Saturday, April 29, 2006

Fresh Perspective

It was such a rainy and breezy day outside that we spent all day indoors today. We ended up coloring with Bree at her new table quite a bit. We purchased some really big paper recently, it's almost the size of her tabletop...and each of us took a side and started coloring. Brianna, however, would decide she needed a new perspective every few minutes and declare "other side!" Then she'd run to a different side of the table and start a new "picture." One of the pictures we were making were tracings of our hands. Brianna thought this was really cool and was soon demanding to trace Daddy's hand, Mommy's hand, and her own hand. Of course, by "tracing" I mean she was making us put our hands on the paper and then scribbling in a circle off to one side of the hand in question. (We didn't mention that what she was making wasn't hand-shaped.) By the end though, she was actually starting to scribble in-between the fingers when hand tracing, getting closer!

Friday, April 28, 2006

Fashion Diva

It's been interesting lately as Bree has started to develop her sense of fashion, or at least, which clothing she prefers to wear on a given day. Whereas in the past she has let me choose her outfits without batting an eyelash, these days she has an opinion. The other day I put her in a pale green onesie and white pants with green and purple diamonds on them. Well, in the middle of the day, after I had taken the pants off for a diaper change, Brianna refused to put them back on. Instead she kept insisting "peent pants Mommy, peent pants," so she wore pink pants the rest the afternoon. Then today it was cooler and I had chosen black pants and an adorable teal sweater with a heart. But, alas, the teal sweater was vetoed when she told me "No, peent setter Mommy." Maybe her new favorite color is "peent." Ah the ever-changing trends of a fashion diva.

Blast Off!

Travis' favorite game to play with Brianna lately is the countdown game. He started it a couple weeks ago by building blocks into a "rocket" then telling Brianna to countdown to blast off. She's familiar with the game now and will go "1,2,7....Blass off!" (Don't ask me why she thinks 7 comes after 2, she's counted that way for a few months now no matter how many time we repeat 1,2, 3 to her.) She's delighted when her daddy then "launches" the rocket by hoisting the bottom block up until they fall over. Their newest version of the countdown game is in the bath though. Bree loves to use her "Momo foam" in the tub. Now Daddy entertains her by throwing handfuls of pink foam up against the shower wall, where it sticks. Then he fills an empty shampoo bottle full of water and tells Brianna to countdown. At "blass off" he squeezes the middle of the shampoo bottle, sending a stream of water squirting onto the globs of foam, and washing them back into the tub. This game makes both of them laugh hysterically...Trav's never too far away from bringing out his inner child! It's part of what makes him a good daddy.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Shopping Cart Adventure

Daddy came home a little early from work this afternoon and took Brianna and I for a walk. As we were leaving the house Bree decided that she just could not step foot out the door without her shopping cart, in which she had packed her stuffed Elmo, (of course!), her Lamby, and a pink sunhat. We said, OK, and headed out. We decided to head up the road to the corner gas station and buy ourselves a little treat from the convenience store. Brianna actually pushed her cart all the way there, quite a little distance! She made a big stir as we passed the kids playing in the yard of a nearbye daycare...several of the little boys lined up against the fence and were trying to talk to her. (Trav said it was her first catcall.) :) Once we arrived Daddy treated us to ice cream sandwiches and a drink. Of course, that was a big hit. The three of us enjoyed them at the tables they have set up outside in a grassy area nearbye, then headed back, a little more chocolate-smeared for the wear. Bree made a valiant effort to make it back pushing her cart by herself but she was pretty tuckered out...her daddy ended up carrying her on his shoulders while I toted the tiny shopping cart home.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Momo Mania

These day's Brianna is crazy for "Momo" (Elmo). She has a number of Elmo accesories, a few toys and now some new bathtime soap foam that she loves to use..."momo foam, momo foam!" Yep, Bree watches a little bit of Elmo everyday, there's a whole portion of Sesame Street called Elmo's World. She can even sing the theme song. I catch her singing it to herself all the time. Her daddy even get's in on it singing "dee dee doo dee, doo doo duh doo" then points to her and she'll sing "MOMO WULL!" (Elmo's World). When she wants to watch Elmo she says "Momo Wull," then she always looks for the remote, "where'd 'mote go? Mommy, 'mote!" In fact, she pays too close of attention to Elmo. In Elmo's World his room's decor is all stuff he has drawn, the dresser and door all have scribbles on them and part of the intro shows him using a crayon on the dresser. Needless to say I caught Bree in her room, scribbling happily on her new table and chairs, and also on some of her plastic toy drawers, and saying "See, Momo Wull...Momo Wull, see?" I thought it was so cute I couldn't be mad at her, after all Momo had given her the idea, and her new crayons are wipeable anyways.

Itti Buh on the Eddo Fowder

As we were taking an afternoon walk in the sunshine today, Brianna noticed the dandelions had bloomed. She was so excited! She kept saying "fowder Mommy, fowder, eddo fowders (yellow flowers)." She picked a bunch of them and said "here Mommy, fowder." I realized that she had just given me my first bouqet of hand-picked wild flowers as a Mommy. (sniff) Then she noticed that there were Box-Elder beetles on some of the dandelions. She pointed and told me "itti buh on da eddo fowder," translation (there's a little bug on the yellow flower). When one landed on her sweater she observed, "itti buh, setter." Yep, she thoroughly enjoyed the itti buh's and the eddo fowders today. It's all about life's simple pleasures really, at least it is when you're almost 2. :)

Morning Coffee

A few days ago Brianna and I went to IKEA and picked her up a new, toddler-sized table and chairs so we can comfortably paint, draw, play clay and have snacks in her room. (It's kind of plain right now, white and unfinished pine but we are thinking of painting or staining the wood.) Well, this morning Daddy and Bree enjoyed their morning beverages at the new table. Daddy had actual coffee while Bree had juice....Brianna knows that Mommy and Daddy have coffee in the morning, she'll point to our mugs and say "coffee?, coffee?" Then she asks "Baby coffee too?" For a number of mornings we explained that babies don't like coffee, they think it's yucky, and then would hand her a cup of juice. But, nevertheless she insists on calling it her "baby coffee." After she gets her morning juice she will point to Daddy's cup and say "coffee," then point to her own and say "baby coffee!" with a satisfied look on her face and drink it down happily. Now, we've given up and say, "Here's your baby coffee," no matter what's actually in the cup. The funny thing is, she only calls it coffee in the morning, the rest of the day she calls it juice, or water or milk, whatever it really is at the time...I guess it's really all in the name!

Enjoying their morning "coffee."


Don't their expressions say "Why are you taking our picture this early in the morning?!"


As you can see, Bree has already "decorated" her table, but after the last time she "decorated" the wall, I switched to wipeable crayons...they come off with a little warm water!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Veggie Tales

"If you like to talk to tomatoes, if a squash can make you smile, if you like to waltz with potatoes up and down the produce aisle, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales....Veggie Tales" ba dum dum dum da.....Mommy didn't feel so good today so Brianna got to watch a lot of TV and DVD's. She's really into watching Veggie Tales lately, except for she doesn't call it Veggie Tales she calls it "TaleBob," (Bob is one of the main characters, he's a tomato). So, today we popped in the Silly Songs. The funny part is when Brianna starts to sing along, or tries to anyways. There's one song about a yodeling veterinarian that she likes to "yodel" along with, turns out as a bunch of gibberish. Then there's the one where Larry the Cucumber's hat gets squashed by a fat squash, (oh the irony) that one she starts yelling "uh-oh" way ahead of time, knowing the squash is coming and then she laughs hysterically when he sits on the hat. Her favorite is the Hairbrush song though. The words go by too fast for her to say them all so she usually is going "wheeere....brush...where...hairbrush!" (For those of you who haven't seen this, I highly recommend you go buy the Silly Songs immediately, then you can get the references and, they're funny for adults too! The only problem is the songs get stuck in your head!) "....broccoli, celery, gotta be....Veggie Tales, cauliflower, sweet and sour, half an hour, Veggie Tales. Cause there's never ever ever ever ever been a show like Veggie Tales!" Ba dum dum dum da...everybody sing it.......

Monday, April 24, 2006

Dinner Time Hijinks

In keeping with her new understanding of prayer, while her daddy was blessing tonight's meal Brianna chimed in again. This time instead of saying "bless me" she said "Banna bless, Banna bless" over and over until Daddy added "and bless Brianna too." Then she was happy and said "Amen!" As we started eating, Bree began to gobble her food. We had to remind her to chew, something we've had to do pretty frequently to keep her from trying to rush through and choking. Well, she started chewing, and chewing, she got really into it and was chewing with big, exaggerated motions. While she was chewing this way she burped and a little piece of the pork she was eating flew out of her mouth. She said "oops, burp, try again," and put the pork back into her mouth, starting back up with her comical chewing. Later in the meal, needing to have the last word of course, she turned to me and reminded me to "chew Mommy, chew!"

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Sunday Afternoon Fun

We decided to take advantage of the nice spring weather this afternoon and headed outside. Brianna fed the ducks, and herself, "duck bread," we all played frisbee for a while and then we barbecued some chicken for dinner. It was a very nice day overall!

Feeding the ducks. :)

Feeding herself!

Feeding the ducks takes intensity!

A "me and my shadow" moment as Brianna discovers her own shadow.

Mona Lisa smile...

Just a happy girl!

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Hi Baby!

Travis and I call Brianna baby a lot as a term of endearment. We'll say, "Come here, baby" or "Are you hungry baby?" and so forth. Well, in the last few weeks she's figured out that "baby" isn't her actual name. Instead she's has decided that adding baby to the end of a sentence is just a figure of speech. So, today as we were walking down the hallway to our apartment she greeted one of the neighbors, who is a very large African-American man, by saying "Hi Baby!"

Green Thumb

Recently, Brianna has realized that there are no "fowders" (flowers) on our balcony. She keeps pointing to the empty flower pots and saying "fowder, fowder?" So today we took her to the Home Depot and let her choose some of her very own flowers to plant on the balcony. While she admired all of them, we ultimately ended up with purple and orange mums, (turns out she prefers mums I guess).

Friday, April 21, 2006

Highly Suggestible

This evening we all snuggled up on the couch to watch a little TV. Brianna was sitting in her daddy's lap when he asked me if I could please hand him his glass of water. About half a second later, wanting to be like Daddy, Bree was saying "baby water too!" So I waited on both of them at once...I hope the two of them ganging up on me isn't a growing trend! :)

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Mealtime Prayer With a Side of Salad

We have made a habit out of joining hands and saying a brief prayer before eating in the evening. This time around as Brianna had her eyes scrunched shut and was listening to Daddy bless the food she couldn't contain herself and piped in with "Bless me, Amen!" She seems to have grasped the concept! Later, as I was eating my salad, something Bree hasn't been very interested in eating in the past, she said "Mommy eat?" So I said, "Yep, I'm eating salad, Mommy loves salad it's one of her favorites." Then Brianna said "Ranna salad yummy too," and actually ate a few leaves. It made me realize how influential I really am on her at this age.....no wonder she is the way she is. :P

Library Time

Thursday mornings are library time for us. Today when we were getting into the elevator we were joined by another mommy and baby. The other mommy said to her little girl "Why don't you say hi Grace?" So Brianna said, "Hi Grace!" "And what's your name?" I asked Bree. She pointed to herself and said "Name. 'ranna" (She is getting more and more aware of her own name and has started actually using her name when she talks about herself.. " ranna sad", "ranna's soup", "ranna sit down too" where she used to say "baby sad" and so forth.) As we got off the elevator Brianna kept looking back and seemed concerned to make sure her new friend was going to library time too. "Coming Grace?" she asked and then tried to hold hands with her. Grace wasn't really into that though. At library time Bree sat right next to her new friend and had her usual exuberant time reading and doing all the motions to her favorite songs. She's becoming such a social butterfly these days! :)

Fast

Lately, Bree is taken with the idea of going fast. She keeps on wanting to drive the car for one thing. Every time we're leaving she jumps into the driver seat, grabs the steering wheel and starts going "vroom, vroom!" But, I keep telling her she doesn't have her license yet, which she seems to accept as a reasonable explanation. When she's on her own two feet she'll just randomly declare "Fast!" and start running as fast as she can, zipping around the house or the park, or wherever she happens to be, leaving the rest of us to just watch the blur that is Brianna shooting past us with her hair flapping in the wind!

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

You Name It

Today was another quiet day on the homefront but here's a few moments that made me smile: Brianna watching Blues Clues this morning when the mail song comes on ("Here's the mail it never fails, it makes me wanna wag my tail, when it comes I wanna wail MAIL!") and Brianna joining in yelling "MAIL!" Giving her a bath this morning and getting proof of her growing sophistication as she moves from calling washing her hair "bubblehead" to instead asking "More hampoo Mommy?" And finally, my favorite moment of the day...Bree standing in front of Bogart with both her pairs of tiny sunglasses, holding them out to him and asking "Kitty, peent, geen?" to see which one he would prefer to wear.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Souder

As part of our dinner tonight, I had sliced some cucumbers and then placed them in some vinegar. Brianna generally loves cucumbers so she was asking to eat some. We handed her a few, she took one bite and made a face. Her daddy said "Are they sour?" Bree nodded her head and said "souder, Daddy, souder!" After that every time she even looked in the cucumbers' direction she would point and say "souder!"

Go Fish

With the really strong winds we had today, Bree and I tried to fly our kite for the first time this year. Our kite is a goldfish with a long tail. We were semi-successful at flying it but the winds were gusting so it kept crashing in between gusts. Brianna liked it anyways though. Whenever the fish would land back on the ground she was saying "crash agin, go fish, fy(fly) fish!" We played "go fish" for about a half hour or so... :)

Monday, April 17, 2006

No Coat, Oop Oops and a Fishy Face

Spring is officially here in Minnesota, (finally!). For the past two weeks or so we've had pretty nice weather, mostly sunny and dry. There were a few days when a light jacket was needed but the rest have been warm enough for going out in a t-shirt. The problem is convincing Brianna of that. She keeps freaking out if we start to leave the house without a coat on. She's convinced we need one every time. We had to wear one for so long I don't think she remembers a time before she was required to wear it on every outing. I'd pretty much given up on trying to make her leave it behind and figured that she'd decide she didn't need one after a few times sweating it out in her big winter coat. Well, finally today I talked her into heading for the park without her coat on. We went to our old favorite Medicine Lake Park. While we were playing there Bree heard a boat motor that she thought sounded like a cow and she was saying "moooo, farm?" (In her defense, it did kind of sound like a cow.) After we played awhile we started walking, heading towards the car. On the way we walked on a bridge over part of the lake. I told Brianna we should peek over the side to see if we could spot any fish in the water. She looked for a minute and we didn't see any fish. We continued walking and I noticed she was squeezing her face over and over. I actually asked her if her face hurt before I figured out she was trying to make fish lips! She was making a fish face for like ten minutes after that! Once we got into the car Brianna spotted a baggie full of Fruit Loops in the diaper bag. Deciding she was hungry she started asking "Oop Oops? (Fruit Loops) Mommy, Oop Oops?" So, she munched on Oop Oops on the drive home. Another fun adventure at the park, full of little Brianna-isms. :)

Polite Shopper

Brianna and I ran to the grocery store for a few items this morning. Since they were on sale, I also picked up some grapes. Despite my best efforts to be stealthy, Bree saw them in our cart and was whining for some immediately. I delayed her by telling her we had to pay for them first. When we walked up to the register Brianna greeted the cashier with a "Hi!" But, as the grapes were heading down the conveyor belt Brianna started whining "gapes, gapes, GAPES!" Lucky for us we had an understading cashier who scanned the grapes and promptly handed them to me and I then quickly gave a few to little miss Bree. Well she started munching them happily while the rest of our purchase was rung up. As I was bagging the last couple items Brianna suddenly looked up at the cashier and said "Thank You!" Then about 2 seconds later as we started walking off she called back "Bye-bye!" In fact, for an almost 2yr old she was more polite than a lot of customers I've seen!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter

Well, despite the fact the we had to spend Easter away from our family and most our friends, we had a pretty good one! Brianna woke up to find the basket that the Easter Bunny had left for her. (For inquiring minds, the basket included two coloring books, a small blank bunny notebook, some coloring crayons, an Easter puzzle, two pairs of Easter socks, a wind up chick, two carrot-shaped eggs with a few jelly beans in them, four pastel eggs with Easter-colored pastel Play-doh inside, a chocolate bunny, and a few peeps.) While she was looking through her basket she kept going "Eeser bunny, eeser bunny" (Easter Bunny). She's been pretty obsessed with him after she met him at the mall (twice!). After opening the basket we had to hurry to get ready for church. Bree looked super adorable in the pale pink dress Grammy Dee-dee bought her. The three of us headed off to church but we ended up leaving halfway through when Brianna decided she was done and started yelling "bye bye, side (outside)!" So, after skipping out on the last half of church we headed over to Perkins and had a late breakfast. :) By that time it was getting late so we headed home for Brianna's nap. In the early afternoon we went over to Stacy's place (Trav's co-worker) for Easter lunch. Brianna loves Stacy and was saying "Stacy's house, Stacy's house!" She even insisted on bringing her Easter basket with her to show to Stacy....We had a nice time with Stacy and company and then headed home for the afternoon. To wrap up the day we had Brianna hunt for eggs. Trav headed down by the apartment pond to hide the dozen eggs we had dyed. Bree and I followed about ten minutes later and her first Easter egg hunt began! Brianna seemed to get the concept pretty fast and she was finding eggs all by herself. Of course, as soon as she realized that we had included a few plastic eggs with some jelly beans inside she was more interested in finding the plastic ones! When she found a regular dyed egg she would quickly chuck it into her basket, but upon finding a plastic one would clutch it to her and start saying "open, open!"

The Easter basket.

Bree and her Daddy in their Easter Sunday best.

Brianna on her first Easter egg hunt!

Still hunting....

This is what we got when we told her to say "cheese" for the camera!

Our Easter family portrait--Easter afternoon.


Another Easter family portrait.

A crazy one...just for fun!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bike Ride

We took our bikes out this afternoon for our first ride so far this year. We started out at the nearbye Medicine Lake and followed a trail over to Clifton French Park, then back again. It was agood time, although only made Mommy feel quite out of shape (and don't even ask me how my rear-end fared on those horrible bike seats!) Bree seemed to enjoy riding along behind Daddy in her baby seat, wearing her little red bike helmet! I think maybe her favorite part though was when we stopped to take drinks from the water bottles, she thought that was such a novel way to drink water....go figure. But we had fun and hope to try and ride more often as summer heads our way.

Stuff Happens

Despite Brianna's growing ability to express herself verbally she still resorts to baby shorthand phrases. One of my favorites of her sayings lately is when something has happened to one of her belongings. For example, if she spills a little of her juice she'll say "uh-oh juice happened!" Meaning of course, "Oh no, something happened to my juice," only boiled down to three words. Or, if her toy gets knocked over, "oops, toy happened," or perhaps if she's dropped a piece of her lunch off her tray "Mommy, food happened!" Well, you get the point. Just goes to show you that even at this tender age she's figured out that in life sh**, ahem I mean stuff happens!

Friday, April 14, 2006

Evil Laugh (Ah ah aah)

Brianna was watching Sesame Street late this afternoon when the Count came on. He's the one who counts things and he's like a vampire so he has a little evil laugh, you know, Ah, ah aah! (in a scratchy voice). (If only I could insert a sound track here...use your imagination people!) Well, sure enough, Bree spent the next 10 minutes doing her evil laugh in a weird little voice "ah ah aah!"

Peer Pressure? Okay!

Once again we found ourselves at the park today. Brianna loves the outdoors and since spring has finally arrived is always begging to go “side” (outside). So, we went to the park this afternoon. While we were there we saw a little boy. Brianna called him a baby (as she calls everyone under the age of 14 or so). He said “I’m not a baby, I’m Jonathon!” (who was 4 years old and a big brother I found out later). Anyways, Jonathon decided he wanted to befriend Bree. He held out his hand and she took it. Then he asked her, “You want to go on this slide?” “Okay,” she said and they walked hand in hand to the slide and they both went down. At the bottom he grabbed her hand and said, “Let’s go on this slide…” “Okay,” she said again and up the stairs and down another slide they both went. By the third time it was obvious that Brianna was starting to get a little tired of holding hands and being told what to do. She was kind of trying to pull her hand away. But, every time Jonathon would say “Lets go over here,” “Let’s go do this…” she would say “okay!” and follow along. Actually it was kind of cracking me up to see her holding hands with a little boy and having a whole little conversation with him. And, it really surprised me to see her letting someone else take the lead, she’s usually so independent! (Here’s hoping this isn’t a sign of her relationships with boys in the future!) Well, soon enough Jonathon saw another boy his age at the park and ran off to play with him instead, much to Brianna’s dismay. She was trying to keep up with them, pointing, and saying “baby!” I think she might have been jealous!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Chalk Artiste

With the continuing mild weather we left the door to our back balcony open this evening, letting Brianna roam in and out freely. She was playing and enjoying this when she spied some sidewalk chalk in her room and asked to "cudor" (color). So, I told her she could use her chalk out on the balcony, showed her she could color on the floorboards and then started dinner. Five minutes later when I checked on her she had already colored not only the wooden flooring but had also moved onto the doorframe, the tablecloth on our bistro set, and the screen door. Our balcony is now quite a colorful chalk masterpiece! And with the next rainfall Brianna will have a fresh canvas. :)

Brianna and Kadyn

This afternoon we went over to our friends, Hannah and Kadyn's house. We see them usually about once or twice a week. If Brianna has a toddler version of a best friend, it would be Kadyn. Today the girls seemed to have a good time, finger painting for a while out on the porch, then playing inside with Kadyn's dolly's. The girls actually seemed to be getting along pretty well this visit, the last few times they've had a playdate their toddlerhood made it more of a baby brawl than anything. But today they shared with each other very well and nobody ended up in tears. In fact at the end they did an eskimo kiss and gave each other hugs! Maybe next time I'll remember to bring my camera!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Bogart the Benevolent

Thank goodness we own a cat with a laid back personality! Brianna must spend 75% of her time chasing after him and talking to him and trying weird things with him and to it all he reacts with calm patience, only the tiniest mew or twitch of his tail to let you know he's feeling harassed. As she gets older though, Bree is starting to treat him more as a companion rather than just a living trampoline. More and more she treats him as she would a human friend. Today she was telling him a story from library time. They have a little chant we do there that starts with a baby shark, a mommy shark, a daddy shark, a grandpa shark, then people swimming, sharks coming, and shark attack! (where the kids get tickled by the parents). Well, today Brianna crouched down in front of Bogart, made the baby shark fingers and was saying "baby sark, baby sark" to him. That's all the farther she went, thank goodness, since I'm sure he wouldn't have enjoyed getting "tickled" by Bree. Then later in the day when Brianna had done what her daddy asked her he said "Allright! High Five!" and gave her a high five. Immediately afterwords Brianna said "kitty five too" and ran over to Bogart, lifted up his hind foot and put her open palm to it in a kitty version high five!

Expressionable

Lately I have found myself being amused, and surprised quite often, by the range of verbal expressions Brianna has picked up. She now incorporates "okay, awite (allright), neat," and "yep" (among others) into her daily speech. Today we were out for a walk and we saw a goose on her nest. I pointed this out to Bree and after we had a brief discussion about it she said "goose, nest, neat!" Then as we were walking back into the house she started saying "cawee, cawee (carry)." I asked her "Would you like me to carry you?" "Okay," she said back, like I had convinced her she needed to be carried instead of the other way around!

Rhetorical Question??

Bree has been able to answer yes or no questions for quite some time now. In fact lately, instead of just saying yes she's been saying "yea, sure," which always makes us smile. Even so, sometimes it strikes me as funny that this little person, that I've been talking to for so long with not a whole lot of response, now has her own tiny opinions and preferences. (Of course, there are days when her expressing her opinions and preferences isn't so charming!) But, even though she is talking so much these days I mostly carry on a dialogue with her that I expect to go unanswered for the most part. So, I couldn't resist a little chuckle today when she answered a question I had asked as a rhetorical....I was buckling her into the car, telling her all about what we were doing: first running to the grocery store and then out to the park since it is such a beautiful, sunny spring day. "How does that sound?" I asked her and she answered "fun!" And she was right, it was fun.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

The Streaker

Brianna has now figured out how to take off her own diaper. So, it hasn't been unusual for us in the past few days to find her streaking through the house with just her shirt on...much to her delight and the carpet's peril of new stains. After putting her diaper back on for the second or third time tonight I gave up and offered to give her a bath so she could enjoy her nudity in a little better setting. She quickly agreed to that idea and headed into her bathroom. As I was helping her into the tub she managed to slip and bonk her head against the side. She was upset and cried, she told me, "baby ky-ing, baby sad!" I asked her if she still wanted to take a bath. She thought about it for a moment then declared "new tub!" and ran, naked, into the master bathroom where she enjoyed a bath free from the offending, head-bonking evil of the other tub.

Weekend Visit with Grammy

Grammy Taylor came for a visit this weekend! Brianna was really glad to see her and picked up their relationship where they had left off, loving on Grammy and giving her lots of attention. I think Grammy had a good time too, especially seeing how much more Bree is capable of and how much she talks these days! Although it was only a quick weekend visit we managed to do a lot of fun stuff! After Grammy arrived Saturday we went to the park since the weather was so nice and mild. Sunday we took her and Brianna to the Como Zoo. Brianna was really excited to see all the animals, especially the monkeys and the big cats. Although, she got a little tired by the end... Monday was Grammy's last day with us so we spent the morning coloring our Easter eggs with her. After we convinced Bree not to drink the egg dye, she settled down and took her task pretty seriously but couldn't resist eating one of the eggs at the end! We topped off the visit by heading to the Mall of America. While we were there we took Brianna on some of the kiddie rides at the park and visited the Easter Bunny (again) so we could get better pictures. We had a nice dinner there at the mall and then dropped Grammy off at the airport. It went by fast but we had fun...until next time Grammy!

Monday--Brianna coloring Easter eggs. :)

Monday--Using the "magic" crayon on a green egg.

Monday--visiting the Easter Bunny at the Mall of America, again. :)


Monday--on the carousel.

Monday--Brianna on the Kiddie Train at MOA.

Monday--On the truck ride at Mall of America.

Sunday--Walking through the zoo with Grammy.

Sunday--A hug at the zoo.

Saturday--Chillin' with Grammy

Friday, April 07, 2006

'Nuff

Today was laundry day at our house. Brianna wasn't really excited about it this week but she dutifully escorted me to the laundry room and then later helped me change loads and drag it all back. As I was folding her clothes Bree started insisting she wanted to change her shirt for the one in my hand. After two shirt changes I told her that was enough and she needed to stay in the shirt she was wearing. She seemed to accept that but wasn't very happy to see me keep folding, she wanted Mommy to play instead. She watched me fold for a few minutes, then leaned in towards me and said earnestly, "'nuff Mommy, 'nuff." She'd had enough folding for the day!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

Much Ado About Nothin'

Just a quiet day today, we did go to the library this morning for storytime though. Brianna loved it, as always, and did all the motions to the songs. The rest of the day was rainy and windy so we were stuck inside...here are a random collection of moments from our day: Brianna asking for "moo water" when she wanted some milk (there's a picture of a cow on our milk jug). Her counting some blocks "1,2,7.." (for some reason 7 comes after 2 when she counts lately). Going swimming with Bree saying "Mommy, fote" (she was keeping her hands on the top step and lifting her legs up to "float"). And, asking Daddy to "guggle" (juggle) then declaring "baby guggle" and throwing three blocks in the air... Just a few small moments in a sort of nondescript day, but they do add up to a day full of little smiles for one little person's funny antics. :)

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Playtime with Rocko

Brianna and I headed outside again this afternoon. We fed the ducks by the apartment pond and then headed to the little play area on the other side of the complex. Bree was very concerned that both her and Mommy should be playing together and was directing our playtime today step by step..."baby kime (climb), mommy too, mommy kime, baby turn, baby side (slide)," and then from the bottom of the slide, "mommy turn, mommy side...." On the walk back into the apartment she noticed a rock and was pointing, saying "wocko, wocko." I told her yes it was a rock but she kept saying "wocko" which confused me until it dawned on me that one of the characters on Sesame Street has a pet rock named Rocko. Then I laughed. :) Brianna is deep into Sesame Street culture these days. She has Sesame books, a Sesame toothbrush, Sesame bubble bath... and she can identify and name a bunch of the characters including "momo" (Elmo), "zi-ee" (Zoe, Elmo's friend), "gover" (Grover), "bi buhd" (Big Bird), "cookie monter," and of course, "wocko" the pet rock, perhaps one of the more obscure Sesame Street personas. Maybe we are watching a bit too much TV! :)

The Writing on the Wall

At our house, the writing on the wall is bright blue. This morning, in the first 5 minutes of the day, Brianna reached that precious toddler milestone, coloring on the walls in crayon. Shortly thereafter she enjoyed a time-out while Mommy reached the parenting milestone, figuring out how to get writing off the walls!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Easter Bunny

Today Bree and I met up with our playgroup at the Mall of America for Toddler Tuesday. The theme this time was Easter. The kids colored on Easter coloring pages, had a hop-a-thon for 2 minutes with the Easter Bunny (Brianna kept saying "bunny, hop, bunny, hop!"), hunted eggs (Brianna found 2), and also got to meet the Easter Bunny! Bree loved every minute of it! She wasn't scared of the Easter Bunny at all, she gave him a high 5 and was upset when our turn ended. To my huge dissapointment, although I brought the camera, I had it on the wrong setting and so the picture of her with the Easter Bunny is horribly dark and grainy and out of focus. But, he is available at the mall until Easter so we plan on going back to visit him and getting new pictures...


Meeting the Easter Bunny.

Monday, April 03, 2006

What's in a Name?

Brianna has been somewhat confused about what her name is. When asked "what's your name?" in the past she's answered, "name." Lately she's been referring to herself as "baby," since I tend to call her that a lot. But, finally today she said her name, or at least attempted to. She was playing peek-a-boo, she covered her eyes with her hands and said "Where's 'ranna?" :)

Sunday, April 02, 2006

Pizza Guy

For dinner today we picked up a Papa Murphy's pizza, (yum!). Brianna was happy because she likes "peeza." She and I sat in the car while Travis went inside to pay and get the pizza. When he walked back out holding the pizza she took one look at him and said "Daddy, pizza guy...Daddy, pizza guy!" This made us laugh because we had never heard her say that before and couldn't think of where she might have come up with it. Finally it occured to us that on one of the morning shows she watches occasionally, (Higglytown Heros), there is a character called Pizza Guy who is the pizza delivery boy, go figure!

Whoa, Sippy!

Since today was rainy and windy out we spent a quiet day inside. Of course, after only a little while Bree was restless and wanting to go "bye-bye." So we decided to take her downstairs and go swimming. She gets so excited when she even hears the word, she immediately starts looking for her suit, "suit, simming, suit..Mommy suit? " We suited up and headed down there, Brianna leading the way with her little pink ruffle buns. Swimming for Brianna is more about climbing in and out of the pool on the stairs than actually being all the way in the water. Climbing into the pool one time her little foot slipped a little and as I reached out to steady her she said "whoa!" "Is it a little slippery?" I asked her, and she replied "Whoa, sippy!" Naturally, she decided that was a fun game and spent the next few minutes lifting up her feet and exclaiming "whoa! sippy!"

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Photo Shoot

When Brianna and I went to the mall the other day we stumbled on a sale at our favorite store Children's Place. Bree ended up with several new spring shirts. She wore one today and Daddy thought she was so cute he had to have a photo shoot with her!

Brianna modeling her new, bright spring shirt and hat.

Our silly girl :)

What a cutie!

She's ready for her close-up...

Afternoon in the Park

It was such a nice day again today that the three of us decided to head out to the park for a little playground fun. Brianna had a blast swinging, climbing, and especially sliding on the slides. She would get to the bottom and say "again," she couldn't get back to the top fast enough! After we'd played a while we threw our fishing lines into the lake for a few minutes since the edges had thawed out just enough in the past few days. The only fish we left with was the plastic one Bree had tied to her line to begin with...but we had fun trying!

Whee! Swinging at the park!

Up close and personal on the swing!

Playing on the playground equipment at the park.

Deep thoughts at the park.

Bree examining the tackle.

Fishing...

Standing on the bridge at the park.