LIFE with LEXIE

So Lexie and I went walking along the boardwalk the other day and there is a building that has this reflective mirror for windows. Well Lexie was just fascinated with her image. Of course she's seen herself in the mirror before and I think even a full length one, even though I don't have one at home. But she was just too funny. You'd think she had found a new friend the way she was turning this way and that, trying to see all of herself. I showed this picture to a friend and she asked me who was the little girl Lexie was looking at through the glass. I thought that was a hoot. It was Lexie finding Lexie!

It was a beautiful day with virtually no wind so the sound was like glass. Lexie loved discovering the starfish clinging to the rocks by the shore and it was so clear we could see pretty far down. Then she had to climb on every rock, jump over every line in the cement, peek through every hole and then go to the playground to test out every piece of equipment. Oh the wonders of the world when you are two. It was pure heaven sharing it with her.

That night she decided she must wear the sunglasses I found for her when we got home since her eyes were "too sunny" from earlier in the day. Funny, funny girl!

It's hard to believe it was four years ago today that my Dad passed away. In some ways it seems like just a short time ago that the family stood around his bed as he slipped away to soar once again in the sky as he loved to do in his F-4 jet. In other ways, it seems like he's been gone so very long since so much has happened in the last four years. It just doesn't seem possible that he doesn't know Lexie and she hasn't run into PaPa's arms as his other grandchildren loved to do. He was truly a great man. He loved and honored his country with 30 years of service in the Air Force as a pilot and retired as a full bird Colonel. But we always knew that he loved my mom and his family even more. He was smart, funny, strong, compassionate and honest like no one else I've ever met. He was a great father and wonderful role model for all five of us kids. My sister Lynn & I joke that we've never gotten married because no one could live up to Dad until Angie, our youngest sister, married Jim who is SO much like Dad. Lucky Angie. Dad was a wonderful husband to Mom, who always said he was her best friend so it was okay that we moved all the time since her best friend moved with her. It's been the hardest on her of course but I know their love has made her strong enough to continue on without him.

Once I started back down the road to adoption, I know he supported me and was guiding me through it all. During the long wait for the Embassy approval, MFA, MOE, LOI and Visa numbers then finally getting on that plane, I always knew with a certainty that Dad was watching over his latest grandchild Lexie. In my heart Dad held Lexie in his arms and gave her his strength and love in the baby house in Aktau so she wasn't alone until I could go get her. Thanks Dad for watching over her then and now. We all love and miss you.

Did I mention she liked licking? Licking the spatula, the spoon and the beaters was of course the highlight of the event. Have no fear though, anything I caught her licking I made sure didn't go back into the dough. Not to say that my back wasn't turned to her now and then but no one who ate them got sick so what more could a Mom ask for?



Of course once the licking was done, I mean the batter was ready I cleaned up so we could scoop the cookies on to the baking sheets which meant that Lexie needed to have a wardrobe change or at least her hats. Her old favorite, the green top hat, was a must for the scooping and counting of the first tray of cookies. I have to say after the first batch went in the oven my little helper was a little too impatient to sit around and wait for the timer to go off. So she went out into her kitchen to bake me some of her cookies. Yummy, they were "alicious!"



Then on Sunday we made Valentines for the family and her friends. I can't tell you how much she loves to paint and draw and create in general. For a child that is not even three yet, she can stay extremely focus on something she enjoys and painting is on the top of her list. So we used markers and stickers and glitter paint and finally paints to create these master pieces of love (all 28 of them.) She took well over an hour to do them and she would have gladly made more if I hadn't run out of construction paper (and room under the cabinets to hang them.)

As you can see she takes it very seriously and really wants to mix the colors and fill the pages and she's even started making shapes or pictures on them. She is so much my daughter in that way as I always enjoyed drawing and painting but I just never find the time anymore. Sharing these projects with her has made me want to get back into it. She and I may be fighting over the finger paints in the near future.



Since her hands were dirty anyway I decided to try to get her hand prints on paper as all my other attempts have failed. I have thrown away 3 different plaster hand print kits so far but this time she thought it was funny that Mommy wanted her to get her hands really messy and let me get several prints before she decided to try finger painting instead of just pushing her hands onto the paper. I'm planning on adding a picture to the top of the paper and framing it. My problem will be in picking just one picture. As you can probably guess I love taking pictures of my sweet pea and she is one photogenic little girl, so we're a match made in heaven.

Our Valentines Day may not have had cupid involved in it but in my opinion it couldn't have been better. So ring the bells and dance around and as Tigger & Pooh & Darby too say "Happy I Love You Day!"