We're in the 2's Now!

Eric usually does a photo shoot with Lexie each month. We weren't sure we'd be doing one for June, but decided at the last minute to try something simple. Eric wanted to do a black & white shoot. I actually took most of the pictures while Eric set up the lighting and posed Lexie.

Lexie is definitely growing up. I miss my babbling baby in diapers.

I don't know if it's the terrible two's but now that Lexie is talking up a storm, she has turned into a sassy little girl. Everyone warned me that I would be in big trouble once Lexie started talking. Now I understand what they meant.

Don't get me wrong, I love that she's able to express herself now. We were worried for awhile that she couldn't put 2 words together. Now she speaks in sentences. It's almost as if she had all of this information stored in that little head of hers and finally figured out how to let it all out. And boy, has it come pouring out!

Lexie can be the sweetest thing when she says "I love you" or "carry me".

Then she turns into Miss Bossy and it's "get blanket, mommy" or "come with me daddy". And we have to remind her to say please first.

She loves to tell us when we're not doing something right. Her tone of voice will change when she says mommy or daddy and she'll emphasize each sound.

She now loves to boss the doggies around too. We hear her saying "Maxx stop licking" or "Gogo get out".

And just when we're about to scold her for doing something she shouldn't be doing, Lexie will say something that has us laughing so hard that we forget why we were mad at her.

We're definitely working on the listening part now. When I tell her that she needs to listen to me, she'll say "ting" which means listen in Chinese. She says she'll listen, but to get her to actually do it is another story.

We know that Lexie comprehends what we're saying and that she understands what is happening around her. I've watched Barney and Kai-Lan with her and she can tell me exactly what the story was about in her own words - "BJ backpack lost sad" and it was about BJ losing his backpack and everyone was sad because their circus tickets were in it. Then she imitated Rintoo from Kai-Lan - "I'm mad" and "sorry, guys". It was an episode that Rintoo got upset and didn't treat his friends nicely, but he apologized in the end.

So we know she gets things and even though she's a little toddler, we still expect her to follow rules and it's gets a bit aggravating when she chooses to ignore us when we're trying to talk to her.

We have started potty training. Most of the day she wears her big girl panties and is very proud of that fact. She will say she has to go, but it usually means she's already wet. It's been a slow process. Sometimes I think she gets it and then we'll have many accidents in a row.

Other days she thinks it's funny to run around naked. Lexie will tell me she has to go, so I take her to the potty, she'll say, "no thanks" and run from the potty naked and laughing like a crazy person.

Potty training so far has been limited to home. We need to get a portable one to take with us. We attempted a few times to use a public bathroom, but with Lexie being as small as she is, those automated toilets kept flushing and the echo in the bathroom really scared her. It was so sad because she wanted to go, but ended up clinging to me and said, "don't like it."

I think we're making a little progress each day. We're taking it one day at a time and I'm trying not to stress over it and just trying to provide a routine for Lexie so that she knows when it's time to go. I have to believe that she'll catch on soon enough. This is one part I hope will go by quickly!

Lexie loves to use her imagination. When I wake her up in the morning, if she's already up, she'll pretend to be sleeping and starts snoring. When Lexie was taking a bath, she was sucking on her towel and told me that it was ice cream. I told her, "no, that's your towel" and Lexie said, "No, mommy, pretend ice cream."

Lexie has an amazing memory. She'll remember exactly where she put a certain toy. Sometimes her memory is not such a good thing. Like when I told her that tiger had to go to the doctor. She had poked a hole in him but I haven't had time to sew it. Well, she reminds me everyday about getting tiger's owwie fixed.

Lexie loves her stuffed animals. I always think that she has too many but she loves each one of them. She has to sleep with at least ten of them every night. And she knows which ones are missing and won't go to sleep until we find them and they are safe in her bed. The same goes for her blankets. She has 2 special ones that she has to sleep with at night.

Her teeth are still coming in. They have been taking extremely long, especially her molars. The good part is that she hasn't gotten a runny nose like she has in the past, but they are hurting a lot more than usual. We give her a pain reliever at night to help her sleep, but now she's also pointing to her teeth in the daytime and complains that it hurts. She's a real trooper and if she's kept busy, it doesn't bother her too much. I don't know if it's because of her teeth, but she always wants to chew on things. I hope that it's just a phase because it's not cute when children are chewing on their things in kindergarten.

Lexie's hair is finally getting longer. I can now make little pigtails and she wants me to put rubber bands and ribbons in her hair. She's very much a girl! Lexie likes nail polish on her toes and loves lip gloss. She'll ask me to rub lotion on her legs. And she'll take little peeks at herself in every mirror.

Music is a very important part of Lexie. She loves to dance and sing. And now orders mommy and daddy to dance with her.

This is going to be an amazing summer. And we can't believe that in a few short months, we will be in Dallas meeting other Taiwan cuties just like Lexie.

And before we know it, we'll be flying off to see Mickey & Minnie!