Describing Life To A Toddler

There are so many caveats to teaching a child the ways of the world.  For example, shortly after we moved, Alexandra couldn't help but notice the massive helicopters flying overhead.  At first they frightened her and sometimes at night, as I was putting her to bed, she would hear them.  Her eyes would get big and she'd look at me as if to say "what the..." and I tried to reassure her by saying the helicopter was coming back to say "goodnight."  I don't think that helped.  Anyway, after a while she began to enjoy seeing them and now anything with a noisy motor is assumed to be a helicopter.  Also flying overhead quite often are Osprey (Marcus pointed out that some may not know what I'm talking about so click on the link if you think I'm referring to a bird...because I'm not).  Now, how do I explain those to my child?  They aren't a helicopter.  They aren't an airplane.  So, for now, they are also helicopters.

Another factor brought on by our move is the sound of mortars being fired at all hours of the day.  "Noise?" Alex says to which I reply "they're practicing."  Practicing killing people but practicing nonetheless.  I left that last bit out of the explanation.

Alex played with a Barbie for the first time and noticed the similarities in Barbie's chest and mommy's chest.  We agreed that both mommy and Barbie have breasts.  Then, Alex started playing with the Ken doll and pointed to his chest and said "breasts."  I said "No sweetheart, boys don't have breasts...well, some boys have breasts but they aren't supposed to."  That was probably too much information.

Today, we read the same book about a million times and each time at the end of it I would say "Spot is having his good supper" to which Alex looked at my quizzically and said "supper?"  "Yes, supper.  It's like dinner.  I think.  Well, if we were British I might know the difference."  That didn't exactly clear things up for her so we're just going to go with supper and dinner are one in the same.

I've never been known to keeping things short and sweet when I go to describe something and I realize that's a fault of mine.  I'll catch myself saying the same thing but in a million different ways and probably driving the listener crazy.  I'm probably going to do that to Alex and eventually Jo.  Well, naturally I'll drive them crazy, this is just one way I'm already aware of.

So Tired

Listen up girls.  When mommy doesn't go to bed until almost midnight every night because she has to wait to pump and then Jo wakes her up at least twice over the course of the night you really shouldn't expect too much out of her when you both wake up at 6:00 in the morning ready for the day.  I know this concept is foreign to you right now but in a few years you'll understand why mommy isn't exactly in a jovial mood and why she just sent Alexandra to her bedroom because she was whining and crying and mommy was about to lose her sh*t and thought it would be best for everyone if we all parted ways for a minute or two...maybe 30.

Alex's Second Birthday!

Alexandra is two!  For Alex's second birthday we had a beautiful kitty cake (courtesy of grandma) and ice cream with grandma, grandpa, Uncle Jonas, and Mimi.  Alex clearly understands the concept of presents which is sad because the innocence is lost forever.  Anyway, there isn't much else to say except I'll write down some of her stats below:

 

Weight:
25 pounds

Height:
33.9"

Teeth:
She has 12 teeth total.  I think she's missing about 8?

Hair:
It's baby fine but past her shoulders.  The bright blonde is growing out and it's growing in just a tad bit darker.

Words:
  Too many to count.  She's stringing three words together and every day learns a new word (though whether she understands its definition remains to be seen).

Favorite games:
Chase, hide and seek (though she's a horrible seeker and even worse hider), kicking and throwing her ball, "on your mark, get set, go!", playing with her toys, patty cake, peek-a-boo, dancing, and tickling are just a few of her favorites.

Favorite songs:
"Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," and whatever music is playing that she can dance to.
Favorite books:
Olivia, Gossie, BooBoo, Fancy Nancy, Curious George, I Love Cats, anything that has flaps to lift and generally any book at all she will read.  And read.  And read.
Favorite TV shows:
I hate that she watches TV at all but after having JoJo it's become a small part of our day while I attend to Jo's needs.  Anyway, she loves Dora the Explorer and "Melmo" and Abby Caddaby.

We are working on:
Cleaning up after ourselves, using our words when we need or want something, being polite, not whining every time dadda shows up, and listening (she is slowly mastering the art of procrastination).

Milestones reached:
I'm sure she's surpassed her preemie status as she has extraordinary fine and gross motor skills, her language is right where it should be, she soaks up new information like a sponge, she can run, jump, kick and dribble a ball, and loves to go down the slide at the playground.  She's still a little thing and doesn't realize just how little she is but that's OK.  What she lacks in size she makes up for in her fearlessness.

Alex and her Elmo Balloon