Breeisms

Been awhile since I've done an installment so here's a fresh batch of stuff for you that amuses me about my daughter:

At 4 Bree actually has a pretty good vocabulary, but she's still young enough that she gets things wrong here and there. It's just so darn cute and always makes me smirk. A couple of her most recent verbal mishaps? Well, there was the time that she was telling me all about the "tree slob" (tree sloth), and then the day when she was singing along to the Mickey Mouse theme song with much gusto "L-I-C-K-E-Y L-O-U-S-E!"

But then, the other end of the spectrum provides me with just as much entertainment. It's just as amusing to me to hear my small girl telling me about things using big words and in a very serious tone, which is often the case when Brianna's talking about her emotions. She's a dramatic and outgoing little gal who experiences the full gamut of emotions with intensity, and knows how to express them! Just check out some of the things she's said to us lately...

- After having a bit of a meltdown about which chair she wanted to sit in when out to dinner she said, "Sorry I was being so complicated and shy in the reskeraunt."

- "I'm shy!" This one she says quite often when she doesn't feel like doing what you're asking of her. Too bad for her, everyone, and I mean everyone, who's met the kid for more than 5 minutes knows she's the complete opposite of shy!

- "You're embarrassing me!" Yes, you're never too young to feel embarrassed by your parents or your little brother in public.

- "Dad, you're exasperating me!" No idea where she picked that one up, but it made us laugh!

Even though she's quite good at talking about her feelings, there is one thing that just leaves her quite speechless, where she just growls and grumbles. You see, she has answering machine rage. She finds it quite frustrating when she tries to call someone and they're not there. Therefore, some of our loved ones have gotten messages that go like this, "MOM! What the heck?! She's not answering! She's not there! Not again! AAAAGHH!" And then me in the background saying, "Well, leave a message sweetie." And her going, "I don't want to leave a message! Why isn't she there!..... okay, CALL BRIANNA!" click.


Then there are those times when she throws a word in there that's just a surprise. A word I didn't know she could say, let alone use properly! For example, when she wanted to take a bath and wanted Noah to join her. I was on the phone when she asked me so I told her she could go ahead and get the water running. Then she said, "Oh, so the water will attract Noah in the bathroom?" Or there was the other day when she wanted a morning snack, but wanted to make her own. I wasn't too sold on the idea, having just cleaned the kitchen and not wanting to face a preschooler snack-making mess. But, she was so cute trying to talk me into it... "Mom, just give me some bread and some peanut butter and all kinds of ingredients to put on top!" So, she ended up decorating her PB slathered bread with cheerios, raisins, mini-marshmallows and goldfish crackers.

TV shows continue to be a source of fresh material for Bree as well. She absorbs everything (we have to be very careful what she watches) and incorporates it into her play. Lately she's really been into the show "Imagination Movers." In the show, there's a character called "Knitknots" who plays the boring neighbor. He always wears beige and hates anything that too exciting. So, sure enough the other day Bree informed her dad that he was, "boring like Knitnots." (He'd been taking a few moments to rest on the couch, quite boring for our high energy gal who's always on the go.)

One of her other favorite programs of the moment is a cartoon called "Phineas and Ferb." (Which, I admit, is one of the few kid shows Travis and I enjoy as well and will sit down and watch with her.) In this show, there's a platypus who's a secret agent and his nemesis, Dr. Doofensmirtz, who always has whacky plots to take over the city. Well, the other day when Bree was playing with her little brother she decided he would be "the bad guy" and started referring to him as "Noah Doofensmirtz," much to her parents amusement.

Alas, Noah often gets transformed into crazy characters that are part of Brianna's vivid imaginary play. Recently she refuses to even call him Noah, referring to him only as "Checkson." In fact, when I call him Noah she'll quickly jump in and say, "You mean Checkson?" I thought it was pretty cute although, a bit baffling why she was suddenly deciding to rename him, and why "Checkson?" After some thought, I decided it must be because we know several little boys name Jackson and this was her version of the name. Then I noticed she had also renamed herself Paula. I still didn't make the connection... it was Travis who figured it out. Paula and Checkson... You see, Travis is an American Idol fan and a new season has started up. So it's not uncommon for us to turn it on in the background some nights while eating dinner. After all, our kids love music and usually just dance around and stuff. But, apparently the other details about the show haven't slid past Bree, and she's even made note of the judges PAULA Abdul and Randy JACKSON.