isla lou, four and a half, and isla-isms

isla louise is four and a half!  today, or yesterday, or tomorrow... it's hard to tell exactly since february only has 28 days.  but now-ish.  we do like to celebrate half-birthdays around here, so we will have cake with her birthday buddy autumn on monday, and isla will get a little half-birthday gift that day too.
 
in honor of this lively little girl, here are a few photos from lately and some of my favorites of the things that have come out of her mouth in the past little while (that i have been quick enough to write down.)

working at the flower shop in school

skuuting on the whatcom creek trail

throwing rocks into the creek 

trying out snowshoes in whistler

here are some isla-isms from the past little while.  prepare to laugh!

• isla, in church before we go up for the eucharist: "are we going to get the christ stuff now?"
• isla: "did you give the library workers a email that i really wanted the cinderella movie?"
  me: "yup."
  isla: "what is email?"
• isla: "don't touch me!  i want you to hold me..."
• isla: "every day i think, who built all these houses?  i think about it all day long.  who made all these houses?  workers?"  (walking around the neighborhood)
• isla: "i wish aven's doggies were died."
  me: "why do you say that, honey?  she loves her doggies." 

        isla: "WHY would a kid like dogs??"

• isla: "i don't ever want to leave mexico.  i want to live here forever!"
• isla: "mama, did you have the same voice when you were a little girl?"
• after reading "how the grinch stole christmas":
  "mama, our hearts are just the right size, right?"
• isla: "i don't like those kind of cursive jumpy castles."  (re: jump around fun zone.)
• isla: "mama, i know how they make marbles."
  me: "how?"
  "in a factory.  the first person puts the pieces of paper on the [conveyor belt], then they go to the next person, then they cut them in strips, then they sell them in a shop!"
• after eating a sample pulled pork sandwich at the grocery store: "i love meat."  (sigh.)
• isla: "mama, our lives are different, right? because you like stuff that I don't like, and I like stuff that you don't like... but some things we like both, because we both like broccoli."
• "mama, you're doin' screen time!"
• "mama, there was a tomato nut stuck in my tooth, and it just blasted out into my belly!"
• working in the living room on a puzzle and singing: "oh god, we lord.  oh god, we lord.  oh god, we lord."
• "mama, this puzzle says '4 plus.'  that's good, because i'm 4 and noah's plus!"
• telling me that she counted in her head to place the numerals next to the pumpkins: "i just did it with my voice.  in my heart."  (putting hands to her heart.)
• isla: "somebody wrote in my new notebook.  somebody scribbled in there!  and i said to myself, 'whoever wrote in my new notebook, if it was a grown-up, they should go in jail!'"
• isla: "mama, at nighttime my preschool is called 'catch the moon.'  [it is called "catch the son."]
  me: "that's a funny idea, honey."
  isla: "me and noah solved that mystery!  me and noah realized that."
• Isla:  "mama, we don't need any more kids in our family, do we?"  me: (laughing) "no, i don't think so."
  isla: "anyway, if we had more we would have to give one away.  and you don't want to give me away, because you love me, right?"
• isla: "i'm hungry for meat!"  (after seeing a friend eat some steak her dad had made on the grill.)
• isla: "did god die?  because he's in heaven?"
• isla: "i think we should get noah to stop talkin' because he always interrupts me!"
• isla to rosa, at her little kitchen: "would you like some caffeine?"
  rosa: "no thanks."
  isla: "but i would."
• isla:  "i like our house.  we never should give this away."  (after vacuuming)
• isla: "mama, did god make people?"
  me: "yup."
  isla: "but does god have any hands?"
  me: "um, i'm not sure."
  isla: "i think he does, to make people, to make babies."
• isla: "mama, when i grow up i want to be a mama.  and a dancing teacher.  a dancing teacher mama."
• isla: "mama, i love packin' up things in boxes!"
• on too-big pants from a friend: "i guess we have to put these in the blue bin, until they grow into me."
• singing in the car on the way home from camping: "kate is kind of my friend, kate is kind of my cousin"... then, "people can't live without trees, we need the trees..."
• when isla is done eating, instead of asking if she can be excused from the table, she says, "can i be full?"
• isla:  "you can spell my name, 'e-r-a-q' or if you don't want to do that one, you can spell it 'i-s-l-a.'  i have two pairs of letters."
• on riding a pedal bike for the first time: "my bike is wanting me to go wibbly-wobbly!"
• on seeing a rainbow in the sky.  "i've never seen a rainbow in the REAL REAL sky before!  only in books!  it's prettier than i could even think!"
• "is this the meantime?"

preschool picture, age 4

"telephone"