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Isabell likes the boats at the Chelan house so very much.  After spending some time on Saturday out in a kayak with Jamie, I decided to take her out Sunday morning.  The river was glassy and it was misting lightly.  Isabell wanted to sit in the blue kayak so we settled in and pushed off.  Cue ominous music.  There are a few white buoys near the house and on previous occasions in the canoe as well as the previous day, Isabell likes to touch them as we go by.  We headed to the closest buoy and she reached out and touched it nicely.  We then went on the next one but the plan was to touch it on the opposite side as the first. I guess the river was flowing a bit faster than I thought and before we could cross in front of it, we were hit broadside.  Oops.  Over we went.  I can tell you that Isabell handled it well as could be expected.  When we popped up she told me in VERY loud words, “ALL DONE, OUT OUT, COLD.” before starting to cry.  Her life jacket is by far the best thing we’ve ever purchased.   A quick attempt to flip the kayak back over was abandoned and we struck out for shore.  Isabell and the kayak in one hand, the paddle in the other, we swam and swam and I heard how unhappy little miss Isabell was with every kick.  I tried telling her that we were just out for a swim and that since she didn’t like it we would go to shore and get out.  A good 7-8 minutes later we finally beached and oh boy Isabell couldn’t climb up my head fast enough.  The higher the better.  So with the kayak pulled up off the shore we started the trek back to the house.  In the flip I managed to save what few things we had with us minus my sandals.  So across the fields in bare feet and soaking clothes we went.  Once home, I was exhausted.  Jamie took the news very well and held Isabell to calm her down.  We jumped in the shower, clothes and all to help heat up.  Isabell retold the story in her own words while we warmed up and checked our scrapes and bruises out,  “Water, water, boat, water cold, owie ouch, all done, out out out, kick kick kick.”  After warming up she wanted to sit in Jamie’s lap and refused to move for an hour.

While they were calming down I took the second kayak down river and towed the beached one back.  I gave a very wide berth to the buoys.   Back in the house Isabell was feeling better and after a bit sat with me instead.  A few more minutes and she was back to playing and eating like normal.  If you ask her about the boats and water she will still tell you all about being dunked, but while putting the kayaks back in the garage she wanted to sit in them and paddle on the driveway.

If you talk to her, this wasn’t swimming, it was a dunking.  We doubt that this will effect her summer activities but just in case we don’t want her associating swimming with this very not fun episode.

It sure is a good thing that my friend Katie is such a laid back parent!! This picture is over a week old, but it’s a good example for what happened at my birthday dinner this week.

Katie, Jeff and Baby Jacks come into the house. Isabell walks up and says: “turn baby” while patting herself on the chest. She runs over to the couch, climbs up, and is handed the baby. She proceeds to sit there for a good 10 minutes with him in her lap, patting his shoulder with her arm that is under his neck, tickling his tummy, giving him big open mouthed kisses, rubbing noses, and generally staring into his eyes (while he smiles and stares back).

Isabell wanted nothing to do with me (Happy birthday mommy! Have a break and some grownup conversation!!!) and followed Katie around with the baby. She covered him up with a blanket when he was laying on the floor, she gave him toys, played peek a boo while he was nursing, and told us all to “ssshhhhh” when he fell asleep. She was, in general, a perfect big sister. She didn’t mind when other people held Jacks, as long as she could be in their lap too. And if she couldn’t be…..well….lets just say that Isabell has been practicing for being two.

But it DID give us some hope that she’ll be good with Baby Dot when she arrives. Hopefully the novelty of having baby around all the time won’t wear off TOO quickly.

It’s been awhile since I wrote much on here about our darling big girl Isabell. Turns out she’s getting bigger and bigger every day!!!!

This is part of our dinner conversation:

Mommy: “Who is your hero Isabell?”
Isabell: “me”
Mommy: “Who loves you?”
Isabell: “Beth”
Mommy: “Who else loves you?”
Isabell: “Mommy”
Mommy: “Who else?”
Isabell: “Daddy”

And the BEST part about our day today, was that Isabell came up to me after dinner tonight and said “Poop!” I asked if she wanted to sit on the potty and she said “eye” (“eye” = yes), so we put her on the potty and she POOPED IN THE POTTY and then told me “da-dun” (which means all done). And when I didn’t get the message right away, she sure was persistent! She is getting a mind of her own.

You know you’re a parent when pooping in the potty is a big deal, and being your own hero is funny. 🙂 I sure do love that big girl some days.

After 90 minutes of hearing her move around her bed after being put down for a nap, she FINALLY got quiet and went to sleep.  Nashon sneaked in and snapped this super precious picture.  She’s now been asleep for 2.5 hours (after the 90 minutes of playing by herself quietly).

Yesterday afternoon Isabell took her first nap in her new big girl bed, in her big girl bedroom.  We’ve been playing in there for weeks now, but I was expecting nap time to be very challenging for her (and therefore me).  But she giggled when I put her down, and she stayed there, fell asleep, and slept for FOUR HOURS!!  She woke up a few times when she rolled over and would hit her “anti snooze button” also known as her music box, then she’d go back to sleep.  After four hours, she got up and  was happy as a clam!

Big girl, big nap, in a big girl room with a big girl bed!!!

We’re on our way!