Friday, January 30, 2015

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #4

This week's photo shows how much Alexandra loves her little backpack. We originally got it for our upcoming Hawaii trip, but since we went to Arizona two weeks ago, it was perfect for the airplane. She could keep her books, a toy and her stuffed bear inside.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #3

This week I have two photos. The first was taken in Tucson, AZ at the University of Arizona (my alma mater). We had a nice visit with two of my former students and got lots of exercise. The second was taken at the General Patton Memorial Museum on the way home from Arizona. She actually thought the tanks were pretty cool and happily posed for this photo. Alexandra now loves posing for the camera as you can clearly see!

Twenty One Months and Twenty Two Months

Alexandra is now 22 months and I haven't written in two months, so I thought I would try something different and just combine them since I can't really remember what happened in each month in many aspects.

Alexandra has added quite a few words to her vocabulary over the last two months including read, go, please, five duck, juice and two. She now brings a book to me and says, "read, read, read." When she sees a picture of a duck, she will say the word and we even managed to get her to respond "ducks" when we asked her who should win the national championship. Too bad that did not happen.

Reading continues to be Alexandra's favorite thing to do and luckily for all of us, she got tons of new books to read at Christmas. This was by design as we were getting tired of reading the same ones over and over. Her favorite ones right now include: Mac and Cheese and the Perfect Plan, Jingle All the Way (that goes with her interactive dog Jingle), all the Biscuit books (she even reads the "woof" when prompted), Corduroy books and the story of the Star Spangled Banner (her history teacher mommy is quite proud of that one)!

In addition to books for Christmas, Santa brought Alexandra several toys, her favorites being a shopping cart and an animal puzzle. Grandma Sara gave her an easel with a dry erase board on one side and chalkboard on the other. Her Grandpa and Nana Kathy gave her a wagon (which she will enjoy immensely once the weather is warmer). Grandma Janet gave her all kinds of books, including one that includes a hand-held piano that can teach her music. She loves to play the piano at her house. Mommy and daddy gave her her very own vacuum cleaner which she thinks is pretty cool! Alexandra loved opening presents on Christmas morning and helping us out was half the fun!

Alexandra had her very own Christmas tree with soft, unbreakable ornaments. She loved taking them off the tree and then putting them back on. While she did not officially visit Santa this year, she did wave at him from a distance. A visit to Tom's Farms (our local farmers market and more) was lots of fun. She and mommy road the little train through the light display and the Merry-Go-Round. She did not want to sit on a horse, but was quite intrigued as we sat on one of the seats.

Prior to Christmas, we held our annual Chili and Cheer Party. Alexandra had a great time playing with the other kids who attended! She also went to a couple of birthday parties in December.

A highlight of the month (at least for mommy) was that it snowed in the Inland Empire. We were able to take Alexandra to the neighborhood right next to ours and let her play in the snow. It wasn't too deep where we took her and she loved it once she realized it was just ice.

Pictures from all of the Christmas activities can be seen in the post of the Shutterfly book that I created.

Prior to Thanksgiving, we spent a few days in Palm Springs with Grandma Janet while daddy went to Cousin Brian's wedding in New York. A highlight was a trip to the Living Desert to see the animals. She even helped mommy feed a giraffe! Pool time, lots of walking and even some shopping were also on the agenda.

Alexandra's swim lessons continue with Grandma Janet taking her every Tuesday.  She now has a private lesson as well as the Parent/To lesson.  The result is a remarkable improvement.  She now turns over on her own and floats without help; launches herself into the water from the side of the pool or the steps also without help, and thoroughly enjoys every minute in the water.  

She loves counting and sorting objects from 1-5.  She knows five very well and cannot be fooled by 4 or 6.  She is very good at picking up her toys and putting them away.  She has her very own bookcases at home and one at Grandma Janet's house, too.  Her favorite thing is to take all the books out at once and then decide which ones she wants read to her. When told to pick them up and put them away, she does so very methodically. She has learned to tell you what sounds a dog, a kitty, a duck, an owl, a horse, a sheep and a lion all make.  


Alexandra loves playing with Dylan (3rd grade) when he comes home from school, as well as Zach (2nd grade) and Zoe (1st grade) at Marivel's in the afternoons.  


In honor of her 22nd month, she took her 14th airplane ride; this time to Phoenix to visit Grandpa and Nana Kathy, see mommy's alma mater (University of Arizona) and more. Next month I will include more from that trip. 


Alexandra is such a sweet little girl who loves learning and is almost always happy (even when she has a cold)! 

Christmas 2014 Photo Book


The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #2

This week's photo highlight's Alexandra's silly smile. She loves to scrunch up her face for photos! Also pictured in the photo is her "Jingle," a dog who barks, whimpers and sings as a story is read to him. Alexandra adores her dog and wants to take him everywhere!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #1

Last year, someone I know did a photo a week as part of their blog. I really liked the idea and resolved that since I will soon be done with "monthly" updates, that would be a nice replacement. I promise I will finish out months 21(behind again)-24!

Photo of the Week - Alexandra got a new wagon from her Grandpa and Nana for Christmas. The weather was so nice on Sunday, that we decided to take it for a test drive!