LOOK at that beautiful little girl!! How is she not a baby anymore?? Those big blue eyes look straight into your soul. I can't believe she's turning two in the midst of this coronavirus craziness. :( She didn't even get to have her birthday party. We still see my parents, so we went for a swim at their house on her birthday and had cupcakes and ice cream. I'm glad we still got to make it special. <3
It's hard to believe it's already been two years since I held my chunky baby girl for the first time. But honestly, Xan has felt like a two year old for a while now. She is very advanced verbally. She can pronounce things so well and knows the meanings of the words she's saying! She's the earliest to say "I love you too!" It's the sweetest! She's a little heart melter for sure! Her biggest desire is to love and be loved. Her expressiveness is one of my very favorite things.
Some of Alexandria's very favorite people are her siblings. Since the minute she was born she wanted to be included. When I would put her in a dark quiet room to nap she would wake up right away. I would pick her up and put her in a room with tons of loudness and activity around her and she would fall right back asleep. Anything Jane is doing she wants to do too. I LOVE seeing the big sister-little sister dynamic. Sure they have their fights, but it is super sweet to see them dress up together and do make up and all the girly things. I've never gotten to see a sister relationship first hand and I am loving it. Atlas and Xan's relationship is special. It's the only big brother-little sister relationship in the family. Atlas lets her beat him up. I mean, he will stick up for himself if she gets really rough, but he will let her wrestle him and not put up too much of a fight. They enjoy jumping on the trampoline together because he's not too big to bounce her higher than she wants. Sometimes when Jane wants it to be just the big kids, Atlas will still try to include her. It's sweet. Last, but not least is her relationship with Flynn. She loves him sooooo much! She is just too rough because she just wants to show him how much she loves him by squeezing him tight or rolling over him because that's what she does with Atlas and Jane. She's gotten better about being gentle, as you can see from the picture above, she is gentle enough for him to smile with her holding him now. He enjoys watching her dance around as well. I can't get over how blessed I am to have 4 kids and to have the 2 year stair steps of girl, boy, girl, boy. I love to watch all of their relationships grow as they grow. <3
Xan is such an easy going girl! As long as she's being included that is. As soon as she feels like someone is doing something without her, especially on purpose, it's the worst thing in the world! A few other things since she's turned 2 make her pretty upset, like not getting to hold the kitty or not getting to play with someone else's toy. I have seen some less easy going traits, but I sort of expected it with turning 2. All of my kids kinda go through a rough patch at 2, Xan is no exception. The one thing that is helping with Xan is that she can talk and understand so well! So even if she is starting to throw a tantrum, I can reason with her most of the time still. Also if she is disobeying I can tell her she's about to get a time out and that is enough to correct her behavior like 80% of the time. She is very sensitive to someone being upset with her! Every so often I have to give her a little slap on the wrist to stop when she doesn't listen (like pulling on the cat) and she responds like I have hurt her deeply and immediately starts crying. She will still get over it relatively fast, but I hate to see her feel like that. So I try to use that punishment only when she's hurting someone else and won't listen to warnings.
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| falling asleep sitting up |
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| Hoody still on and one shoe off |
This girl has always been able to fall asleep anywhere!! But she has never taken long naps. Probably from about 4 months on she was only taking 30-45 minute naps at a time. Slowly but surely we went down from 3 naps to 2 naps to 1 nap. About 2-3 months ago she started dropping naps completely! She was sleeping from 8:30pm to 10am though. She basically puts her nap on the end of her night time sleep. Which works great for me! If she does get up early (like before 9am) She will still take a short nap from just falling asleep anywhere she is and she'll sleep half an hour. Otherwise she is happy as can be with no nap at all. I like not having to schedule my days around a nap, so it works for us pretty well.
Weight
Birth: 9lbs 2oz
1 Year: 23lbs 9oz
2 Years: 29lbs
I've said it once I'll say it again! This girl is chunky! She carries a lot of weight in her cheeks on the top and the bottom. ;) Haha! She still loves to eat, but really she would just like to drink milk out of her sippy cup all day long if I let her. I have to schedule giving her milk so she will actually eat real meals. She has gotten pickier about what she eats though. I wonder how much longer she'll stay so chunky. I love the baby/toddler rolls!
Height
Birth: 22 1/4 Inches
1 Year: 30 1/4 Inches
2 Years: 33 3/4 Inches
She's not just chunky she's tall! She's stayed in the 80th percentile and up in height and weight her whole life. I'm going to have to wait until all this virus stuff has calmed down a little to know her newest percentiles, but I'm guessing she's leveled out a little on height. She's still in some of the same clothes she was a year ago! She is currently outgrowing all her 18 month clothes and some 24 month clothes and solidly in 2T and some 3T things.
Update: She had her 2 year old check up at the end of May and I was right, she has leveled out in height. She's in the 42nd percentile in height now. So she's no longer tall for her age, but she is still a little chunky weighing in at the 73rd percentile.
Xan finally got her first tooth just a month after turning 1! The rest of the front 4 teeth on the top and bottom were not far behind. Her first molars all came in over the course of 1 month. I could tell they were bothering her sleep while we were on our beach trip in September '19, otherwise teething isn't too bad for her. She still doesn't have her 4 canine teeth. I wonder when those will finally pop through. They aren't showing any signs yet!
Firsts
Yay! It's time for Firsts and Favorites! I love going through this process each year with each kid. I love to see what they've learned and experienced through the year and to watch them grow in stature and preferences through the pictures and comparing this year's blog post to last year's.
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| Walking - 12 months |
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| Tooth! - 13 months |
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| Head stand - 14 months |
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| Booster seat - 15 months |
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| Falling asleep on the floor - 16 months |
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| Trip to the Beach - 17 months |
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| Helping wash the car - 18 months |
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| Matching big sister - 19 months |
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| Jumping in a leaf pile - 20 months |
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| Little Brother!! - 20 months |
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| Make up and dress up with sister - 21 months |
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| First Nerf Gun fight - 22 months |
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| Holding kitties - 23 months |
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| Her very own kitty! - 2 Years old |
Favorites
This girl loves the outdoors! Xan LOVES to jump on the trampoline! Her balance is impressive! She can stay on her feet even with the big kids jumping with her. She does enjoy some alone time on the trampoline though so she can show off her straddle jump that she taught herself! She used to hate it when Jane and Atlas would go outside and leave her behind, but recently she learned to open doors! No more being left behind for Xan. She sometimes chooses to stay inside with me and Flynn now that she has the option of going out with Jane and Atlas whenever she wants. She also loves to go fast in the swing in the backyard and play in the tent. Water is still a huge favorite, bath time, kiddie pool, dog bowl, hose, anything! But her favorite is Marmee and Pappaw's pool of course. She has figured out how to get from the sun shelf to the long step on the side of the pool by hanging on the edge and she loves to go back and forth, making me very nervous while she does it. Looking forward to her learning to swim next year hopefully! She continues to really love music and has got some serious dance moves. She already knows how to move those hips! She loves a good dance party. That's my girl!
Miss chunky has finally started to thin out because two year old busyness has kicked in! Also because she has gotten pickier about food. She LOVES her milk. Like I mentioned earlier, she would drink it all day long if I let her. She likes lots of drinks though. Juice, water, gatorade, lemonade. I think she tried some soda once and didn't like it. I think that is the only drink I've noticed that she doesn't like. Some of her favorite foods are Mac & Cheese, spaghetti or any other noodles, pancakes, french fries, blueberries, fruit snacks, ice cream, popsicles and candy. Really anything fruity and sweet she's in love with. She still doesn't seem to really enjoy chocolate though.
Xan's favorite toys are normally whatever big brother or sister are playing with. ;) She does have a few she gravitates to herself though. Her favorites are her bunny and bear stuffed animals she sleeps with every night, Buzz, Woody, Duke Kaboom and Elsa's Ice Palace. She really enjoys building with blocks, putting coins in the toy cash register, working puzzles and playing with cars and trucks. She's well rounded and likes big sister's toys about as equally as big brother's toys.
Alexandria does enjoy a good movie! She loves Frozen and Frozen 2 of course, but I think all of the Toy Story movies are her true favorites, number 4 in particular. Some of her favorite shows are Peppa Pig, Sarah and Duck, Puppy Dog Pals, Storybots super songs, Shaun the Sheep and Team Umizoomi. She'll watch just about anything Atlas and Jane pick out, but just recently she's been having her own opinion and saying "No, I don't want to watch that." So I guess I'll have to let her have her own turn to pick from now on. She enjoys playing the kindle and my iPod touch some, but she does get bored of it pretty quickly since she can't quite get it to do what she wants yet. She also likes to pretend to play the Switch when Atlas and Jane play. I think very soon she's going to realize she's not actually playing. ;) The picture above is her first experience with headphones. She was mouthing the words to the song, it was adorable!
A few months ago Alexandria finally started to really sit down and read a book with me! Yay!! She will even enjoy books that don't have a sound or texture element to it, but her favorites are still anything that has an extra element to it. At the moment, her favorites are BINGO and Old McDonald Had A Farm finger puppet books, Usborne's Farm Sounds, Don't Tickle the Hippo, That's not my... books, Kisses, Cuddles and Good Night, It's Christmastime, Good Night Sweet Butterflies, Slide and See Subtraction and Slide and See Nighttime. I am loving that she is starting to love books! <3
Swimming is Xan's favorite activity for sure! She will start trying to get in as soon as we arrive with all her clothes on and everything. She's getting brave. Last year if her feet couldn't touch the ground she wouldn't get in. Now she'll go all over the pool hanging on to the side. Jumping on the Trampoline is second place followed closely by swinging, I can almost never get her out of the swing without her crying about having to be done. A new favorite activity is to follow the cat everywhere and try to pick him up. She still likes to play with Cambria too and throw her ball for her. Still doing anything big brother and sister are doing is one of the most important things to her. If she's included, she's happy.
As the third born she is very used to going everywhere and she loves it all! When I tell the kids we are going somewhere she picks out some shoes and asks me to put them on her, then she runs and jumps in the van and climbs right into her seat. Leaving to go back home is the issue sometimes. Some of her favorite places are the Park, Marmee and Pappaw's house, the splash pad and the library. Honestly that's all I know of. Because by the time I could really start to tell where she liked to go, Flynn was born. I avoided indoor places for the most part, that way we could stay pretty healthy when he was so little. When he was 3 months old I was going to go back to normal and go anywhere again. Well wouldn't you know, almost the day he turned 3 months is when COVID-19 put a stop to everything. I can't wait to take her to Urban Air, Pump It Up, and Jumpalooza and see what she really thinks of them now that she's older and can enjoy those places to the fullest. Also, she's never been to the zoo! Which is terrible since she loves animals sooo much! It might be one of the first places we go once we're allowed.
Alexandria is pure joy. She brings joy to everyone she meets. She makes friends everywhere she goes! It's not an uncommon sight to see her being held by a stranger. Don't freak out! The "stranger" is always either a friend of a friend at a birthday party or another parent with their kids at the playground that she asked to hold her.(and I watch it happen) Still, it scares me that she trusts everyone! Believe me, I keep a close eye on her when we're out because of that fact. Whatever she does is intended to make you smile. It breaks her heart if you are upset with her. Some of her common phrases are "Look at me, Mom!" "I have an idea." "I'll be right back." She is soooo talkative and since she was only a few days old I knew she wanted to connect with me and as a 2 year old it's no different. She loves to relate! I absolutely love that about her. I never knew I could have almost full conversations with a 1 year old. Looking forward to all the conversations I'll have with her as a 2 year old and beyond. She is a joy to watch grow up.
Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Girl! We love you so much!
Romans 15:13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
