Mommy, what that start wif?

Yesterday was Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry's. We joined Aunt Annie and met up with Libby and Disa for an afternoon of sun, sorbet, and music. Although Annie offered Isabella some of her mango sorbet, Isabella only wanted the "pink" one. When Annie got up to get some napkins, Isabella took advantage of her absence to sneak in some "yellow". When Annie sat back down, Isabella pushed the "yellow" back over to Annie. However, when her "pink" was all gone, she promptly devoured all of Annie's. Hey, two cups of sorbet is about as nutritious as applesauce or something, right?!?

At school they have a letter of the week each week. They post it on the wall with pictures of things that begin with that letter. Lately they must be talking about what letter begins each child's name, because Isabella has been saying "C is for Charlie! A is for Aiden! M is for Marian (merr-me-man)!" She has started to expand on this knowledge a lot lately, wanting to know what lots of words start with. It is cute when she knows several words that start with the same letter because she gets excited about it. Our conversations go much like this:

Isabella: dog - what dat start wif mommy? what dog start wif?

Me: d-d-d-dog, what does dddog start with?

Isabella d - D!

Me: That's right! Dog starts with D!

Isabella: D is for Daddy too!

Sometimes she can come up with the starting letter by herself. She can usually do it if I exaggerate the first sound of the word. But sometimes she tries that method herself, and comes up with the wrong answer, like our conversation last night.

Isabella: sidewalk - what sidewalk start wif?

Me: s-s-s-s-sidewalk

Isabella: sssseee! (C) (I thought that was a good guess!)

Me: Good try. sssss - S makes the ssss sound.

Isabella: gwass (grass) - what that start wif?

Me: What does grass start with?

Isabella: G!

Me: That's right!

Isabella: mulch - what that start wif? f-f-f-f-mulch - F!!

Me: (had to stifle a laugh!!)

She is also starting to sing a lot more. You may have watched the video I posted of 5 monkeys in a tree. Well, you may or may not be familiar with the They Might Be Giants children's songs. They have a song about 1 Dozen Monkeys that Isabella has been singing lately. It is too funny to hear her sing "the monkeys in a barrel, gave them back to the postman back to the jungle!" It is a sing-along song but not really the type of song you sit around and sing without listening to the CD. And she is experimenting with pitch too - so funny to hear her sing parts of the song in a high pitched voice!

Today is my DUE DATE!! It is so hard to believe that 40 weeks ago, back in July, when I found out I was pregnant, that we were parents to a not-quite 2 year old who had a decent vocabulary but not many full sentences and rarely walked anywhere by herself. Now she will be 2 1/2 on April 8, she speaks in full sentences a good part of the time and we rarely have to carry her anywhere (well, I refuse to). She is growing up so quickly! And soon (we don't know how soon, ha ha), she will be a big sister!!!