Aleksa growing up

Last night while Adam was in the tub and Liana was doing math with John, Aleksa and I decided to go watch Susie the Hamster for a while. I pulled her up and we watched her eat and groom herself, etc. Out of the blue Aleksa said, "Can I touch Susie, Mama?" Well, this was definitely a first for our scared-to-death-of-anything-with-fur little girl. So, I took Susie's cage down off the shelf and put it on the floor. Then I took the top off and let Aleksa put her hand in and play with Susie. I thought maybe she'd still be timid with her and just "poke" touch her, but instead, she pet her and cooed over her and tried to stick sunflower seeds in her mouth, and sorted through Susie's cedar chips looking for lost food, and tickled Susie's belly and back, took out her little house so she couldn't hide from her, and whatever else she could manage to do. Not one drop of fear or hesitation. I was soooooo proud of her! The Aleksa doing that was NOT the same Aleksa we came home with.

Occassionally, I call Susie "Susie Q," but Aleksa calls her "Susie Cute." I love how Aleksa "mis-hears" things. She makes what she says that much more adorable. (Ex: "Talk me in," "Candy-cakes," etc.)

Aleksa also has a fear of being upside-down. John has been trying to work with her on that one, but usually she winds up screaming. Well, last night Liana was in the livingroom trying to figure out how to do a cartwheel. John spotted her and helped her get those feet over her head. Aleksa sat and watched for a few minutes, and then was asking John to help her too. Couldn't believe it. She was all smiles, and with each cartwheel, ran over to me and shouted, "good job, Aleksa!" and gave me hugs. I finally had to open my big mouth and say to John, "Can you believe this is our Aleksa asking to go upside-down?" And then, the very next turn, Aleksa started getting scared again. *sigh* She's come a long way though, and I'm soooo proud of her!

She's grown so much emotionally (not to mention physically - this girl is on a major growth spurt right now!) She was 36 inches when we measured her a few weeks after coming home, and now she is 39 inches. One inch of that was just since the end of December. She came home wearing size 3, and now she's wearing 5's. She has outgrown two of her winter dresses before she's even had a chance to wear them, and she out-eats Papa many nights at suppertime. My baby is growing up!

P.S. Our prayers are with my good pal and Blog-buddy Laurel from TX who is right now on a plane to Kyiv to find her little boy! Can't wait to hear all about her trip!