Spring in Scotland

Isla and the Landie...she's already showing an interesting in lamping! Maybe Alisdair will have a new partner for the spring!
The daffodils are in bloom everywhere and she is almost walking...
She did fine sitting on the rock wall as we tried to get her to smile, but truth be told, she was more interested in the gravel on the pathway. Thanks Auntie Erin for her hat! She's the only "non walking" kid I know who has dirty shoes from being in the hen run...
iLook at those teeth!!
You may not believe it by the pictures, but her hair is slowly coming in and its very curly!

It's Sunday and although we didn't set an alarm we woke up in time to get Isla dressed, fed and made it to the Cathedral on time to meet Grannie for church. Isla got a kick out of the singing (wasn't too interested in the rest, but luckily we were prepared with books, and a bag full of stuff) and we got to hear the first half of the Palm Sunday story. As Grannie gives a lift to a lady who doesn't drive, we beat her back to the farm and decided to go take some pictures while we waited for her to get back. You can see it was a gloriously sunny day (we've had a remarkable number of those in the past few weeks), although it was pretty chilly.

We ate lunch with Grannie and then got to the chore list. Alisdair had to cut down a tree and the sheep had to be vaccinated and moved. Isla was a great supervisor and took her first trip in the Landie up to field 3 to put the lambs out for the spring! She wasn't too happy when MiniMe decided to try and get in the Landie with her.... It's been ages since we did chores at the farm and it was nice to spend some time with Grannie. Here are some pictures of our day.

Learning

Every day we go for a walk with the dogs. When we leave the house the terriers are on leads and Cassie just follows at our side. When we get to the Games Park or the far field or whereever, the dogs are told to "sit" (and there is a hand command), then the next command is "go play" (also with a hand signal).

So, yesterday, being British Mothering Sunday, Kenna was lazy and hung out in front of the tv in the playroom while Alisdair went and shot deer and such. Kenna was watching Isla play when Isla came over to the couch and was making noise and pulling the laundry that Kenna was folding on the floor (and interupting the BBC version of Pollyanna--much darker than the Disney version by the way!) Kenna said to Isla "Go play", to which Isla laughed, made the hand sign and said in her own language "go play"....it was quite funny... then she just kept saying it over and over and doing her hand sign...

I guess a year of dog walking is "paying off"...She's awfully fond on the dogs but we have to shut the door to the back hallway or she eats the left over dog food and on our way to baby class the other day Kenna found her forearm deep in the dog's water bowl...It's amazing the things she picks up and gets into.

It's just scary having a little "mirror" around who repeats anything and everything you say or do...yikes!

More Pictures

Alisdair has gotten so fatherly!
One shoe on, one shoe off..a mouth full of kleenex and a ladylike skirt...she can take steps on her own but likes to walk around the furniture.
Still got those big blue eyes! And hopefully a clear nose after all that.. (Olbas is like mild Vicks)
BUTTONS!
What happens when mom lays on the grass to take pictures...

Some of these made me smile, so I thought I'd just put them on...Isla is fascinated with buttons...but is a little rough and we had an incident with Emily in tears when Isla "over admired" the buttons on her sweater...

Sunny Days in March

Troups in "Dungarees"
A girl, her dog and her Girl Scout whistle...(and note she has her shoes on!! Hoorah! We're slowly winning that battle. She will keep them on only so she can get down with the chickens)
Life is SO sad when mom doesn't let you do whatever you want...and then takes pictures :)--but again, note, she has shoes on!
She loves her Elmer Fudd hat...and feeding chickens...

We've had glorious weather..It was 16 degrees yesterday! That's almost Summer temperatures. Isla and Mom took off to Grannie's farm and brought down their friends Corrine and Emily. They had a great time feeding the chickens, seeing the lambs and walking up to see the sheep. Afterwards they all sat on the front lawn and enjoyed the sun. Alisdair had been taking apart the old shop and showed up in the tractor and let Emily and Isla have a go.

Today was a bit chillier and Isla wore her outfit from Auntie Em...but Isla's great fun is sucking on/eating Kleenex with Olbus oil on them (clears your sinuses). She was very upset when mom tried to take the kleenex away and wouldn't let her in the office...here is her best attempt at an Oscar for being so distraught!

We also got a SPECIAL treat today..a box of Girl Scout cookies. We've been sharing them with our neighbours and enjoying them! Isla loved the note that her cousin Madeleine wrote to her and her name blocks. Thanks Madeleine and Auntie Tiina!

Isla's Play Group

Our little peasant child with Anne.
No-bake cookies....they have oatmeal and milk in them..so they must be nutritious!
Emily, Isla and Eva--Emily had a great shirt from H&M in Switzerland and Isla spent too much time examining the pictures on it...Emily was a great sport about it.

The weather has been getting better and it's getting lighter everday! Isla had some other toddlers from town over one day for a "playdate" and they had a great time. She learned a lot from Eva (who is three months older than Isla) and Emily (who is three months younger, but the same size). Auntie Erin came for one day last week and we took Isla to the Health Clinic to have her weighed and measured. She is 9.64 kilos now and that still puts her just a little above 50th percentile for height and weight. She is in good proportions.

Isla has had lots of first lately...her first no-bake cookie ("monkey poo"), her first taste of "jelly" (That's Jello to Americans but with fruit juice),her first pair of shoes (which remarkably she kept on all the way home from the store) and she took her first steps unaided! (Mom was reading the paper and all of the sudden had Isla at her side. She'd walked across the newspaper and took three steps to Mom on the chair! Oh, the trouble that will soon start....

We also learned that she likes to wear bandanas around and now can do the signs for bird, hat and eat. She takes off her Elmer Fudd hunting hat, but only so she can put it back on herself and be excited when you tell her how clever she is.

Snowy Days in March

This is her kangaroo from Australia that she has great fun playing with..and she's learned it's hat comes off, but doesn't fit her head (yes, she's tried)..She also tried to "Kiwi" it (aka, bite it and shake it around) but we stopped that game...perhaps its time she gets some human friends and stops learning social skills from the terriers...and incase you're wondering..she doesn't wear this dress EVERY Friday...just the past two :) It's her Thanksgiving dress Grannie Troup gave her and its great! Mom doesn't care that you can see her long sleeved one-sie as when we go out she either has a Grannie Ella sweater on or a jacket...
This week Isla picked up a cold, and we got some snow too! Being one she is all about being Mrs. Independence...and showing off her "groove". Unfortunately she's a bit shy and won't dance in front of the camera (embarrassment is kind of a new thing to her) but she boogied down when the builders were here putting in a new window and realised how much attention it got her, so she decided to dance for Claire tonight in the kitchen...huge nappie bum just a going along with her shoulders and head bopping. We get a kick out of her.
At baby sign class today she got really into the "Hokey Cokey" as well. She's figured out the signs for "Peter Rabbit has a fly upon his nose" and loves to do "floppy ears and curly whiskers." Perhaps the best line of the week was when Kenna called her a little turkey, and she started "bock, bock, bocking"..as that's what the turkeys outside do....


This is Isla with her Kangaroo ...and her very runny nose...she had a difficult few days, but sucking on Olbus oil kleenex really helped! (not that sucking on kleenex is advisable, but her nose stopped running. That and we got a Karvol plug in for her bedroom, have been filling her full of "purple juice" (blackcurrant) and letting her eat all the clementines she wants. She's in heaven on that one!

Here we have her other favourite new past time..turning on the oven....Cassie however is the focus on this picture as we just see Isla getting into trouble...she definitely knows what she's not supposed to do now (play with the oven, feed the dogs her food, stand up in the bath, etc).. as you can say her name and she stops it immediately and pretends she wasn't doing it. In the bath she knows if she stands up, bath time is over and the second you go for the towel, she plops herself right back down...Oh, the fun we are going to have with this little chancer!
This picture is her, in her pjs on the kitchen floor on Saturday morning saying "no, you"...she has amazing dexterity with those little claw fingers...unfortunately she has decided that mom's freckles on her chest are removable and tries at every opportunity to "pinch" them off...OUCH!