A MUCH BETTER BLOG

I asked Brielle if she remembered being inside my belly today while we were discussing Bianca. She said she remembered and I asked her if she liked it. She said “No. It was way too dark in there and I cry cry for you to let me out.” Who knows if she was actually cry, crying during the monstrous induction or if she is just making it up.

Incidentally she also mentioned “they hurt my eyes” when I asked her (a long time ago) if she remembered coming out of my belly. I certainly can’t imagine why she would make that one up.

One of the reasons that I did so many posts at once, was to get caught up in time so I can start recording the cute, funny and super duper intelligent things Brielle is learning, doing and saying on a daily basis.

For example:

One night, while trying to go sleep, Brielle was totally crowding me to my side of the bed. I leaned over her in the dark and felt how much room she had and asked her if she could move over. I said “how much room do you have there? You must have four feet!” She laughed and said “Noooo mom!!! Me only have TWO feet!”

Another time grandpa announced that “Brielle is a doggie lover” and she clearly did not hear the word ‘lover’, because she said “Ah-pa!! Me no doggie! Me little girl!”

and the best was when she waggled her veggie hot dog in grandpa’s face, lecturing him that “B-E-E-F means cow die! Ah-pa!” after I patiently showed her how to tell the difference based on the hot dog packaging. We are all still pretty stunned that she could actually spell the word beef after one tutorial.

I have been getting a little bit of flak (sp??) for not updating Brielle’s blog. As life calms down and gets more organized, it seems that I will probably have more time to blog again. Although Brielle loves her friends very much, it looks like my babysitting days are coming to an end. It is fun for her but takes away too much of my time to work on the website so we are a happy twosome again.

In the last few months, Brielle’s vocabulary has exploded. According to childhood experts, when a toddler/child hits a 50 word threshold, then their vocabulary goes through the roof. Perhaps that is what happened? I am really bad at keeping track of the number of words she knows, but suffice it to say that her comprehension amazes me, as does her complete sentences. It is so great to get a bigger peek inside that little head.

We are looking forward to spring and our little Florida vacation over my birthday. It will be so wonderful to see all my old friends, their kids and of course the ocean. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I am attaching a picture even though it is a pretty crappy picture. (I took it with my camera phone). It is a picture of all the letters that Brielle traced for the first time. I had been working with her for a week or so, tracing the letters myself while she drew pictures of Pa. Then one day, while my back was turned, she exclaimed “Me write “M” Mom-mom!!” and sure enough she had traced the M. I was so thrilled that it apparently inspired her to trace all the letters and here is the picture.

Today is the first day that Brielle managed to turn a light on without standing on something. She is beyond excited that she is tall enough to reach a light switch on her own. I am amazed, proud and of course realize that a whole new set of problems can emerge from her newfound skills (such as a huge electric bill).

Last night I asked her if she was going to bring a “friend” to bed (stuffed animal). Rather than her usual chirpy “YES!” as she runs off to find a friend, I received “Of course!”. Shocked at how she just interjected such personality into a rather mundane conversation, all I could say was “Did you just say ‘Of course’??????? She just smiled and said a chirpy “YES!”.

She is spelling now. I still can’t believe she is spelling since she pretty much figured it out on her own. She says P-A- ….PA! Just like she is in a spelling bee. She can also spell mommy (M.O) , grandma G.A and the first letter of a number of words. She doesn’t just yell out the letters spelling bee style either. She will bring me the correct combination of letters from her blocks or refrigerator magnets. Naturally, I am very proud and encouraging her brilliance.

“Me fly plane”

After we got back from San Francisco, Brielle was fascinated with planes.

I turned around and saw her sitting in her little adirondack chair which was carefully placed directly in front of an end table. I asked her what she was doing and she announced “me fly plane”.

I am pretty impressed with the way she simulated air travel with her bag crammed between her feet and virtually no leg room. She also has a sling draped around her neck just like mommy. She even sat in the seat and just stared straight ahead for awhile. Mommy does tend to wear pants when I travel, however.

We are back just in time for yucky fall weather, which naturally fluctuates between lovely sunny days that should never end and rainy, frigid days that are meant to be enjoyed indoors (unless you are 2).

Brielle ran outside to play in the rain (naturally) and promptly filled her rainboots with water from the downspout and then put them back on her feet. Then she filled her hat with the icy rainwater and plopped it on her head a few times.

You can’t really see how wet she is in the picture, but the deck below her feet should be mostly dry as it is covered by the balcony of the people who live above us – so all that water around her feet is from her hat and boots.

Boy does she look happy.