Lennon 12-09-16

This morning Alexandra saw my Beatles mug and started pointing to J. Lennon's face and saying "Dadda!"

Valéria 1 - 12/08/16

At 2 weeks Valéria finally opened her eyes and kept them open when she was not looking for food. 

Bottle

Alexandra still drinks from a nursing bottle sometimes. She's now back to drinking breast milk. And she likes it. 

She also understands that she needs to angle the bottle when she's not getting anything. 

Lil sister et al.

She's mesmerized by her little sister. Bebé. Nonononono. 

She wants to touch her and carry her and pat her. 

She also wants to crawl into hers sisters bassinet and Moses. 

She says bé for ball, she does high fives, and kicks a soccer ball. She came up with her own sign for tooth brushing. She can ask for more and for food in sign language. 

Oct 5, 2016

Two nights ago, Alexandra was quite miserable. She cried all night from midnight to 6 am when she finally fell asleep. We are guessing it's the two new bottom teeth cutting through. Last night she slept well, but today she was still annoyed during the day. 

She's such a sweet little thing. 

She's not very cuddly. If she is, something is wrong. She falls and bumps her head. So she cries for about 30 seconds while you hold her with all the TLC you can muster. Then she's all set. And she has no idea why you're still holding her. 

She's been getting better at dancing and following along with the clapping patterns of little Einsteins. 

Her dancing moves are more sophisticated. Also, expects you to repeat her moves. 

She has been pulling the shy girl thing now. She goes to people and smiles at them. But when they address her, she runs and hides under my legs. 

At church I never really know where she is. This Sunday she was around the big kids who were playing catch. It won't be long and she'll be running after them. 

And she likes to climb. She's climbed the hearth, the coffee table and as many stairs as she can find. 

She loves this game of teasing dad and running back to mom. 

She loves to walk, but still loses her balance. 

She's learning to listen to books. But we don't read enough. 

We bought a robot vacuum we call Rosie. She's scared of Rosie and does a tiny run to me when Rosie moves away. 

She's been getting a little better at feeding herself, but still makes more of a mess than actual eating. 

She's doing a lot of blabbering that sounds like talking. 

1 year old

Yup. She waves, she eats by herself - makes a huge mess unless we hand her the food - and just this week she started blowing kisses and asking for more in sign language. 

Just recently she had the worst rash ever, which is still bothering her. It was sad to see her trying to sit in the bathtub and crying in pain bc she couldn't handle it. 

I think it was my fault. I fed her some of my fruit salad which was swimming in orange and pineapple juice. 

She points at things she wants. She craves going out and she loves hanging out with her grandma. 

She's good with the sippy cup. And she now drinks cow's milk. 

Just before she turned a year old she fell headfirst on the stone fireplace and that was the scariest thing that happened to her so far. Her forehead turned purple and she cried bloody murder. Scarier than all the times she fell off the bed or couch before (about 4... Enough for her to learn to be careful ... I mean...)

At 10 months

In the past two weeks Alexandra has done a lot! 

She has started to actually point at things instead of stretching her arm in the general direction of something. Dean will sure miss that little arm going towards the upstairs. 

She's still a huge flirt, smiling and waving at everyone, but has now developed the shy thing, running back to grab our legs when people try to approach her. 

She's gone into the water for the first time at her grandparents' house and had a blast. She was a natural from the very first second. She swallows water but is not afraid of going under. 

She's calling the kitty qua-qua. And she uses the word dadda, but not sure yet it's only for dad. 

She's getting bolder with her walk. Epic falls, but they don't bother her. She keeps going. 

First little steps came a week shy of 9 months, so technically she began walking at 8 months - with 2-3 steps at a time. 

She was sick for the first time at 6 months. It was a nasty rash, conjunctivitis, ear infection... High fever and vomiting. Scary. Poor baby.  

She's a little trooper. Yesterday we took her to the gran-Val scoop for the first time. She wanted nothing to do with the ice cream. She wanted to walk. When she came to a step - off the picnic area onto the mulch ground, she decided it was time to try going down. The fall was phenomenal. She just got up and kept on walking. 

I bought her a little baby leash. I know I always said that was dreadful thing, but I am too scared of child abduction. She's a pretty baby and I've seen scary videos on line. I want her to able to walk at the store, so she's on a leash for my peace of mind. 

She's also developing her very strong personality and has trouble not getting her way. She pulls my hand off the places I tell her not to get in. 

Dean and I are trying to get her to listen to no. Which led to the most heart breaking situation so far. Never have I felt so evil in my life as a mom. 

She took off the lid of the glass candy jar and we kept telling her "put it back". Well, she didn't know how to and just kept the lid pointed toward us until she began crying.