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.

Thirst Quencher

Roxi has become concerned about the well-being of her pals. She often puts her sippy cup to the mouths of Turtle, Lobster, Twinkie the Kid and several of her many other inanimate companions. It's cute.

Even cuter was today when she offered her animal crackers a sip at lunch: "Bear is thirsty. Give him a drink!" Followed by her fruit: "Strawberries thirsty too!"

Pigtails

Pretzel Girl

Practicing a stretch learned at her weekly gymnastics class. The instructor calls this one Bonk Your Nose. Another side effect of the class is that Roxi wants to get in her crib and jump. A lot. With very much jumpitude. And often jubilant yelling. I call this exercise Being A Wild Thing.

Anatomy

One of Roxi's favorite books includes a section in which the protagonist, our hero Cookie Monster, examines some cookies using his five senses. Rob and I explain, as we're reading that section, that he sees the cookies with his eyes, listens to the cookies with his ears, etc.

Roxi has lately applied this knowledge to her daily life. She'll often ask for something by saying, "Want it. In the hand." We have flowers on the kitchen table, and she inquires, "Smell them? Want to? Flowers? With the nose?" This morning, she commented on her breakfast, "Eating it. In the mouth."

In Celebration of Snow

Vail, last weekend, and home, yesterday:

New Traditions

Last night, we joined the annual Valentine's ritual of some friends of ours: Dinner at McDonald's. The tradition started several years ago when Heather and Paul wanted to have a romantic dinner together ... and ended up at Ronald's when every other place in town had an hour-plus wait.

So we joined Heather, Paul and Josie this year - along with pals Dola, Shannon and Hailey. The three girls could not have had more fun. The fabulously salty cuisine aside, they enjoyed chasing each other around the restaurant, pushing each other in the wheeled high chairs and being goofy in general. You'll know where to find us next Feb. 14.

Running Commentary

On the way from the house to the car last night: "Roxi and Mommy walking to the blue car. Daddy walking to blue car, too! Mommy and Daddy walking. Roxi walking, too! Daddy, Roxi, Mommy walking together. All walking. Roxi and Daddy and Mommy. Walking to blue car!"

In the car: "Roxi is riding. Daddy is riding, too! Mommy is driving. Going to restaurant! See Hailey and Josie. And Heather. And Dola. At restaurant! Mommy is driving. Roxi and Daddy are riding. Going to see Josie and Heather! And Hailey! And Dola! And Paul and Shannon. Going to restaurant! Daddy is riding. Mommy is driving. Roxi is riding, too!"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Joy Is ...

... listening to your daughter sing the ABC song wherein all the letters are replaced by "pig", while simultaneously dancing in circles with a wee toy piggy. Pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig, PIG, pig, pig, pig, pig, pig-o-pig-pig ...

Hut! Hut! Hut!

Roxi is, among other things, a budding wide receiver. She and Rob often play football together, which goes a little something like this:
• Rob shouts, "We're going to run a post route into the bathroom. Blue 42! Blue 42! Hut! Hut! Hut!"
• Roxi replies, "Hut! Hut!" as she goes tearing down the hall towards the bathroom.
• Rob throws the football over Roxi into the bathroom. Roxi picks it up.
• Rob: "Touchdown Tusselwupper!"
• Roxi: "Yaaaaay! Touchdown Tuppahwuppah!"

She doesn't quite understand the finer points of the game yet ... because her favorite play after the touchdown is to run halfway back to Rob with the ball, throw it on the floor, scream, "Fumble!" and laugh hysterically. The fumble play never gets old.

Roxi is also quite the fan. Whenever she sees football players in motion on TV, she belts out an appreciative, "Niiiiiice!"

It's In The Bag

Wouldn't That Be Fun?

In an attempt to generate enthusiasm over the mundane stuff of life, I have started saying things to Roxi like, "Melissa's coming over! Isn't that exciting? I'm excited, too." or "We're going to change your diaper and then go to the grocery store! Won't that be fun?" It seems a lot less ridiculous when I'm saying it to a 20-month-old than it does now that I see it in black and white, I assure you.

Roxi, being no dummy, has started to use these phrases to her advantage. As in: "Listen to Cuckoo song. I'm excited too!" and "Have graham cracker. That'll be fun!"

Every Thursday Morning

This is what makes Roxi's new music class so cool ... the exposure to actual instruments. There's also plenty of the usual toddler chaos - with the wacky dancing and the bell shaking and the bubble chasing. Roxi's favorite part fluctuates between listening to the (disturbingly) accurate animal noises the instructor makes and getting her hand stamped at the end of the class. She points to her hand for the rest of the day and tells anyone who will listen, "Stamp on the hand!"

More Fun Than Is Strictly Necessary

We went to the Denver Children's Museum yesterday, much to Roxi's pure delight. Moments before this picture was taken she was admiring her surroundings and repeatedly shouting, "Yook ... at all a fish!" [Look at all the fish].

We're Back ... And We're Painting

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.