Happy 4th Birthday, Lexi!

Dear Lexi,

Today is your 4th birthday and while it seems unbelievable that you could be four years old already, at the same time I can't even remember what my life was like before you came along. It's been a big year for you, and I have watched you grow and mature in more ways than I could count. It seems as though everyday you become more courageous and outgoing, and I've seen your determination grow by leaps and bounds. It was just last year that when faced with a task that was challenging you would bury your head in my arms and proclaim that you couldn't do it. But now I watch you try things that I know are hard for you, and rather than giving up when it's tough, you just keep trying and working at it until it becomes easy for you. I am so proud of you for that.

I am constantly told how sweet and special you are, and I couldn't agree more. You have the most pleasant disposition and you charm people wherever we go. Over the last year I have really enjoyed our evolving friendship. We have little looks and sayings that just the two of us share...you give me shopping advice, and share stories with me about what happened in preschool that day, or a funny dream that you had. You have very quickly become my little girlfriend, and together we have a blast.

On the weekend you and Daddy spend lots of time together working on projects. You've become a very good helper and you take all of your jobs very seriously. I know that Daddy really appreciates your help, and having you around makes his household chores a lot more fun.

You have no bigger fan than your little brother, Zachary. I love watching the way his face lights up when you walk into the room, and often the two of you just giggle about seemingly nothing at all. You spend so much time reading to him and playing with him, and he is a lucky little boy to have a big sister who loves him so much.

This morning Daddy and I climbed into bed with you to sing you "Happy Birthday". You tried to push us away and shake your head, but we laughed when we saw the little corners of your mouth curl up in that classic Lexi smile. We got some snuggles and birthday kisses, and I think Daddy and I may have been equally as excited as you were about your big day. I cut your toast into heart shapes for breakfast and later you told me that your only wish for the day was to have all of your food in heart shapes. You had a wonderful birthday at Fadia's house, and then a birthday dinner at Gigi and Poppy's this evening. When I asked you at bedtime if you had a good day you gave me the biggest smile and said, "YES!!"
You are such a joy, Lexi...so pleasant and grateful and fun. I am the luckiest Mommy in the world to have you as my daughter.

Love,
Mama

Zachary Is 8 Months Old!

Zachary turned 8 months old on Friday and he has all sorts of new tricks! While he is not crawling yet (and we're in no rush for him to start) he has started exploring more and more. He has learned to move from sitting to his tummy, and as long as he doesn't get too far, he can often get back to sitting from there. He can scoot around on his bum, so nothing is safe anymore, and we've had to start doing some additional baby proofing.
This weekend he started learning how to use his sippy cup, and LOVES it. I think it helps that he is still teething (no teeth yet!) and it's really hot, so a cold "toy" that also happens to have nice cold water in it is pretty awesome.
Zachary has also learned that if he claps and squeals with joy, he can get anyone around him to clap and say "yay!". He thinks this is a pretty funny trick, and will keep it going for a long time. Luckily he has an older sister who finds it equally as funny.
Lexi and I thought this hot afternoon would be a good time to introduce him to the joys of popsicles. He enjoyed his quite a bit, but it was a messy treat that required a tubby immediately afterwards. Lexi really enjoyed having a popsicle buddy, and she was very excited for Zachary.
It's been a fun month and we look forward to lots more fun in the months to come! Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks...

Cute Cousin Quotes

Lexi's cousins Ben and Cassie spent the weekend here without their Mom and Dad. I'm only slightly surprised that Gigi and Poppy survived the visit, but it was a lot of fun getting to spend all that time with the kids. They were extremely polite and well behaved while they were here, and they all had a blast playing together.

Between the three of them, the kids came up with some pretty funny one-liners that I must share. I hope I remember them all, but I will edit the post if I am reminded of ones that I had previously forgotten.

Lexi: "Well *that* was a miserable time at Gigi and Poppy's house!" (On our way home one night after dinner - in reference to the fact that we had a visit from a family of raccoons while we were eating dinner.)

Cassie: "Gigi, why are you so old?"

Ben: "Whoever wins at mini-golf gets to decide what we are doing tomorrow!" (Poppy wins and exclaims that he gets to decide what we're doing tomorrow) "No, that was just something silly I made up. It's just for kids, Poppy."

Cassie: (walking in the backdoor with Gigi and Great Gram) "I want to go in first because I don't want Great Gram to touch me with my bathing suit on."

Lexi: (Discussing plans for her birthday I mention that I was considering a party at Smolak's...from under the table I hear) "...or medium or big?"

Lexi: "I don't want to go swimming because there's too much fish allergy in the pond." (referring to the algae floating on the water)

Lexi: "We didn't go to the beach, Daddy. We went to Stevie's Pond. 'Stevie's' is the sand and 'Pond' is the water!"

Cassie: "Zachary likes me! He only wants to play with me!"

Sadly, I think I waited too long and have forgotten some of the funny ones...but I'm sure I'll remember them and add them soon. :)

Deep Conversations Starring Lexi Lippman

Lexi is very inquisitive, and tends to prompt conversations that most three year olds would have absolutely no interest in. Often during these conversations she falls silent and I assume that I've lost her and she's daydreaming about something else...but more often than not, her pause is followed by a comment that demonstrates profound understanding for what I've explained. This often leads me to become a bumbling fool, trying to keep up with my three year old daughter's analysis. Two recent examples...

Killing In Self Defense

There is a pit bull in the house across the street. These neighbors send their young son out to walk the dog, and I have watched many times as the pit bull drags the young boy around the yard while he tries desperately to get the dog to go where he is supposed to go. Generally, when I see the dog come out, I take the kids inside, as they are usually only out for five minutes at a time. A few weeks ago Lexi, Zach and I were outside and I saw the dog come out with the boy. I calmly asked Lexi to please go inside with me for five minutes, which she did. When we got inside she asked why we had to go in so I told her that there was a mean dog across the street who usually stays in his own yard, but that we need to come in while he is out. We may have chit-chatted more about it, but it was brief and we went right back outside. About a week later we had a squirrel die in our yard (this is a VERY long story, but we did find out that this one died of natural causes). Lexi and I were on our way to the store and I was saying how sad it was that the squirrel was dying. She asked why it was sad and I went on to explain that it's always sad when people or animals die, blah, blah, blah...silence in the backseat. Then she says, "Well, except for the mean dog across the street, right mama? It wouldn't be bad if he died, right?" "Well", I replied, " Even though we don't like the dog across the street, he really has never done anything to hurt us, so we wouldn't even want him to die, even though he is mean"...silence again...and then, "Well, at the end of Sleeping Beauty, the Prince kills the mean fairy godmother, and that was good, right mama?" Oh boy...am I about to have to explain killing in self defense to my three year old? Yes, yes I am. "Well Lexi, that's right. But the fairy godmother was trying to hurt the prince, and while he was defending himself he killed her. So that was okay. It's only okay to kill someone or something if they are trying to kill you. So, if the mean dog tried to attack us, and we had to kill him to save ourselves, that would be okay." Luckily that was a sufficient explanation, but I can't wait until the day that her preschool teacher asks me why Lexi was talking about killing people in self defense at school...

Gender Roles

This weekend, Grampy and Poppy both came over to help Ahren rebuild the front steps that were quite rotten and in need of being replaced. Poppy had arrived on Sunday while Lexi was napping, so when she woke up I said, "Guess who is downstairs helping Daddy??" She guessed correctly and said, "Well, I knew that Gigi wouldn't be helping Daddy build the stairs because Gigi couldn't build stairs!" So, I dive right into an explanation of gender roles... "When two people get married they talk about it and decide who is going to be in charge of which jobs around the house. Then those become the jobs that the man and woman tend to do. When Gigi and Poppy and Mommy and Daddy got married, Mommy and Gigi chose to do things like cook clean and do laundry, and Daddy and Poppy chose to do things like take out the trash and build things. So, while a woman *can* do things like build stairs, take out the garbage, do the grilling, etc. she doesn't have to because the man does it. And at the same time, a man *could* do the laundry, cook dinner and clean the house, but he doesn't have to because the woman does it. The only things in the whole world that a man cannot do that a woman can is nurse a baby, or carry a baby in their belly." Proud of myself for giving an as politically correct answer as possible I was floored when Lexi replied, "Well, except for the male seahorse, Mama. The male seahorse carries the babies in his belly..." Outsmarted by my three year old again!

I have to say, I really do enjoy this age. Lexi has such amazing insight into so many different things, and I simply love listening to her perspective on life. There is one thing I know for sure, this girl hears everything that is said around her, and even though she sometimes seems like she's not paying attention, she most definitely is. She is the quietest when she is doing the most thinking.

Lexi On Fashion

This morning...

Me: "Lexi, do you think this necklace looks okay with this shirt?"

Lexi (looking and thinking): "Well, I see gray balls on the necklace...and your shirt is gray...so...yup, it matches!"

Last week...

I was whining to Ahren about how my track workout sticker left sticky stuff on my favorite running shirt. He was giving me a hard time about the fact that I was upset about a running shirt, and I continued to insist that it was upsetting because now that shirt will always look dirty and it's my favorite shirt. From across the table Lexi says, "I'm sorry, Mama. That stinks." :) I smiled at her and said, "Thanks Lexi, Daddy just doesn't understand these things, does he?" She replied (shaking her head in disapproval), "Nope. That Daddy...everything he says is wrong."

4th of July Weekend

My poor, neglected blog. We've continued to have an extremely busy spring/summer (not to mention exceptionally rainy!!) and while it's been fun, I've missed recording a lot of fun events. I wrote my "Zachary's 7 Month Birthday" post in my head about 10 times, but never got to write it down. Important to report in that post was that he is now a pro at sitting (since about 6 1/2 months) and now prefers to sit on his mat and play with his toys. He's also begun playing peek-a-boo (video to post later), imitating sounds like BaaBaa and DaDa, and his favorite game...coughing. Seriously, he thinks it's funny if you make a coughing sound and will cough to try to make others cough. It's hysterical...especially the way he cracks up laughing about it. Of course, he's never happier than he is when he's playing with his sister, and they both continue to play beautifully together.

This past weekend was full of excitement for the whole family! On Thursday we went to the circus with Daddy, Gigi and Poppy, and Lexi's best friend Riley and Riley's family. We all had a blast, and even Zachary seemed to enjoy the show, with the exception of the portion that he slept through.

On Friday evening we went to the common to set-up for the road race, and enjoy the little concert. Lexi had a blast dancing around, and even found some of her friends there to play with. Saturday was the 4th of July. This was such a big day for Lexi!! It began with her running her very first road race!! She did great, with the small exception of the fact that she tried to dive across the finish line, and landed on her knees. It upset her, but after we all joked with her for awhile about how you shouldn't try to dive across the finish line, she thought it was pretty funny...and I bet it won't deter her from doing another race soon. After the race we had a quick wardrobe change and she participated in the doll carriage parade. We didn't realize that this would be geared more towards really little kids (it was VERY short) so we decided that next year we'll do the bike parade instead. After all that work we had a yummy lunch on the common, and then it was off to the pony rides. Just a few weeks ago Lexi did not want anything to do with the pony's at her friend's pony party because they were too tall. Last week she agreed to go on the pony, but had to go on the smallest pony they had. Suddenly on Saturday she because Lexi Courageous because she waited in a long line specifically so that she could ride the biggest pony they had!! I walked with her, but she held on by herself and had a HUGE smile the whole way! We topped of the day with some fantastic fireworks in the evening. Again we were worried that Lexi might be too scared of them, but she surprised us again by absolutely loving them, and even picking out which ones were her favorite. Zachary also loved the fireworks, and sat in my lap watching the whole show. Every few minutes he would look up at me with awe, as though he couldn't believe we had brought him to see something so spectacular!!

It was just a fantastic weekend all around. The beautiful weather is finally here, and we plan to enjoy every minute of it. As soon as Zachy wakes up from his nap, we're off to the pond for the afternoon. We LOVE summer!!