Mommy's a sucker for toys

Isabella went for her 1 year shot last week. She didn't even cry, and was fine overnight and the next day. After the doctor appointment I took her to Indigo and Yonge/Eglinton. They have an amazing kids area there. She played in their kitchen with some other kids. She went in a giant teacup. Did I spend any money you ask? Of course I did. Isabella walked out of there with a toy stroller and super bouncy ball. I had to stop though. They had the best stuff there and she got spoiled at her birthday. Having a kids play area inside a store is a genius marketing idea.

Isabella's Presents

Here are some photos of Isabella playing with the some of her birthday presents. We played with a lot of them when she was still really sick, so don't mind the snotty face.

She likes to play with her Stella doll. She burps her and puts the soother in her mouth. She's very gentle with her doll, except when she chucks her over the edge of the couch and laughs.

Isabella knows the names of a lot of things. She got a purse from her aunt Kelly. In it there is pretend lipstick, a bracelet, mirror, money and keys. If you ask Isabella where her lipstick is she goes right to the purse, pulls it out and applies it to her lips. Luckily it is pretend lipstick. She still has to master proper application, she thinks lipstick gets rubbed all over your face. I explained to her that only "crazy" people do that. The rest of us just put it on out lips. She also likes to put on her bracelet. Too cute!

She got a baby backpack from Amira and her family. She likes to put things in and take them out. She's taking it to Hawaii. She said she needs a bag to keep her passport and snacks in. Tony and I agreed, as long as we don't have to pay a weight surcharge for it. She also got a play iPhone. Isabellas has a lot of toy phones. Take a look at the picture of her toy phones compared to the real cellphones we have around. Technology changes rapidly. Isabella's been through the same number of phones in 1 year that Tony and I have gone through in 10.

The white chair she got from Babcia. Most of these photos were taken before she fell off of it. Since her fall she gets encouraged to sit in her chair, which she was doing for a while but as of late she thinks it's hilarious to climb on it again.

She got a beautiful raincoat from Chris, Julie, Owen, Kurt and Kim. I know 5 people splitting the cost of a raincoat? Kim and Julie have good taste and picked out the same gift. I exchanged one of them for a terry cloth coverup for the beach.

She got a growthchart from her Great Grandma. I put it up a few days after the party. She measured 28.5 inches.

The day before Isabella's party we went to visit Carol-Ann and Matt and their friends house. They have a 16 month old girl name Ryland. Isabella and Ryland had fun playing. Ryland pushed Isabella on the car and in her toy stroller. It was too cute.

Dear Mensa....here comes your youngest member!

Isabella is becoming more and more independent and grown up. Some of the skills she's picked up lately include blowing her nose (which she does every chance she gets). She has yet to distinguish between a hankerchief for blowing your nose into and clean laundry I just folded and put in the basket.

She's pretty inconsistent with her eating. One day she'll love beef stew, the next day she hates it. So I tried something new. I gave her a fork to hold to distract her while eating. She now stabs toast and other food onto her fork and puts it in her mouth all by herself. Feeding is no longer a battle, just a bigger mess.

For the past week I've been putting Isabella on her potty. In the last potty blog I wrote that she hadn't gone in it yet. Well, she goes everyday now! #1 and #2! A lot of it is by chance. She doesn't have any signal she gives me when she needs to go, I just guess, although it is easier to tell when a #2 is happening.

She also knows a few words. She consistently says ball, mama, dada.

(More Photos to come later)

Why were at the hospital Sunday Night

So Tony, Isabella and I spent Sunday evening at Sick Kids Hospital. Totally unrelated to her fever/cold as you would expect. As you can see in the photo, Isabella likes to stand on her new chair. Well, she fell backwards off it when Tony and I were preparing dinner. She smacked the back of her head on our wood floors. She started crying right away. When I picked her up she was crying so bad that she wasn't breathing, thus briefly losing consciousness. She seemed like herself afterwards, however I was worried. Did she lose consciousness because she held her breath or because she had a concussion? So we packed up and headed to Sick Kids. Once at the hospital, Isabella was acting fine (with a cold). We were going to leave, but then got called in to see the triage nurse. While in the nurse's room, Isabella started vomiting (a sign of a concussion). So we stayed. 6 hours later we were seen by the doctor. Everything was fine, but she still has a cold.

Bella's Birthday Party

If you were at Isabella's birthday party on Saturday, you know she wasn't her usual social, crab shuffling self. The night before she came down with a fever. She was fashionably late to her own party, and if we hadn't woke her she would have been more content sleeping through it.

The party was a success. There were lots of kids playing, adults eating and talking. Thank you to everyone who came. Your gifts were all very generous and thoughtful. Here are some photos from the event. Unfortunately I did not get that "Kodak" photo of Isabella enjoying her first taste of chocolate. I will have to stage it once she is feeling better.

Special thanks to the security guard who kept the crowd tame. Couldn't have done it without her.

Bella's Birthday

Isabella turned 1 year old on February 9th. She had a fun filled day. We started by watching Breakfast Television. Her picture was on TV with birthday wishes from her mommy and daddy. Then I took her to Babytime at the Yorkville library. She listened to stories and sang songs. At the end all the other babies sang happy birthday to her. Tony came home a bit earlier from work. She opened her present which was baby crayons and a sketchbook. She didn't really care about it. Then Tony made her some pasta, which she loved. For her birthday dessert she had a baked apple with brown sugar. We lit a candle for her, which she wanted to touch. We blew out the candle. She didn't like her apple.

Here is the link if you want to see her on BT:

http://www.bttoronto.ca/celebrations/more.jsp?content=20110209_123759_13184

Superbowl Sunday

On Sunday, Bella and I went to watch Tony play hockey. Our friends Chris, Julie and their son Owen came too. Chris subbed for someone on Tony's team. I tried to watch Tony play, but Isabella was more interested in eating the french fries and guacamole off the floor from the night before. After hockey we went to breakfast at Eggsmart. The kids made a massive mess on the floor of the restaurant.

That night Tony went to a friends house to watch Superbowl. Michelle had Sandy and I over with the kids since our husbands were all at the same place. We were outnumbered by children. There were 5 kids and 3 adults. It was a bit chaotic trying to feed the kids, clean up toys, and feed ourselves and get. Michelle did a great job hosting despite all the stuff going on at once. Towards the end of the night Isabella and James were craving a midnight snack. Isabella had a lemon and James had a yogurt. They also had some pretend tea.

Firsts

Isabella got a potty. I put her on it throughout the day, but she has yet to actually go in it. It will sing a song once she goes, but it's defective. It goes off randomly. I got so excited the first few times and made a big deal. They were all false alarms.

Isabella also took her first steps alone. She walked towards Tony, repeatedly. It has yet to happen again. She is beginning to try to stand up by herself however.











She's also been watching Tony and I exercise in our condo occasionally (not that kind of exercise, get your mind out of the gutter). I guess she's at that age where she copies everything we do. She does pushups with Tony and yoga stretches with me. I better start vacuuming, sweeping and folding laundry more in front of her so she can pick up those skills quickly too.

Baby massage

A friend of mine, Monica, came over on Saturday to show me some baby massage techniques. She's in Massage school and was doing an assignment. Isabella was the model. It was kind of hard for Isabella to relax.