Tis the Season!

This will be Lexie's 3rd Christmas and each year she understands it a little more. Last year it was all about the lights. This year when she sees any decorations, she says, "It's Christmas time!" She likes the "moose" and gets upset if we tell her it's called a reindeer. She still wants nothing to do with Santa, so when I ask what do you want Santa to bring you for Christmas, I get no response from her. Maybe next year she will know that Santa brings her presents because I want to start the Elf on a Shelf tradition.

Lexie has turned into such an affectionate child. She will hold our face between her little hands and give us a kiss. She always tells us "I love you." When she hugs us, she holds on tight and will lift her legs up behind her back. She is very polite and always says "thank you" and "you're welcome."

Lexie had her first major accident. She doesn't like to ride in shopping carts. Instead, she hangs on to them or crawls under the cart and lies on the bottom. Well, she was laying on the bottom of the cart dragging her fingers on the floor and we rolled the cart over her fingers. Even though I told her to get out from there, I still feel totally guilty for not physically removing her. I felt like such a bad mommy when she was crying and her two little fingers were swollen. The doctor said they weren't broken, but her nail will probably fall off. She will tell you now that she has to sit inside the cart, so she has learned from this experience. We have to keep her fingers bandaged because she doesn't like to look at her black nails.

Lexie was having some sleep issues. We think it was because of her fingers, but she would scream at night and would tell us to stay with her. We're so happy that it has passed and she is back to her old self and sleeping pretty soundly at night. In the mornings is a different story. As soon as she sees any light, she is awake and sits next to our bed waiting for us to get up. Sometimes I will open my eyes and she is staring right at me.

Lexie loves reading books. She chooses one book for me and one for daddy and we read before she sleeps. She loves dinosaur books and names the dinosaurs like prenocephale, triceratops, tyrannosaraus and velociraptor. Lexie also loves counting books and has to count each page to make sure the number is right. She has a great memory and can recite the words for her monster color book and "This is my Dinosaur".

We are amazed at what Lexie teaches herself. She has recognized the capital letters for some time now. We've never taught her the lower case ones, but she knows them now. Anywhere we are, Lexie will point to letters and start saying their names. She can't read what it says, but she knows it means something. So if she sees a word on a door, she'll say all of the letters and then say, "door."

We really have to watch what we say to her or in front of Lexie. She remembers it and knows how to use. One day we were laughing at Lexie's stinky feet, so I held my nose and said, "P-you!" We went into an ice cream shop and it smelled like waffle cones and Lexie started yelling, "It's stinky, P-you!"

She's also a backseat driver. Lexie will tell you, "Green means go, red means stop and yellow means, S-L-O-W down." She tells us to drive faster. One day, she told me "Mommy drive carefully, don't bump into any houses." She must really think I'm a bad driver! When Eric was driving, there was a bad driver that got him upset, he was about to call him a not so nice name and stopped himself. Well, Miss Lexie decided to say it anyway and yelled out, "Stupid!"

Lexie talks non-stop. There is no mute button for this girl. One night I was trying to finish my school work and she just wanted to talk my ears off. I told her, "Why don't you talk to Gogo? since he was sitting right next to her. She said, "Gogo doesn't talk to me. He's mad at me."

She can be too honest. Lexie said, "I like chocolate." We don't give her chocolate, so we asked, "Where did you eat chocolate?" And she said, "At Nana's house." When Nana said, "I don't give you chocolate." Lexie said, "Yes you do, and pink and white too." She was talking about the chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream that she always eats at Nana's house.

We are still working on the potty training. For the most part, Lexie stays dry. She has a few accidents, but usually will say when she has to go. Pooping is just not happening yet. We've tried different tactics, such as bribery and rewards, but no luck.

Lexie is just a sweetheart. She loves animals especially baby ones. Her voice is so sweet when she says, "Oohh, that's so cute!" I can definitely say the same for her - "Oooh, she's so cute!