Dear Lexi,
What an eventful month this has been, and I’m afraid, I don’t have too many pictures or things to report as Mama and Daddy were in Hawaii for 2 of the 4 weeks. Thankfully, that wonderful grandma of yours went above and beyond in volunteering to take time off of work and watch you for Mama and Daddy. I knew you would be in great hands with her but was very nervous leaving you for such a long time. I wasn’t sure if you would recognize that we were gone and feel abandoned or if it wouldn’t cross your mind. For the most part, I think you did fantastic. You didn’t ask about us and had lots of fun with Grandma, Papa and Auntie She-She, but there were some minor side affects to your behavior once we returned home. There were lots and lots and lots of hugs and kisses and snuggles for the days following, which was awesome. On the down side, I did think you felt abandoned to a small degree as you had several wake ups in the middle of the night crying for mama. As soon as I went and got you you put your head on my shoulder and went to sleep. We’ve worked through this and I think you’re in a much better place now, but still feel bad if we made you feel abandoned.
On a related note, Mama and dada were gone for 12 days and although we had a great time, it was just too long to be away from you. The last two days, I just wanted to be home and see you. I did pretty good for the first 6 days and then each day got a little tougher as I missed you more and more.
Favorite moments
One of my favorite moments this month was seeing you at the airport when we came home. Grandma texted me and said you were out in the car so I ran out to see you and you had the biggest smile on your face and were kicking your legs in your car seat and exclaimed, MAMA!!!! I picked you up and you have me a HUGE hug and just nuzzled your head into my shoulders. I brought you inside to see Daddy and you pointed and gave Daddy a big hug. You quickly came back to mama, and kept nuzzeling your head into my shoulder. I definitely teared up when I saw you and heard your little voice call my name. Your extensive love for both of us continued for several days with lots of hugs and kisses.
On the second night after returning from Hawaii, I was putting you to bed and you were not having it. You were very upset and trying to climb out of your crib. To help you settle down and actually lay down, I promised you I would lie on the floor and hold your hand while you feel asleep. Through your tears, you begged for me to sing twinkle twinkle. So there I lay on the floor and your little hand holding onto my pointer finger. After two rounds of the song you had stopped crying and were falling to sleep. I stopped singing and slowly pulled my hand away. About 30 seconds later, your little voice peeped up and asked to hold my hand and rolled over to the edge of the crib so your face was smushed against the crib slots. Once holding my finger, you requested more Twinkle Twinkle and it just broke my heart and I started getting very weepy. I felt so guilty for leaving you and causing you any anxiety that you may be experiencing. With my voice cracking and tears streaming down my face, I held onto your little hand made my way through the song and let you fall asleep. I’m not sure what it was about this moment, but I felt so vulnerable and responsible for you and just missed you so much–i just broke down.
The day after we got back also was Halloween. We’ve been attempting to practice wearing your costume throughout the month, but you just didn’t like it so I was a little nervous how the evening was going to unfold. We practiced trick or treating the night before upstairs. You went to each door in your costume and said trick or treat and than daddy or I would open the door and give you some candy. So that evening you were at least compliant in putt your your costume one. It was very cold and luckily, your winter jacket was the same color as your costume so we were able to put it on underneath to help keep you warm. Once the first round of kids came to our door, you wanted to go out with them and were all about it. Daddy took you to the first couple of houses and then came home. And then I took you out and we went all the way around the block. Oh my stars you were so cute and funny. The first house you went to with Daddy, you got a kit-kat and once it was put into your bucket, you looked up and told Lief and Karen, ‘Owww, that’s Mama’s!’. You did a great job saying trick or treat, and please and thank you to every house you went to. And in between houses you would have little conversations with yourself. You would repeat me saying, ‘What do you say?’, and then respond to your own question with ‘Tank you’. You held onto my hand the entire time and were just chatting away about the stars in the sky and the airplanes you could see. When we got to a street you would say, ‘Stop, ook for cars. No cars, et’s go!’ You would even comment about people’s grass and rocks by saying things like ‘Oww nice rocks’ as you walked over them. You were just too darn cute!!!
At the beginning of the month, you and I were outside and I was cutting all of our plants down for the winter and you were so good playing by yourself for at least an hour. You sat on the stones by the hose and played with a stick in the dirt. I think this moment sticks out in my mind because it was just another sign of how you’re growing up. Normally, you would be right at my side and wanting me to play with you, but you were so content on your own creating your own fun in the dirt. Your getting so big sweet one!
Notes:
You continue to do a great job of letting us know when you have to go poop on the potty.
You often get the word ‘you’ mixed up with the word ‘me’ For example, you’ll request to be carried by saying ‘Carry-you’
You love to watch youtube videos of airplanes taking off and landing. In fact, Daddy bribes you with this when you’re going down for a nap that you get to watch one when you wake up.
You love to read Curious George, watch the minions and Frozen.
You’ve gotten more adventurous in the tub and will lay down on your tummy, put your face in the water and will even attempt to float on your back. Overall, you love the bath and you love to take showers with me.
You LOVE to show Daddy how you look. If we put a new outfit on or do your hair, you request that we go and show Daddy how you look.
While at Grandma’s house, you helped papa with work projects like raking the leaves, you would go to the park and swing at least once, sometimes twice a day, you would go and look at the diggers in the park, you went to the pumpkin patch and to the Zoo. While at the zoo, you were watching the polar bears and saw one of them poop and yelled out ‘Ohhh Poo-poo!’ You also would watch Thomas with papa and play cards with him every night. You had tea-parties with Auntie She-She and Grandma T and had so much fun!
I can’t believe you’re going to be 2 next month!!!! We love you Lexi and are so happy to be back home with you.
Love,
Mama
Love,
Peanut Smiles 