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.

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!"