Our Funny, Big, Little Girl

Lexi makes us all laugh every day with her cute way of talking and funny personality. One minute she's going after Lizette to yank a toy away. The next minute she's running toward Lizette to tackle her and give her a big hug and kiss. She is a hugger, a kisser, a hitter and a scratcher. Her favorite new word is "donn it" (darn it), which she says appropriately when she is disappointed over something. The other day she wanted a banana. When I told her they were all gone she says, "Oh. Donn it!" She also says it when she is struggling with a toy or falls down or any other time she gets frustrated. I guess I should be grateful that she hasn't picked up on "bammit" yet from her older sister.  :)

These are some cute pictures that Aunt Abby took over Christmas of Lexi finishing off the last of the sparkling cider.

We hit a big milestone this week. Lexi has decided that she no longer needs naps. Even after my insisting and making her at least stay in her room for a while, she has powered through and proven to me that she is no longer interested in napping. I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand it's kind of nice to have the girls on the same sleeping schedule. On the other hand, I miss that little break during the day!

Yesterday, when I finally accepted that there was no way she was going to sleep, Lexi and I had a conversation. I told her that if she was not going to be taking naps that she had to be done with her binkies. We have limited binky use to nap time and bed time, but she very much looks forward to grabbing her binky and snuggly before heading off to bed. After I told her the binkies had to go away, she sat there for a minute then whispered, "okay". I told her she should probably throw the binkies in the garbage. She picked them up, ran right over to the garbage and threw them in. Then ran back to me and said "big girl!" She slept without her binky last night for the first time.

Part of me was so proud and happy to be moving on from this, but part of me was so sad that my baby is growing up! Next is potty training and then we are officially done with baby years. I find myself carrying Lexi more than I should and taking every opportunity to rock her and hold her because I know that pretty soon she will want nothing to do with that. This is a sentimental time for me but mostly exciting. I am thrilled to see my girls growing and moving into each next exciting stage. And I have a feeling there will not be a dull moment as we watch Lexi moving into each of these stages!