Alex can "read"...

Alexandra is a creature of habit. Well, maybe a creature of repetition. When she decides that she likes something, she likes it and likes it and likes it until it's worn. She wants to hear the same song over and over in the car for weeks. She wants the same snack for days on end. She wants to read the same book every night for a month. It's always endearing and often enraging.

Maybe it's just comforting to do the same thing, but I don't think that's it. I think she is really trying to figure things out. Trying to slurp up every drop of what that thing is. Every word to a song. Every color of a shirt. Every nuance of a game.

Yesterday she sat on the top of the sofa and started "reading" her current obsession... "Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street". It's an old, tattered book and she loves it. Over and over she loves it. And then a few minutes in to the "reading" Michele and I realized that she wasn't summarizing. She was, for the most part, reciting the words on each page. Here is a demonstration:



There's more from the same reading on YouTube if you must have more.

She is amazing to me. Even the "er, um" when Big Bird is stumbling over a decision. She has memorized it to a large degree. And then, when bedtime came and she could pick one book for Mama to read her...

Take a hike...

Today was so nice that we decided to go for a nature walk...
Before we even got on the trail, Michele and Alex saw a snake bathing in the sun...
Alex was a little miffed that she couldn't ride in the backpack anymore...
But this is the year she will start to hike on her own. We did a short half mile, and she really enjoyed looking at the trees and birds...

A great walk, and a great start to spring!

Comparisons aren't always odious...

Alex is a fickle beast. She knows what she likes... and then she likes for a long time.

A few weeks ago she came home from a trip to the mall and was very excited. Her friend Amy had bought her some new shoes. Michele and Robin snickered off to the side, and I knew something was amiss. The box was opened, and the zebras presented...

Now, don't get me wrong, I consider myself a fan of fancy. I can get behind a three year old having a fun wardrobe. But, at the same time, I am practical and err on the side of "too dressy" at every turn. I was not a fan of the zebras. I hated the zebras. I plotted a life of solitude in the closet for the zebras. I schemed.

Then, a week later, something happened. The shoes that Tia Robin had purchased her on the same day arrived.

And that's when I realized that the zebras weren't so bad. In fact, they were pretty cute. And she has worn them almost every day since.

And that's okay, because the fish shoes are high up in the closet...

Click... click...

Michele got me a new camera. A fancy camera. I have had it for a day or two, but was too scared to take it out of the box. This will take some getting used to... but here is the first pic I took with it...
Pretty nice, eh? Maybe this will encourage me to take more pics and write more blog entries.