2nd Birthday Celebration Day #2

Today is Isabelle’s actual birthday and to celebrate, we had Grandmama, Poppy an Nana over for lunch. Poppy was off onto another business trip the following morning and Nana wouldn’t quite want to be at her birthday celebration we had planned the following day with all of her friends…all under the age of 7 :)

Poppy/Dad picked up lunch from one of our favorite restaurants and Grandmama picked up Nana and also what will be known as the birthday weekend buzz kill…the Froggy Cake!

After everyone got to our house an a little catching up, we had lunch which led to singing “Happy Birthday” to Isabelle. I went into the kitchen, got the Froggy Cake ready, lit a “2” candle ad began to sing “Happy Birthday” to her and between the singing, staring, lit candle and the bug eyed Froggy Cake, our little birthday girl lost it. She started crying and clung to my arm for dear life. The pictures below tell the whole story.

She wanted absolutely nothing to do with the cake…completely traumatized! As we got rid of her birthday cake and brought out tiramisu and chocolate cake that we got for the adults, I packed up “Froggy” for Nana to take home to share with her friends when they came over to play bridge at her house that Tuesday.

Opening one of the many gifts from Grandmama and Poppy
We enjoyed the rest of the celebration opening gifts and then Isabelle was off for a well deserved nap which was also time for Mom and Dad to prepare for her Birthday Celebration #3. Party bags to fill, 4 dozen cupcakes to bake (which reminds me that I need to invest in another muffin pan J) and Michael out to finish painting the garage.

Opening her Dora Magnadoodle from Nana
Playing with Legos that Tia Tara and Scott got her.

2nd Birthday Celebration Day #1

Thursday night while little Miss was sound asleep, the cupcake angels (aka: Mom and Dad) flew into our kitchen and baked and frosted 24 cupcakes (with reduced sugar frosting-hehe) for our soon to be 2 year old to bring to school and share with all of her friends.

Izzy and all of her afternoon time friends.

When she was in the car on the way over she wanted to eat her cupcakes but Papa, of course, told her she had to wait till later. They came to my office to pick me up so I could drop her off at school with them. From the moment we walked in the front door, she was telling everyone she came in contact with, that she had "cupcakes for school"..."for your class", is what I would remind her (we only slaved over 2 dozen the night before, not 10 dozen).

MMMM...cupcakes and so dainty eating it with a spoon!

We got to her class and as we walked in she pretty much yelled..."CUPCAKES". Ms. Holly greeted her with a "Happy Birthday" as all of the kids surrounded her. Again, she wanted to dig into those cupcakes right then and there but this time Ms. Holly said they would have them a little later. With a kiss and a hug goodbye (and handing over the camera to Ms. Holly to get a few pics for us), we left our little, almost 2 year old to celebrate the first of her 2nd birthday celebrations with her friends at school.

Oink!

When Scott and Tara came down for Opening Night of Cuckoo's Nest, they also brought with them gifts for "Macho". Maracas and a flute from their trip to Mexico and also a super soft, pink pig puppet-say that five times fast! I caught Isabelle playing with her oinker the other day in the car and just had to share (you may have to turn up your volume).



We are also very excited about something else (no I am not pregnant)...Isabelle's friend Lexi started preschool in Isabelle's class this past Tuesday. Look out Ms. Holly and Ms. Amanda!

Lexi's first day of preschool...thumbs up!

Did You Just Tell Me...NO?

And so it begins...
I was in Florida for 5 days (I left Saturday after opening night of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, that Michael had the lead role in and is fantastic in) and when I got home yesterday it seemed like my little baby girl grew up even more...more defiant that is. Everyone talks about the "terrible two's" and the fact you will know it when it comes and by George, do you! Isabelle tried out both Michael's and Grandmama's patience while I was gone with the use of her new favorite word, "NO".

Scott, Tia Tara, Dad/Poppy, Mom and Isabelle at Opening Night of Papa's show "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"
While I was gone for those 5 days Michael and Grandmama shared Isabelle Watch (along with one night of assistance from Tia Tara and Scott). Mom actually had Isabelle spend the night at her house on Saturday night (the first sleep over, if you can believe that) since Michael had a show that night then had to be at the theatre Sunday morning to clean and get ready for the matinee.

On Saturday, Grandmama, Isabelle, Tia and Scott had a great time playing with bubbles and her bike in the backyard at Grandmama's and Scott cooked dinner for the four of them (which I heard was awesome). After dinner he and Tara headed off to the movies while Grandmama and Izzy had some alone time however, the first of the "No's" for Grandmama started while eating dinner. Easy scenario: Grandmama tells Isabelle to finish her dinner so she can go play, Isabelle says no. She asks again, Isabelle responds no again but this time decides to throw some of her dinner onto the floor. Sam, my folks dog, liked it but Grandmama wasn't too pleased.

Scott playing with bubbles :)
Potty time was also a hit and miss for her while at Grandmama's, even with the new potty chair she bought Isabelle. Isabelle was excited and pee-pee'd in it the first few times after Mom brought it out but then wanted nothing to do with it. Mom tried and tried and all Isabelle kept telling her was...you guessed it, "No". Finally the day got to her and Isabelle went to bed however at about 2am Mom heard her wrestling around and went to check on her; Isabelle stood up, asked for Sam then Mom told her "Sam is asleep and you need to go to sleep too" and with that, Isabelle laid back down and was out like a light till almost 9am.

Isabelle bubble playing and succeeding

Michael had about the same amount of luck when it came to Isabelle eating and actually following orders to do something, the answer still remained the same..."NO". One morning when they called me to say hello Michael told me he didn't want Isabelle anymore and that she needed to go back. I told him I was sorry but there is no way that she is going back! First of all, she is too big :) He also shared with me that Isabelle now knows that the second step on our staircase is for "time outs". Yup, you heard it right, Isabelle has had her official first time out and she actually sat there until Michael talked to her about why she was there and then let her get up.

We have been on her and have been not letting down with commands that we give her (that sounds like I am talking about training a dog-LOL) and our follow through to make sure it gets done. Sometimes though, we let things slide. Isabelle is lucky she is cute!

Two weeks down...the preschool update!

It has officially been 2 weeks with Isabelle at her new preschool and what an emotional roller coaster ride that has been! We have had everything from the extreme meltdowns when walking into the school, smaller crying fits when we leave or come pick her up and even having Isabelle saying "NO" as we pull into the parking lot of the school! Then we have the opposite extreme; Isabelle marching into the school like she owns the place and crying a little bit (for show) when Michael leaves. Or when I come to pick her up, I watch her from her classroom window as she is playing outside with her friends in the cars, on the slide, etc. and then the moment she sees me....tears come pouring down her face. Yesterday I told her to stop and that she was fine, which made her "show" stop instantly.

One of her teachers told us last Friday (as Isabelle was attached to her hip, literally, all day) that it would take time for her to adjust, as it does with most children, and she will be fine. Even though we know this already, its always nice to hear once again that it is something that all kids and parents :) go through and everyone survives.

Playing at MyGym at Sophia and Paul's Birthday Party.The first week there, Isabelle got very attached to Ms. Amanda; sitting in her lap, wanting to be held by her, Ms. Amanda got her to sleep at nap time, calmed her down when she would start crying and Isabelle would hold her finger (for dear life) when they were out in the yard. She was Ms. Amanda's shadow and luckily, Ms. Amanda didn't mind much :)

Lisa's girls...a shot from our "photo shoot" as a going away gift for Lisa.

I remember asking Isabelle one day last week in the car after I picked her up, the following:

Me: "What did you do at school today?"
Isabelle: "Cried."
Me: "Why were you crying?"
Isabelle is a soft little voice: "Sad."

OK...did that just break your heart? Because it did mine when she told me that!

By the end of this week, Isabelle has become less and less attached to Ms. Amanda and more and more aware of her surroundings, her friends like Madison, Mya, Katherine and "the boys" (as she puts it) and all the fun she can have at preschool. All in all, she is doing well and we feel it will just continue to get better and better as the weeks pass.

The guys and their girls-Travis, Mackenzie, Isabelle and Michael leaving Red Lobster

Isabelle will have her friend Lexi starting soon in her class for 2 half days a week and hopefully Mackie will start August and if either of them have the same type of transitioning "situation" as Isabelle did, we know she has a finger to lend them :)