Breeisms

Brianna sure is getting to be a big girl! Lately I have really seen a big change in her, as she is becoming more likely to listen, easier to reason with, and more obedient. And at 4, she's now becoming interested in more "grown up" things than she was before. For example, she's very into fashion and looking like a fancy lady these days. Although she starts out in regular clothing each morning, just about every day she ends up changing into one of her more frilly dresses with dressy shoes to match. Of course, this has gone hand in hand with her new penchant for playing princess. Virtually every day she informs me that she's a princess and she's going to get married and invite all the girls to her wedding, where she'll marry a prince and have lots of babies. (Specifically she's said she wants to have 20 and a half babies... poor little half baby.) For lack of any other men in her life, this means that quite often Noah or Daddy are named the prince. Noah doesn't seem to mind it, and quite obligingly goes along with his day, not knowing he's been appointed to royalty. Actually sometimes he's not only the prince, but also her "little husband," whom she leads around the house holding hands and ordering around. This is not to be confused with her big husband, Daddy. One evening while eating dinner out Bree started chatting up our waitress and was telling her all about how she's going to get married and have kids and so on. The waitress, playing along sweetly said, "Oh, and how many kids are you going to have?" I expected the answer to be the standard 20 and a half but this time Bree just shrugged and said, "I don't know. Travis and I haven't decided yet." The waitress smirked and then laughed once Travis pointed to himself and informed her, "I'm Travis."

Aside from being more interested in the marriage and babies scene, Bree just generally seems more sophisticated in the way she talks, acts, and handles situations. Take for example the other day when the kids and I decided to pick Travis up at work and have lunch together. Travis and I were both pretty indecisive about what we wanted for lunch or where would be a nice place to go. Plus, being in a small town, the options are somewhat limited. So we went around for a bit saying, "How about that restaurant?" "Yeah, that would be okay, or how about this one?" "Well, I don't care, do you have a preference?" "Not really, either one works for me." We went on like that for a few minutes when Brianna piped up from the back seat, "Guys! Guys! How about Pizza Hut!?" Well, Travis and I both paused for a minute and then smiled and said, "Good idea, we hadn't thought of that one." Then after lunch Bree said, "That sure was a good idea I had huh?"

Then there was the evening that Bree decided she wanted to have a pajama party. She started chattering excitedly about how we would all get in our pajamas and have so much fun. Fact was though, it was already after her bedtime and this was her third or fourth time popping out of her bedroom, so not only were we already in our pajamas, but we weren't super excited about the whole pajama party idea. So we both stood there patiently, waiting for Bree to wind down her long run on sentence when she suddenly paused, eyed her dad up and down and said, "Do you even have pajamas?" Because Trav's usual night time attire is just a pair of cotton shorts, which, apparently doesn't meet Bree's PJ criteria. Trav just laughed and told her, "Yeah, I'm not wearing them now but I'll wear some for the pajama party okay?"

Apart from this newer and more mature outlook on life, she still charms and amuses me with her preschool childishness as well. She's still very involved in the world of her imagination and her alter egos. She just keeps coming up with them, the newest being "Arista the cat cowgirl." I know the name Arista and the cat part cropped up right after she watched Aristocats, but I don't know how that character morphed into a cowgirl as well?

But then, even without a wild alter ego, Bree is character just being herself and can make even the most mundane of things funny... like riding on her Auntie's shoulders while going for a walk. She informed her Auntie that while she was up there, she wanted to give her a new hairdo. "Okay," Auntie Em said obligingly, and Bree went diligently to work. A few mintues later she pipes up and says, "Hey Mom, do you know how I'm staying up here on Auntie Em's shoulders so good?" "How?" I ask her without looking up. "Well, she's holding onto my necklegs!" I paused to translate that one in my head, "You mean ankles?" I ask. "Yeah, ankles!" she says. I smile and look up and then... "Holy cow!" I exclaim. "Nice hairdo Em." "What?" my sister asked innocently. Well, all the while Em was giving Bree a ride and holding onto her "necklegs" Bree had been hard at work ratting and twisting her aunt's hair up into a tangled, tall beehive worthy of Marge Simpson!


Whew! That turned into a long one, but I guess I haven't done Breeisms in awhile. After burning all those carbs reading, you're probably thinking a snack would be nice right about now huh? So, in Bree's words, why don't you head over to the "country" (pantry) and see if you can't find some of those "banilla" (vanilla) cookies.