A Photo a Week in 2015 - #8

The weather has turned cool again and it was windy and rainy on Sunday. We made a quick trip to Costco for more diapers and other important items. Alexandra loved it when I wrapped her in this blanket that was handmade for her by one of Dave's coworkers, Tara P.

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #7

This week's photo shows Miss Alexandra in the backyard! She loves playing outside, running around on the grass, watering plants, helping pick weeds and sitting on the steps looking at planes.

There were other favorite photos this week that I shared in her month #23 blog. Be sure to check those out too.

Twenty Three Months

And then there was just one month left until Alexandra turns two! TWO! Wow! Where has the time gone. When asked how old she will be, she even answers "TWO!" This has been quite an exciting and busy month for Alexandra. She is developing into an intelligent, independent young lady. She wants to sit at the table with adults now and we just bought her a booster seat to make that easier.

As of this typing, Alexandra has almost 50 words that she can use to express herself. While some are not completely perfect sounds (more, please, down) she can use them in context.There are many, many words (at least 25) that she says completely such as stay, stop, up, off, duck, pay, buy, read, bye, mom, eat, dad, two, five, hi, go and see. For example, once I take a picture of her, she says see. One day we were out shopping and let her look at a book at Costco. When we started to put it back, she got all teary eyed and said, "buy." She can also now tell us to pay for something when she holds a credit card. I am amazed at how rapidly she has added words over the last two weeks. Many people don't even believe me when I tell them how many words she says, but we have started keeping track in order to count. Just today, she started trying to say stuck and pull.

With all the warm weather, mid 80s, we have been spending more time outside. Alexandra can say "side", but does not quite have the whole "outside" down, but she asks to go out a lot. She loves going down the slide at the park next to our house. She can't say slide, so says "whee" to indicate slide. It is so funny as that is what she says when she goes down the slide. When outside, she also likes to help water the lawn and pull weeds at Grandma's house and play with her toddler lawn mower at our house.

Mommy had a four day weekend, so we spent Friday at Sea World. She loves the animals. She got to get close to an African hedgehog and was quite intrigued. We both had a fun time watching one of the polar bears swimming. Because I am a teacher, I get a free annual pass and so plan to take her more this summer. Then on Saturday, we went to Orange County to have lunch with Grandma Sara, Grantie Lorel and Uncle David at Corner Bakery Cafe. It was a fun lunch!

At the beginning of month 23, we went to Arizona. Alexandra earned her 14th flight and we met Daddy in Phoenix. We spent one day in Tucson visiting two of Mommy's former students who are attending U of A and seeing the campus. On Sunday, we drove back to Phoenix and had a nice visit and lunch with Grandpa Stacy and Nana Kathy. On Monday, we all drove home, making one stop at the General Patton Museum. Poor Alexandra had the sniffles, but managed to enjoy the tanks at the museum and even pose for the camera.

Miss A loves playing with the neighborhood kids! Besides Dylan
who she adores, she also enjoys spending time with Zoe and her brother Zack. Zoe reads to her all the time and the four of them often color together at Marivel's house. Brianna from across the street is always happy to see Alexandra and today they had a good time playing in the park. As you can see by the pictures, Brianna took time to go down the slide with her. Its nice to have some older kids who always look out for her and include her in their play time.

Alexandra continues to excel in her swimming lessons. Soon I will be taking her for Saturday lessons when my mom is busy during the normal Tuesday time. I am very excited to see how far she has progressed and am even more excited for our trip to Maui!

In addition to playing outdoors, Alexandra has grown to like watching Dora the Explorer on TV. Her attention span is quite short, but she definitely likes things related to Dora and her monkey sidekick, Boots.

If you have not had a chance to check out the blog entry for months 21-22, please do so here. And I am also posting a photo of the week every Thursday!

A Photo a Week in 2015 - # 6

 There were so many great photos this week, but I thought this one was particularly sweet of our little girl!

A Photo a Week in 2015 - #5

This weeks photo was taken on Sunday. It has been a beautiful week, with weather in the upper 70s and low 80s. Miss Alexandra has been so excited to spend a lot of time outdoors as a result. She loves playing in the park near our house and Mommy even joined her on the slide after work on Wednesday. It was quite invigorating after a long day of work!