The first birthday club!

Yes, it's true, Isobel is one! Even if I can't get the date stamp on Blogger to say October 17th, it is exactly 12.18am on October 17th, gosh darnit!

We celebrated her today by baptizing her at church ( where else, I suppose - except the big Lake M - but a little chilly for that I venture?) in very interesting but probably not literally holy water from Lake Michigan and some sacred place in Turkey whose name I have forgotten, in a font that came from England but is now ensconced ( or enfonted?) at the very front of our church sanctuary.

Isobel in her Halloween costume, as Blackie the Cat!

The only way to keep Isobel happy when she is out and about seems to be to put her down and let her make her way around by herself by her various modes of self propelled transportation - either the crawl or the one handed butt scoot. The scoot is very convenient for carrying objects around while moving forward. Recently she has scooted and crawled in a very busy and very loud Top Shop, Target, the Lobby of the Peninsula Hotel where a friend and I went for afternoon tea after the aforesaid Top Shop. No I didn't buy anything at Top Shop and I have to say it was very very loud and full of extremely trendy 12 year olds who were masquerading as shop assistants. They were actually very sweet but it was a bit much. When I was growing up in England, Top Shop was where you went for cheap, slutty clothes. I guess not much has changed except the prices. And the proclamation above certain clothes racks that this is "available in a size zero" which was never in evidence in my youth when I might have even fitted into a single digit size. But I digress.

Isobel has crawled in many places and cleaned the floor with many very cute pairs of cotton leggings, which are her parents preferred mode of dress for her, especially if they are on sale at Target.  She has also nursed in many places too,  which is just another exciting  list  that I am compiling, with the most fun and exotic location so far being the top of the John Hancock Tower.  But today Isobel crawled around in the sanctuary in her sweats and hoodie while we prepared for the service and rehearsed with the choir. Then when she had been changed into her pink corduroy pinafore dress ( jumper to you yankees) and white tights, she crawled around holding her new sensory nubby orange  ball for all to see. It bounces, it's tactilely interesting, it's a bright color. And it kept her occupied and unfettered until it was time to pick her up and hold her ( mostly squirm free) by said font where words were read, promises were made and water was splashed thrice upon her head. She didn't seem to mind the water a bit. She was  fascinated by it as well as the minister's beard, which though recently tamed and trimmed, was still quite substantial. She managed to hold it together until after she  was formally  introduced to the congregation - who also made promises.  At that point I put her back on the floor and she played with the microphone chord as the minister did his last  pronouncements. Phew. Sigh of relief. Now Isobel can go downstairs to the nursery and play with her tights off and her hair down ( figuratively of course - there were no fru fru bows  in sight).

So what is Isobel doing these days that is new and interesting, you ask? She is busy scooting, sorting clothes and putting them over and behind her head, playing peek a boo, trying to say my name and possibly Susan's. Her most recent interest is in toy strollers and the baby dolls that go in them. We actually bought her one for her birthday. She likes to put the doll into the seat head down and then pull the stroller over and wrestle with the whole contraption for quite some time. When we go for playtime at a local child development center she likes to play on the slide (trying to climb up it and smiling when I hold onto her and slide her down it), spend time in the library examining all the books - and often readin them upside down - I think we have a theme here. She loves circle time where the teachers take it in turns to roll the ball to each child singing a little song and saying each child's name, as well as rocking up and down, forward and back to the songs we sing. I think she has started to do the actions for Itsy Bitsy Spider a few times without any prompting. She can do bits of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. When she is with other kids she often wants to be with the big kids, or else by herself, carefully examining something, or engaging adults in flirting, conversation or peekaboo. She is quite partial to the toy work bench and tools at the play center too. At the park she loves the baby swings and giggles and smiles when she is being pushed.

Her new DVD favorite is Fifi and the Flowertots, which was given to us by one ofour Croatian friends.  It is actually a British Show and comes with Croatian or English dialogue. I found the US show online, but the version we have has a very quirky Jane Horrocks, of Mike Leigh films fame, playing Fifi with a lovely Yorkshire ( or is it Lancashire?) accent.

We are all very excited because Isobel's Grandma Margaret is visiting unexpectedly. We thought she wasn't going to be able to come until next spring,  but she is coming on Sunday for a week! We are really looking forward to showing her a good time -which mostly will involve hanging out and doing fun things with Isobel.

I am working ( with Susan doing all the clever stuff) on a post with pics from all twelve months of Isobel, but I-Photo did some nasty trick and ate our file and spat out lots of other pictures instead, so that will have to wait until we have more time and patience.

I am also working on Isobel's birth story post - only slightly delayed by the wonderful events of the last year. More anon. Thank you for watching and cheering us on. We love you all. Even those we don't know. xoxo