It’s been a while since I wrote about Izzy. Of course she’s been included in other blog posts and I’ve written some recipes and talked about us cooking together but I haven’t written just about her. Life has been rather chaotic so I guess that’s to blame but I don’t want to look back on this time in her life and think why didn’t I write about that? Because its a funny time. She’s harder at this age ( she knows her own mind) but she’s also easier at this age ( she sleeps ) and she is so so funny.

Izzy as a little baby:

And Izzy now:

Every day I laugh at something she says or does. Every single day. Even when I was incredibly down just before giving birth and weepy and depressed after giving birth ( I still get these days) she managed somehow to make me laugh which must make her a pretty amazing girl yes?

I wonder how her little mind works when she suddenly pipes up 3 months post partum “Mammy where’s your belly gone?” Or how she seems to know everything. Now this isn’t a mummy brag but seriously the child knows everything. Nothing gets past her. This isn’t always a good thing.

Her favourite phrase is still ” What are you doing?” I hear it on average 200 times a day. Sometimes it gets a bit much and I ask her the question over and over which annoys her and amuses me. Yes I’m a mature parent.

She loves her grandparents and her extended family. She asks for them all the time and will often demand we make cakes for Nanna.

Her favourite foods are tomatoes, olives and cheese. She mostly has a hearty appetite and will eat whatever we do but just this last week has developed an adorable (not) habit of chewing her food into mulch and then spitting it out – aaarghhh please tell me it’s a phase.

Sleep is still good for us. I realise just how lucky we are that for the most part Izzy sleeps from 7pm to 7am and naps for 1.5hrs at lunchtime. She loves going to bed especially at nap time and will tell you when she’s ready..on a recent shop trip she removed her shoes and climbed onto a display bed:

She is pretty well behaved, ask anyone and they will tell you she’s such a good girl but she can also be naughty. She can be very naughty and I have days when I feel like pulling my hair out. She is normally only misbehaved for me and her Dad although we discipline her well and I think it’s because she feels secure enough to push our buttons. And push them she does.

Nine times out of ten she is helpful and generous, if I ask her to pass me the feeding cushion or a muslin when Chloe is screaming for a feed she will run and fetch them for me saying “Izzys helping” ( we have a lot of talking in the third person) then on just the one occasion when I will really need it she will flat out say no. Normally smiling wickedly whilst doing so. Why does that happen? I have no idea.

I still don’t think of this time as the terrible twos though. She is such a bundle of happiness and light on the whole that I can put up with a little naughty behaviour and at least we don’t have tantrums – the tantrum phrase was very short lived with us although I know it could still return.

She is very blonde and blue eyed and she is finally getting some hair – it looks pretty curly ..awwww. She is super tall like her Dad and most of her baby fat has gone which is not surprising as the girl does not stop moving. My Dad calls her Busy Izzy and its not hard to see why.

She loves to go the park and the river with her Dad when they can run about and get messy. She loves the soft play and so does her Dad – luckily.

At home she likes to draw, paint and play. TV no longer holds her attention unless she’s feeling unwell and she rarely asks to watch anything – whilst I should be pleased about this some days a 20 minute break would be lovely. If anything will hold her attention it’s still good old Mr T (Tumble that is) Her favourite at home activity is by far cooking click here to see her in action – hopefully this will continue as its something I love too.

She can count to 11 and has done for a while. She knows the words for everything and doesn’t stop saying them but flat out refuses to learn her colours. She knew them about 6 months ago but now she insists that everything is green. We are working on that one. She understands when I tell her she can have something tomorrow or after her nap. Quite often if she asks for something sweet when we are out I will say yes we can get it and she will say “Eat it after nap” she knows that she doesn’t have treats just prior to bed and will instead ask for the cake or biscuit in the morning – she also understands that chocolate is a big treat and gets very excited. We have recently started to offer yoghurt raisins as a healthy snack and she thinks they are sweets so her face lights up when she sees me getting the box.

She is an extremely loving child. We all get lots of hugs and kisses off Izzy especially Chloe whom she clearly adores. She also tells us she loves us THIS MUCH and stretches her arms out wide – it makes me feel so good but then she does the same thing for cake 😉

There are so many things she does or says that I could tell you but I fear I may be rambling already.

What matters most is that even at this time – by far my most challenging year she makes us all smile and I get a glow when she squeezes me so tightly or gazes at her sister with love or still manages to look small curled up on her Dads lap. She may not be the smallest baby anymore but my baby she still is.