Child of mine

"The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world, there will not be, another child like him." ~Pablo Casals

It has been a little over a year since I posted my first blog. I said that I would try to post regularly. I wanted to document Isabella's development, her growth from an infant into a toddler, and so on. Unfortunately, I have not been as dedicated as I liked to have been. There is always a reason why I don't have time to sit down and type out the goings on of my life. There is always something to pick up, always something to do, always having to keep an eye and ear on my energetic, curious, little turd (as I have always called her). But as I look back now, I am sad that I did not make the time to blog about the before and after results of Isabella's DOC Band. I did not write about her first birthday, my first entire day, make that entire weekend without her. I have not written about my decision to finally seek out financial support from the "other party" involved, rather, not involved in her life. Nor have I written about the extreme amount of joy and love I feel when this sweet child of mine hugs my neck and gives me kisses.

When Isabella started going to daycare, she was almost 5 months old and was in the infant room. After she was over a year old, It was time to start getting her ready to move up to the toddler room. Before she could make the move, there were a few regulations. First, she had to be weaned off the bottle, and second, she had to be eating only table food. It was not problem to wean Isabella off her bottle. One day, I just stopped giving it to her and gave her only a vasito (sippy cup). Problem solved. As for the food situation, she refused to eat only table food and the way I saw it, as long as she was eating nutritious food, I didn't care what stage it is at. When she was ready to eat table food, she would. I was not going to force her. At almost fourteen months, she was moved to the toddler room. No more bottle, but she was not completely on table food yet. Over the last month, she has started eating a wider variety of foods. She likes to eat rice and fidellos. She likes soups and noodles. And she is such a little cookie monster! Any cookie, any time, she will eat it. Same for cheetos. She loves to share a chocolate chip cookie with Grandpa.

This child of mine is very affectionate. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She loves to hug and kiss her stuffed animals and babies. She covers them with her blanky and pats them on the back saying, "Uhhh-uhhh-uhhh" like she is putting them to sleep. She loves her blanky. She drags that thing all over the house. When she sees it, she gets a big smile and runs to it. Then she grabs it like she hasn't seen it in ages and hugs it and buries her face in it. It is pretty funny to see. We are very affectionate with her at home. We hug and kiss her and tell her we love her every day. I believe that when you love someone, you should tell them, and I love this little girl very much.

Isabella likes to climb on top of her rocking chair and stand up and yell like she is on top of the world. She has learned to climb on and off the sofa, uses a small stepstool to climb up on my bed, and likes to jump on it like it is a trampoline. She watches TV some mornings while I get ready for work. She likes to sing to songs she has never heard before and dances when she hears music. She waves and says "Hi" and "Bye." When it is time for bed each night, she goes to her grandma and grandpa and gives them besitos and says "Nye, nye" (night, night). She knows how to sign "I love you" and she does it every time I sing Skinna Marinky Dinky Dink to her. She also knows some of the movements to The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

                         She likes to read books.                                                     She likes to stack her blocks.

 She likes to share her food with Lola.

She likes to take pictures. 

She likes to yell and scream. 

So, Isabella, my love, when I have a bad day, you are everything good. When I feel sad, you are my happiness. When I feel like I haven't done anything right, you show me that I did one perfect thing, bring you into my world. When I feel like I am not enough, I remember that I am your mom, and that is always enough. It amazes me how big of a difference one little girl can make. I thought you were funny and entertaining before, and now, you are simply hilarious! You have us all laughing constantly and from what I hear, it only gets better. How? How could I possibly enjoy my time with you more? Then someone told me, "Just wait until she says that she loves you!" and it occurred to me that this is what life is all about. All these little moments really aren't so little. Every 'first' is so exciting. Every new word learned is adorable. I am certain that if I were given the opportunity to trade my life today for my life three years ago, I would definitely refuse. I am the person I am now because of all of my good and bad past experiences. I am the person I am today because of you. And all along, the road I was traveling was leading me to something more wonderful than I ever could have imagined, you. 

Love, Mama