Friends

Xiana, like her mother, needs friends. She is not a content-to-sit-around by herself type of a girl. And that works for us because neither am I. We have been fortunate enough to be involved with several play groups and she is the lucky recipient of a whole bunch of cousins. My cousin comes through Sparks pretty regularly and she loves to play with his kids.
This week we went to Coconut bowl and she got to run around with all of her friends in the jungle gym.
Even when she was a tiny baby, she was always more calm when we had company. It's strange that she could be hard-wired that way.
She has mastered the slide and can slow herself down at the bottom as well as climb up to the top all by herself. These slides are not to be taken lightly either... they're fast!
Xiana is a sweet girl who has embraced the terrible two's. I often wonder what on earth happened to my sweet, obedient child. Then I catch glimpses of her in the early morning and in the evening before bed and I am reminded that she is still there beneath the sassy defiance. I have to regularly reassure myself that this phase will not last forever. Still, in her defense, the world is suddenly changing around her and she is trying to make sense of it all. I have been explaining to her that Brian will be her daddy and she refers to him as such about half the time. Last week when it was only about 10% of the time, we met with a photographer and she announced, "Brian my daddy." So she definitely gets it. We spent the weekend in Battle Mountain with Brian's daughter Ekco (post coming soon) and this week our conversation went like this: Xiana: Where Ekco?
Me: Where is she?
X: At her mommy house
M: that's right
X: Where Kylee? (her new cousin)
M: Where is she?
X: At her mommy house
M: That's right.
X: Where Xiana?
M: Where is Xiana?
X: ummm, at her mommy house! And where daddy?
M: at work
X: no! daddy at Kevin house (Brian's brother who just moved in with him)
Like I said, there are a lot of changes taking place and she is trying to make sense of them all. I then tried to explain to her that she was going to live with her mommy and daddy in a few months after we get married. She definitely does not believe me yet. Still, every night when we leave Brian's she cries that she wants to stay at his house so that is certainly a step in the right direction. There are so many confusions in her life that I never dreamed of when I was a kid. Nevertheless, I am not rushing headlong to her defense because part of the attitude is just plain toddler years.
She continues to be very sharp and picks up on everything.

• The other day I was in the mirror and she came to me and asked, "you picking zits mom?"

• At a sporting goods store in town there is a statue of Abraham Lincoln. A long time ago I told her that grandpa really liked him. Last time we went she asked, "who that guy mommy?" "that is Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the country" "oh, and grandpa like him!"

• I regularly say, "shut your mouth" as in, "no way!" and on her phone I overheard her say, "shut you mouth Alicia!" I need to be more careful.

• She also, mimicking Brian said, "you don't tell me."

• Yesterday when we were driving to Brian's house she said, "sun in my eyes mommy, move it" I told her that I couldn't move the sun silly and then she ducked her head down exclaiming, "I did it! I move the sun!"

• On our way back from Battle Mountain I broke the DVD player and I was super annoyed. She reassured me, "mommy let me fix it" after I told her it could not be fixed.