Birthday #2

Today Alexa is officially 2!!!  We celebrated at Lake Keowee with family and friends.  She was taking the day to act as an official 2 year old: temperamental, contrary, and demanding.  What did she eat today?  Mmm, tube of yogurt, Goldfish, gummies, Whoopie Pies, and ice cream and that's it.  (Jeez, I wish I hadn't thought of that, now I am embarrased and horrified by myself, what a load of crud I fed that kid!)

Couldn't you just eat her up??!

This is not the cutest picture I have of her, but it's a perfect picture.  You can see her curls, the two fingers she sucks, and Lovey that she always always always has with her.   

So here's some things you should know about my girl:

1. She knows her mind.  If you aren't sure, read the post about her picking out the Tiny Trike of Terror

2. She's my helper and she's a good helper.  Andrew left his wet swim clothes in a big heap on the bathroom floor yesterday.  Alexa found them, brought them to me, and made me take them outside to go where they were supposed to.  If there's a spill, she knows to get a rag.  If there's a mess, she knows to where to put it.  I didn't teach that on purpose, I'm not that smart.  She's smart enough to learn through observation. 

3.  She's bossy.  The words she uses the most are: "STOP IT!"  "NOOO!"  "Sit Down!"  " No m'am!!!"  "Back!"

4.  She's a Momma's Girl.  If I'm around, only I can put her shoes on, hold her hand, get her a drink, wipe her nose, change her pants . . . the list is endless.

5.  Her knickname is Lulu because . . . one of her teacher's at daycare called her Alexa-Lu, it caught on and we called her Alexa-Lu at home, and then Doug started calling her Lulu, and it sort of fits her, and now well . . . we all call her Lulu, even her teachers's at school. 

6. She might be artsy.  Right now she loves: play doh, markers, paint, stickers, and Floam.  She NEVER plays with babies.  She has several, out in plain site in her room.  She goes to blocks, books, and art. 

7. She loves loves loves bandaids.  Her Grammy and Poppy gave her 4 boxes of bandaids for her birthday and Grammy taught her to open the bandaids by herself.  Yeah.  I've found 3 bandaids- so far- on the couch.  I guess the couch had boo-boos. 

8.  She tends to be temperamental.  However, I have found that if I walk over to her and tell "Alexa, you're ok.  Stand up, here's Lovey, sit down here and collect yourself."  or If I give her a hug and tell her "I'm sorry you're mad/frustrated/ feelings hurt" it makes the temper tantrum a bit shorter.  Not all the time, and then she has to "re-set" in her crib for awhile. 

9.  She will sit in time out.  Last week she tried to bite Andrew, and another time thought she might want to rip his glasses off his face.  So she had to sit in Time Out.  She did.  She didn't cry, didn't throw a fit.  Sat there and when she got out, she did not repeat offend.  (Andrew did not acknowledge Time Out, so I had to be a bit more creative with him.) 

10.  If I do anything in the kitchen, she drags the chair over and helps.  I try to let her even though it significantly slows down the process, but I keep telling myself if I don't let her help, she won't want to later, so suck it up, and deal with it.