13 months

Even though Lexi took her first steps way back in January, she has refused to walk until just a few days ago. We've been waiting for it, sensing that it would happen any day, and sure enough, last week she just decided it was time to walk and off she went!! Wow! I am further reminded how much this child does things her own way on her own time schedule.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing
It's fun just sitting back & watching Lexi play. We got out a bunch of new toys for her to play with, & yet a box is still more fun :)
We have a problem right now. Very few things are the kids' very own. The ones that are, their special blankies, and a special animal. Bryce has loved his bulldog since he was a baby, sleeps with it every night, and plays with him in the daytime. Well.....Lexi has decided that she love bulldog too. We can't keep her away from it. She & Bryce are often playing tug of war with him & Lexi just screams & cries if we take bulldog away from her. We've tried introducing new special animals to her, but its just not the same as bulldog. It wouldn't be such a big deal, except its Bryce's special animal and not fair to him if we just let her have it. Any suggestions as what to try next??
Mealtime is still Lexi's very favorite times of day. She's quite passionate about food & most unhappy if we're not feeding her what she wants, when she wants it. Her most favorite foods right now are bananas, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese, & potatoes. She will eat most anything else, but is starting to get pickier.
This is how I found her in the kitchen yesterday, she had climbed up on the chair, was standing on it, then sat down real quickly when I caught her. She wants to climb on everything now, its starting to drive me crazy! And its just the beginning! Lexi has become quite the "binky girl" lately. She will go and find her binky & keep it in all day. It didn't used to be that way, she really only wanted it for sleeping, so its kind of weird that she wants it now. I guess with all the independence from mom, its comforting and soothing to have something as she adventures out on her own?? She loves her blankie too, and will go pull it out of the crib & carry it around with her.
She finally has two top teeth (though its her top middle fight and the little one next to it) and two bottom teeth, so we're making progress in the teething department. I remember the boys having most of their teeth and getting their molars by now.

Lexi loves dogs. She gets so excited by any type of dog and will say "dah" (dog) "bah" (bark), puff out air for "woof" I need to get a video of it.

If her brothers are outside playing, she can't stand it if she's not out there with them. She just loves being one of the big kids. The cold doesn't seem to phase her & she's usually furious if I bring her in. We're really looking forward to warmer temperatures outside. I had considered a small sandbox for the boys, but I know I won't be able to keep Lexi out of it.....I'm not sure if I'm ready for a baby covered in sand every day, but I guess time will tell. If it keeps them busy and happy right??

Oh! And a last bit of news, she's fully weaned!! Happy/Sad day! I feel very liberated, but kind of sad at the same time. Weaning was a LONG process with this little girl. She was not thrilled about not nursing. We had to resort to juice a lot in the beginning to help appease her but now she takes a sippie cup of milk without question. And yes, she's on cow's milk. I couldn't get a straight answer out of the different pediatricians that we went to about allergies and they weren't suggesting having her tested for anything, so I figured we'd try cow's milk, see how she did and change if we needed to. She's done great. She still gets a rash with some dairy products, especially cheeses & yogurts, so I've stayed away from giving her a lot of those. But we're pretty optimistic about growing out of the milk allergy so that's great news!