It wasn't exactly an a-ha moment...

...but more of a "slap your forehead with the palm of your hand and yell DUH" kind of experience. My big realization?

Alexis is not a baby any more.

She's not a baby. She's a two-year old. And it's time to start treating her like a two-year old.

With the various developmental delays that Alexis has, I sometimes forget that she's 2. And sometimes, those delays can make things a bit harder. When she refuses a sippy cup (daily) I make myself feel better about giving her a bottle by thinking, "it's kind of nice that I can enjoy these 'baby moments' a bit longer."

But it all really clicked for me last week when we were meeting with the geneticist. Alexis has a weird habit of shaking her head back and forth at warp speed, and it gives me a headache just watching her. I started my inquiry with confirming that she can't give herself shaken baby syndrome. She can't. I thought it was a sensory thing and maybe a sign of autism, but the doctor smiled and replied, "actually that's a good thing. She's trying to stimulate herself. She's bored."

Bored! *forehead meets palm* She sits at home in a room full of toys geared toward 6 month olds and I wonder why she's fussing and not playing with anything. Duh.

Something also clicked a little when I was talking to a friend who said all 4 of her kids (one has d/s) were potty trained by they time they were 3. I could barely get my little guys potty trained in time for kindergarten, but the thought of potty training Alexis had never even crossed my mind. I don't expect her to be potty trained by the time she's 3, but I'm not going to rule it out either. Her language is developing quite well (with signing), so who knows what this little girl is capable of!

We had great weather this weekend...

...but we don't really like the feeling of grass between our toes.

So anyway, it's time to start treating Alexis like a two-year old. So I dug out Thomas the train and all his little British friends and she loved playing with them, with her brothers. And she didn't do the head shake thing once.

I also got out the play-doh for her for the first time. It was tossed to the floor pretty quickly, but still, no more head shake. I think I'll be packing up some of these boring old infant toys to sell at our garage sale next weekend.

And I really need to make a greater effort to get away from the baby food. Swallowing things with these generous tonsils make it difficult (ENT appointment this Thursday to discuss the sleep study results!) but she really likes to eat what we eat in a blended up, mushed up, or liquified state. Tonight was her first experience with mushroom soup. She loved it. Check out the milk mustache, and she's signing "more".

Bye, bye baby! You're 2 now.