Christmas with Lexi

It's been interesting this year to experience Christmas with Lexi. She is definitely more aware of things like the lights on trees and decorations. She hasn't gotten the idea that she will be getting presents or worrying about what she will get under the tree. I think that is a good thing. She points at all of the lights and says 'Christmas'.

Last night we went out to 'Candy Cane Lane' here in Seattle. It was a short street where (almost) every house had decorations out including giant candy canes. We walked it with Lexi in the stroller as it isn't all that cold here. Lexi doesn't know what candy canes are but she enjoyed looking at the lights. When we came to the end, she wanted more lights and had a little protest that she had to get back in the car to see them.

She enjoys playing with nativity sets and making baby Jesus sleep (sleeping is on your tummy, just like she does). We didn't have a tree at home but there is one at the grandparents and she really wants to touch the ornaments. We have had to tell her several times that it is for looking only. Occasionally she also wants to look at the presents but we tell her those are for later and she accepts that just fine.

She is certainly enjoying all of the Christmas cookies and sweets. She won't say no to any of that.

Calling Baba (Stephen's mother) on her toy phone

Phases of favorite foods

We’re not quite sure how our 2-year-old operates or what goes on in her mind, but we understand all parents of children her age are as baffled by these creatures in our homes as we are.

One thing that has struck us is Lexi’s phases, specifically the ones she has moved through for specific foods. In the last several months, she has moved rapidly through new favorite foods every several weeks.

First it was animal crackers. She needed to eat these all the time, from her first waking minute of the day (saying she “needed” them for breakfast) to her afternoon snack. We quickly learned that we needed to have the next new box on hand when she ran out of one box. Whenever we visited someone’s house for more than a few hours, we told them they should have animal crackers on hand lest they wanted to see a very angry toddler.

Then, suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, she was all about granola bars, which she called “’nola bars.” At every opportunity to eat – breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, snack at church, snack in the car, etc. – she said, “I want ‘nola bar.” And she got her ‘nola bar. As with the animal crackers, we learned quickly to have many boxes of these in the cupboard at all times – and a certain brand of them.

After a couple months of this, it was as if ‘nola bars had never existed because she never mentions them anymore, but now it’s gorging on yogurt. She really liked yogurt as a baby while in Kenya, but then she didn’t like it for a while. Now she can’t get enough of it. When she comes home from daycare with Sarah, she will often down a whole container of yogurt in a few minutes. She's getting better at feeding herself, although some incomplete spoonfuls of yogurt make it to her mouth.

We're not sure what her next favorite food will be, but we'll keep you informed.

Displaying more talents

Here is Lexi demonstrating how adeptly she can read a book by herself.

Singing "Jesus Loves Me"

We're not quite sure how or where Lexi learned this song. She has certainly not heard it much, if at all, at church, since she's not in Sunday school enough. She must have learned it at daycare, although her daycare is not at a church nor is it officially Christian.

Struggling to understand how things work

Earlier this month, I went to Orlando for a few days on a business trip (I was grateful to get a few bonus days of summer). Sarah and Lexi drove me to the airport late on a Sunday afternoon. Lexi seemed to understand what happens when you bring someone to the airport. She knew that I got on a plane and left for a few days and that I came back on an airplane. But now she seems obsessed with airplanes. She has talked about airplanes almost daily since then. She asks if I’m going on an airplane again or says that she’s going on one. We’ve explained that I will not go on an airplane until I can go with her and Mommy together – that we’re all going somewhere next month – to spend Thanksgiving with Sarah’s family. But Lexi seems very excited about going on a plane herself again.

Something else that Lexi has become obsessed with – or at least speaking positively about and fairly regularly about – is going to daycare. She’s even gotten to the point of asking to go to daycare on weekends! We need to work on getting her in the pattern of a five-day work week followed by two weekend days. I guess she expects to be taken to daycare every morning and doesn’t understand that on the weekends, she gets to stay home with us (maybe staying at home is no longer desirable!). But this seems to indicate that she is finally comfortable with daycare. She seems to be enjoying herself there and even talks about a friend, Jamon.

We see evidence of other benefits of daycare. Her vocabulary is developing well. We often hear her repeating phrases that she can be hearing only at daycare:

• “Sit down” (which she commands her dolls and stuffed animals to do)
• “Wait your turn.”
• When asked once a couple of weeks ago what she ate at daycare that day, she said “meat.” Until recently, you might have believed that Lexi was a vegetarian, but she suddenly took a liking to chicken and one or two other kinds of meat.
  

This improved vocabulary and picking up of new words, especially in songs, has helped on long car rides. We went through a long period in which Lexi did not like riding in the car for long periods of time. But this past weekend we went away to Shenandoah National Park and spent many hours at a stretch in the car. She was a patient girl most of the time, and we spent a good amount of time entertaining each other with songs. Lexi has a good repertoire of songs from daycare as well, but she really enjoys having someone sing with her - she forgets all the words to the songs and needs someone to follow. Lexi really gets into singing together, and if we happen to stop, she will be kind of bossy and order us to sing: "Daddy, sing! Mommy, sing!" And then: "Clap your hands! Mommy, clap your hands!" Her repertoire includes:

• The ABC song (to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star")
• The Wheels on the Bus go 'Round and 'Round
• Jesus Loves Me
• This Old Man
• Old McDonald Had a Farm
  

Lexi is about to go through her first real Halloween. Although she’s 2 and has been around for two Halloweens before, we were living in countries where this holiday isn’t really celebrated (in the American way, at least). We’re getting all the elements together. We’ve purchased a costume for her, we bought a pumpkin, and I’m sure she’ll catch on very quickly to the main purpose of the holiday on Saturday itself – getting free candy from strangers. Otherwise, it has taken a bit of work on our part to get her to understand what this holiday is all about. It took several days to familiarize her with the pumpkin, for example. When you have to orient someone to things like this, when you have to explain these traditions in their fundamental elements, it all does sound kind of bizarre and makes you wonder why we have such strange customs. But we are looking forward to experiencing these fall and winter holidays back in the U.S. with her now, where we do them “our” way (the way we as Americans are used to having them done) and fully, and when she’s getting old enough to understand and appreciate them.

Lexi picks a Pumpkin

Trying to get the girl to pose with the pumpkin is tough! It was a rainy cold day so we just went to a local farmers market to get the pumpkin.