Scootcheroo

Lexi tried to blow out the Christmas Eve Candles harder than she did her birthday cake candles

It just struck me as ironic, and I thought I'd mention it, that at the very moment I'm considering what to write for a birthday ode to my niece, Alexis Faith Yoder, I am eating a Scotcheroo. Alexis is also known as Lexi, and to her father, Scootch. Apparently for a time in her life, she scootched around instead of crawling or walking. I quickly became fond of the nickname, and even more quickly of Lexi, who was born in 2007, on this day, while I was far away in Mozi land. I often lengthen her nickname into Scootcheroo. (And sometimes break into the old commercial jingle for Dunk-a-roos.)

Speaking of calling each other names, Lexi, who's vocabulary is still a bit limited recently began calling me "tia". Pretty amazing since she doesn't have any idea that she's speaking Portuguese (or Spanish) and calling me aunt. She is a genius, but probably she just thinks she's saying Sara.

Lexi entered the world large (a whomping 10 lbs...props to her mother, pictures above). And I believe that Lexi is and will be the sort of girl and woman who loves largely. She seems to be discovering the joy of making others laugh. One of her favorite favorite activities is looking at pictures and hearing who each person in the picture is. Most of her language revolves around the most important people in her life: Daddy, Mommy, Kyle, Emily, Grandpa, Grandma---and now sometimes "tia". She's also learned the names of some of her cousins who have easy names: "ena" and "pa" and "mir". And of course typical two-year old fashion she has also recently learned to say "mine."

We love you largely too, Lexi!