Thanks for Isaiah

I think of Isaiah as my baby still. I want to cuddle him and squeeze him and rock him. I want to protect him from everything. I want him to lay around making sweet noises and playing with his toes. And sometimes he obliges me since he's such a sweetheart, but really he is so grown up (the whole not talking thing throws other people off, too).

He is starting to role-play with his toys. It's especially fun since all he can really have them say is, "Mama? Dada. Uh uh uh. No! Mama." over and over in new combinations. It actually really throws me off. I'm constantly answering, "What?" to his "Mama" in his play. But it also makes my heart skip a beat in sadness to be reminded that he should be speaking so much more than he is. And in joy to be reminded how far he's come in the past few months.

Isaiah loves dogs. I mean he really, really, really loves dogs. Stuffed ones, TV ones, or real ones. He's not afraid of them in person. He'll walk right up and pet them and let them lick him with no qualms at all. He loves to play at his friends house who has a dog.

And, yes, we still call him Poochy. I think we'll call him that until he can ask us to stop ... Too bad for him that his speech is delayed so that time might be a ways off.

Isaiah has a sweet, loving soul. He has compassion. He melts hearts wherever he goes. When his toddler-hood gets the best of him and he does something naughty like hit or throw, he's always quick to apologize and give hugs and kisses. He lets me squeeze him in a long hug. He only giggles and then squirms a little when I kiss him repeatedly - he never tries to escape. He still lets me cuddle him for a good 10 minutes after naptime most days. If I need a hug at some random point in the day, all I have to do is squat down and open my arms and Isaiah will come zooming into my arms for a big bear hug.

My baby still actually naps at naptime. He's 2 1/2 so I know that can't last much longer, but for now I'm soaking up every minute of that peace. And he still hasn't tried to climb out of his crib.

Isaiah's speech therapy is going really well. He comes out of each appointment more vocal than he went in. He has added "wo mo" to his vocabulary (that's "one more" for all you non-Poochy-speakers). Now we're working diligently on "up". He can say "uh" easily, and he can say "pa" easily, but we can't get him to combine the two sounds to say "up". But he tries so hard! It's so amazing to see how much more world is opened up to him each time he learns a new word or phrase.

Isaiah's laugh is unbelievable. It's explosive. It's free and loud. And sometimes unstoppable. I love it so much.

Isaiah is the perfect middle ground between Naomi and Asher. He wants to be obedient like Naomi, but he has a sneaky little naughty streak like Asher. Basically, he's a typical two year old.

And we wouldn't want him any other way. We love him just the way he is.