Happy 4th of July

We are enjoying a very relaxing 4th of July.  The sun finally came out and we were able to swim for most of the day and do some grilling for lunch.  We're all exhausted right now, except for Lexie, so maybe we'll get to watch some fireworks tonight if we're not sleeping!

If we miss out on the fireworks, not to worry, Lexie sets them off daily at our house.  We love her sassy personality but sometimes she can make us a bit crazy!  Everyday she does something that either amazes us or drives us insane, but that's what makes our life interesting.

One thing we're proud of is that she is fully potty trained.  She is still working on not holding until the last second, but usually can get to the bathroom before any accidents.  I thought sleeping through the night was going to be a challenge.  We went full speed ahead and had her sleep in panties.  The first few nights, she was wet in the mornings, but after that, she has stayed dry for almost a month now.  It's such a relief not having to buy pull-ups or carry them around when we go out.

We would love to send her to Chinese School when her attention is a little better.  Right now, we've been having her listen to songs on You Tube and she's been learning the colors in Mandarin and she can even sing some of the songs by herself.  We're trying to learn words for things we use each day like juice, water, and milk and we have her ask for them in Mandarin.  We even found some apps for our ipad that teaches her colors and numbers.  She loves Kai-Lan and will repeat the words and even use them on her own.

She is beginning to share her story of Taiwan.  She tells me her nanny took care of her until mommy and daddy came on the airplane from far away because we wanted a baby to love.  She sleeps at night with her pillow that her nanny gave her.

We're still working on being 3 and wanting to assert herself.  Everything is a big NO!  And then it's yelling, crying, and hitting her legs on the floor.  We usually let her know when we're going to stop what we're doing because we have to eat, sleep, take a bath or go to the bathroom.  She has difficulties with transitions so we've used a timer, which she has tried to turn off on more than one occasion.  Time outs don't work because she won't sit still.  The only thing that works is to take away a favorite toy.  She doesn't like to be separated from Thumper and friends, so she will usually comply with directions.

Lexie is a diva.  She told us, "Nobody is cuter than me!" and with such attitude.  She will look in the mirror and pose and say, "I look stylish!"  I have to give her several options when we dress because she  will refuse to wear certain clothes.  She loves dresses that she can twirl around in.  And her favorite footwear is her rain boots which she says are space boots.

She is a bookworm and will carry a book around with her.  She will pretend to read and make up a story.  What really stomped us one day was when she had memorized the words in a story.  There is a book that Eric likes to read called "Up!"  It's about a dad and daughter and the book almost parallels the things that Eric does with Lexie.  Whenever Eric wants to read it with Lexie, she always says, "No!".  We haven't read it in several weeks and decided to read it with her.  I would read the first few lines and she would complete it.  Mind you, this isn't a short book, so we were pretty impressed with her memory.

We are finally getting her to eat some veggies.  I still give her baby food veggies.  She thinks she's drinking soup which she loves.  At each meal, she has to eat 3 peas or 3 carrots.  She always says, "I will try it."  And she usually does.  She is starting to love broccoli if it's cooked with garlic and butter.  She still doesn't like to eat raw veggies or salads, so we're working on that.  She loves dressing and would rather just dip her finger in it instead of the vegetables.

And her love for Thumper is still going strong.  I washed him today and brought out his twin.  She said, "Where's Thumper?  I don't want his friend.  I want the real Thumper."  We finally had to tell her where Thumper was because she started getting hysterical and kept repeating, "I want my old Thumper."  She's happy now to be reunited with Thumper and will keep his friend too!

So as we celebrate our Independence Day, it makes me think of this little girl and how independent she is and definitely exerts her freedom of choice!