Isabella had her 2 1/2 year appointment this week. Here are some stats:
- she is 35" tall (29%) and 25 lbs, 12.8 oz (16%).... she is still a tiny little nugget!
- her head circumference is 82%, however, at 19.5" around.
She seems to fall down a lot. Either she's clumsy or her head is too big and it makes her wobbly. :)
Developmentally, she's doing well. The questionnaire that I had to fill out asked questions about her speech, her acknowledgement of body parts / animals / herself in the mirror / and general "things." She's on target for potty training (sort of doing it since 2 years old, but we are definitely pushing it more now / she tells us before she goes occasionally). 
Isabella is feisty too. Definitely living up to the "terrible twos" with her shouting NO as a regularly-occurring theme. She tests us at every turn it seems with doing things we specifically ask her not to and watching our reaction as she does it. Mercer went through this too, but whew... it's more tiring because we have 2 kids now and we're about 5 years older. Also - they know how to agitate each other -- she can push his buttons. He can push hers.
Todd and I are worn out! Isabella is not as independent as we thought she would be. She can occupy herself sometimes, but lately it seems that she wants to be held and carried all the time. If sitting, she would rather sit on you than on a chair by herself. I know we should treasure this as - when she's a teenager - she won't even want to sit in the same room as us.
She says some really adorable things, however. I can't remember if I've already mentioned how she crouches down to look at earth worms, roly polys, and ants. "Awwww, how cute!" Doggies, kitty cats, birdies.... "I want to hug them." She has no fear and will walk right up to hug an animal. We're really trying to stay one step ahead of her and remind her to ask the owner, hold out her hand to let the animal sniff, etc.
I love it when she says that she is going to be "very very quiet." She whispers that with her finger over her mouth and tip-toes, but then whoever she's trying to sneak up on -- she yells out their name.
Mercer used to say that the sun - when shining in his eyes - was hot and try to look away. He got hot and bright mixed up. Eventually he learned the difference. Isabella says that - when the window is open in the car and the air is blowing on her that it is cold -- not windy. She is starting to understand the difference between the two.
She knows what an elevator is, but the other day she and I got on one and she said "we are going to ride the alligator?" She thinks it's funny to call me Candice and Todd by his name instead of mommy and daddy. Sometimes she'll say "mommy Candice" and "daddy Todd" -- then point to herself "baby Bella."
I guess this cute stuff makes up for the tantrums and constant testing of our patience. Right??
She sings a lot. It is the sweetest little sound. She talks a ton. She still flirts with men. Major animal lover. Loves music and dancing too. She is full of personality!
Here are Isabella's and Mercer's class pictures. (You can click on them to make them larger.)
Mercer's school has ended. He is officially done with 1st grade. whew. There were definitely some challenges. The biggest one: homework! There wasn't a ton of it, but he would get so frustrated with it sometimes that he would melt down. Sometimes it would take him 30 minutes +/- to calm down enough to work on this homework again. (There would - maybe - but 10 minutes worth of work.) He is a fantastic reader... very proficient and loves to read. Yay. He's pretty good at math and can often figure things out in his head / blurt out the correct answer. But writing seems to be his downfall. He has a hard time sitting down to write sentences or answer questions on paper. His handwriting is pretty sloppy for his level compared to his classmates and his teacher would often make him redo an exercise because of the legibility. He has been rushing through assignments in order to get it done quickly. He cannot focus or spend a great deal of time on something -- including the standardized tests that shows his progress over the year. He's usually the first to finish and does not score well, unfortunately.
As it turns out, there's a reason for the rushing, breakdowns, the resistance to write, and the handwriting: he officially has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Testing was done in April; Todd and I received a report and had a meeting with the doctor less than two weeks ago. Just before school ended, we met with the assistant principal and his 1st grade teacher to discuss an educational plan for next year. School has only been out 1 day, however, he and I are already working through some writing exercises. (Found some cool LEGO ones that hopefully he'll be interested in.) We'll work hard on it over the summer and maybe he'll get used to writing, as there will be a great deal more of it next year.
I had to work at a conference last weekend, so Todd took the kids to a "Speed Stack" competition last weekend. This is where kids stack cups and breaks them down in a certain way / get them back in a single line. He did pretty well and bought a Speed Stack shirt with his own money (pictured below on the last day of school images). This is a little bit of an obsession of his -- in fact -- it's an obsession of most of the kids in the school. It's loud, but the kids enjoy it~ Todd wasn't able to snap photos because he was containing the 2 year old.
Something really positive to report about his performance at school... behavior-wise, he's learning a little more self-control and to stay on task a little better. He had so-so reports most of the year, but the past two months, he's earned a lot of green marks (green is good). So good, in fact, that he earned 2 "Mercer fun days." Last month, he went to Sky Zone and out to lunch with dad at Jason's Deli as a reward. Last night, he chose for our family to go play putt-putt and have dinner at Firehouse Subs. Both Todd and I are very proud of his good behavior and were thrilled to go out / celebrate.
Here are some fun photos from the last day of school. There are kids who ride the bus, those who walk home (usually with a parent), those who are Car Riders, and those who stay in After School. Mercer dabbles in all modes of transportation home. Walking home is least common, as it's a 2 mile walk... but... I asked him to be a "Walker" yesterday (with a compromise because he balked at walking that far). I drove to the middle school and parked... and walked the rest of the way armed with a water gun, a bucket of water for refueling, and some canisters of silly string. Some parents brought wheelbarrows and rolling coolers full of water balloons. When the kids were released, they got nailed~ :) It was fun. 
He seemed to enjoy it. So much so that we walked back to the car, raced home to get there in time before the bus arrived... and tried to nail the kids at our bus stop as they got off. But - one of the boys' siblings came with water balloons. They originally went after the bus-riders, but then turned to us! (Mercer, myself, and another mom.) Hence... no photos from that.
It was even more fun. I think between the school and bus events then the putt-putt to celebrate a month of "green" marks... he had a GREAT last day of 1st grade!!
