Remember When She Couldn't Talk? We Can't.

Not that we'd necessarily WANT to remember, but the silent days are long gone. If Roxi isn't talking, she's singing. More often than not, we can even understand what she's saying. Or at least make a decent guess.

From this afternoon ... Her favorite music at the moment is a CD of songs about birds from her Kindermusik class (and no, it's not as horrible to listen to as you might imagine, though I might just be brainwashed at this point). I asked her if we should turn on the radio. Says Roxi: "Cuckoo song! Cuckoo song! Cuckoo song!"

From this morning ... First words, fresh out of the crib: "Mmm, milk. Yummy!"

From yesterday ... Our cat Teton snuck out the front door, much to my general annoyance. Says Roxi, in a pitch-perfect copy of me (including peeved tone): "Come on Teton! Too cold outside."

Mighty Molars

It's not as easy to get one's fingers in Roxi's mouth as it used to be. Enter at your own peril! She had a lapse in concentration earlier this week though, and I discovered that two more molars have popped through. 12 teeth!

Don't Call Social Services

When our daughter asks for "opium," what she means is "oatmeal."

After three unofficial, mom's-doing-the-best-she-can trims, Roxi got her first real haircut on November 18.

She got to watch a Sesame Street video, eat snacks and play with a comb the whole time. Not a bad deal.

Looking sharp ... and only looking this way for 3.5 seconds, because the ponytail holder (or, as the hairdresser referred to it, the "pretty") was SO outta there after that.

I'm going straight to the top, baby! Here, Roxi sports our friend Sue's smokin' red cowgirl boots.

Firsts

• First molars earlier this week, one on the bottom left and one on the top right. That's 10 teeth for those of you keeping track. Only 10 more to go! Bring on the turkey jerky.
• First instances of stringing two words together. Roxi's vocabulary has, up until now, been a string of one-word declarations: More! No! Meow! Quesadilla! These days, we're getting a few phrases: More raisins! Cow moo! No more! Cheese please!
• First instances of counting. We're up to two so far. As in: One, two shoes. One, two blocks. And so forth.
• First singing of the ABC song. We're up to D (on a good day). The interesting part is that she starts singing it (granted, you must be listening with a trained ear to hear it) when she plays with her computer keyboard.
• First religious candy experience. A very nice woman at TCBY's introduced Roxi to the magical wonder of M&Ms yesterday. Rob and I decided immediately not to tell her the name of the treats so she couldn't ask for them all the time. This, we figure, will be happening soon enough. She seems to think broccoli with cheese sauce is candy these days; no need to tell her otherwise.
• First fuh-fuh-fuh. Roxi got her very own fish a few weeks ago, a lovely blue/purple Beta named Fifi. Happily, our three cats seem completely uninterested in Fifi thus far.

In other news, Roxi has been smooched on by lots of grandparents lately. Grandpa and Grandma took her to the park. Gamma shared fabulous pop-up books. Nanna taught her about the color pink. And much, much, much more.

And a list of Roxi's current favorite activities:

• Eating. A lot. Especially raisins and broccoli (and M&Ms, but we're not talking about those).
• Drawing. The drawing experience includes the preparation of the paper, taping of the paper to the table, removing of the crayons from the container, actual drawing, asking Daddy or Mommy to draw shapes (circles and stars mostly, we're working on triangles and squares), putting crayons away, ripping the paper off the table and asking to start all over again.
• Naming colors. Her latest breakthrough is knowing the difference between purple and blue.
• Asking us to sing songs. Especially ones accompanied by ridiculous gestures.
• And still on the A list: dancing, reading and chewing on everything within arm's reach.

Roxi's first hay bale maze experience over Halloween weekend. It was cold and raining, and she couldn't have cared less. So much hay, so little time!

Boo.

It was a fine Halloween. A very fine Halloween indeed. Roxi sported her sheep costume for a couple hours in downtown Fort Collins and another couple hours at Rob's work. Both places were swamped with other wee cuties. Roxi was too distracted by all the costumes to bother with candy. She was also too warm to keep her costume on for long. Luckily, she looked just as adorable with it tied around her waist.

Accessorizing with pumpkins.

Lamb on the run.

Baaaaaaa.

The whole Halloween crew: Josie the Ladybug, Roxi the Lamb, Hailey Strawberry Shortcake, Zander Yoda and Lucas the Fireman (with Dola the Mom peeking in from the back).

Roxi is already well prepared for her second Halloween. A little insider information for ya: She's going to be a sheep.

In response to the question, "What does a cow say?" (Moo!)

Midway through her speech on the merits of cookies before dinner.

In response to the question, "Where's your tongue?"

Purrr-fect indeed.

Roxi has finally reached the point where she is more interested in drawing with crayons than eating them (usually anyway). Our little artist is even starting to know the names of colors: puhpuh, geen, wed, yahyoh ... and on a really good day, boo, bown, back and ahwahng too.

One of Roxi's first masterpieces.

Last weekend, at the lovely Colorado State University gardents.

Cuteness.

A new favorite game: Running into the bathroom, closing the door and peeking out every once in a while to announce "boo!"

Another bit of press for our girl, this time in the highly publicized Tupper Family Association Newsletter.

It Was A Good Run

We're closing in on 16 months, and Roxi finally reached a milestone that most wee ones hit much sooner: an ear infection. And so she's taking her first regimen of antibiotics. Perhaps I should be grumpy about having to give her drugs at all, but instead I feel pretty lucky that we made it so long without 'em.

Plus, this kid thinks it's FUN to take medicine. What a peach.

Two's Company, Ten's Just Perfect

One of Roxi's favorite mid-afternoon activities these days is rocking in her rocking chair. She'll amble by her room, stop suddenly and start calling "Wock! Wock!" to me down the hall.

Today was no different. As she was enjoying the ride, I handed her Turtle thinking she might enjoy the company. Boy howdy was that a hit. So much so that she immediately requested Moose ("moo"), doll ("wah-dee"), brown bear and pink bear ("beh" for both) ... then through wild gesticulations also requested her doll head pillow, a dollar store video soccer game, a race car that came in a Cheerios box (still wrapped in its protective cellophane wrapper) and last but not least, a bright yellow take-out menu.

It was crowded in that chair. And Roxi was ready for anything (including ordering a sandwich from Jimmy John's).

Me like pasta.

Universal Truths

Eating preferences come and go. What was a delicacy yesterday is swamp goo today. But we have discovered a few basic rules when toddlers gather:

The water in your cup is better than the water in my cup. Even if it came from the same tap.

The snacks in your container are better than the snacks in my container. Even if I have a full container and you only have five little crackers in yours.

Your lunch is way better than my lunch. Even if your lunch consists of carrots, which I would normally throw across the room.

My food suddenly becomes quite appealing once you start eating it.

If you put a fist full of grapes in your mouth, I will applaud your effort and attempt to do the same.

Here's a photo from our rained out camping weekend: Roxi having a big time in the fish (aka fuh, fuh, fuh) section of a local pet store. You can imagine her utter delight two weekends later, when we took her to ...

THE AQUARIUM!!!! (in Denver)

Our girl literally RAN from tank to tank, pointing and screaming, "Fuh! Fuh! Fuh!" She is mid "Fuh!" in this picture. The little cut under her eye is courtesy of one of our cats, who will not be getting any fuh! or fuh!-like kitty treats anytime soon. No worries though - Roxi's sweet face is healing up just fine.

Roxi was VERY excited about the otter tank.

If you look to the left of Rob's hand, at the bottom of the tank, you can see an otter making his/her approach towards the glass.

Ye old otter, mid-flip.

Checking out the big tunnel tank.

By the time we got to the giant Japanese crabs, Roxi was pooped. So many fish, so little time ...

15 Month Checkup

Another visit with Nurse Rhonda and Dr. P. Another set of reassuring statistics and kind words. Another two vaccinations (measles/mumps/rubella and chicken pox), plus a toe prick for an iron test. Another opportunity to be impressed with our tough nugget Roxi, who cried for a grand total of 15 seconds after all the needles.

Without further ado, here are the numbers:

• 23.125 pounds - 50th percentile
• 32 inches long/tall - 90th percentile
• 18.75-inch head circumference - 90th percentile
• Just enough iron in the blood to count as "normal", so Dr. P recommended a small dose of daily iron supplement.

It was another fine doctor's visit, complete with plenty of compliments that Rob and I accepted with grace on the outside and giddy glee on the inside. She's developmentally right on target, if not ahead of the game ... and in the peak of sassy health. Roxi also impressed Dr. P by climbing on his lap and discovering new screens and noises on his computer.

New Favorite Word

daw-bih-dee (emphasis on the first syllable), which means strawberry

After many months of ambivalence towards her throng of stuffed animals, Roxi is starting to show interest. Her favorite friend, by far, is Turtle. She won't take naps or turn in for the night without him, and she spends a fair bit of her day time either carrying him around or talking about him. Often times we know Roxi has woken up from a nap when we hear gentle murmurings of "tuh-toh, tuh-toh" through the monitor. The picture above was taken at 11 p.m. one evening (with no flash so as to not wake the sweet pea, thus the grainy quality).

Turtle is especially loved when Roxi is sleepy.

Pals.

Tent-tastic

Roxi had her first camping adventure this weekend. We went to Hermit Park - a private facility for HP employees that includes rustic cabins and lots of camp sites - with Roxi's Colorado aunts and uncles (Mike, Jen, Scott and Renee).

She spent the night in a tent, ate strapped to a picnic table, played with lots of sticks and went bathless. Roxi's a budding outdoorswoman, I tell ya.

I wish I had some pictures to show you, but our adventure was cut short by unseasonably cold and wet weather. We woke up Saturday morning to thick fog and a forecast full of rain. So Roxi's introduction to the wonders of camping was short and sweet.

We spent a soggy Saturday evening back in Fort Collins at the mall, which is actually one of Roxi's favorite places these days. The pet store has a whole room full of aquariums. She ran from one glowing tank to another last night, pointing and shouting "fuh-fuh-fuh!" (aka "fish!"). She also enjoyed "woof!"ing to all the puppies.

Last weekend, we drove up the Poudre Canyon for a picnic lunch and some outdoor wackiness. Roxi would have nothing to do with her food until she properly explored the river.

Roxi had to be in the water, even if it was f-f-f-freezing.

Roxi looking sassy eating her picnic lunch.

Woo hoo!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Gateway Park - a different spot along the Poudre Canyon. There were lots of wide open spaces and shady areas. We also took a short hike to explore future swimming spots ... the perfect opportunity to employ the backpack with spiffy new sun shade.

Rompin' and also stompin'.

Happy girl.

Bring on the Steak

Eight, count 'em, eight teeth. Roxi's second bottom right incisor broke through her gums on Thursday, giving her four teeth straight across the bottom. This latest bit of teething was not accompanied by a runny nose ... which was quite a treat for all of us.

Roxi is using her eight fabulous chompers to gnaw on the occasional steamed carrot. Yes, carrot! An actual vegetable! And not even shredded and hidden inside pasta sauce! She will also eat corn ... but only if it's freshly cut from the cob and buttered. No frozen or canned kernels for this girl.

A little pre-bedtime reading. Roxi is pointing to a sheep, saying "baaa" here. And check out her cute little belly (full of hot dog and macaroni and cheese from dinner).

Roxi went to her first fair today - the Larimer County Fair to be exact. She really liked the corn dogs, but her favorite part was the petting zoo.

It was a good day.

Doda Versus Dodo

Doda equals stroller. Dodo means dirty.

Lately

Just a sampling of the exciting adventures Roxi has had recently: Cheering on Daddy and his softball team. Going to the end-of-season after party for dinner and drinks (just water for the sweet girl) with the team. Hanging out with and learning how to high five from Gamma. Playing Bocce with Aunt Ren, Uncle Scott, Aunt Jen and Uncle Mike. Pointing out every umbrella within a 20 yard radius. Running, running, running, running. Going to music class and loving every minute.

Roxi already has some good press.

The Difference Between Hada and Haba

Isn't it obvious? Hada means hot dog or high five. Haba means umbrella.

STRAWS

ARE

FUN

Another picture from the beach, compliments of Aunt Christa. This is the technically advanced, beach-ready Roximobile. Granddaddy and Uncle Tyler built this masterpiece: an old carseat bolted to a boogie board, embellished with a life jacket, swim noodle and Tarheel flag. You couldn't ask for a better ride.

This Is What I Think of Your Stinking Carrot

In a continuing effort to introduce some vegetables into Roxi's diet, I gave her a piece of cooked carrot to munch on earlier this week. She studied it, squished it between her fingers and then put it on the floor ... where she proceeded to stomp on it.

Seven!

It's been a sleepless week at the Tusselwupper household. And a little feverish. Not to mention a snot factory. Two teeth in one week. Holy smokes.

We are pleased to introduce Roxi's second left incisor, which now gives her four teeth on top (plus three on the bottom). Chomp-tastic!

Six!

Hello and welcome to the world, right second incisor (between the right front tooth and future canine). You join the proud ranks of Roxi's other five teeth, who like nothing more than chomping down on hot dog pieces, cheese-filled pasta and grapes.

Lovin' the beach.