hannah, J for Jake, T for Tommy, and D for Daddy. 

-          Can gallop and jump

-          Goes shopping with her own shopping cart at whole foods and knows where stuff is. 

-          Terrible swimmer – she sinks but smiles while she’s underwater waiting for help