Happy 1st

 Isla had her first case of the flu on her birthday so our celebrations were a bit sporadic.  We fit in what we could when she was feeling well.  The morning of her birthday was beautiful outside so we decided to dress up and have a little photo shoot.  She chose to bring along her monkey.  They are inseparable.  Enjoy the photo shoot while I share with you a few things that she accomplished in her first year.

Along with the usuals: rolling over, crawling, and walking, Isla also became a pro at picking rip fruits and vegetables.  Her favorites being gooseberries, raspberries, and apples.  Though occasionally she did get a few green tomatoes just to make sure they didn't taste the same as the red ones.

 Isla took her first consecutive steps out on this lawn and spent a lot of the summer out here digging through and dumping out my pots.  She LOVES dirt and rocks and typically tries to eat as much of it as possible before we catch her.

 Isla managed to sprout eight teeth in her first year and has the sweetest smile that she is not shy about sharing with anyone.

 Isla is mischievous beyond all get out.  You can see it in her eyes and in the trail of objects she "reorganizes" throughout the house and yard.  It is not uncommon to find refrigerator magnets stuck to our cooking pots, half eaten apples in her toy basket, and DVD's in the kitchen drawers. 

 She has developed quite the vocabulary in the past few months.  Besides generally just being a little parrot she has mastered the following words and mostly knows when and how to use them: ba (ball), mom, dad, yes, yeah, oh yeah, aba (a bath), puppy/poppy, doggy or ruff ruff, no (hasn't quite grasped it's meaning yet), mo (this means no when she has done something wrong and is said very seriously), all clean, all done, more, pees (please), cheese, yum, no dat (tho that), no dis (no this- generally used when she wants more options), uh oh, hello, htsss (hot), amen (mot consistent yet), hi, Isla (she says this alot, sometimes I think she is mocking us), and poo poo.  I can't be quite sure but recently I have heard her refer to her blanket more than once as "Norris. "  Little concerned about tha,t but oh well.

 Isla likes to cuddle for brief moments over and over and over.  She is very loving and if someone is crying she always tries to make them smile.  She is very serious about eye contact.  And makes sure she has it when talking to anyone. 

 Isla is mostly a good eater as far as variety goes but is a great eater when it comes to quantity.  She eats all day long.  If we are not on top of the game with snacks every hour in addition to normal meals she loudly and repetitively will announce "more more more" to let us know she is hungry.  She likes: avocados, apples, cheese, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, mandrine oranges, asian pears, crackers, cheerios, yogurt, dried fruit, peas, toast, and cucumbers (only if she is eating them from my shopping cart in the store).  She does not like meat.  Irony anyone?

 She hasn't ever really been a big fan of sweets in the handful of times we have let her have some including the New Hampshire celebration.  So we made her some delicious peach muffins for her birthday to blow her candle out with.  We had been practicing blowing all month.  She is really good at it and blew out her candle all by herself.

 Needless to say, she loved her muffin.

 For Isla's gift/party we bought a swimming pool (that she undoubtedly will enjoy next summer) and filled it full of balloons.  It stayed up for weeks she loved it so much.  This is her squealing in delight!  It was a lot more fun then then new car seat she also got for her birthday.