Alexa’s fascination with . . . Alexa!

Alexa admiring herself in a mirror. Lots more about this fascination below.

Well, we’ve reached the 19-mos-old milestone. This month we’ve traveled to St. Louis to see Brooke & Whitman, spent lots of time outside enjoying the beautiful weather with friends & family, discovered more exciting things Alexa can do, and attempted to nurture and shape Alexa’s personality into one that will glorify God (a definite work in progress). 
ALEXA’S NEWEST QUIPS & QUIRKS . . .

-- She took her first “big girl” bath. I know it’s ridiculous we waited so long but she loved her little tub and she loves routine. Good thing though . . . she loves the big girl bath even more. She runs into the bathroom when the water starts going and tries to climb in fully clothed.

-- She enjoys pretend talking to Daddy on the phone. She says “Hi Daddy – work. Miss you. Love you.” Not necessarily in that order.

-- She LOVES to jump on her bed or ours. When Daddy walks into the house, she generally says, “Daddy . . . bed.” I know, a horrible habit we need to break now.

-- She can count from 1-10 and loves to sing, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” “The Itsy Bitsy Spider,” or the “B-I-B-L-E.” She might even help you recite a Bible verse. However, she’ll only do this when she wants to so don’t expect her to perform.

-- She enjoys going to the park to hang on the “monkey” (monkey bars, that is). She also enjoys hanging off our table, the countertop, the coffee table and crib. I told her to enjoy it while she still weighs 20lbs.

-- She has tried the big girl potty too. She’ll tell me “tinkle” or “poopy” and then say “try.” She’ll sit on her little seat and I’ll ask if she has any tinkles and she’ll say, “Ssssss” and grab the toilet paper to wipe herself. Not too effective but cute.

-- We have two large traffic calming bumps on the street going to our house, so when she knows we’re getting close to home, she’ll say “Ready” right before we go over a bump and then we make a big deal about how it shakes us all around. She loves it and thinks it’s so funny.

Perhaps the thing we see most consistently from our little girl is her fascination with seeing herself (something I’m not so excited about as it’s becoming a challenge in how we approach technology). She loves to watch videos (or as she says, “bideos”) of herself. She will sit still lengths of time if she can scroll through images on our camera or iPhone. It’s unbelievable how much she enjoys it – scary really. I don’t think I’d call it narcissism quite yet. Perhaps it is seeing something familiar and she gravitates to it. She also sees other faces she knows like Mommy & Daddy or her cousins. Regardless, it’s a constant battle trying to take a picture or video of her because she wants to “hold it” and see herself. Here’s just a small sampling of the challenges in photographing Alexa because she wants to hold the camera instead of pose for it. In some instances, she’ll just throw a fit. Warning – these are those pics a Mommy rarely posts. You could see some scary outbursts of behavior.

GOING FOR THE CAMERA

 





THE ENSUING MELTDOWN




BLISS WHEN SHE DOES SEE HERSELF & OTHERS SHE KNOWS

Yes . . . she can work an iPhone, our camera, and our camcorder all by herself.


Watching a video with Rylen & Daddy.


Daddy is shooting a video of Alexa but notice how the screen on the camera is displayed – facing Lil’ A.


I was washing dishes the other day when I realized Alexa was being very quiet. I walked in to check on her and she was looking at our Disney World photo book. She proceeded to tell me about the pics from Mickey and Dumbo to Mimi and Cinderella’s Castle. Flipping through the pages of this book has become a regular activity. Who knows . . . maybe she WILL remember something from her trip to Disney World.

Long story – short . . . I think Alexa’s getting a digital frame this Christmas.