It’s happened. My baby girl is now 5 years old. She is smart and sweet and curious and sassy and just as busy, busy, busy as ever. She came into this world with a BIG personality, and it just keeps getting bigger. Every person she meets is a friendship waiting to happen. Each new thing is an exciting opportunity to explore. We’re so very proud of the bright, inquisitive, adventurous girl she’s rapidly becoming.
Science is her favorite thing now, especially viruses and bacteria. Starting last fall, she kept hounding us to let her watch “virus videos” on YouTube. That’s snowballed into a microscope that she can look at bacteria under and asking to read one of Kellen’s old biology books with diagrams of the human body–and various diseases–as her bedtime stories. At her last visit to the doctor, she and the doctor has a conversation about how viruses replicate. She says when she grows up she wants to be a doctor, too…or a scientist who studies viruses or stars. Going out with a friend with a telescope is the next big thing on her to do list.
Because she picks up on–and remembers–just about everything, we’ve had a lot of discussions about politics this year. She came with me to a couple of protests because I think it’s important for her to see that in our family, we stand up for what we believe in.
Isla’s other favorite things are coloring in her super fancy grown up coloring books, playing her ukele and singing like a rock star (lots of yelling and growling), and pretending to be a cat. She’s a cat about half the time these days.
Perhaps the most life-altering event this year for Isla was becoming a big sister. There have been a few rocky moments, but on the whole, she’s an amazing big sister, and they get along famously. They love playing together in their tunnel or running laps around the kitchen and living room. Bath time is also SUPER fun with lots and lots of splashing. She’s good at keeping him entertained and out of trouble and her passion for following the rules has translated into her taking her sisterly duties quite seriously. While she can be a teensy bit overbearing at times, Ian adores his sissy.
Other things: Isla’s favorite color is almost every color. She can read a few sight words but isn’t really reading independently yet. We’ve started reading chapter books at bed time, kicking off with Harry Potter. She loves to draw, and her cartoon people are hilarious, colorful, and full of life. We’ve got her drawings stashed everywhere. She’s grown 3.5 inches this year and is at about 40 lbs. She wears size 6 clothes and is still around the 75th percentile. Between her size, her vocabulary, her bearing, and her interests, people always think she’s a lot older than she is and are surprised to find out her real age. Which is now, unbelievably, 5.
I love her so much. Happy birthday, Isla Felicity.
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