But they both like tea parties!

Sweet Sir Isaac has had quite a busy week.  Last weekend we got to meet Isaac's godfather's new foster son, Victor, at his first birthday party.  Isaac had a great time playing in Victor's "pen" and watching all of the big kids playing ice cream cart.  As usual, Isaac went from person to person without hesitation. 

After dinner one night, Daddy read Isaac one of his library books while Mommy cleaned up.  It was called Lionel and Molly: Opposites and each page was about about how Lionel the lion was opposite from Molly the mouse, and then the book randomly ended with "but they both like tea parties!" The book had absolutely nothing to do with tea parties, and Daddy's reaction to this twist in the story made Mommy laugh hysterically, and then Isaac started laughing, and before we knew it, we were all just belly laughing over this random ending, hence the title of this blog entry. For a reenactment of the story, watch HERE.

Then of course there was Thanksgiving. In the morning Isaac relaxed in bed and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while we got ready for church. Then we had dinner at Mom-mom-mom's where, at 90 years old, she made the turkey and gravy, and everyone else brought the sides.  Isaac had so much fun running around with Declan.  He just wanted to be wherever he was.  We spent some time on the back porch and wherever Declan sat, Isaac followed to join him.  There was also some fun with funnel hats.  But perhaps Mommy's favorite (and sadly undocumented) moment of the day was while Declan and Isaac were mid-chase, Isaac suddenly stopped running and went back towards Declan and just hugged him out of the blue. It was very sweet.  They also played hide-and-seek, and even with Declan saying, "here I am!", Isaac still struggled to find him. When he finally did find him under the table, he was SO excited. After Mom-mom-mom's we went to Aunt Kim's where Isaac was instantly whisked away to become literally the center of attention in the family room.

  

trying on Isaac's hat

While Mommy went out with Mommom, Aunt Margie, Sandy, and Kelly for our traditional Black Friday shopping, Daddy and Isaac had some guy time and went on a nice long walk to see the emus.

Someone used their learning tower to climb up onto the counter

Over the weekend we decided to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather to decorate for Christmas.  Isaac "helped" clear out the Fall decor and make sure the wooden soldier's made by Pop-pop-pop were just right.  When he came across the light-up lawn dachshunds he tried sitting on them and riding them like a horse. Luckily he hasn't tried this with the real dogs (yet)!

  

After a busy day of decorating, Mommy cooked her annual post-Thanksgiving dinner.  This was our 9th year for this tradition!  Isaac joined us in the dining room for dinner and couldn't wait to dig in.  As soon as Mommy put his plate down in front of him he grabbed a dinner roll and shoved it in his mouth. Then Daddy started reading a blessing and as if Isaac understood, he stopped himself from grabbing another bite of food and leaned back, giving Daddy his full attention.  When Daddy finished, Isaac resumed eating by grabbing his fork and eating his turkey and potatoes like a pro!

 



Sunday was another busy day.  We went to Shepherdstown to celebrate some birthdays and to see Lucia perform at WV Domestic. Isaac loved her performance.  He was dancing in his seat and clapping after every song . On our ride home from WV we stopped and got our last Harbin Farms Christmas tree.  

On the ride home he insisted on holding my hand against his head

once we got home we had a very silly boy on our hands

Isaac continues to enjoy back-flopping into the dogs' bed.  It has become part of his morning routine to lay in the dog bed with Lady, leaning back and hugging her head. Lady is a very good sport about it. 

    


Before leaving the other day Isaac and Allie were having a very special moment, in cahoots about something.

20 months old

We now have a 20-month-old on our hands! Here are some random updates on Sweet Sir Isaac:

• When asked, Isaac can identify his head, hair, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, tongue, belly, toes, knees, legs and hands.  
• He will snort when you ask, "What sound does a _________ make?" (he will snort no matter what animal name you insert!).
• Pretty  much any round fruit or vegetable is an "apple" (which Isaac pronounces "ahhhhhp-um")
• At bedtime, he has an endless supply of kisses, waves, and giggles and says "night-night Dadda" when Daddy comes in to say goodnight. 
• While incredibly sweet most of the time, Isaac has definitely been testing limits and making his displeasure known.  He shakes his head no while waving his hands dismissively if we start singing a song he doesn't care to hear at that moment, or offer him something he does not want to eat.  
• Isaac spends Tuesdays and Fridays at Aunt Margie's and Wednesdays at Sandy's, all three of those days with Declan.  He's always excited to run to their gate/door in the morning, and is sad to leave every afternoon. 
• He is still breastfed in the morning, and before bed and naps, per the World Health Organization's recommendation of breastfeeding until at least 2 years of age. 
• He recently started nodding his head yes, which he finds to be very funny for some reason.
• He is getting better with coming down the stairs on his own, However, he is inconsistent with his method which makes Mommy nervous.
• Isaac goes down for bed very easily and does sleep in his crib until at least 5 or 6am most nights. With few surprising exceptions, he is down to one nap a day which lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to almost 4 hours.  Talk about inconsistent and hard to make plans!
• While he still doesn't have a huge collection of clear verbal words, he definitely understands a LOT, and often surprises us.  One night after dinner, Isaac picked up a smushed pea from the floor.  For some reason Mommy asked him to go put it in the trashcan, with absolutely no expectation that he actually would. Isaac walked all the way around the counter and into the kitchen, opened the trashcan, and threw the pea away!
• And while his list of verbal words is limited, it is growing, albeit a bit selective. There are some words we're surprised we haven't heard yet, like dog, or cup (however he will point to these things). But he does say hobbit, airplane, helicopter, avocado, yummy, water, book, eat, banana, and uh-huh, among others. He will also attempt to say most words we ask him to, even if it does just sound like jibberish.
• The hashtag Sweet Sir Isaac seems to have stuck, as people old and young often ask, "How is [Sweet] Sir Isaac?". It's rare to have people ask about him without at least a Sweet or a Sir in front of his name, which Mommy thinks is pretty funny.  

Mr. Personality made it very clear he was not impressed with the yummy scallop dinner Mommy made for dinner earlier this week.  After crying at it in disgust, he then dumped his nicely-arranged plate over and made a mess with the food on his tray, giving Mommy a very firm, "I am not eating this" glare. 

Dinner the next night was more successful in terms of consumption, but even worse in terms of clean up as we gave Isaac full reign with his spoon practice.

While Mommy was getting dinner ready, Isaac moved his learning tower to the cupboard while saying "yummy, yummy, yummy". He then helped himself to "snacks". This isn't quite what we had in mind when we made this for him.  

pretending to relax in the sunroom