Brenna

I thought I'd stop the normal routine of things and give a quick update on the 'baby' of the family.

You know, she's not much a baby anymore that's for sure! Brenna is 21.5 mos old now. Around Christmas time, I was thinking she wasn't much of a talker. After all, her and Brooke are only a month apart and yet by Brooke's second Christmas, we have recording of her saying "Merry Christmas" pretty clearly spoken. So, Brenna was definitely behind her sister in that respect. However, I guess a month is a big deal in toddlerhood. Because sure enough, with Christmas season brought a talking EXPLOSION!!!! It started with all the Christmas songs and goings ons. She started saying "Ho Ho Ho" anytime she saw Santa and would sing "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" with Brooke and chime in with the "Ho Ho Ho" at the appropriate time. Then we started noticing she would say random words that we didn't even know she knew!

Now, she says absolutely everything! You may not recognize it, but she is saying it! And we are in the mode of having to repeat everything she says nowadays. It's beyond her saying just words now. I can't list out all her new words..its literally everything. But I can list out sentences she is saying! That's right. She's starting to speak in sentences as well! Definitely my little talker. She says "push the button" (for toys that make noise), "read that" (upon bringing us a book), "stab it" (when using her fork...we taught her to 'stab it'). Her "Barkley" and "Bailey" are definitely recognizable now. And they respond! She also gets on to the dogs, pointing her little finger and saying, "No-No Barkee" or "No-No Bai-ee". At breakfast, I usually sit her down to eat, then fix mine. She repeatedly will say, "Mommy sit....pease" till I sit down with her. She can tell you all of the Scooby Doo characters (though we never watch the show...Brooke just has the Scooby Doo action figures), as well as all the Mickey Mouse characters. She does love some Mickey Mouse! Just today I was telling her we were going to go to Kindermusik and that her friend Daisy would be there. And she said, ......"And Minnie?" :-)

She calls herself a "Buggle-bug" (aka cuddlebug) and demands hugs all the time, but especially if someone is hurt or crying or sad (namely Brooke falls in this category). She will stop what she is doing to go remedy the situation by doling out hugs. Such a sweet girl.

She likes to pick up things that are heavy (to her anyway) and carry them around, saying "Heeeavy" (in a strained voice). It's soo funny! But the ultimate was in church one day, she had a small lift-the-flap book to occupy her time. She was pulling up the flap and was acting like it was a HUGE ordeal (drama queen!) and saying "Heeeavy".

The other day in the car, from the backseat, I heard her belch. I dramatically said, "WHAT was THAT?!?!" And a tiny, nonchalant voice, from the backseat responded..."burp." Ay yi yi...

She constantly brings us stuff. Anything from toys or books or pillows or blankets or dirt or...whatever! And she thrusts it at us and says "Here. Here! HERE. HERE! HERE!" repeatedly till we take it.

She is now starting to say 'nank you' (thank you) umprompted, especially if its after you say 'bless you' in response to a sneeze. I'm always sure to tell her that's so sweet afterwards so hopefully this habit will continue!

I love it when Brenna calls out for Brooke. It is so cute and funny! It sounds like, "BoooooooooooooooooooooooooooK!" I think Brooke kinda likes it too. It too Brenna a long time to say her name so now, she's kinda proud of it.

She repeats any and everything. Every morning when I get her dressed, I say, "Arrrm out!" (one sleeve), then "Other arm out!", then putting the shirt on, "Arrrrrrm in!", "Other arm in!" And she has turned this into a game, repeating me on every account. So now we do it getting into the carseat as well.

She is pretty independent and likes to show off her abilities (whatever they may be at the time). She has started using her own name...it sounds like "Beeeeena"...while patting her chest. That means, it's Brenna's turn. She says often, "Beena have it." But most of the time, she will follow with a polite, "peese" (for please).

She's pretty adventurous (as noted by the broken arm) and likes to try new things and will just walk off and do her own thing.

She also likes all things princess. {{sigh}} A true girly girl I have. She learned the word 'princess' relatively early I think. And she loves to do 'make-up' (aka - chapstick). This is how I get her hair done every morning. Her hair is getting longer...and is even long enough for a real ponytail now! So, she gets on the stool and does her 'makeup' while I put her hair up. She still wiggles, but I'm getting quicker! She also likes to play dress up with her sister, loves to wear skirts and necklaces and bracelets. And she loves loves loves her babies.

But then, honestly, she likes to do anything her big sister is doing. She wants to stay at school with Brooke every single day and I have no fear that, if I left her there, she would have no problem with that. Upon walking into the room, she's quite insistent that she get hand sanitizer as well, just like the big kids.

Brenna loves to be silly and will do anything to get a laugh. Just today, she was carrying around a toy cow, turned to me, and said, "Makeup...cow?" (as in makeup for the cow?) I said, "Nooooo...that would be silly!" She laughed, then said, "Sheep makeup?". Haha! Anything to get a reaction. She has learned to say "cheeeeeeese!" for pictures as well, which makes my job easier of getting pictures of her!

She loves to dance and we often catch her dancing to the music in a restaraunt or store quietly. She has also recently learned to dance (and sing!) ring-around-the-rosey, but we are limiting that game right now till after we feel confident her arm is fully healed. ;) She also learned to make herself dizzy. Isn't there a stage when all kids learn this and think its so great? Well, we're there.

She is still quite the little eater. She eats pretty much anything we put in front of her...so far. The only thing she really doesn't care for, ironically enough, is pasta. It better have some meat in it! She loves pizza, but will pick all the meat off first, eat that, then go for the slice. She loves to eat ice and we have found that to be quite the appetizer as we wait for dinner if we are out to eat. She uses a spoon as perfectly as an adult, and is learning to use a fork to 'stab it.' She always has a napkin beside her plate and uses it appropriately and intermittently during dinner, wiping her face as needed and at the end of every meal. Then she will clean the table too. ;-)

She loves candy {{ducking for being a bad parent}}, but is particularly fond of M&M's. I personally kinda like how she says "M&M's". Her first real dose of candy was when she inconspicuously picked off a candy cane from the Christmas tree and stuck it in her mouth (wrapping and everything!). From there, it was no turning back.... {{sigh}}

Now, while we have given her lots of stuff to eat, she still only drinks water or milk. And she likes to switch them up during a meal if given the option, taking a drink from one, setting it down and drinking from the other right after. Weird. It's particularly cute when she responds, "Ahhhhhhh......." after a drink.

She is starting to sing these days as well. Her favorites? She loves to sing several of her songs from Kindermusik - Abiyoyo being her top pick probably, but she also sings the hello song and a few others. She sings the Clean-Up song that I taught her from my days at Kingdom Kids - "Clean up, Clean up...everybody everywhere. Clean up, Clean up, everybody do your share". Her version comes out more like "Keen up. Keen up. Body Body Wear." But you know...

She also sings the letter sounds from LeapFrog Letter Factory DVD that we have in the car player. There is no way that she knows letters yet, but she will sing the different songs that go with the letters in the video (like, "Ooooo -OOOOOH! or "Buh-Buh-Buh....Buh." to the tune of the music), so that's something!

She still loves her books. And we are starting to try to teach her colors. She can say (by repeating) all of them, but is still totally clueless on which label belongs to which color. It seems I remember Brooke knowing her colors already....but I'd have to look it up to know for sure.

I am in no hurry to delve into potty training any time soon. But probably much to Brenna's dismay. About 75% of the time, she will say "poop" about 20-30 seconds before she poops. And she loves to go into the bathroom with Brooke while Brooke's doing her business. She sits on her little potty next to Brooke (fully clothed), reading a book, and sometimes she's even pooped! (in the diaper, while sitting on the potty). While changing her diaper, she asks for a wipe. She will say, "Wipe...here!" until I give her one. Then will say, "wipe...bombom" (for wipe bottom). Oh, though, I am so not ready for potty training. We'll wait thank-you-very-much.

Now, I don't mean to say that she is all fun and games. She definitely has a temper. She is very VERY LOUD!!! To say the least. She has taken to screaming when she gets frustrated. Not that she can't communicate (obviously she is communicating very well!), but if you take something away from her, if you annoy her, or if you are making her do something she doesn't want to do. She will scream out.

We have started to do time-outs with her for appropriate reasons. Hitting, swatting, taking something away from Brooke, just being mean. She takes it well and will actually go over to the timeout spot all on her own. Not sure if that means its as effective or not though? :P

She HATES being in the car for longer than 15 minutes. Literally...15 minutes. Car rides are intolerable with her for any long period of time. That's why you always find us close to home. She is not the TV watcher like Brooke was(is). Even with a DVD in the player, she gets bored quickly. She might watch a Mickey Mouse for like 15-20 minutes, but that's it. We get a lot of that above-mentioned screaming in the car. Which isn't fun for any of us. Poor Brooke tries to cope, but sometimes gets frustrated as well and will start telling (yelling) at her to be quiet, which leads to an even louder car ride. Ahhh...the joys.

She also HATES doctors, nurses, or any place that looks like such. But...you know. Who could blame her? All the things this poor child has been through! However, its not so great when she goes to crying/screaming the second we walk in to MY eye doctor..and they don't quite understand what the big deal is.

But she is still our sweet little girl. She is very empathetic and loves to love on others. I LOVE this about her and couldn't ever get sick of her little arms wrapped around my neck or her little kisses over and over and over again. I can't believe how big she is getting and how she is trying to grow up on us! My next big update will probably be when she is TWO!!!