Tidbits

A random hodgepodge of all the things I've been meaning to blog about...and some funny stories...

- You can always tell when you are driving next to or behind a parent with an infant. When you see a red light, you start slowing down waaaay in advance so as to not really have to stop. And if you do have to stop (if you screwed up), the you pump the brakes at the light to get your car to 'bounce'. If you don't do these things, the baby starts screaming the second the car comes to a complete stop. Why is that?

- When the baby is screaming, it's nice to get a lesson from your 3yr old in the backseat who pulls on the baby's carseat back and forth telling you, "No mommy...you have to do it like this. Shh, Shh, Shh, Shh...Shhhhh" (while 'shaking' the carseat). Ahhh...the lessons we are teaching her about life.

- And then taking the two of them for a ride in the stroller. Or while out shopping. Mommy's instinct (again, to forever keep the baby in motion) is to shake the stroller when we come to a stop to look at something. Of course, forgetting the 3yr old is riding too and isn't so appreciative of the constant moving.

Quickly, I get reminded, "Mommmmmy! Quit shaking me!"

- Leaving fireworks last night, Brenna was not happy. As you can imagine by above information, the car stopping is a low light in her life. And when you leave a fireworks display any where on this continent, you're pretty much guaranteed to have to stop the car at some point in traffic. So, as she's screaming while we are looking at the long stream of tailights in front of us, Brooke pipes up - "I think she's just not happy because the fireworks are over."

- And it's nice to teach our daughter about everything that goes on in our family. She's now very knowledgable about nursing a baby. A few times, we've seen her nursing her own babies while watching TV or something. It's all about copying Mommy right? Anyway, so after feeding Brenna the other day, she got a little fussy.

Again, Brooke the all-knowing, says, "Mommy, I think you forgot to feed her on the other side."

- Sure. We give options in our house. It's the only way to get a preschooler to cooperate (sort of). The other day, on the phone with my mom, Brooke was talking about her day at school. We had a battle a while ago about her not wanting to tell me about her day. So my mom asks her over the phone, "Brooke why don't you want to tell Mommy about your day at school?"

Brooke's response, "Well, NaNa, really, that's just not an option."

Updates:

Brooke:

I never knew how much sense a 3yr old could make. I mean, really. She is all about bargaining these days and rationalizing and figuring things out and doing things by herself, etc. She will come to me often and make a proposal. Seriously. A very well thought out one too. "Well, mommy...I was just thinking. Since I took a good nap and there were no fits today and I haven't watched a show all day, and if I'm a good girl the rest of the day, do you think I could watch a show real quick?"

Well....if you put it like that!

She is also learning to read. Yes, I said that right. She is learning to read. For some time now (maybe Christmas time ish?), she has known all her letter sounds. She's known her letters for some time before that, but around Christmas time she started knowing what all sounds the letters make and could 'sing' the alphabet using those sounds. This was all in great part to LeapFrog's Letter Factory DVD. I cannot recommend these enough. I mean, I am a Leap Frog fan through and through but these DVD's are wonderful. And they coincide with the magnet set (both the letter ones and the word whammer) that we also have. But the DVD has completely taught Brooke the letter sounds. The she advanced to Talking Words Factory teaching her that letters being put together make words. And the collection goes on from there. Seriously worth the investment! Anyway, so recently we got her a set of BOB Books, which I also highly recommend. So, now she is sounding out words and reading. Her only problem at this point is she gets a little too much into the mundane routine of "Mat." "Mat sat." , etc...that sometimes she'll 'forget' to really read it (sound out the words) and start labelling everyone in the book "Mat". But overall we are so proud and know she is on to the beginnings of wonderfullness with the world of reading!

She also got her toys taken away though a few weeks ago. Her attitude is picking up as well with all these other developments. So, there wasn't one particular thing that set us over the edge, but we sat down and had a talk with her about what we were doing and why we were doing it. She had been getting very disrespectful and not appreciating her toys, throwing fits waaay too often, etc. So, she she helped us pack up her toys in her room (and I mean everything! She was left with her furniture and her books.....cuz yea, I mentioned she's learning to read, right? ;) Oh...and also I left her Leapster, cuz I'm not *that* crazy). Anyway, so she is on her way to having to earn back each and every toy. She has already gotten a few toys back. This little bit of 'commando parenting' as Dr Phil calls it I think has worked somewhat. We still have the occassional fit or screaming/crying episode, but they are fewer and she is MUCH more respectful to her things.

Here's a pic of all her toys from her room brought out in the living room before we packed them up:

I talk often of Brenna getting bigger and older, but let me just take a minute to talk about how big Brooke is getting as well. I don't know if it's because now I have a tiny little baby to compare to or because I don't have to pick Brooke up much or a combination of both. But I notice when I do pick her up, she is HUGE! When did our little baby girl get so big? She has long lanky legs now (the better for dancing with my dear), arms that can completely wrap around me (the better for hugging with my dear), and a face that has lost all reminiscence of babyhood. Forget chubby cheeks or a poochy little tummy. Our girl is lean, slender and is quite beautiful if I do say so myself. Her blonde hair has taken several trims to keep manageable but is still silky and pretty. It is turning a bit darker with age, but her eyes are as blue as they have been. Well....I don't know, they may have 'faded' (for lack of a better word) some since babyhood, but they are still very pretty. And her teeth. I know I know...who updates on teeth? But I really notice how her teeth are so perfect and straight and perfectly spaced. Hmmmm....I think she gets that from me. :)
Brenna:

Brenna is still vomitting some. Maybe once a day or once every other day? But when she does, it's A LOT! I can't express how much. The other day, we had a real crummy day and it started when she vomited in the car while I was feeding her in the parking lot. So yea, now our car reaks of vomit because of course it went in between the seats - you know the black hole of your car? - where no one can reach to clean. But anyway, so we called the dr since she's been on her reflux meds for a little over a week with no improvement and they called us in some different medication. I'm starting to doubt its reflux, but hey, can't hurt to try it right? Also, I am trying to feed her smaller meals more frequently to help. (only one side at ea feeding usually) So that's what we are doing now. We'll see how it goes...

However, in other news, she is FINALLY smiling! We think due to her uncomfortableness, she just hasn't been an overall 'happy baby'. But whether its because of development or time (I have to remember she was three weeks early) or maybe she's getting happier, we have finally started to see the smiles come out more regularly. She likes to be on the changing table. We have a piece of Brooke's artwork hanging beside her that she loves to stare at and we can often get quite a few smiles there. Her most favorite spot to be though is (as I mentioned before) in the bathroom in front of the space heater. She loves the hot air. I'm hoping she outgrows this. We've had to shut the AC vent off in her room. Crazy isn't it? 97 degrees outside and she doesn't want to be in the AC. Speaking of, she does love it outside as well. The fresh air as well as the exhausting heat are the reasons I assume.

She is holding her head up so well now! Only when she is tired does it still do the flopping thing. She expels energy a lot by kicking. Man, can the girl do some kicking! I think back to when I was pregnant and I'm thankful she is just now kicking that hard as opposed to when she was in my tummy! She still doesnt take a pacifier, but really isn't in to the whole sucking thing anyway. In other words, I don't think she'll really pick up the thumb sucking either. *shrugs* I don't know. I guess that's good. She is growing growing growing! While she still seems 'petite', she has some rolls on her thighs. I feel like she is getting bigger daily. She's still in Size 1 diapers, but only b/c we have some more to go through. I firmly believe she could easily be bumped to Size 2 at this point. We are just trying to use up the rest of the Size 1's. But yet, she still isn't outgrowing any clothes to speak of. Except the real tiny Newborn sizes. She is still easily wearing 0-3 month stuff. Yes, there is a difference b/w Newborn and 0-3. Newborn is a lot smaller typically. She is def following in her sister's footsteps. Brooke's weight/height has always been right on, right in the middle. But yet still looks petite and fits in clothes longer than she should (for instance right now at almost 3 1/2, she can still wear 2T and some 3T). Brenna is apparently doing the same trend. Which will be great for all these hand-me-down clothes of Brooke's she'll be wearing. :)

And yes, she still has the red hair and blue blue blue eyes! I think they are getting more blue. I really noticed it in the pictures from the fireworks the other night. You can see how blue her eyes are! It's rather stunning actually. I'm anxiously awaiting to see if they do indeed stay blue or if they will yet to turn a different color. Stay tuned.....