Standing Tall

The countdown has begun...Aunt Annie, you better watch out, I think Isabella will be walking before Christmas!!

Tonight she pushed herself into a standing position...and let go! She stood there for a few seconds and just grinned at me. The she fell down. I asked her to do it again, so she stood back up, let go, and then started laughing. She stood for probably close to 30 seconds! The next time she did it, she started swaying back and forth. And the last time she did it, she didn't use anything to help herself stand, she was able to stand up all by herself! She'll be walking before we even know it!

I had to share these pictures with you. She pulls out the colanders and puts them on her head. Of course she has accompaniment...whenever she does this, I start singing "Isabella has a colander on her head, Isabella has a colander on her head, Isabella has a colander on her head, she keeps it there all day." If you are familiar with the Laurie Berkner Band song "Laurie has a pig on her head", then you know what I'm singing about. Most of you reading this blog probably have no idea who the Laurie Berkner Band is, but if you have a young child, she's worth listening to!

Um, and can I say...look at how long her hair is!!

Her favorite books lately are "Pat the Bunny" and "Old Mother Hubbard", which I may have mentioned before. She likes pat the bunny because she understands how to do all the actions...pat the bunny...play peek-a-boo with Paul, smell the flowers, look in the mirror, touch daddy's scratchy face, read Judy's book, and wave bye-bye. And she also knows how to turn the book over and make Mommy read it over again...and again...and again. Old Mother Hubbard was a favorite for a few weeks but then we had to return it to the library. Well, we checked it out again and she still loves it! Lately I give it to her in the car and she grunts when she wants me to start reading it so I will read (recite) a page at a time (while I am driving, so obviously I have memorized it!!) and she will turn the pages as I am reading. And like most books, when it comes to an end, she starts over!

Her latest cute thing is blowing kisses. Heather taught her that, which I didn't realize until she was blowing kisses to everyone at Thanksgiving. So cute! And tonight she blew kisses when we left my school Christmas party.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had so much fun! It is always fun to go to Raleigh and see all of our family. My Aunt Mary always hosts such a wonderful gathering. More of my cousins were there this year than last year, so that always makes it fun. That included my cousins Anna and David and their son Sammy, who will turn 1 this month. Isabella and Sammy had fun playing together because Isabella was able to share her toys like a sweet girl (we've been having some issues lately). My dad took some great pictures but for some reason, Snapfish won't let me download them so until I can get Dad to email the files to me, just shoot me an email if you want to see the pics from Thanksgiving. Isabella and Sammy are so cute together.