August Gabriel, 1 year old

Right at 11 months, August started to take a few steps.  And for weeks he would take 4 steps and them get down to crawl to his destination.  Then, at 1 week shy of his birthday, he decided it was time to get serious and started to do the drunken sailor toddle.  Now you are on the move, and you don't want to sit for long.  Not in a high-chair, not in the grocery cart, and diaper/ clothing changes are still a wresting match.

Dancing:  August does this funny little baby dance that we cherish so much right now.  He'll get down and do a little knee-bend bop to a beat, and sometimes a side to side sway.  And, the newest move, is that he'll stomp his right leg and sometimes move into a little high-step stomp.  August loves music, and if you turn on a song he likes, he'll drop what he's doing and get up and dance.

For August's first birthday, we all got the stomach flu.  We were able to rally on the afternoon of his birthday and took him on an outing to the Austin Animal Rescue Zoo.  The following weekend, our friends in San Antonio- Lara, Sheridan, and Truman- hosted a first birthday party for Gus, and we enjoyed getting to see everyone in SAT again.

We kicked off the month of November with family time when my brother Joe, sister-in-law Michelle, and niece Sophia came for a visit to Austin.  My parents also joined us for the gathering of 3 Grandkids.  And we found out Michelle and Joe have a baby #2 cookin'!  Later in November, Grandma and Grandpa Dino and Dolores and Uncle Kevin and "official" Aunt Brittany came to visit for Thanksgiving.  Joe also joined us again for the Turkey, because he was just a hop, skip, and jump away job-training in Mississippi.

Happy birthday, little bub.  We can tell you are going to be funny and silly and happy.  You smile at everyone everywhere we go.  And the old ladies in the grocery store submit their approval, even those old ladies who you know don't give approval readily.  You play well on your own, and love it when your sister is there to entertain you also.  You are starting to realize you can press her buttons, and you both want that thing just because the other one wants it too.

Isla Rose, 3 and 1/2 years old

Isla has adjusted well to our new home in Austin.  It's nice that we made this transition at a time when we could explain and prepare her for the move.  And, I think that's the main difference I see in Isla as of late.  You can really start to reason with her, explain why to her.  We wear a jacket so we don't get cold.  I want you to be buckled properly so you don't fly out of the car and bonk your head.  I can't give you want you want while I'm driving the car because I'll crash the car and we'll all bonk our heads.  You don't feel good right now because you're tired, you need to take a nap.

Isla picking apples at Eckerts in Belleville, IL

Isla started attending a preschool here in Austin, the All Saints' Episocopal Day School.  She really enjoys her school, but I just love picking that little girl up from school.  I like to watch her expression change to happy in the instant she sees me standing at the gate.

"Twin" jammies, just like in Fancy Nancy "Pajama Day."

Fancy.  Isla is a fancy girl, and is very into accessorizing, and pretty dresses.  Her favorite thing to wear is her heart dress, with the matching heart shoes, and heart underwear.  Aunt Michelle gave her this little case of Fancy Nancy books a while back, and right now it is her favorite thing.  Another great development in the life of Isla is that she will entertain herself by reading books!  She has added an extra 1/2 hour to the bedtime routine reading books in bed before she lies down.

Flower Girl Practice

Flower Girl.  Isla was a flower girl for Uncle Kevin and Aunt Brittany's wedding at the end of September.  I bought a couple of Flower Girl books for Isla so she knew what to expect.  And, we practiced with tissue paper down the hallway.  When the day came, Isla was well-prepared and took her job very seriously.  She knew her job was to decorate the isle with flower petals, and she sprinkled them all the way to the very end of isle.  Since Brittany's dress swept them all up when she came down the isle after Isla, Isla redid it, and sprinkled the petals on the way back out.

Flower Girl, Isla

Boy/ Girl.   One funny thing Isla has been doing lately is telling us how many boys, and how many girls there are throughout the day.  When the 4 of us go in the car together, she says "There are 2 boys, and 2 girls."  It's fun to get the boy/girl count throughout the day.

Isla was a bat for Halloween

A mighty cute bat, that is.

Politeness/Helpfullness.  Isla has (finally) started to get the hang of how to ask for things politely, instead of demanding.  While I still have the remind her, she's getting better at it.  Lately, having everything cleaned up and put back in it's place has been very important to her.  She puts her clothes in the laundry basket, cleans up her toys,  and puts shoes in her closet shoe cubbies.  She also has started to get handy in the kitchen, and stands up on the step-stool to help.  Her favorite is to mix the ingredients for pancakes.

The best big sis a lil' bub could have

and how

Naps.  I brought back the naps in an ultimate show-down in for the summer.  Isla's behavior had become so completely outrageous last spring, and I knew it was from being too tired.  After I regained control of the situation, she took good 2 hour naps for the rest of the summer.  But, once school started, I couldn't get the nap going after school.  The 5 day week was too much for her, so I keep her home on Wednesdays to recover.   And she usually naps on the weekend too.

Sophia left her bib!  (note: heart dress)

Isla likes to get her hair cut, and I have been keeping it in a cute little bob for about a year now.  She requests haircuts often, and is having trouble understanding it's not an every day sort of thing.   Isla continues to be a great big sister and is (usually) very sweet towards August, and I have seen her be sweet and helpful towards other smaller kids and babies.  But, she is and always will be the extremely strong-willed child.  And I find myself thinking on a weekly basis, "That girl is going to give us a run for our money."  Then, I think,  "That doesn't really make sense, we didn't buy her."  I am frustrated that I have all this pre-handwriting expertise that would be perfect for use with a 3 year-old.  But, Isla will not have anything to do with me demonstrating how to build letters, she takes everything away from me so she can be the teacher.  But, entertainment value is high, and she does say very funny things.