Today, in honor of the Heels making it to the NIT Championship game, Brianna wore her very adorable UNC tennis dress that finally fits! Tomorrow she will have to choose whether to root for Grandpa’s team or for Daddy’s team. Sorry, Grandpa, but I don’t like your chances…
We didn’t get to spend much time with her today as it was Parent’s Night Out at school! After enjoying a lovely ride on a beautiful spring evening in the convertible and a yummy dinner, we headed back to pick up the soon-to-be birthday girl. When we got home, she actually ASKED for her Easter egg! She seems to grasp that she gets one a day (and only one a day) from Mimi’s Easter basket. Today, she chose the purple egg with strawberry puffs inside (which she promptly inhaled). Then, we gave her her pre-birthday treat for the day – Tatie Kat’s Easter basket!
While I was unable to capture it, her face morphed into a big ooooooo face (you know, the delighted expression with the mouth all rounded in an O) when she saw this big bunny. There was also a little bunny that skittered across the floor when you pulled its tail – strangely, she wasn’t too sure what she thought of that.
More searching through the basket revealed mini M&Ms and chocolate covered pretzels! She wanted to dig into the pretzels right away, but we convinced her to wait until tomorrow since it was time for bed. She enjoyed telling us “eat tomorrow.” Trust me, she will remember! 
In addition to trying chocolate covered pretzels for the first time, tomorrow she also gets to participate in a treasure hunt at school (and I get to help hide the eggs!) – stay tuned!
Today Brianna started her day by defying all fashion “rules” and combined her bumble bee rain boots with her patch-work pink dress. I attempted to direct her to her sandals or even her sneakers, but she was having none of it. “No, boots!” So boots she got.
Oooo, look at me!
They are actually a bit heavy (so she tells me), so they only lasted an hour or so. After that, she chose a new pair (to her) of sandals to wear. We got them on just in time for her play date with Corinne and Jack! They all made Brianna a birthday Easter bucket, so they brought it over since Corinne is on spring break this week. Her purple bucket had some really cool plastic “Easter” eggs shaped like various bugs – lady bugs, bumble bees, caterpillars, etc. – each with some stickers or some bath time squirt toys in them. Also included was a new Tigger book and a new Winnie the Pooh – we shall call him “bunny” pooh since he is dressed up in a bunny costume. Last but not least, she got a cool bug catching kit!
After opening her present and playing on the playground, we headed to McDonalds (Corinne and Jack’s choice b/c of the new Happy Meal toys) and Brianna got her very first Happy Meal, complete with a dragon toy (Deadly Nadder) from the new movie “How to Train Your Dragon” – she LOVES it. *sigh* Here she is playing on the McDonald’s playground (she climbed all the way to the top!) and with Corinne & Jack and the dragons (Corinne is not particularly fond of cameras).
Brianna will be TWO one week from today. She seems very well aware of this fact – for the past several days she has been saying “happy birthday to me!” When you ask her whose birthday is coming up, she says “Brianna’s!” When you ask her when her birthday is she says “soon!”
So, in honor of her last week as a one-year old, I am going to try to do daily posts of this last week. Here is the birthday-girl-to-be in her birthday dress from Uncle Bob. It wasn’t wrapped so we let her have this one early. So comfy and cute!
Today, Brianna received three boxes. Two were mostly birthday presents – we put those aside because she fully comprehends presents now! Another box was all Easter related and one of the birthday boxes had an Easter basket. When I brought her downstairs, the first thing she saw was this adorable sheep from Grandma & Grandpa – “sheep!” she said imagine a high pitched, long drawn out shhheeeeeeppppp!), and then proceeded to “baaaa” her way around the table. Also note the chairs that Great Grandma sent special for Brianna’s birthday. She loves having her own table and chairs!
Half-way around the table, she spotted the Easter basket from Mimi & Djadju and immediately grabbed the pink egg and demanded I open it. “M&Ms!” she crowed, and then proceeded to sample them (she was even kind enough to bring me one without even being asked!).
There are just the right number of eggs for her to have one a day before Easter.
Next she tackled the present from Grandma & Grandpa. I am not sure when she figured out what to do with presents, but it is safe to say she now knows what to do!
What a pretty dress, Mommy (complete with matching headbands)!
Lastly, she settled down to eat her M&Ms (note how they melt in places OTHER than inside her mouth), and read her card from Grandma & Grandpa.
Next up…a visit from Ms. Jennifer and a play date with Corinne and Jack!
Today, Brianna and I went out on the farm. Brianna got to see all kinds of farm animals – horses, cows, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, sheep, and goats. There were even lots of baby animals to see – a foal, a calf, and lots and lots of baby chicks. The baby chicks were her absolute favorite and we went back them several times. She wasn’t keen on all the rest of the people being there too, but she eventually decided seeing the animals was worth it. I can’t wait to take her back in the coming years, when she might actually let go of me so I can get some good pictures. In the mean time, here are the ones I did manage to take. They are not too bad, especially when you consider that I am either holding her while I take it or I am bribing her to let go of me and stand a few inches away so I can snap a picture!
Completely fascinated…(the lady on the other side of the trough was nice enough to take this picture)
So soft…
Oh, I’m sorry – am I squeezing you??
Hanging out with the horses.
Mamma & baby
It is breezy out here with the cows!
They even had an animal scale all the kids could stand on to see their weight. She is getting big, but she is still a little thing.
Brianna is little Miss Personality these days. It seems like every time I turn around, she has a new expression or is shooting me a new look or is doing something I hadn’t seen her do before. While looking at some photos I took over the past few days, I noticed that I had somewhat captured some of these expressions.
Here is the one you are all most familiar with: little Miss Sweetness
And then there is Miss “You Have Got to be Kidding Me”
Miss Sassy!
Miss Innocent…
Miss “I Don’t Understand You People!”
and finally, Miss Crazy
It occurred to me the other day that while it is difficult to take Brianna to many live sporting events (game times are often too late or during her nap time), there are lots and lots practices during morning hours that we can go to. So, today we headed out to watch a hockey practice. It turned out to not be much of a practice – only three players were on the ice, but Brianna enjoyed watching the pucks fly all over the ice. This might have actually been better for her b/c it might have been a bit overwhelming for her if all the players had been on the ice. Anyway, as you can see, she scored TWO pucks. One flew over the glass and landed nearby (don’t worry, we were never in any danger), and the security guard gave it to Brianna. Then, at the end of the practice, one of the players skated over to the glass and made a point of giving her a puck (there were lots of older kids at this practice, so I think it was pretty cool that he singled out the cute little girl). If I am lucky, I will be able to get that player to autograph her puck for her.
Our little “Hollywood” munchkin is 23 months old today – pretty shocking if you ask me! She is getting so big (and heavy), and every day she surprises us with something new. I am not sure about her weight and height, but I will find out this weekend and post it later. I do believe she has gone through a growth spurt lately – she used to try to hold the rail while walking down the stairs, but it was a little too high for her. Now she can mostly hang on. And gaging by my tired arms, she is definitely gaining weight…
Ever since we bought these sunglasses two weeks ago, Brianna is rarely without them (unless she can’t find them). She has taken them to school twice, and basically worn them the entire day. She LOVES her squeaky shoes and her “clunky” shoes (those that make nice stomping noises). Let’s just say she is not interested in creeping up on anyone… By the way, I am not at all responsible for the cat print hair band/pink polka dot sunglasses/red sweater ensemble she is donning in this picture…she is entering that very fun (and seemingly color blind) stage that all children seem to go through.
She is our little chatter box and seems to say something new everyday. Just this morning she said her first self-generated and completely clear sentence. Now, I believe she has been uttering complete sentences fairly regularly for the past month or two, but there is always a word or two that is not quite clear, so I don’t really give her credit for those. She also regularly repeats sentences she hears us say (e.g., shut the door, say good-bye, etc.). But this morning’s sentence is one we believe she created all by herself to express her thoughts at the time. While drinking her mango smoothie this morning (this is her first mango smoothie made specially for her by Jason), she said “It tastes good!” We must have looked a little surprised, because she then repeated the phrase over and over again while grinning from ear to ear. Also, she seemed to be telling me about her day this evening. I asked her what happened to Max (her teacher told me most of this story so I knew what to expect). Brianna told me “he hit his head.” When I asked why, she said “Jayson pushed him.” When I asked her what she did, she said “hug Max and pat his head.” She then told me “Max o.k.” As you can see, she is getting very good at expressing herself. Now, if we could just get her to say “yes” when she really means yes, and “no” when she really means no…
She seems to know her colors, but doesn’t consistently identify them on cue. I believe she knows them because she will spontaneously point to something (usually a car or truck) and correctly identify its color (especially if it is pink, white, green, yellow, or orange). But when I ask her what color something is, about 50% of the time she says green…stinker… She is also learning her shapes, and seems comfortable with circle, square, and rectangle. Triangle was the shape for this week, so she is still grasping that one. She is very, very good at correctly identifying animals (hippo, sheep, kitty, puppy, horse, duck, goose, pig, gator, monkey, cow, etc.), though she sometimes uses their sounds instead of their name.
She is still a really good eater, though she has gotten a little more particular about what veggies she will eat. Her current favorites are orange sauce (pureed carrots and sweet potatoes), pea sauce (pureed peas mixed with applesauce and apricots), and occasionally broccoli. She still loves most fruit, and is particularly fond of yogurt mixed with jam, cheese, and most any cracker. I discovered this evening that she really seems to like fish. Usually, I put a little chicken or turkey on her plate with dinner (or beans if we are not having meat). And she eats some, but rarely all. I have even given her some beef, but had the same results. Tonight I gave her Tilapia in a citrusy/limey coating (from Whole Foods) and she ate it all up and asked for more. I would say she ate at least one whole piece of fish by the time she was done. I’ll have to try that again!
As of tomorrow, all of her school buddies will officially be two. Only one more month to go before she catches up to them!
We had a FANTASTIC trip to Tahoe. We started our trip with a ridiculously early flight. Brianna was such a trooper.
She was soooo excited to fly on an airplane that she did not sleep the entire first leg of the trip (unfortunate since it was the longer leg and since she had an entire seat to herself). But she was so good – the people around us all complimented her on her excellent behavior. She had a brief problem with her ears, but thankfully she is old enough to say “ear hurts” and we told her how to fix it. No more problems after that!
We first flew into Denver and then on to Reno, where we picked up a gynormous car (a Yukon) so that we would have 4-wheel drive in Tahoe. While we were driving to Tahoe I saw what looked to me like practically vertical ski slopes in the distance – you could not pay me enough money to try to ski down those particular slopes!
My friend Tracy (known her since Jr. High) invited us out to her family home in Tahoe. This is the view from the windows in the back of their home – AMAZING!
We were not there long, so we generally tried to stay on Eastern time as much as possible, which meant we were up early enough for this gorgeous sunrise.
The first day, Jason hit the slopes while Brianna and I hung out with Tracy and her boys (Charlie and Geordie). We went to a local park to have some fun sledding down the snowy hill.
The second day, we all went to Northstar to show Brianna the skiers and snowboarders and the general skiing environment. You had to take a gondola up the mountain a bit to get to the ski lifts. Brianna LOVED the gondola. We must have ridden it 20 times – she talked non-stop about “more gondola” so she could see the “mountain far away.” Here are a few pics from our gondola and mountain experience.
Are we there yet??
First gondola ride.
Hanging out with Daddy.
Posing with Mommy with the half-pipe in the background.
Playing with Mommy in the snow.
She was having so much fun, she started clapping.
That afternoon, we went back with Tracy and the boys while Daddy skied. We had fun walking around the neighborhood – Brianna was especially fascinated with the icicles that formed on the snow banks. I would break them off and she would smash them on the pavement and then giggle.
The third day we let Daddy ski some more while we hung out with Tracy and the boys again. Since the afternoon was supposed to be rainy, we decided to head back to the park in the morning for more sledding on the fresh snow. Little did we know we would get to experience a mini “blizzard”!
We were only supposed to get a few inches overnight, but I think in total we got between 8 and 12 inches (and a “few” in the 30 minutes or so we were at the park). Still, Brianna and Charlie had fun – eating the snow, watching us sink knee and hip deep into the snow, and generally watching the spectacle.
Hmmm…not sure I really want to sled right now…
Mmmmm…snow…
This stuff is COLD!
After a while, enough was enough, so we headed back to the house to warm up and have a snack. Isn’t she adorable in her borrowed ski pants and my hat??
We left on Thursday. But before we left, we took a couple of pictures with our friends – Tracy is holding her two boys (Charlie is 30 months and Geordie is 6 months) and Bear is sitting next to Brianna. Bear is the sweetest most child-friendly dog I have ever met! As you might imagine, it took a few takes to get everyone to smile and look at the camera…
the “candid” shot…
yay – everyone is smiling!
My beautiful friend Tracy
Then we headed to the airport. On the way we saw Brianna’s “mountain far away” up close – this was the mountain she was so fascinated with while riding the gondola. I wasn’t able to get a picture while riding the gondola b/c I waited too long and the clouds obscured the view.
We gave Brianna’s new friend Anais a ride to the airport (she is Tracy’s au pair from Paris) – Brianna had lots of fun playing with Anais and learning a few words in French.
Then it was time to go – here is a picture of Brianna and Jason standing in front of the airplane we are about to board.
Bye-Bye Tahoe!
