Monday, July 31, 2006

Me And My Guitar

I have a passel of young male cousing all around the age of 18 right now, and they ALL play the guitar. Actually, Brianna's great grandpa also plays guitar as well. She has passed several afternoons watching with wide eyes as 3-5 teenage boys, and one "different Poppa" jam away on their respective guitars, usually all playing different songs. (Yes, it's quite loud and sort of disconcerting.) So, today Grandma Dee-Dee took Bree and I down to Other Mothers (a used toy and clothing store) to pick a new toy out. It only took about 5 minutes before Brianna spotted a "guitar." The "guitar" is actually a little plastic violin with a bow, but it has strings and a few buttons that play classical tunes when you push them. Well, Brianna has spent the past several hours pushing one of the button to get a song started and then strumming along on the "strings" to her hearts content and occasionally declaring proudly "My guitar! Just like James!" (Who happens to be one of the cousins she particularly adores.) Future rock band chick, here we come...

Gooby Teeth

I have to admit that it's been nice to have so many relatives doting on Bree since it gives me a chance to sit back and relax more often than I would get to at home. Plus, it's good for Brianna to be around other adults since they do and say things differently than Mom does. One of the things I've been amazed at is Bree's acceptance of doing things here that she hates to do at home, like brushing her teeth. One of the first nights we were here her Auntie Em got her to brush her teeth by telling Bree that there were yucky "goobies" (a word she made up, as she frequently does) on her teeth. Brianna said "gooby teeth" and was happy to brush her teeth. If Emily feels Bree hasn't brushed long enough she'll simply tell her that there are still some "goobies" on there and she needs to get them off....Gooby teeth, ingenious! Why didn't I think of that?!

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Pool Time

With the oppressive heat we've had during our trip Bree's been jumping into the pool at Grammy Dee-Dee's just about every night. She gets in there and splashes and screams like a banshee, jumps all around and uses her watering can to get everyone else whose sitting nearbye as wet as she is. She has quite a few little pool toys her grammy's gotten her...some wind up fish that "swim," a watering can, a little plastic inner tube and also a little plastic shovel that she call her "dig-it" and uses to scoop water out of the pool. In fact, most of her pool time play involves trying to get as much water out of the pool as she can in some form or another. One of her particular favorite pool time activities is to throw water in some way over the edge of the pool and splash little Ginger. Ginger is a puppy who loves water and rushes in and tries to drink it and snaps at it every time. By the end of this play both the baby and the dog are sopping wet but happy as can be. Actually, even when Brianna's not in the pool she likes to turn on the hose and sprinkle Ginger and herself. Now we hear Bree asking regularly if she can "spray" the puppy.

The Teeny House

Great Grandma has a little motor home parked off to the side of her house. Well, Bree discovered it there today and was insisting it was her house. She loved that it was a miniature version of a big house and was saying, "Mom, come to my teeny house?" Then we'd climb inside and she would sit in the drivers seat. "Going to the zoo," she told me. After she tired of "driving" her teeny house she had a blast climbing all over in there, sitting at the table, getting in the bathtub and bouncing on the bed. I think she's hoping for a cross-country trip soon...and who knows?

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Missing Daddy

Although Daddy plans on joining us here later, due to his work schedule Travis wasn't able to be with us this past week. As the days go by Bree is increasingly anxious to see him. We've talked about the fact that he'll be coming soon and that he'll be getting on an airplane to come see Brianna and the rest the family. Every day she's been asking "Where's my Daddy?" And then tonight when she heard an airplane fly overhead she jumped up and declared "Daddy! My daddy coming on airplane! Plane coming down...come see me any minute!" We miss you Daddy...see you soon!

Ginger-ly

Bree's Auntie Missy, (yes she actually calls her "Annie Missy" she also says "Annie Em" and is now saying "Grammy Dee-Dee," "Grammy Deb," and "Poppa Roger" as well). Anyways as I was saying before I interrupted myself, Auntie Missy has a tiny little Yorkie Poo named Ginger. Brianna loves all dogs but she is particularly fond of little Ginger. She calls her "my dog." Today she got to "walk" Ginger over to her "different Grammy's" house, (her great grandma). First, Grammy Dee-Dee helped Bree put the leash on, which Brianna was calling "Gingy's neck-ace." There was a small scuffle at this point since Ginger decided to be playful and grabbed part of the leash in her mouth for a game of impromptu tug-of-war, with Bree yanking on the other end. Ginger thought this was great fun but it upset Brianna. She was yelling, "Stop it! Stop it Ginner!" Then she told her grammy, "Ginner making me mad!" Once we got the leash issue straightened out the walk began. I use the term "walk" loosely since it wasn't exactly clear who was walking whom. Bree just mostly held onto the leash for dear life while Ginger dragged her down the street. It's a good thing the dog is so tiny and that Great Grandma's house is only a few blocks away from Grandma Dee-Dee.

Feminine Wiles

With so much attention from all her many relatives here in Idaho Brianna has begun to think that she is the center of the universe. When she says something there's usually someone jumping up to get her what she wants when she wants it. I can only stand by and try to insist that she say please and thank you so she can at least be a polite bossy britches. Since we've been here visiting though Bree has started to figure out that flattery and honey will also get you what you want without your mom telling you to "try again only say it nicely." If she doesn't get something she's wanting sometimes she'll ask again and add, "say please" to the end. But, if that doesn't work she can usually charm a male relative into taking pity on her. Take the other night...Poppa Roger and Grammy Deb took Bree and I out for Mexican food. (Bree totally loved it and had a great time. I think she ate more of her Poppa's carne asada steak than he did.) As we were all sitting there, waiting for our order to arrive Brianna suddenly decided that she needed her teddy bear and her toy Jojo right now! She was quite whiny and insistent about it until her poppa asked her if she'd like to go with him out to the car and get Teddy and Jojo. She was, of course, thrilled that he would do that. She jumped into his arms and told him "I love you Poppa!" Needless to say Poppa Roger, just like all the rest, is now wrapped around her little finger for life.

Friday, July 28, 2006

Two Going on Teenager

They say that kids grow up faster than ever these days. And, I guess it must be true... Yesterday Bree rode around with her Grammy Dee-Dee and I as we ran a few errands. We decided that it would be nice to drive thru someplace and get a Coke. Well, as we pulled up to order we heard Brianna saying from the backseat, "Um, fries, cheeseburger, ok?" So, we thought well if she's hungry we should get her a kids meal. Soon enough our food came and Bree dug into her fries, lemonade and cheeseburger as she sat in the carseat and we drove to our next destination. About 5 minutes after she started eating her daddy called me on the cell phone and asked to speak with her. I passed the phone back to her and she casually held it up to her ear and said "Hi Daddy!" As I looked back at her I had an odd sensation of looking into my future as Bree might be at say, 13 or so, sitting in the backseat, chowing down on fast food and chatting it up on the cell phone.

Ridiculously Hot

It's been really, really hot here while we've been visiting our Grammies. It's led all of us to make quite a few comments about it. Brianna has put that away in her mental files and the past few days has been heard commenting, "Too hot outside," or "Not hot, nice and warm out there," and so forth. But, Bree's Auntie Em wins the award for most original description of the heat and has been saying that it's "ridiculously hot." Well, Em has said it often enough that Brianna can now be heard walking around saying "dicolous" as well. You know what they say about little pitchers having big ears? (Well, I guess we already knew that after the "fat grammy" incident huh?)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

You Are my Sunshine

There have been too many cute and funny moments already on our trip to write them all down, but I thought this one was pretty sweet...

While hanging out at Grammy Dee-Dee's house the other day Bree discovered that she had crayons and some paper and sat down to draw a picture, by which I mean of course, scribble all over the page. When her grammy asked her what she was drawing a picture of Brianna told her "Drawing sunshine Grammy!" Which, needless to say, charmed Grammy right down to her bones. Once again, not quite sure where she even came up with that one. But, it was adorable!

New High Heels

Knowing how much Brianna likes to walk around in my heels Grammy Dee-Dee went out and bought Bree some little plastic, dress-up heels. Brianna was so taken with them that she's insisted on wearing around almost everywhere. She walks around saying "See my shoes? Nice shoes. White ones." It's just more fodder for her developing shoe fettish. And, I'm pretty sure she has one. Take this example...when we went over to see Bree's Great Grammy (the one she refers to as "different Grammy") Bree was having a great time exploring the house. At one point she found the walk-in closet where there are lots of stuffed animals perched around amongst the clothes. (Great Grammy sort of has a collection of them.) But, what did Bree say..."Oooh, look at all the shoes!"

Fat Grammy

I have warned my relatives that Bree is at the age where she is quite literal. If you say "jump" into the tub she will try to literally "jump" in. And, you can't say anything around her that you don't want her repeating. Well, my mom, who is definitely not fat, sometimes feels like she has a few pounds she could lose. But, since she has a good sense of humor she approaches that like anything else in her life, with jokes and sarcasm. So, the other day she jokingly said something about how she was Brianna's "fat grammy." Sure enough, little miss big ears overheard her and about 2 seconds later said "Hey, fat grammy, watch Mickey Mouse with me?" We all laughed about that one for quite some time and have since then made sure to refer to my mom as Grammy or Grammy Dee-Dee.

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

Hey Tucker!

Bree's Aunt Emily and Uncle Mike have a very large black lab named Tucker. Whenever they come over to Grammy's house, they usually bring Tucker along and put him in the backyard. Brianna loves Tucker. Today when she saw him she said, "Unca Mike, Tucka come 'side (inside)?" Mike let Tucker in and then made him lay down. Bree was yelling "Hey Tucka, hey you! Hey Tucka, hey you!" in his face for 5 minutes or so. Since he'd been told to lay down and is a good dog, Tucker just stayed there and ignored her. We couldn't quite figure out why she was doing that to him and then we noticed she was holding her arm out while she was saying it. We figured out that she was wanting him to lick her. I dunno, maybe she thinks it tickles or something. So, she just kept on holding her arm out and yelling. Every now and then Tucker would actually lick her and she would laugh like a banshee. (Lucky for us, Tucker is a very gentle, laid back and obedient dog.) After she got tired of the licking game Bree was patting Tucker on the head for awhile and saying "He's a good boy int (isn't) he?"

After that Brianna decided that Tucker wanted to go play outside. So, she, Tucker, and Uncle Mike all headed into the backyard. My mom's little white Westie Terrier and my sister's tiny Yorkie Poo were already out there. Uncle Mike found a tennis ball and he was having Bree count down to throw the ball. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! She would say "1,2,7!" Then, Mike would throw the ball and you'd see all three dogs (in descending size order no less)and a toddler running across the yard one way, then Tucker would get the ball and you'd see all three dogs and a toddler running back across the yard the other way. Bree looked like she'd been adopted into some kind of crazy dog pack and was even panting as she ran around. Once the four of them had played fetch for a few minutes Mike decided Tucker needed to have a quick washing down. So, he got the hose and was spraying the dog down. Not to be left out Bree said, "Ranna wash down too!" and started stripping off her clothes as fast as she could. And there was Mike hosing down Tucker and one nudy 2 year old. At that point since she was naked Brianna decided she might as well take a dip in her little wading pool and had a bit of skinny dipping time.

I guess you could say she was feeling the call of the wild this evening! :)

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Are You a Girl, a Mouse, or a Monkey?

Well, Brianna and I are now officially visiting the Grammies, (and other relatives). She was actually a very good girl on the plane, I couldn't have asked for anything more from her. And, as usual, she's done great picking up where she left off with all her many grandparents, aunts and uncles. They've been pretty charmed by all her little "Bree-isms" and so forth.

Something they've been particularly amused by (and something that she hasn't done before)was her decision to change species the other day. While we were all sitting in the living room she just randomly declares, "I'm a mouse!" Her Grammy said "You're a mouse? I thought you were Brianna." "No, not 'Ranna...mouse," Bree told her. "Okay," Grammy said, "Well, what does a mouse say?" So Bree obligingly went "squeek, sqeek..." I wondered why she had ever even thought of that. (Maybe because Mickey Mouse is probably her favorite cartoon character right now?) I decided it had just been a passing odd thought for her but actually, later that day she did the same thing at her other grammy's house and told her grandparents "I'm a mouse!" She's said it several times since then without any warning. In fact, when she walks into the room now one of the grandparents or aunties or uncles usually says "Are you a mouse or Brianna right now?" And, depending on her mood she'll answer one or the other.

Since we've been here the other animal Bree's been particulary obsessed with is a monkey. This is because one of her grammy's got her a Curious George movie that she's watched probably 5 times over the last 2 days. "Watch George, watch George!" she says. In fact, I used that to my advantage this morning when Bree woke up and asked to have ice cream for breakfast. (She's had, oh I dunno, about 6 ice cream cones over the past few days and wants them morning, noon, and night. That and "concha's" (popsicles) both of which her grammies have been so happy to oblige in giving her...) Well, anyways, I, of course, said no ice cream for breakfast. But, I did manage to find a box of cereal in the pantry that had a picture of, yep, Curious George on the front. So, I told her they were "George snacks." After that she munched on them happily and was telling everyone. "Having George 'nacks breakfast!"

Monday, July 24, 2006

Dinner Out

We went out to dinner the other night when no one felt like cooking at our house. We ended up at this little pizza and pasta place. There was virtually no-one else there, except for one other little family in the corner. While we were waiting for our order to come to the table, the father at the other table burped. Brianna laughed hysterically and said "Guy tooted!" (Ah, yes, bodily funtion humor and the toddler...hand in hand!) Then Bree noticed she could hear some of the sound coming from the kitchen. "Noisy, noisy," she said, "Loud. Be quiet! Shhhh..." When our food arrived Bree happily set to demolishing what was on her plate. In fact, after she was done with hers she started eating off my plate as well. When I started getting full and slowing down she picked up one of my noodles and told me "Eat this!" "No, I'm getting full," I said. At that point she looked at me and then, still holding the noodle, started making big circles in the air and going "Numma, numma, numma." So, I obediently opened my mouth and ate the noodle. It was kind of hypnotic, I guess that trick works on adults too. Plus, I figured that she'd earned it...turn-about is fair play right?

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Odds 'N Ends

Another mix of funny little moments...

Savannah came over the other day, (before we'd left to visit Grammy), to play with Bree. From the other room I heard Savannah asking, "Where are you going on your vacation?" Then I hear Brianna answer "Going to visit Grammy!"

We see our friends Hannah and Kadyn quite frequently. Hannah's little nickname for Kadyn is "Peanut" and she calls her that fairly frequently. So, naturally the other day when we went over to their place to hang out Bree greeted them by saying, "Hi Hannah. Hi Peanut!"

In our apartment complex they pipe music into the halls and laundry room. As we were changing our laundry from the washers to the dryers the other day Bree suddenly noticed the music playing. She stopped and said "Hear that? The sound of music!" (LOL)

While it shouldn't surprise me and probably isn't that funny, I always find it humorous these days when Brianna asks for her favorite snack by brand name. Now, instead of just asking for crackers she says, "Mom, more Teddy Grahams!" or "More Cheese-its!"

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Variety is the Spice of Life

Okay, well, here’s another variety of little funny moments and new sayings from Bree. They don’t really make a long enough post alone, but together….

Bree was starting up with the whole “hit Mommy, kick Mommy, Oh so funny” thing again. So, I told her “Girls who hit and kick their mommies get a time out. Do you want a time out?” Then she said, “No way!”

We sat down to dinner the other night and I sat a plate of food in front of Brianna. She paused a moment and then told me “Mommy, food is very very very very very very very very hot!” (She’s figured out adding more very’s makes more emphasis.)

I laid down a little plate of snacks in front of Bree the other day and she said "Thanks for the 'nacks (snacks) Mom!"

I was picking up the living room while Bree was playing in her room when she realized she couldn’t find her teddy bear. She marched up to me and said “Muse me (Excuse me), Mommy…seen my teddy bear?”

If Bree decides she’s tired lately and wants to be carried her new question is “Carry you Mommy?”

Brianna insisted I carry her the other day, even though she gets too heavy for me really fast. I told her “Why don’t you go to Daddy for a bit, you’re too heavy for Mommy.” Then she said, “No carry Daddy, too heavy Daddy.” Which means, “Daddy can’t carry me. I’m too heavy for Daddy.” Well, her daddy kind of took offense to this and said, “Oh yeah, well whose muscles are bigger, Daddy’s or Mommy’s?” and flexed his muscles. Bree didn’t bother to answer him. Instead she held out her little arm and said, “See my muscles?”

Hee hee hee….never a dull moment….. :P

Friday, July 21, 2006

Five Alarm Nap Time

So, usually whenever Bree goes down for her nap I'm creeping around the apartment trying not to make too much noise. Partly because I want her to get a good nap and also partially because I need that hour or hour and a half to get some things done around the house. And, half the time after she wakes up I'm convinced that it was something I did that woke her and then I go around feeling mommy guilt. But, today the apartment complex was "testing" the fire alarms. They set the stupid thing off every 10 minutes for over an hour starting, of course, about 5 minutes after I had laid Brianna down for her nap. After they'd set it off 3 times or so and I hadn't heard any terrified screaming coming from Bree's room I got worried and I decided to peek in there just to make sure she wasn't so scared she couldn't even make a noise. I glanced in there and saw she was actually just laying there. Of course, even though the alarms weren't waking her, she started to stir on hearing the door open. Miraculously, she managed to still get an hour's nap in. (Lucky for the people "testing" or else I would have had to murder one of them!) Anyways, I'm thinking maybe I won't be tip-toeing around the house during naptimes anymore...

Camera Crazy Daddy

Well, I shouldn't have done it. I had to go and type off my big mouth, giving Trav ideas about how Brianna is a photography "genius" and needs to start experimenting with cameras early. He actually has given her our "old" digital camera to play with. (Which is actually a very nice camera still.) So, she spent a majority of the day snapping odd pictures. Mostly I think she just likes copying daddy, making the flash go off and getting to say "Say cheese...pic!" But, it was kind of funny to watch her and she did have fun....

Say cheese.....pic!
(Yes, this is Travis taking a picture of Brianna taking a picture.)

Trying to figure the buttons out. I love her eyes in this one!

Here's one of Bree's pix...taken as she was being carried by Daddy, leaving the park. What do you think..next big name in photography right? (Well, if you don't think so, don't tell her daddy that!)

Thursday, July 20, 2006

A Snuggle Bunny

As I was preparing lunch today, Bree jumped up onto the couch and says, “Mom, watch Tom and Jerry and ‘nuggle (snuggle) me?” (We recently checked a Tom and Jerry DVD out from the library since Travis and I could both remember watching it as kids and thought it might be nice. But, it’s so horrible! I didn’t remember it being such a violent show. The cat and mouse are hitting and kicking and beating each other up…as humor! Not ideal for a kid whose been thinking it might be funny to hit their mom. Anyways…) Choice of shows aside, I thought that was the nicest sounding offer I’ve had in awhile. So, I left the fish sticks to bake in the oven, sneakily convinced Brianna she wanted to watch Veggie Tales instead, and snuggled up to her on the couch for a few minutes. Soon enough the timer went off for the fish sticks and we went on with our day and I thought her snuggly mood was over. But, just before nap time as we were reading a story about families there was a picture of a kid hugging his mom. I said “Hey, look at that kid, he’s hugging his mom!” (I really wasn’t fishing for a hug, either, promise!) This gave Bree an idea and she got closer to me, stared me in the face and I noticed the smallest sensation of butterfly wings on my shoulder. Then I realized she was patting my back. “Are you giving me a hug?” I asked her. She giggled as an answer…

Aww...After all that love I’m just full of warm fuzzies today!

Clay Play

Yesterday was a rainy day, thunderstorms in the morning and drizzles all afternoon. Bree and I found ourselves at Target buying airplane "distractions" for our upcoming trip and I couldn't resist buying her some Play-doh accessories that were on sale. We got a little pet grooming kit that comes with two little people, a cat, a dog, and a monkey, all that grow clay hair, along with a pair of little scissors to give them haircuts. I also got her a pasta maker set that has a roller to make ravioli's and plate with molds to make all kinds of noodles; penne, bow tie, etc. (Okay, I'll admit it, this last one actually amused me more than her...I spent quite some time making a variety of pasta plates.) So, we tucked ourselves away in her room for awhile and just Play-dohed the afternoon away. It was a nice way to spend a rainy day.

See how happy it made her?

Playing clay takes a lot of concentration! It was great, this kept her attention for at least an hour. (Lucky for me on a rainy day!)

Here's Bree admiring her handiwork.
(She'd just finished pushing clay into, and then pulling it back out of, a little mold to make it a bowl of "pet food.")

Here you can see the actual Play-doh accesories, there's a pasta roller and two little plastic kids that grow "hair" among other fun extras.
(And Brianna looks super cute too!)

Awww..Isn't she a purty baby?

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Go See Grammy?

Bree loves her Grammies’ dearly and is always coming up to me asking “Go see Grammy?” At which point I have to explain, “I would love to see her baby but she lives far away. We have to ride on an airplane to see her.” So, after awhile Brianna changed the question. She would say “Go see Grammy?” then immediately add, “No, far away. Airplane, go see her?” Meaning, “Can we get on an airplane and go see her.” So, I had to start also saying “Well, we don’t have tickets right now.” But, this wasn’t enough to stop Bree in her determination to go see Grammy. She just added on, “Go see Grammy? Far away. Airplane, tickets, go see her?”

Now that we’re actually going to be visiting the Grammies soon, we’ve been talking about them even more. Now it’s “Go see Grammy?” Then I say “Yes, we are going to see her really soon. But not today, on Saturday.” Tonight when we discussed it Bree even added “See Grammy, say suh-pise Grammy, Suh-pise Poppa.” “Yep, soon,” I told her. “Sat-uh-day,” she clarified for me.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Ice Cream and Fish Farts

Once again last evening we took off to buy ourselves a sinfully fattening dessert and take a walk at the park. Of course, before we could leave Bree was adamant about grabbing a purse and putting on a couple bracelets and a bright blue baseball hat that’s actually too small. (For some reason, she insists on wearing the baseball cap with the brim pulled down so far over her eyes she can’t actually see where she’s going.) Finally, after all her accessories were arranged she was ready to go. She and I went out the door first and at the last minute Travis decided he’d forgotten something and dashed back in to grab it. So, at that point Brianna yells, “Come on TRAV!” (I swear I have no idea where she’s heard that one before or why she used that particular inflection!)

Once we got settled into the car Brianna pipes up from the backseat, “See my hat. I’m so pretty…I’m so happy today!” Of course, she was even happier once we bought our ice cream. Then we headed over to Millennium Garden to take a walk. It’s a really gorgeous garden with all kinds of flowers, a butterfly garden and several Koi fish ponds. Bree loved staring into the ponds, trying to see the fish. One pond even had a little bubbling fountain thing in the middle. Upon seeing these bubbles though, she ran up to me and declared “Mom, fishy tooted!” (Well, come on, what do bubbles in the water usually mean??)

Monday, July 17, 2006

A Penny for Your Thoughts

I'd really like to be able to see some of the throughts that go through Bree's head. Sometimes I just don't understand how she thinks of some of the odd stuff she chooses to do around the house. Take the other day, she got into the cupboard and pulled out a very large stainless steel bowl. She was saying "Bathtub, my bathtub." Then she climbed in and sat inside of it. Of course, seeing that the bottom is rounded she quickly tipped over and conked her head on the side of the pantry. (I was cooking at the time and was just far enough away to not be able to grab her before she bonked.) So, naturally this was quite traumatic for her and she was bawling for a bit while I gave her a kiss and tried not to laugh. It was just such a funny sight seeing her climb into that huge bowl and immediately tip over like a human top or something. Then today she was walking around the house in a pair of my high heels and managed to climb on top of the coffee table while my back was turned for a minute. I turned around and there she was, standing on the table wearing high heels like some sort of dirty dancing or girls gone wild scene. I'm not exactly sure what she had planned at that point but I put a stop to it right there. I know she's just figuring stuff out and exploring her world but what will she think of next??

Sunday, July 16, 2006

“Bee”Ranna and “See”Vanna

We have a 13 year old neighbor girl who lives next door to us, Savannah. Brianna and she have a funny little friendship. Since she's out of school for the summer Savannah comes over pretty much every day asking if she can take Bree down to the apartment play area. It’s a good deal because they have a blast and I get some time to myself to get things done. Since we’ve been hit by this heat wave though, Savannah’s had a hard time getting Bree to want to go outside. Savannah will come over and ask Brianna if she wants to go play, Bree will say yes, and they’ll head out the door for the play area. But, the past week or so they’ll be back within 10-15 minutes because, according to Savannah, they’ll walk all the way down to the door that leads out to the play area then Bree will stop, look outside and say “Too hot. Go home!” So, they’re back right away. When this happens though Savannah usually sticks around and plays awhile with Brianna in her room. I always hear insane giggling coming from her room whenever they play.

Brianna is funny though. Since their names are so similar sounding in those last syllables Bree has insisted on calling Savannah “Bee-ranna.” Finally, the other day I said, “Bree her name is sss,sss, SUH-Vannah.” Of course, then Brianna said “Sss, Bee-Ranah.” Savannah laughed at that and I tried again. “No, it’s SUH-Vannah, see?” So, finally Bree came up with “See-vanna.” Close enough we decided. So, now whenever Savannah tries to leave our apartment and go back to her place Bree is crying, (she loves her so), and calling “See-Vanna, See-Vanna!”

Saturday, July 15, 2006

The Chicken Crossed the Road to Play Football

It’s been really, really hot and humid here the past few days so we’ve actually spent less time outside than we have before. This morning we just laid around in our air-conditioned apartment and were lazy. But, it didn’t take long until Bree was feeling cabin-fever restlessness. So, we decided we’d take her to the mall where we could grab lunch and also let her play on their indoor toddler play area. We parked right next to the road and needed to cross it to get inside. Before we even got out of the car Bree noticed that we were going to be crossing a road and was saying “Taking ‘cross (across) the road? Taking ‘cross the road?” As in “Are you taking me across the road?” Even though I knew what she was saying, because of the way she pronounces her t’s it totally sounded like she was going “Chicken cross the road? Chicken cross the road?” Of course, Travis, with the sense of humor he has, couldn’t resist that so he was answering her every time with “To get to the other side.” Then she’d go “yep,” since that was why she wanted to cross the road too, naturally. We got inside, let her play awhile and then bought lunch where we got a nickel back as change. Brianna was saying “change? My change? My penny?” (Because we often give her our extra coins to put in her penny bank.) So, her daddy told her “That’s a nickel. Let’s put it in your pocket here.” Then she couldn’t find it and was asking “Where’d my pickel go is?”

Later in the day, when it cooled off a bit, we decided to have a picnic for dinner. We took ourselves down to a grassy area, laid down a blanket and had some sandwiches. Then we all played pass the football. Bree was surprisingly good at it. Travis was trying to explain running and tackling to her but she didn’t really get it, she would get the football and just stand there until Travis “tackled” her. She didn’t really understand tackling either, although, at one point she ran up to me, hit my shoulder and said “Tackle Mommy!” But I’m not going to describe the football session anymore since a picture is worth a thousand words…check the pix out below!

Here's Bree tossing me the football.

Here's Bree's size 2 (too big for her) pants falling off right after she tosses me the football. (And me laughing hysterically.)

Trying to catch the football with an interesting technique.

Still trying to catch that slippery football.

Making a touch-down is hard while wearing your daddy's sandals!

Watch out! She's got a pretty good arm for a 2 yr. old.

Even though Bree isn't looking at the camera, this is a pretty good one of me, if I do say so myself. (Check out the contacts.) :)

Mugging it up for the camera after a long afternoon of football...

Friday, July 14, 2006

Sun-Tacks

So, the whole, contacts, sunglasses, glasses thing has kind of confused Brianna. At first, she was calling contacts the right name, sort of, “con-tacks.” But, now she’s calling them “sun-tacks,” a combination of sunglasses and contacts I think. The other day she walked into the room wearing a pair of her little dress-up glasses. (Actually, I think they’re Harry Potter glasses we got from a Barnes and Noble book promotion thingy. They’re huge on her face.) Needless to say, they don’t have actual lenses. Anyways, she walks into the room wearing them, pokes herself in the eye through the non-existent lenses and tells me “Mom, wearing sun-tacks!”

Thursday, July 13, 2006

A Difficult Diner

While there are times that Brianna will sit and enjoy a meal heartily, the majority of meal times she's as flighty and fidgety as a bird. The slightest distraction or interruption usually means she's done, too busy to be bothered with eating...

Last night as we were having dinner she happened to spot the extra set of fingerpaints. (I'm not quite sure how she saw them since they were perched on top of the hutch, up high, but, of course, little x-ray eyes spyed them there.) So, naturally, she was immediately disinterested in her food. "Mommy, fingerpainting time!" she screeched. "No, it's dinner time. We're not going to fingerpaint right now." I told her. "Mommy, fingerpaints. I need them okay?" (This is her new arguing tactic. If she gets denied something she claims to "need" it.) "Eat your dinner first and then we'll see about finger painting." I said. Surprisingly, no tantrum followed after this. Instead, she just started picking at her food. She picked up a slice of green pepper (we were having a chicken stir-fry) and said "Mom, what's this?" "It's a pepper," I answered. Then she took a bite, spit it out and told me "Don't like it!" (Despite the fact she'd been eating them just fine only 2 seconds ago.) She grabbed up a piece of zuchinni after that. "Mom, what's this, pepper?" she asked. I replied "No, that's a zuchinni baby." "No, not kee-nee," she informed me. I guess that showed me for telling her no fingerpainting. Then, as further paybacks, she grabbed up a long noodle and held it like a hostage over the side of her tray, over the carpet. "Don't you dare drop that," her daddy said. Of course, she only smiled and lowered the noodle some more. "Brianna, put that right back on your tray. We don't throw noodles on the floor," Daddy told her. Finally, with a sly smile to let us know she was doing it because she wanted to and not because he told her to, she did put it back on her tray and then said loudly "All done!" I guess she got her point across because we let her get down.

Meanwhile tonight we had tacos for dinner. Not having had a very good nap, Bree was cranky and at first refused to sit down at all. Finally, after much cajoling she did sit down and was actually enjoying her taco, dipping each bite into her ketchup. This was all fine until for some reason she didn't like her milk or the sippy cup it was being served in. "Mommy, purple milk!" she demanded. Not knowing what the heck purple milk is I said "You want a purple cup?" "Okay," she said. So, I rumaged around, trying to find a purple cup but, no luck. "How about a green sippy cup?" I asked. "Nope," she replied. "Oh, I know, here, you can try drinking your milk out of a big girl cup today," I offered. "Okay," she said again. I grabbed a non-purple, toddler-sized open-top cup and poured her milk into that. Of course, it took her about all of a minute to realize that with an open cup she could blow bubbles into her milk, as opposed to sucking it out. So, while Travis and I tried not to laugh or pay attention to her at all she spent 5 minutes happily blowing her milk into a froth, over the edges of the cup, and everywhere, occasionally pausing to lift her head and laugh hysterically with milk dripping down her face. But, with all that milk everywhere, inevitably the cup and her hands got a little slippery and she dropped the cup onto her tray where it spilled over. The tray actually contained most of the mess, but Bree was still upset. "My ketchup!" she said, all dismayed. "It's okay, we'll just clean it up Brianna," we told her. This didn't help though and she burst into tears. "Oh," I said, "Don't cry over spilt milk!" Then I busted up laughing that I'd actually said that. (There's something wrong with me, there really is!) Well, we wiped it up and moved on with our evening.

I remember the days when we actually used to just, you know, eat our food at dinner. Although, meals were a lot less interesting then. Oh well....

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Camera Crazy

Since she’s been born Brianna has been subjected to having many, many photos taken of her. No matter what she’s doing Travis is always going “Brianna, look over here. Can you say cheese? Brianna, Bree, hey!” She probably thinks she’s royalty and that her daddy is some kind of baby paparazzi. (Well, I know she thinks she’s royalty but I don’t think she knows what the paparazzi is yet.) So, it’s inevitable that some of this photography craze would wear off on her. Lately she likes to “borrow” her daddy’s tripod. She pretends to be looking through it, holds her hand up there and then says “Say cheese….pic!” It’s so funny, I’m not sure why she doesn’t say “beep” or something when she’s pretending to snap the shutter. But no, every time its “Say cheese (pause) Pic!” I guess it’s short for picture?? Well, who knows but now we can add photographer to her list of possible future professions. Next step, buy her a plastic play camera…

Ready, Set, Accessorize!

Brianna goes through phases where she just feels the need to accessorize heavily. She’s having another one of those phases this week. She literally won’t step foot outside the house without having a purse, a necklace on, and sometimes, wearing a hat. (I don’t know where it comes from actually. Generally, the only jewelry I wear is my wedding ring and I never carry a purse ‘cause I’ll just lose it. I shove my credit card and license straight into the ole’ back pocket. I guess this is a case of nature more than nurture. Whew..this is getting to be one long aside…) The thing is, she’s not only into her own accessories, she’s also very concerned with everyone else’s too. She practically has a melt down if I try to leave the house without “my” diaper bag, even if we’re just crossing the hall to take the garbage out. And, she’s seen her Daddy with his camera backpack strapped on so many times that she has to make sure he’s got that on as well. As soon as we mention leaving to go anywhere she’s calling out “Need Mommy’s diaper bag! Daddy, camera?” Then today she also had to make sure Daddy had a hat. “Daddy, need this? Yes, do need this!” she said, bringing him his baseball cap. Then it was “Ranna need hat too!” Finally, we were ready…me with my diaper bag, Daddy with a hat and camera, and Bree with her 2 purses, pink sun hat, and blue bead necklace.

Cause she is living in a material world and she is a material girl!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Dessert at the Park

So, lately we’ve gotten into the habit of taking ourselves out for a little dessert after dinner and letting Bree run around a local park before bed. Of course, by dessert I mean some sort of horribly un-nutritional, fattening concoction at the nearest drive-thru. This is a terrible habit since what usually happens is that we drive through, drive straight to the park and then, as soon as we get there Brianna runs off to play, too busy for even ice cream, and Travis and I end up eating virtually all the food ourselves. We certainly don’t need a McDonalds apple pie or vanilla ice cream as the last meal of the day. (But it is yummy…come to think of it, I’m not quite sure how I lost any weight at all! Anyways, back to Brianna.) Tonight was no different. Bree had two bites of ice cream and the rest just magically disappeared. (I claim no knowledge of where it really went and I’m sticking by that!) Then, she was off and running around the park. She ran back when she heard a dog barking. “Hear that?” she asked us, “puppy…barking. (yelling) Stop ‘at! Ha ha. I told puppy stop ‘at!” (This last part because we’re always telling Bogart to be quiet since he constantly meows and whines for food when he’s a morbidly obese cat already. Well okay, I don’t know if it’s that bad but he’s fat.) Brianna’s new addition to her continuing conversational sophistication is commenting on the obvious, like, you know pointing out that a dog is barking. (As grown ups, we have very politely refrained from calling her Captain Obvious, but I’ve wanted to.) Except for making her parents chubby though, our nightly park routine is a pretty good outing. Brianna gets some exercise and wears herself down right before bed. And actually once we got home tonight she requested to have “coo-coo-cumbers” as her bedtime snack. See, healthy! Well, she is anyways.

Concha Means Popsicle (Duh!)

Overall, I think Bree is a very verbal little kid. She says a lot of words and most of them are correct and pretty clearly understandable as well. But, like any toddler she has some special made up words that only mean something to her, well, and me I guess. Once of those is “concha.” I have no idea how this came about but when she says it she means she wants a popsicle. Granted, popsicle is kind of a hard word, but that sounds nothing like it. For a while there she was referring to popsicles as “colors” since they usually come in a rainbow of colors but now… “concha.” Take today’s conversation:

Bree: “Mom, concha!”
Me: “You want a popsicle? Well, I’m sorry baby we don’t have any. They’re all gone.”
Bree: “Mom, say please.”
Me: “That’s so nice that you said please Bree but we just don’t have any, I forgot to buy some.”
Bree: “Oh man!” (She’s never said that before, took me totally by surprise and made me smile.)
Me: “Yeah sorry, we’ll get some next time.”
Bree: “Oh man!”

Yeah, having no popsicles in summer is a total bummer….Oh man!

Monday, July 10, 2006

A Parky Personality

Brianna and I went to the park this afternoon. As soon as we arrived, Bree spotted a bird in one of the lower branches of a near bye tree. “Bird, come down here!” she commanded. She’s kind of into the bossy thing lately, along with being in the possessive “mine!” phase. While we were at the park, there was only one other little kid there, a boy younger than Bree. You’d think that with only 2 kids playing, Brianna would feel like there was plenty of room. But, alas, no, she didn’t. The little boy was toddling around happily but Bree decided he was headed for her favorite toy, a little car on one of those rocky springs. So, she made a whiny-whimpering noise and ran towards it saying “Mine, mine!” “It’s okay,” I told her “It’s the park and you need to share. Besides, that little boy doesn’t even want to ride that. He’s too little.” She spent a few minutes riding on the car and then was hopping off to play in another part of the park. But, before she walked away from the car she looked around and said loudly, “Those are mines kid, all right?”

This was all pretty amusing but the funniest part was when she fell down. ("What?!" you’re saying, "That’s just wrong!" Well, before you dial Child Protection, keep reading…it is funny!) As she was running through the sand she tripped and landed on her knees, getting a little sand on them. “Uh-oh, do you want me to kiss your knee?” I asked her. “No,” she said “I’ll do it.” So, she sat down, leaned over and kissed one of her knees. Since there was sand on it though, she got a few grains in her mouth and made a horrible yucky face. It struck me as funny, so I couldn’t help it, I laughed. Then Brianna said “Is that funny? Oh so funny, baby eat sand!” I was afraid after she said that she’d try to eat more sand but instead she followed up by spitting into the sand. (A charming trait you can thank her daddy for teaching her.)

Just to wrap up the outing as we were getting into the car Brianna grabbed my keys, climbed into the driver’s seat, picked out the correct key and actually inserted it into the ignition. “There you go Mommy,” she told me, “It goes right there.” Great! What else has she observed me doing and made a mental note of?? At least she hasn’t figured out how to turn the key yet….It’s enough to make a mom paranoid.

Hodge Podge

Okay, all right, I admit it! Yesterday was such a busy day for me, (planning a new month’s calendar of activities for my mom’s group), and Bree was so crabby and horrible, (she refused to take a nap at all and is teething all 4 incisors), that I actually didn’t blog at all because I couldn’t think of anything nice to say. I had originally posted “Bouncing Baby Girl” under Saturday. But, when I realized there were two for that date I moved it forward to Sunday. Oh the horror, the shame! So, to pay my penance I’m doing two entries for today, Monday. Not to mention Bree did a ton of funny stuff today and I can’t choose what to write about so you get a bonus entry of the grab bag variety. Here’s some random funny moments:

Bree in the backseat of the car going “Tick, tock. Tick, tock. I’m a little coo-coo clock!”

Us eating lunch together (we had quesadillas) and me commenting, “I like quesadillas, don’t you?” then Brianna saying “Yummy quesadillas!” Clear as a bell, I swear.

Heading out the door to run errands and me saying “Okay, let’s get your diaper bag.” and Bree coming back with “No, it’s Mommy’s diaper bag.”

Back in the car again and Brianna looking at the bottoms of her sandals. One has caked mud dried to it, the other doesn’t. Her pointing “This one clean. This one dirty, wash it! This one clean….”

Finally, Bree coming up to me and asking “Where my fishing pole go is?” (She has started ending every question that starts with where by adding is to it, even if there’s no real need to. It’s a bonus “is” for good measure.)

There! I hope you’re happy now that you’ve guilted me into an extra entry!

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Bouncing Baby Girl

Brianna's newest idea of bedtime fun is bouncing up and down on her mattress as she holds onto the crib bars. She discovered she could do this recently and since then insted of our normal, well-established bedtime routine it's been more like this:

"Brianna, it's time for bed, why don't you lay down?"

(bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce)

"Ok, well, if you don't lay down then I can't put your blankie over you."

(bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, giggle)

"Bree, look, Bear and Green are tired now. They're laying down on your pillow. Go lie down next to them."

(bounce, bounce, bounce)

"All right stop that. Let's say our prayers."

(bounce, giggle, bounce)

"Well fine then. I'm going to sleep now. I love you, see you in the morning, go to sleep."

"Mommy! Daddy! Kisses, kiss!"

"Ok, one kiss. Now, we're leaving. Goodnight. Love you."

(bounce, bounce, bounce giggle, muffled through the door...bounce, bounce bounce)

At some point she eventually goes to sleep. Oh well, what's a little bouncing before bed right?? Works out the extra energy.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

In Your Tummy?

So, since I had some bananas turning to mush as they sat on my counter I went ahead and made banana bread today. It was ready just in time for Bree's afternoon snack. I gave her a warm slice with melted butter and she happily dug in. In a few minutes there wasn't much left but a few little crumbles. Travis was sitting next to Brianna at the time so he grabbed a little piece up off her plate and ate it. Brianna said "Where'd my bread go?" "I ate it, it's in my tummy," her daddy told her. She thought about that for a second and then peeked down the front of his shirt. "Nope!" she declared, not seeing any bread there. "No," he said, "It's inside my tummy." She looked again and then said "Where's my bread? Where's my bread?" At this point she was starting to get upset about it. I pulled a little bit off the slice in my hand and gave that to her..."Here it is," I told her. She calmed down and happily ate the chunk. Well, ok, it was a little white lie but better than the upcoming tantrum storm I could see brewing. Hopefully, Daddy learned his lesson about it, or just so it's clear maybe I really do need to get the Toddler Rules T-shirt "What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine. If I've ever touched it, it's mine. If I was eating it and you thought I was done with what's left on my plate, it's STILL mine and you better not eat it yourself..."

Friday, July 07, 2006

Mexican Food Fanatic

Tonight we went out for Mexican food. The past few times we've gone, Bree hasn't really liked any of the food and just picked at her plate. But, today for some reason she decided she LOVED it. She was shoving food in like we'd never fed her over the past 2 years of her life. She started by eating bits off her dad's enchilada plate and then moved over to my side of the table and chowed down on my fajita fixin's. I've never seen her eat so much food! She was eating onions like they were candy along with going "Mmm..meat," making a growling noise and shoving bits of steak in as well. At one point she burped and remembered to say "muse (escuse) me." (We've been really working on burping etiquette.) The whole time she was smiling and jumping around the booth. We'd had such a hard time with her today, crabby and cranky, we were quite sure someone had drugged her or replaced her with a happier clone. Whatever it was about, we're thinking of eating Mexican food more often.

Car Safety

We've really tried to stress to Brianna that she needs to be careful around cars. She knows that she has two choices when crossing the street, hold hands or get picked up by Mom or Dad. Since she generally hates everything about holding hands she usually chooses to be picked up. Her new thing while we're crossing though is to point one direction and say "No cars that way," point the other direction "No cars that way!" And finally, tonight as we reached the other side of the road she added at the end "Now we're safe!"

Is That You Mom?

So, Travis has his 10 yr. high school reunion coming up next month, which has prompted me into a sort of self improvement kick the past few months. Actually, I've lost about 20 lbs, finally getting off the last of my "I had a baby" weight . (Yay me!) And, for the first time I feel okay enough with my body that I bought a bikini (no, it's not an itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow or polka dotted bikini) and have even worn it in public. Bree, however has never seen me wear one so the other day when I put it on for the first time she took one look at me and said, "Nice underwears Mom." "No baby, this is a swimming suit," I told her. "Nope, underwears," she insisted. Well, they do look like underwear, I suppose.

The other big change about my appearance lately is I ditched the glasses for contacts again. I have a love/hate relationship with the darn things, but they do boost my confidence. Anyways, Brianna watched me put them in the other day and spent half that day walking around, poking herself in the eye and going "Ranna, con-tacks too!"

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Nudy Time

We had an eventful bathtime this evening. Well, actually, the funny stuff started after bathtime ended...Bree decided she was done being in the tub and announced "Ranna, get out! Nudy time!" (As a truce to the whole naked baby syndrome we've been having she now gets to have 10 minutes or so of nudy time before the PJ's go on.) So, Travis and I sat down on the couch (fully clothed!) while Brianna went about enjoying her "nudy time." She ran out of the room in the buff and 2 seconds later clomped back in, still in the buff but now wearing one of my high heel shoes on her left foot and a tennis shoe on the right. (She loves to wear my shoes lately, and she's actually pretty good at wearing the high heels too, surprisingly.) Then she clomped back out of the room but just before she was out of sight she turned back around to say "Right back...5 seconds!" (This is her new saying, a combo of hearing her parents say "Can you wait 5 minutes please?!" and "Hold on a few seconds.") After giving us that reassurance she continued into the bedroom and pulled the door almost shut behind her. Then she knocked on it and said "Knock, ock!" Without waiting long enough for an answer she came back into the room and followed up with "It's Ranna, I'm back!" Apparently, this was so much fun that she started it over again.."Right back...5 seconds.." clomp, clomp, clomp. Bree was "right back" oh, I'd say, 10 times before she came out saying "Look, look at my gloves!" But, she wasn't really wearing gloves, she had put another pair of tennis shoes on her hands to go along with her mismatched high-heel and shoe combo on the feet. Still in the nude, she finally tired of that and noticed that Daddy had a Pepsi can sitting on the table. "Here, Daddy's cup," she said, handing it to him, "Hot. It's hot Peesee (Pepsi). Ranna doesn't like it!" (Which is good but we've never let her taste Pepsi so...??) Then before we could think of how to respond to that one she was laughing and told us "I tooted!" Thus ended this evening's nudy time since we decided to put a diaper on before "I tooted" became anything more serious.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Is That Funny?!

Brianna has her own little toddler sense of humor. Making funny noises, silly faces, or having stuffed animals do a little dance...these are all hysterical to her. But, here lately she's been trying to figure out the finer nuances of what exactly is funny and why it's funny.

Take the whole "pokey fish" incident as I'll call it. Even though that was several days ago she's still been randomly getting upset about it. She'll walk into the room and suddenly say "Mommy, I'm sad." When I ask "Why, why are you sad baby?" She says, "Pokey fish, a pokey fish got me," at which point she either bursts into full blown tears and hysteria or then goes on to say "Silly fish! He got me! That's so funny!" (And no one better make any comments about how it's cause she's a girl! I will go so femi-Nazi on your chauvenist a** :) Ahem.)

Then there's this little argument Bree and I have been having lately... She'll come up to me and say "Hit Mommy, kick Mommy. Oh so funny, oh so funny. Is that funny?" Now, she doesn't actually hit or kick me but still, I didn't think that was something to just let go so I have been saying, "No. Hitting and kicking aren't funny. That hurts people. If you hurt Mommy you'll have a time-out." Bree responds to this by saying, "Hit Mommy, kick Mommy. Oh so funny, oh so funny. Is that funny?" Then I say, "NO. You don't hit or kick Mommy." And, round and round we'd go like that. But, since she hasn't actually followed up her big talk with any real hitting or kicking, the past few days I have decided she's just trying to get a rise out of me and I've ignored her on this subject. (The parenting books call it "selective ignoring" and yes, it's an actual discipline technique. Hmm...Feeling feisty tonight aren't I?) Ignoring actually seems to help on this one and I figure, she's just trying to work out the definition of humor. I mean, in cartoons it's "funny" if the main character gets hurt, right? (Darn that Mickey Mouse, such a bad influence!) Maybe she'll end up making humor a lifelong pursuit and become a stand-up comic, although, I don't think she'll be real popular if she just starts beating up her audience...

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

4th of July Fun

Well, I think Bree had a pretty fun Independence Day. We actually took it easy for the majority of the day, just stayed home and played around. But, we did get together with friends this evening. We headed over to Shannon and Manoj's (Bree's friend Nayan's parents) house for a BBQ, along with Hannah, Scott and Kadyn. Bree was running around and super excited since it was the first time both her little friends were in the same place at once. Everyone had a great time but us parents were a little tired by the end, having three 2 yr olds all running around at once. There were plenty of skirmishes over toys and yelling "mine" but actually they got along pretty well. They were all excited to do sparklers, (although, a little skeptical that their parents were actually encouraging them to play with fire on the end of a stick). And, by the end the kids left each other with hugs and kisses and the parents with promises to all get together again soon.

Once we got home we decided to try and squeeze in a few more fireworks before we put Bree to bed (even though it was already past her normal bedtime) since we had decided not to go to a big fireworks display (way too late for miss Brianna). We mangaged to get through two "beehive" type dipsplays and then the third one made a whistling noise that scared Brianna to death and she burst into tears. So, we took our overstimulated baby up to her room and put her to bed. I guess we'll finish off our fireworks Saturday afternoon or something...our lucky, lucky neighbors...

Bree playing in the sand box with her two best buds: Nayan, on the left, and Kadyn, in the middle.

Another one of the kids in the sandbox, so intent. Of course, I couldn't get one with all 3 of them looking at the camera, or, any of them looking up for that matter!

The men, gathered around the grill, talking shop.

Kadyn and Bree having fun in Nayan's car.

This is Brianna using the bubble blowing gun to make a breeze in her ear. (I dunno, just 'cause I guess.)

I thought this was a cute one of Kadyn and her daddy, Scott.

A nice shot of Manoj with his youngest, Amani whose 8 months old. (I guess we didn't get any closer pics of the Mommies. Could be Trav's to blame, as the photographer or, that Shannon and Hannah are camera-dodgers!)

Kadyn running by in a blur while Bree and Nayan hang out on the blankets together.

Brianna and Nayan. :)

Nayan with a sparkler :)

Scott having a good time with his sparkler as well.

Here's a pretty good group photo.

Monday, July 03, 2006

Phunny New Phrases

Here are Brianna's latest catch phrases...

When she wants something now she's started saying "hand me" this or that. So, she'll say things like "Hand me chips please." And today when whe wanted a banana she said "Mom, hand me banas please." (Yes, she's growing up, she's moved on from calling bananas "balalalala" to "banas.")

Brianna has her moments when she really wants to be helpful. (Other times, not so much but...) Usually at times like that she'll do something she thinks is nice all on her own, like, pull a blanket over my toes or bring me the book I've been reading from my nightstand. Then she asks "Is that better?"

Whenever someone says "thank you" to Bree her response every time is "Hey, you're welcome." (That's because that's usually how her daddy says it to her.)

Becoming more and more aware of her own personal likes and dislikes, Brianna has started expressing her opinions about the food on her plate. If she finds something distasteful she'll say "I don't like it!" Actually, she says that a lot, even to food we know she likes!

Who knows what she'll say tomorrow? :)

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Well, today was Travis's 28th birthday. Being that he was the birthday boy and all, he got to choose what he wanted to do for the day. So, he decided to take us all fishing at Parker Lake. In the past, we haven't had much success trying to take Bree fishing, she gets tired and bored and we usually leave 10 minutes after we get our lines in the water. But, we had a great time today...

As soon as we got there Bree spotted some "chick-a-mucks" that she tried to chase down. Unsuccessful at that she started commenting about how it was "pretty dark out here, Mom." (We were walking along a shadowy path to the lake.) I tried to explain to her how it was actually just shadows from the trees but that's actually kind of hard to explain I found. (What? Well you try explaining the concept of shadows to a 2 year old!) Along the path there were patches of sun and shade and every time we stepped into a shady spot Bree would pipe in with a "pretty dark right here" and then after a moment she'd add "...shadows."

Finally we reached a good spot to fish from the bank. We all peeled off our shoes and waded in a bit. Bree helped out by doing the fish call "here fishy fishy" and it worked! I actually caught a little sunfish in the first 5 minutes. Brianna was really excited. I let her touch it and was trying to let her hold it to throw it back into the water when it extended out its little fins and poked her hand. She was quite traumatized by this and cried for quite a while..."I'm sad. I'm crying. Fish poke-a me! Pokey fish!" We finally managed to calm her down but by then she'd noticed she didn't have a fishing pole of her own. (Actually, she does have one, but we hadn't brought it since she's really shown no interest in using it in the past.) So, she was looking around going "Is that MY fishing pole? Where my fishing pole is?" Her daddy finally had to let her borrow his for awhile but in between all that he still managed to catch a decent sized bass.

We got home and had a quiet rest of the day. After dinner we had Travis's birthday cake and ice cream. At the sight of the cake Bree said "Yay! Party!"...but before that Brianna joined in singing "Happy Birthday" to her daddy like a pro. Then she wished him a happy birthday about 20 times...

It was a nice day. Hope it was a happy birthday Trav!

Travis and his bass. (He's wearing the Cool Daddy T-shirt Brianna got him for Father's Day.)

Here I am with my 2 oz. sunfish.

Showing Bree my big catch.
(Right before he poked her with his fins!)

Brianna "fishing."

Note the look on her face..she's quite sure she's caught one, she's even trying to reel in! Actually though it's just a big lure that looks like a fish on the end of the pole.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Daddy Adoration

Well, I guess it's official that Brianna is a Daddy's girl. She had a serious case of Daddy worship today...

This morning as they were playing, well actually more like rough-housing (as Daddy's do), Travis was laying on the bed, holding Brianna up above him and then swooping her down to his face really fast and kissing her cheeks. Every time she thought he might be pausing Bree would say "Do try again Daddy!" This went on for some time until Trav began to get tired and he sat her down beside the bed. "Hold me Daddy! Daddy, hold me!" she demanded. So, he scooped her back up and held her above him. She hung there in anticipation and when the swooping and kissing weren't coming fast enough for her she said "Kiss me Daddy, kiss me!" It made me laugh and I told Trav he's a lucky man to have his daughter say "Hold me, kiss me!"

Then this afternoon three of us headed out for a walk at Parker Lake. We had fun spotting the fishes in the water, we saw several bunnies in the underbrush, and even a turtle. At one point we stopped at a little sandy beach area and were wading around. Travis started skipping rocks and earned Bree's admiration. She got in on the act by helping him count how many skips the rock did, (although, sometimes it was only two, or even one!) and she was soon joining him, grabbing up rocks with her chubby toddler fingers and "throwing" them by plopping them in the water all of a foot away.

Since Travis's birthday is tomorrow I asked him if he would like me to make him a whole big cake, or if he preferred cupcakes. Unfortunately, I forgot about Bree's party obsession and asked this while she was in the room. She immediately piped in with her vote "Ooh, cupcakes Daddy...Elmo cupcakes!" "Elmo cupcakes, huh?" he said "Well, all right then. Cupcakes." I guess they have a mutual admiration society going since he's obviously wrapped around her little pinky.