Cut Lip

Dear Isabella,

Today you fell while you were running (yup, running!) and bit your top lip. You hardly cried so I didn't think you hit your face, but then you touched your mouth and there was blood. I panicked just a teeny bit but you handled yourself like a champ.

You are a very "determined" little girl. I put that in quotes because Grandma says you're determined - I say you're stubborn! At dinner, usually you won't let me feed you anymore. You insist on feeding yourself. Of course you get about 50% in your mouth and 50% on your arms, face, lap, tray, chair, cat...Poor Orange! You're still not very good at using a spoon. When you try to use a spoon, if you get any food in your mouth it's just a coincidence. But you are very, very "determined" and one day soon I know you'll get it right.

You are testing your boundaries every day and it's fun to watch your personality blossom. You're truly a toddler now, but I still call you my little baby, and I probably always will. I promise by the time you're a teenager I won't call you that in front of your friends.

You still talk to your Abuela in Mexico almost every week on Skype and you talk to Lolo and Lola (and Aunty Cayla) in Hilo on FaceTime sometimes. This has made you very interested in technology which we're still trying to hide from you.

We went to Barwick Playground at Punahou on Father's Day and you had fun running around and playing with leaves. You're still a little too little to be interested in the swings or see-saw or slide. But you're getting bigger and stronger and learning more and more every day!

Love,
Mommy

That's My Girl - Simply Organized!

Dear Isabella,

Your latest hobby is sorting toys! You have a basket for your wooden blocks, a pouch for your MegaBlocks, and a pouch for your "baby toys" (the toys you had and outgrew at Aunty Gladys's house). You know which toys go in which containers and you love dumping them out, and putting them back in the correct place. That's my girl - organizing from the start!

Then again, you also sometimes place a book in the middle of the floor with such purpose and matter-of-factness that maybe you have some unconventional ideas of what "a place for everything and everything in its place" means!

Or maybe you're just a normal toddler. :)

Love,
Mommy