All About Isla

Isla is almost 22 months now.  I am jut a couple of months away from having a 2-year-old.  Wow!

We, as in the whole family, sleeps now.  Isla wakes up generally 1 x a night now, and Dave is able to rub her back and sing "Twinkle Star" while lulling her back to sleep.  She actually requests him to sing sometimes.  LOL!  She sleeps in her crib in her room, about 10 whole feet from our bed (tiny house).  LOL!  We co-slept for a long time, and at times we still co-sleep in the wee hours of the morning if she wakes up and it is my turn to parent.  I honestly would still be co-sleeping with her if she actually slept better that way.  When she was a baby, she wouldn't sleep on her own.  The only way any of us could even get in a 1 hour stretch would be for me to sleep with her.  But, as she got older...maybe 1.5 years old, I found that she needed a very quiet room to sleep as she is so wired and alert most of the time. 

Some babies just need more time.  And while I complained quite a lot on my blog, um...because I was TIRED from averaging less than 4 hours of sleep for about 1.5 years... I knew that Isla would be fine if I could just be more patient.  Dave and I discussed it often, and we decided to stay the course.  We were going to parent our child.  We weren't going to let her cry for hours because some book told us too.  We weren't going to force her to sleep alone until she was ready.  We weren't going to go against our guts and our parental instincts. 

So, if you are a mama (or daddy!) who has a kiddo that doesn't sleep well for a long time, just know that is more normal than people will lead you to believe.  No, you don't need to make them cry it out, ferberize them, or any other crap that doesn't feel right.  If you need some tips or a virtual shoulder to cry on because you are so exhausted, you can write me.  :)  I get it!  

And what is really unbelievable to me is that I am still breastfeeding.  I never set out to breastfeed this long.  I was never able to pump extra, and Isla never really took a bottle.  So, again, things just seemed to be on a different path for us than for many of my friends.  Forget the scheduled bottles...we were nurse on demand around here, and that usually meant every hour at night.  AHHHH!!!!  But, that is reality.  Babies like to eat at night when your supply is the highest.

I have absolutely no idea how I am going to wean her, and honestly it could happen today and I would be totally fine.  Like really...let's wean today!  But, while I have convinced her that we only need to nurse 1 x morning, 1 x when I pick her up from school, and 1 x before bed...I have not convinced her to give it up all together.  After all, she told me that she liked to nurse more than drink cow's milk because "mommy's milk tastes better."  She really said that. 

And while she has been very verbal from early on, she is a huge talker and singer now.  No word is beyond her now, and it is really quite fun to have full conversations with her.  I mean, we talk all day long to each other.  But, then she gets around other people and completely clams up.  The only word she will say is "mama," as she buries her face in my legs or shoulder out of shyness.  Then it will be the two of us again, and she will use full sentences to talk to me about any and everything. 

Oh, and tantrums?  Those started a long time ago.  This is a very headstrong girl.  I think I will have to consult with Angela K a bit as time goes on.  

I think she has a bit of girly girl in her.  She loves playing with her Mema's makeup, and wonders why mommy doesn't put on makeup.  She likes to pick out purses with me when we go shopping.  She has opinions on what might be "pretty" and cute."   But bless her heart, she loves bicycles and getting dirty.  She is the first of her friends to leave the playground to go play in mud, and I don't stop her.  She also LOVES to help me with my bike, and you can tell she thinks it is interesting that mommy "goes running, ride bicycle, or swimming."

And while no one blogs anymore, I still love to keep a history of this sort of thing.  I remember when I learned so much from other people through their blogs, and I really was able to reach out and meet a lot of new and amazing friends as well.  So, I am going to keep this blog pushing on!  Training-racing-kids!!!!!  Yea!!!!