Alexandra Suzanne: Toddlerhood

I'm so bad at this whole blogging thing. There are people who manage to post something every day. I'm lucky to do something every few months!

At any rate....Lexie is now 17 months old. She's a very active, funny, smart little girl (if I do say so.....). She is running around the house at will now, and we are learning to let her go out of our sight for a bit at a time. She will play contentedly in her playroom for a few minutes before coming to find us. She is talking SO much. She'll pick up a new word without either one of us realizing that she knows it until it comes out of her mouth. And, yes, she has uttered her first 4-letter word. At 16 months old. We're so very proud.... I'll leave it to you to guess which one it was.

She is now in the Junior Toddler room at daycare. It was a slower adjustment than we had hoped, but she's finally settling in. It helps that there's a real live bunny right outside her room. (BUNNY, Momma, BUNNY!!) Her classroom fronts onto the street side of the building, and the walls are made of one-way glass, so she's able to see outside all day. (CAR, Momma, CAR!!!) She says Hi and Bye to everyone she sees, unless of course we ask her to say Hi or Bye, in which case she is silent. She has started asking for hugs, but only from both Momma and Daddy at the same time. She has also mastered the word No, much to our dismay. And she uses it liberally.

We had Christmas at Lexie's Aunt Dre and Uncle Terry's house this past year (I'm not sure we'll be invited back anytime soon :). She wasn't quite as into it as I had hoped. In fact, we came home with several wrapped presents, because she was so much more interested in what everyone else was doing. But, as always, she LOVED seeing all of the cousins on Doug's side of the family. And they are always just great with Lexie.

In January, we went to California to visit Gramma and Grampa for two weeks, who hadn't seen Lexie since she was a week old. She also got to meet her Aunt Susan, Great Grampa Jack, Great Gramma Deana, and her cousins Kalina and Farrah. And Thor and Circe, the dogs. (DOGS, Momma, DOGS!!! D-D-D-D-DOGS!!!) She did better than anticipated on the plane rides, which was a blessing. I learned the art of changing a diaper in an airplane bathroom, which is something I don't want to repeat. Ever.

In the last two weeks, we've had three snowstorms...big ones (with another one predicted for this weekend....). She's decided she likes the snow this year, as opposed to last year. Actually, she likes anything that gets her outside. And woe unto the one who decides it's time to go inside (which is usually me...). She doesn't like that. At all.

She's got 11.5 teeth (that last molar still isn't all the way through!) and is working on at least one more. She and I had dentist appointments today. She cried all the way through my appointment, so the dentist decided it might not be the best idea to subject Lexie to an exam. I could hear her chatting with the staff (Light! Door! Car! Ball! Meow!) as they took her through the office so that the dentist could actually finish my exam (and subsequent lecture).

She's developed a love of her baby dolls. She will feed them, put them night-night, kiss them, hug them, and carry them around. Until something catches her eye, when she will promptly drop said baby doll on its head without looking back. Hopefully she'll grow out of that before she's old enough to babysit.....

On to the pictures.....

All dressed up for Nana's Christmas Eve party