She still surprises us with how bright she is. The other day I was practicing spelling words with Xander. I gave him the word "water" and he wasn't paying any attention at all (typical) and began "b..." Lexi, who was in the room but busy with something else, exclaimed, "XANDER! That would say "bater! Silly you!" This from a girl speaking English just over a year.
Lexi is our social butterfly. She has been so blessed to find a "best friend." Her name is Erin, or "Erin C." as Lexi always calls her (there are two Erins in her class.) I will often hear Lexi in the morning laying in her bed singing "I love Erin C." to various tunes. (: Today I overheard Parker tell his friend about Erin. I thought he described her perfectly:
"Erin C. is so great because she treats Lexi like a real person. She doesn't baby her, but she's so nice to her at the same time. She actually plays with her and acts excited to be her friend."
That's our Erin C. I love that girl so much for what she has done for Lexi. They have had many playdates together and I am so grateful for that! Lexi is not fun when she is bored, so playdates are a good thing! On Thursday, Erin and Lexi were walking from school to their cars and Erin fell down and cut her forehead. She ended up with a few stitches. I'm not sure who was more traumatized-- Erin or Lexi. It took Lexi over 30 minutes to stop crying. She kept saying, "I'm so sad that Erin C. is hurt. I really really really want Erin C. to be better!" She was hysterical, and still talks about it several times a day. "Remember when Erin C. fell down?" she says constantly, and then has to relive the whole thing. Such sweet friends.
Lexi loves to be like everyone else. It is poignant to be watching a show and have her laugh when everyone else laughs even though she didn't see what was so funny. She is such easy company. She's happy to be doing anything besides sitting by herself. Jeremy has taken her along with the boys to go to BYU basketball games and she is a great sport, just sitting there and cheering when everyone else does.
Lex is a great sleeper. She can fall asleep at any time and both Jer and I love to have her join us for naps. She'll lay quietly by you and stroke your face for a second and then just drift off to sleep. So so sweet.
Lexi loves to share her testimony of Jesus. She still tells anyone who will listen how Jesus is going to fix her eyes. It can be so incredibly heartbreaking when she cries to me, "Mom, why can't He do it now?" She's been begging for a "blind friend." Anyone know of someone nearby? Sometimes she will put Jesi's glasses on (so cute!) and say, "Why I not wear glasses to help me see like Jesi?" Oh that glasses would work!!!!!!!!
I'm in love with you, my Lexi Li! I am so privileged to be your mother!!
Hello! My name is Dianna and I came across your blog a while back but never commented before. After reading your post about Lexi, I wanted to write and tell you we too adopted our daughter from China who is legally blind. She can see some things up really close, but thats it. Outdoors and in bright lights like stores etc. it washes everything out and she is completely blind. She is 8 now...we adopted her when she just had turned 5. She too is learning braille and has a cane. All the things you wrote about sound just like our Gillian. She always ask why God can't fix her eyes, and poor Gillian gets dragged to her siblings soccer games and can't see anything but cheers when everyone else does...as for friends you are so lucky she found such a good one, its hard. Gillian found one that is really nice to her, but playdates are hard because I only allow them if they are at our house, because its too hard for Gillian to be in someone elses house and I'm still not comfortable trusting others with her because of her lack of sight. Anyways, I do have a blog but we have not updated it in a very long time...we've been bad about that. It's jiejiemakesfive.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteOur e-mail is sspfiremedic@comcast.net
Maybe Lexi and Gillian can become pen pal friends. Gillian always thinks she is the only one with an eye problem and I know if I tell her about Lexi it will make her feel not so alone.
Dianna
p.s. you have a beautiful family
There's a TON of really great stuff here y'all! It was a seriously frantic weekend at our place - Marie's Mom came down with cellulitis in one of her elbows and had to be admitted to the hospital for a couple days of IV anti-biotics - but they'll likely release her today - a quick prayer k? That merited a trip to Louisville - and came home with a puppy - ack...
ReplyDeleteAnyway - really great stuff here - I love the 'dates' y'all have with your kids - we kinda try to do the same thing - just something special with one of them solo - it's good stuff!
And Lexi - dude (or dudette more correctly!) - she is just a doll - got to love her.
You guys - great - love y'all!!
hugs - aus and co.
Sweet, Lexi! You look so cute in Jesi's glasses...and every other picture you ever take!
ReplyDeleteTears - lots of them while reading your story! To read Parker's description was a proud moment for this momma. I shared it with Erin and she smiled the whole time. She just LOVES Lexi - as we all do!!
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