Just how smart is a 2-year-old anyway?

Yesterday I had an afternoon appointment to be shown the latest in trade show displays at the place that sells them way out in the suburbs. I dragged Sarah and Lexi along with me in the car so they could have an outing. I was done by 4:00, and while I had gotten my usual afternoon coffee at the place, I wasn't able to eat my usual afternoon snack while there. So we stopped at Wendy's for a Frosty before we got on the highway for home. As we slowed down on the street to turn around and go into the Wendy's, Lexi exclaimed, "Ceam!" (her way of saying "ice cream"). How does this little girl know that Wendy's is where one goes for ice cream? We have gone there two or three times before for this purpose, but it's amazing how quickly she's picked up on identifying the place and purpose. Sarah says she's done the same thing near the place where we like to go get ice cream in our neighborhood. (Why are we getting ice cream so often, you may ask. It's summer, isn't it? Who doesn't enjoy a regular treat of ice cream when it's hot?)

On the other hand, there's this story that shows she still has some work to do with other foods:

The other day at work we had a meeting that we had a catered lunch for. I brought home some of the pita sandwiches for Sarah, and one was roast beef. Sarah was eating it for dinner that night. Lexi saw it and pointed that she wanted it, but we weren't quite sure what exactly she wanted. She finally said "chocolate" when we pointed to the roast beef on the sandwich (because of the color).

Is it the Swiss blood that she has in her from birth, or have we conditioned her on chocolate so much already? Recall that Lexi also thought there was chocolate in one of the lunar landers at the Air and Space Museum because it was wrapped in shiny foil - like a chocolate bar.

Dental Floss: A Girl's Best Friend

Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Lexi LOVES her dental floss. Or rather, Mom's dental floss, which Lexi has been very attached to the last several days. We can't figure out why. She wants to carry it everywhere. It went house hunting with us on Tuesday night and to the playground this morning. She doesn't do much with it besides hold it but I did take the actual floss out of it. What will she be into next?

Singing herself to sleep

Don't pay any attention to the picture (you can't see anything) but just listen to Lexi singing herself to sleep.

Supreme Court Ready!

While you can't quite see the whole t-shirt, what it says is 'Confirm Her!' Compliments of Aunt Lora, Lexi is ready to go down to the Hill and support the confirmation hearings.

In other news, she is now signed up for day care and we just have to get some things: like a fitted sheet for nap time and pull-ups. They don't deal with diapers for 2 year olds, so like it or not, Lexi's undergarments will be a changing. When I was talking to the woman at the day care about their center, I mentioned that Lexi wasn't potty-trained yet. She said "No, problem, they will take care of it." I hope they do! Mom and Dad aren't having much luck.

While touring the day care center, Lexi was interested in where the kids were. The first time we went, they were out on the playground. Today, they weren't. "Where kids?" was what she wanted to know. I think she will have a fun time with them. She will go for three mornings before having to stay the whole day on Mom's first day of work. Dad and Mom will drop her off together one of the first times so both know the routine (and there is a routine) but it will probably be Mom doing pick-up and drop-off most days.

No "Sesame Street" today

When I got home from work today, Sarah reported to me that Lexi was unhappy that she could not watch "Sesame Street" at all today because PBS was airing the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor. Funny - Lexi supported Hillary during the primary campaign - even from Kenya - by wearing a onesie that said "Hillary, Baby!" So I can't figure out why this historical moment of the first Hispanic and only the third woman making her way to the Supreme Court is lost on her.

Pool Time

This morning we went to a wading pool just over the line in MD. The same yahoo group that organizes the Tuesday play groups also organizes a pool play group every Friday morning. We had not gone before as I wasn't sure exactly where it was and if we could get there without a car. I think we could have taken the bus now that I have been there before. Lexi really surprised me at how she ran towards the pool and just got right in. She moved around in the water quite a bit without me standing right next to her which is a first. I think she really had a lot of fun. There was toys in the area that it seemed like anyone could play with so of course, Lexi did - and then calls them hers. I think she had a lot of fun and even sort of played WITH another kid not just looked at them or pointed them away from her toys.

There has been some concern expressed by some of you over Lexi being scared of getting her diaper changed. That has only started this week and it is already changing. She is not crying like she is scared now; she is asking that her diaper gets changed though she says that she doesn't like it. So maybe we are heading towards potty training (which we have NOT been forcing on her): we are taking it at her speed - not ours.

Mine! MINE!

Mine, Mine! Something Lexi is frequently shouting lately though I am not sure if she really understands what it means. Some times it makes sense: some other kid wants to play with the toy she is playing with, she doesn't want the other kid to play with the same jet of water at the pool, Daddy is eating something that looks good. Other times, you wonder what she is thinking: going up the escalator at the Metro, she shouts 'Mine' at a person going down the steps - who isn't carrying anything, so what could Lexi want? She doesn't want them going down the stairs?? Then why shout 'Mine'? There have been other similar instances where I can't figure out for the life of me what she thinks is hers. It's kind of embarressing that she is shouting at people randomly like this.

This morning we took the Metro 3 stops up to Silver Spring, MD. I had discovered by accident last week that in their downtown pedestrian area, on Wednesday mornings, they have some kind of kid friendly performance as well as snacks. It's right across from this flat fountain that kids can run around in. Lexi had a good time playing in the water as well as singing and dancing along to the woman singing songs like 'Oh, Susanna' and 'The Wheels on the Bus'.

The newest unexplainable thing that Lexi is doing is that she is crying like she is scared when she is getting her diaper changed. She doesn't want to lie down and clings to me like she is clinging to a life raft. We can't figure out what the problem is all of a sudden. We tell her that we wouldn't have to do this diaper changing thing if she would learn to go on the potty but we still aren't getting anywhere there.