I've had a kid for 2 years now?! That doesn't really seem real.....or possible! Alec and I are just loving this parenting journey. We are definitely done with just the care-giver role for Brie, and actually moving into parenting we are realizing.
She certainly is a little girl that knows what she wants....or should I say doesn't want! She can be very stubborn and strong willed; I keep reminding myself that it will serve her well later in life, but for the time being it can be a huge challenge to deal with.
She is a very very picky eater. I continue to just keep trying new things here and there. We did succeed in getting her to eat chicken, but only with a pile of ketchup (dip-dip as she calls it). It is a very short list though of what she will eat. Yogurt is definitely at the top of that list, she eats a Greek yogurt almost every day. Thankfully she loves the smoothies I make; and I can hid a multitude of things in those smoothies! They are a bit labor intensive though to make....when I make them, I make a huge batch and freeze them in individual portions. So I have to make sure I have freezer space before making them!
Her sleeping is still pretty rough... It is very hit or miss for how she goes down to bed. We have to stay in her room until she falls asleep. Sometimes that is 2 minutes, and other times she fights going down and it can take over an hour! She will get it in her head that she doesn't want to be in bed and will scream and ask for me or Alec (the opposite person that is in the room.....). I have moved bedtime a little bit later, and that helped a little bit last night. So we shall see. At this rate our newborn will sleep better than Brie! Just recently she stopped getting up in the night; for a few week stretch she was getting up crying in the night. Alec and I took turns going into her room then, which usually just ended up with us sleeping the rest of the night in her room. Just in the last week or so though that has stopped. She was also waking up from her nap or bedtime screaming and crying instantly. So not sure what that was all about, but it seems to be done for now. Let us all hope it stays that way..... She is still in the crib, and I don't for-see that changing anytime soon. Our doctor said if she fits and can't get out then she stays in! He said his kids were in the crib until closer to 3, so good enough for me! We did have to 'modify' her crib a bit so that she can't get out. Alec actually took the bottom of the crib out, and the mattress is just propped up on the floor with a few 2x4s. Looks a little funny....but gets the job done perfectly!
She is completely and utterly addicted to her 'nigh-nigh'. It is a little lamb that has 3 knots on it; she sucks her thumb and holds one of the knots and rubs it against her nose. I'm not really sure how nigh-night got its name, but wow can she scream NIGH-NIGH over and over when she wants it. We actually have 4 of them, she is ok with just having one but loves to have more than one! She pretty much has it all the time....around the house, stores, in the car, in bed, watching TV. You may say, "Laurel, she is two....take it away!" And to that I challenge you to come and deal with her without it.....I don't have the energy or willingness to take it away.
We have not really started potty training. I think she is starting to show signs of being ready. But very resistant to sitting on the potty. She will tell me when she poops though "I poop, Mommy change" She has been willing to sit on the potty, but no luck yet. The doctor said not to rush, especially with the baby coming so soon. I figure we are going to be stuck in the house all winter anyways, why not just turn the heat up and have her live naked for a few days and do it then?!
Brie is such a funny kid. As my sister-in-law said, "She has more personality in her pinky than most adults do!" She loves to be goofy and understands a lot of humor. She does funny voices (gets that from Alec....), will recall funny things that happened in the past, and loves to ham it up when new people are around. And her vocabulary is quite extensive! She will repeat just about anything and will randomly say the most crazy things that make you wonder where in the world she got that from. When we were at the library the other day, a lady asked Brie what her name was. Brie points to herself and says "a-Briezy" Haha! We call her Briezy most of the time, and she starts a ton of words with 'a' or 'ha'. I laughed and translated for the poor library lady.
Some of Brie's favorite things to do are:
Play outside - she could be outside alllllll day long. We walk down the hill to get the mail most days, she rides in the stroller and holds Josie's leash. It is just under 0.25 miles to the mailbox, so a nice short little walk. It is walking up the hill on the way back though that just about does me in!
Draw - She loves to use crayons and colored pencils. She has a couple notebooks and coloring books, she colors a little bit on every single page. She is pretty good with not coloring places she isn't supposed to. She also loves using stickers; she can't get them off the sheet yet though, so I will take a bunch off at a time for her and put them on the edge of the table for her to use.
Boss Josie around - Brie will follow Josie around telling her what to do. "Josie, come 'ere" "Josie, eat da food" "No no Josie!" She also loves to try and feed Josie things she makes in her toy kitchen....poor Josie.
Watch TV - We have a major TV lover on our hands (that she gets from me). I have to admit though, I really don't mind that she likes it. It is so nice to have that as something to give me a break if needed. She doesn't really ask to watch it all day long or anything, once in a while she will but if I say no and offer another suggestion she is ok with that. No matter how long I let her watch it though whenever the TV gets turned off it is a bit of a fit. We only have Netflix at our house. Her favorites are Curious George, Clifford, and The Hive. She has sat for the movie Frozen; she watched the entire thing from start to finish. We have the soundtrack, and she asks to listen to it all the time. She has a couple Frozen books too and knows ALL the characters and can recite parts of each song! Not sure that is normal for a just 2 year old.....but ok.
Play baby dolls - It is so cute to watch her play with the babies. She feeds them, wraps them up, shushes them, and pushes them around in either the stroller or shopping cart. She will say things like "oh, she so cute!" or "oh how precious!" It just about melts my heart, and makes me very excited to see how she is going to be with the new baby.
Go shopping - She loves going to the store, especially if she can ride in a shopping cart! "Brie, do you want to go to the store with mommy?" "Yeah! I ride in shopping cart!" She knows now at Meijer she can get a snack to eat while we grocery shop. She usually eats like half a bag of goldfish while we shop.....it usually ends up being her lunch those days. Oh well, keeps her happy. And now when we are at Meijer we have to stop and "look at fish" in the pet section. And every time she sees something for a dog she say "We buy fo Josie?"
And yet again, my very talented Mother-in-law took some amazing pictures of our family!
I had to include this picture.....I was pretending to be sad because she wouldn't hold my hand! We were trying to do this cute picture, and she wanted nothing to do with me! You can see her face saying "nooooo" :
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