Isabel

Isa the first day Of Isabel there is little to say because words do not express all that she is and all that she will be. You are welcome to check out selected photos, but the only way to appreciate her is to know her. I know, we sound like blindly proud parents, and we are! Isabel came to us in her sixth week of life, and the Isabel at one year memory of that day still brings tears to our eyes. There is no real way to describe her, other than she is a delight to everyone who meets her, and she is the smartest little girl that ever lived. If you don't believe her mother or me, just ask her Grandparents!

Isabel has entered her second year with much gusto. From the moment you see her, it is evident that she loves life. Like most Isabel at school two-year-olds, she loves to explore and a simple walk around the block is spiced up with the discovery of rocks, flowers and conversations about everything around her. Talking really is her thing. She has running diatribes on everything and anything, which her mother says she gets from me, but any of you who know Charmagne know where Isabel really gets it from. As our friend Sam put it, "the nature vs. nurture debate has been settled." Most recently Isabel has pronounced her love for IKEA. Although she absolutely loves to go shopping there, she loves their restaurant even more. ice cream is a full contact sport The other day she informed us at dinner that, "IKEA is my favorite restaurant." She also walks around the house and points out all of the items we have from IKEA, saying with great joy, "This is from IKEA." We are not sure where the obsession comes from, but if any of you know advertising executives from IKEA, we have their next commercial!

One thing we do like is our family situation here. As mentioned movie star below, we are well taken care of, but more importantly, Isabel is a valued part of the AIS-R ( American International School – Riyadh ) community. Every day when we go to work, Isabel comes with us. The school provides a daycare that is run by two wonderful ladies whom Isabel absolutely adores. We are grateful every day that she has this to look forward to. The best part is most of her friends from the compound are with her at school. It seems to us that she is a very happy and well adjusted child, at least as far as any two-year-old goes!

The biggest event in Isabel's world view is the coming of her little brother, Dante. She is very excited about having a little brother to Snuggle time with mom "carry". There are times that she says she would prefer to have a little sister, but Dante will be o.k. as long as she gets to be a big sister. This has been a great opportunity to discuss adoption with her, and while she does not understand adoption as we do she is comfortable with the terminology and idea that it is how families are made. Now if his adoption were only completed!

As a last little bit of fun we thought we would include a short video clip taken from our point-and-shoot of Isable being Isabel. Just click on the picture to the left to launch the video. (It is 3mb, so give it a second or two.)

Last Updated 4/1/06 - no foolin'!

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