She's wild in a beautifully wild kind of a way. She loves to be outside - as a newborn she would lay under the maple tree in our garden and babble up at the sun dappled leaves moving in the wind. Within a few months of her being here we had already named the tree 'Isobel's tree'. This evening, she sat for a full 45 mins having a complicated discussion with her tree, she called it Daddy at least 10 times (err..sorry Nick). When the wind blows in her face she gasps like I've never seen, then she looks at you, eyes alight and laughs. She's always mucky, she loves to be mucky, smooshing her little hands in the mud and padding herself down likes she's applying camouflage. And then there is her hair, that was wild from day one. No one believes I wasn't applying hairspray to that display, but I wasn't. It was just some sort of bittersweet harmony at play with our hair role reversal.
The first morning I spent with Isobel, I recall cradling her in my arms alone, marveling at her pink squidgy face and thinking that together we could do anything, so immensely happy.
She has that effect on people. I see it in Evie too; since Isobel's arrival, our shy sweetheart Evie has begun opening up - when we're out together the first thing she does is introduce Isobel. When I drop Evie into daycare with Isobel at my side, Evie proudly flaunts her sister to her classmates and interferes if any brave soul should put a toddler step too close, placing a protective hand on Isobel's shoulder.
She doesn't know it yet, but Isobel has brought so much love and wonderfulness with her into the world. So much so that I can honestly say that this past year, having her here with our family, has made it the best year of my life.
Happy Birthday to our loving little wild thing.
Here's Isobel in her natural environment...