Update

So as I am sure everyone can tell, I have been pretty busy. Taking call every fourth night sure does take a toll on blogging! I have been having a great time at work and I really do love being there, even though it is pretty exhausting.

Here is a brief update on Isidora - she can now count from 1 to 12 (!) and she says "I love you too kisses!" when I tell her, "I love you." She is more active and playful than ever (of course). She most definitely has her own opinions about what she wants and when she wants it. Her favorite things right now are trains, Toy Story ("Woody Jessie Buzz!") and Goodnight Moon ("nigh-night moo-nah").

She and Daddy are having a pretty good time at home, though she can sure be a handful at times. And, she is finally transitioning to afternoon naps! It's about time!

Anyway, hopefully I can convince Matt (and myself) to keep up some more frequent updates.

Counting update

Isidora has continued learning her counting since I last posted on the subject and now frequently counts, "two, free, foh, figh, sih, nigh, ten!"

Only three more numbers to go!

Also, she has started saying "a, b, c"


On a side note, Isidora went pee-pee in her potty! Yay!

Bee-ball

Isidora has followed in her father's footsteps in being really excited about baseball. Now, whether or not this is genuine remains to be seen, but for now she really enjoys saying things about baseball.

Whenever we see baseball on television, Isidora points and says "bee-ball!" And then runs around saying, "Go, Aow-ber!" (Go, Albert, as in Pujols). Occasionally she even gets upset when it goes to commercial and says, "Moh bee-ball?"

This morning, we were watching highlights of the game against the LA Dodgers from last night and I said, "Hit it to Manny!" (Manny Ramirez). To which Isidora said, "Hih ih to Man-nee!"

What a good girl.

Counting

Recently Isidora has started to say numbers. She most reliably says "wah" (one) and "two" when associated with one or two cookies, respectively. In the last couple of days, though, she has started to say more than just "wah" and "two", she has counted all the way up to six!

Mostly what she does is say the next number in the line. I will say "one" and then Isidora will say "two, free" (two, three), sometimes she will then say "foh, figh, sih" (four, five, six). Matt even caught her counting straight to five a couple of days ago.

Getting so big!

Chicken Coop

This morning while I was getting ready for work, Isidora brought me her Duplo chicken coop and said, "Oh! Is foh bock-bock!" (Bock-bock is one of her words for chicken).

To this, I replied, "Oh, is that your chicken coop?"

Isidora then said, "Chi-ka coo."

Watch what you say, folks.

Studying

Orientation for residency starts on Monday and in preparation I have been reading a couple of training manuals - PALS and NRP. Matt was kind enough this afternoon to watch Isidora while I got some good reading in, that is until Isidora climbed up the stairs and poked her little hands out the cat door and started saying, "heh-oo?" (hello). She was very excited to see her mama again but she was also excited to ask for a "kee-koo pees?" (cookie please). After Daddy got her a cookie, she decided to climb up on my chair with me to do some reading.

Sitting nicely while Mommy reads some PALS out loud.

This is boring, Mommy, where are the pictures?

I will miss all the time I get to spend with my little Goo-Goo Bean!

In case you were wondering, the swivel chairs were great for reading!

Hot tub

Matt and I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks. We have been packing almost every night and during Izzie's naptime we have either been doing even more packing or trying to sell off books at school or at a used book store. The other big thing we have been doing is research on stuff for the new house or actually going out to buy stuff for the new house. We were able to buy a washer and dryer on Thursday that we are pretty excited about! (More details to come at a later date.)

So, that is why this post is a little late in coming. Two weeks ago, Grant and Juanita decided to get the hot tub cleaned up so that Isidora could go swimming. When Isidora saw the water, she was sooo excited and kept saying, "Pea?" (please) and "Go?" Since the water had just been put in from the hose, the water was really really cold and it was going to take the hot tub heater quite a while to heat it up. But, instead of waiting patiently until the next day to go in the tub, Grant took a garden hose and hooked it up to the water heater in the basement and put about 50 or so gallons of hot water into the tub! (Grant was willing to wait patiently, of course, but Isidora was not, so Grant came up with the idea on how to heat it up.) It rose the temperature of the water enough so that we could go in, even if it was still on the cool side.

Isidora and I had a great time in the tub. She has loved being in the water since she was pretty little and she had a great time in her splash pool last year. At first she was pretty timid in the hot tub and sat on the highest ledge near the edge but eventually she built up enough courage to walk around the whole edge and let me hold her in the middle (the water was just high enough that she couldn't stand there). We even put her floaty toy in so that she could float on her own.

On to the pictures!

Juanita thought it would be fun to put some plastic eggs in to play with. Isidora had a great time playing with them and watching them float around. "Eee!" (egg). Here, she was still content to just sit at the edge.

In the floaty, kicking her legs.

Out of the floaty, learning to kick in the water.

Isidora had such a great time, we took her back over several times that week (it was still pretty warm out - around 80 F). Unfortunately, when we went the next day, the tub was way too hot and we had to dump some water out and put cold hose water back in - oh well. It was Daddy's turn to hang out with Isidora in the tub later that week:

Hanging out in the floaty with Daddy. This time the water was a little lower and Isidora could actually walk around the hot tub while she was in the floaty. She really enjoyed the freedom she had!

Playing with the toys on the floaty.

A downside of having the hot tub working again is that every time we go over to Grant and Juanita's now, Isidora is begging to go outside and to go in the tub. Sometimes we can entertain her with just being outside. Looks like we will be in the tub a lot this summer.

Bonus picture!

Here is Isidora in her splash pool last year - it was an inflatable open hippo mouth (kind of creepy). The canopy was great and did a great job protecting her from the sun. It also had a little fountain (where her hand is) that you would connect a hose to so it would spray water. This picture is from the first time she used it. She was 6 months old in the picture and was about a week away from being able to sit on her own. She had a great time in there!

On a side note, Isidora started saying a new word this morning - "sewoh" or sword to us. Claire had bought Matt a Prince Phillip sword for his birthday or Christmas a couple years ago and now Isidora loves to play with it. Today she told us what it is!

Turtle Park

Yesterday it was pretty warm in Saint Louis - I think it got up to 82 or so. Since it was so nice outside, but too hot for something like the zoo (well, not necessarily too hot, but too crowded), we decided to go to Turtle Park. Even though I have lived in Saint Louis for the past 4 years and have visited several times before then, I have not even been to Turtle Park, so it was a treat for both Izzie and me.

It was a pretty neat place to take Isidora. And, as a result, she now knows how to say, "turtle!" Really, its more like "too-too," only in whispers, but it is pretty cute nonetheless.

Here are Isidora and I sitting on one of the large turtles. Can't you imagine little kids having a great time climbing on these things? They are so neat. Turtle Park is actually right next door to Highway 40/64 (which is what you see in the background.)

Isidora sitting in the mouth of another one of the large turtles. She was pretty hesitant at first. I guess it is good that she doesn't like to sit in the mouth of large reptiles.

Wee!

After swinging, we decided to sit in the shade and blow some bubbles ("buh-boh" in Isidora speak, another one of her new words.)

Isidora decided to give kisses to one of the baby turtles just hatching out of its egg. This little part of the park was really neat for Isidora. Because of Easter, Izzie knows what eggs are ("eee") and she already recognizes babies ("bee-bee"), so seeing baby turtles in eggs was an excellent opportunity to put some concepts together. I am not sure if one of us told her these were baby turtles, but she certainly understood what was going on! She would point to the eggs and say "eee," and point to the turtle and say "bee-bee" and "too-too." It was so fun.

PS: I found out today that I passed Step 2 CS! Even though things usually turn out just fine for me in situations like this, I always get sooo incredible nervous! This is a huge relief and I am so glad I don't have to worry about it anymore! Now to focus on the house - our inspection is tomorrow...

New words

Isidora has been working on a few new words lately and we figured out a couple more today.

New words: knee, elbow, this, watch, see (this may mean Izzie, we are not sure), toes, feet

She says a lot of them in this video:

She is learning so fast!

Bananas

Over the last few months, the number of words Isidora says has seemed to explode! Sometimes I feel like she is learning a new word every day (though I know that is not true!) Her new word of today was "bubble." While Isidora was taking a bath, I took some of the soap suds from her shampoo and put them into one of her little tea cups that she has. She decided that was pretty neat. It's amazing how long something like that can entertain a little one.

Anyway, another one of her more recent word additions was "banana," only it comes out "nana" when Izzie says it! Not only does Isidora say, "banana," she loves eating them! Here is a little video of Isidora eating and holding a banana:

My favorite thing is that she really likes to take "big girl bites" - aka she will eat a whole piece of the banana rather than taking little chunks out of it! I think this was the first time she actually held the banana to eat it. She did a pretty good job!

PS: Tomorrow is match day. I find out sometime after 11 am where we will be going for residency!