Evolution

As Roxi's verbal skills become more and more honed, some of our favorite "baby" words are going by the wayside. Bananas are no longer "buhl-EH-thuh" (with exaggerated tongue flourish). They're just plain old "BO-nanas".

Lest you think I'm moping, there are plenty of other wacky words to fill in since Roxi will repeat anything and everything. Among the new vocabulary this month are: interesting, voracious, pentagon, horizontal and slam dunkaroonis (as in when you successfully dunk a basketball).

She also tends to add syllables to words. Elephant is "elephenant", for example, and cranberries are "crannaberries".

And today, out of nowhere, as we're visiting the farm down the street comes, "There's a horse over there. He's resting in the stable." You'd have to understand toddler speak to get it, but STILL. Sheesh. My friends joke that she'll be reciting the Gettysburg Address soon.

You Gotta Have Friends

The Long Version

As previously mentioned, Roxi has been diagnosed with crossed eyes. Yesterday she had her follow-up appointment with the pediatric opthamologist. The purpose of this meeting was to determine whether or not her glasses are improving her condition. Sadly, they are not. So the next step is surgery, which we are scheduled for in a month.

We're happy with Roxi's doctor. He's the best in Northern Colorado, a specialist with kids and does this kind of surgery every week. Even better, he's approachable, communicative and great with Roxi. We came to him with a full page of single-spaced, typed questions yesterday. He answered every one ... in as much detail as Rob and I wanted.

He also offered to get us an expedited second opinion from a specialist in Denver, which we will do because, well, these are Roxi's eyes we're talking about. He also gave us the name and number of a family whose toddler had the exact same surgery. So we'll be calling and sucking as much information from them as they're willing to give.

In the end, though, I expect we'll be keeping our surgery date with this doctor. Which is too scary to think about but much less frightening than not fixing the problem.

Here's where I go into medical mumbo jumbo. Feel free to tune out.

Roxi has constant congenital esotropia and hypertropia. Her eyes turn in (esotropia) and up (hypertropia) all the time (constant), but not both at the same time. Her eyes alternate crossing, which is good news since it means each eye has established connections with the brain. They just don't work together. Roxi was likely born with the condition (congenital) but it has gotten worse with time.

The purpose of the surgery is to re-establish binocular vision – both eyes working in unison - and therefore improve depth perception and peripheral vision. It will also improve Roxi's appearance, but that's secondary as far as we're concerned. The sooner she has the surgery, the more likely it is for her to achieve binocular vision. There are no guarantees, of course, but we're hoping for the best and know that Roxi will be a stellar patient.

Before Anyone Gets The Wrong Idea

Roxi doesn't have a new brother. She does, however, have a new "cousin" and pal. Please give a warm Tusselwupper Welcome to Levi Alexander Stone, born to Roxi's Aunt Jen and Uncle Mike on March 4. Roxi is already looking forward to teaching Levi the finer points of babyhood, such as choreographed grunting and slinging pureed carrots across the room.

It's All in the Wrist

Roxi shows off her best Benevolent Princess Wave at the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Four Eyes

Roxi has been diagnosed with crossed eyes. This is a long story that deserves a long post, but for now I'll cut to the chase, which is that she's wearing glasses. She's wearing glasses fabulously, I should say. Just look at this kid ... she's a natural.