Isla

Since Isla has officially become an afternoon napper, I decided to make an effort to get out of the house in the MORNING.  Shocking.  I'm so not a morning person.  Anyway, I decided to take Isla back to the little daycare at the gym so I could workout in the mornings.  The last time Isla went to "school" was when she was 10 months old.  She pretty much hated it (and I was paged to come get her 20 minutes later).  I had my fingers crossed this time when I dropped her off.  I stayed with her for a few minutes, walked her over to a group of kids sitting at a table and when she was distracted I gave her a kiss and ran out.  I watched her from the little window to see what she would do, and seriously, I almost cried.  When she realized I wasn't there, she started walking around in a circle, looking for me.  She did 2 full spins and then she saw a baby doll stroller, forgot about me, and ran over to play with it.  Phew.  I HATED seeing Isla search for me...just the thought of Isla thinking I abandoned her broke my heart. 

It felt great getting in a morning work out...although I was totally rushing through everything because I thought forsure I'd be paged any minute!  But surprisingly Isla didn't need her mama at all.  When I came to pick her up, the teacher said she didn't cry once and that she had played with the doll and stroller the entire time. 

We went back today and Isla got excited when we walked into the classroom.  She immediately ran over to her doll stroller again.  When I returned and hour and 15 minutes later, she still had the stroller and she had found a Brobee stuffed animal (from Yo Gabba Gabba) that she was carrying around.  The teacher said she hadn't put Brobee down, and that she had played with him most of her time there yesterday too! 

I'm starting to notice Isla's personality becoming very similar to mine.  She is very particular about things, which she most definitely gets from me.  When she finds something she likes, she won't let it go...and she seems to play with things much longer than kids her age have the attention span for.  At her Tuesday toddler class, Isla plays with the same thing every time  The minute we get there Isla  finds a push toy and brings it into the big play house.  She goes in and out of the house with the push toy for an hour.  She very rarely plays with other toys, and if she does, it's on her way back to the play house.  The other kids run all around, exploring and playing with new things...Isla sticks to what she likes. 

Even at home she must do things in a very particular way.  She will not fall asleep until she has a blanket on her head.  I will watch her play in her crib for a while, and when she is sleepy she grabs a blanket, pulls it over her head, and she's out a minute later!  She also won't drink milk on my lap until I get a blanket for her to snuggle with.  She does not like the dog and cat magnet to be on the fridge...she pulls them off every single time she sees them, and then she brings them into the living room to be with her other toys. 

I just love what a funny little person Isla is becoming.  Don't even get me started on how independent she has become though...I'll save that for another post :)