We had a very relaxing weekend that mostly involved staying inside – the heat index was well over 100F during the days so it was just too hot! Of course we played with Play Doh – don’t you just love Brianna’s pink spider?
Saturday we went to the Natural Science Museum, one of Brianna’s favorite places. This time we went specifically to see the dinosaurs. She got a book from the library about dinosaur bones that talks about a Natural Science Museum, and so she wanted to go and see them for herself! Tea anyone?
After seeing the big ones, she went to the explore area and played with the smaller, more manageable ones and read some books (another favorite activity).
Woaaaa…that is a big ball! 
We simultaneously stayed cool and had a great time! Is it fall yet?
Tia and Stephen came to visit this past weekend. We had a very nice and very relaxing weekend just hanging out and doing all those things Brianna likes to do right now – go to the swimming pool (to not in), play ball, read books, and apparently, make funny faces at Tia’s computer camera!
One of the highlights of the weekend was a trip to Monkey Joe’s! Brianna (of course) made a beeline straight to the back where the Cars bouncer is.
She loves to jump,
and run,
but seemingly has a bigger interest in falling!
She did venture up to the top of one of the tall slides, and even slid down the big slide with Tia without any tears.
But only once!
This last picture is from some outside play time – she was inspired by the World Cup…
We had a great weekend – we all very much enjoyed our visitors!
That quarter of a year has brought some dramatic changes to my little angel. Here is a quick update – she changes every day!
Sleep: She still sleeps great at home (8-8 during the night and 1-4 during the afternoon), for which we are profoundly grateful! School is a little different, but she seems to handle it fine. Her current routine at night is to get all her toys in her bed (anywhere from 6-10 these days) plus one or two books. Then I have to go to the door and blow kisses, after which she asks me “I talk to you?” She then points to various things in her room while reciting their name – “there’s my clock, and my lamp, and my fan, and my fan, and my barn, and my books, and my toy.” Generally she finishes by either jumping up and down on her bed or laying down with her toys depending on how tired she is. It is soooooo cute!
Speech: Her speech is amazing! She easily and regularly speaks 5-10 word sentences. While I haven’t counted in a while, I’m guessing she has well over 150 words in her vocabulary, and that is probably a very conservative estimate. She started the “why” phase a couple of weeks ago, but only did it a couple of times and then dropped it. We will see whether or not that changes.
Memory: She is quick…when she wants to be (aren’t we all?). She now remembers where she last saw/last put things. She also regularly sings her favorite songs (“Happy Birthday,” “Baa, Baa, Blacksheep,” “On the Way to Grandpa’s House,” “Twinkle, Twinkle,” and “Itsy Bitsy Spider”). We can generally still distract her from things we don’t want her to do or from whatever is making her unhappy, but it is getting harder. She can be very focused at times!
Activity: Some of her favorite things to do are playing play doh, taking care of her “babies” (including all Bla Blas, bears, and dolls), and taking care of her boys (she is quite pleased that all her boys moved up to the next class with her). She also loves to listen to all kinds of music – it truly varies from day to day. In fact, for about 2 months we had to sing pretty much everything to her to the tune of “Goodnight Ladies” – it was adorable, but I am a little glad she has forgotten about that for a bit! And, as with most two year olds, she rarely walks anywhere – she gets from point A to point B by running and jumping!
Attention Span: She is very good at playing by herself for a 10-15 minutes (sometimes longer) and she can sit very still when something has her attention (Cars, some books, etc.). Just yesterday we went to watch an open rehearsal for the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. She sat perfectly still for the first 30 minutes, and only wiggled around a little for the next 30 minutes, until she declared “I ready to go”!
Food: This girl can EAT! While her favorites change from day to day, she will eat most things except lima beans, asparagus, and avocado. She recently has started refusing yellow squash, which was one of her previous favorites. Smoothies, particularly mango smoothies, are still her favorite.
Size: She is roughly 28 lbs. and as you may be able to see from the pictures above, she is roughly 34″ tall. Since she was 34″ at her two-year checkup, I suspect she is a taller than this, but it is difficult to get her to stand still by the giraffe (she thinks it is all a game!), much less do so with her feet together against the wall while standing up straight.
I am sure there is more, but I am drawing a blank right now.
To celebrate the 4th of July, Tatie Kat (my Aunt Kathy) came to visit. It was a beautiful weekend that really did not get hot until Monday. We mostly hung out around the house an played (painting anyone?). Sunday after Brianna’s nap, however, we decked her out in her patriotic finery and headed out to listen to the local bands and have a picnic to celebrate the 4th. Brianna had a GREAT time eating chicken and watermelon, listening to the music (local band and state symphony), and watching the geese.
Mmmmmmmmm…chicken
Watermelon!
and more watermelon…
and more…
Waiting for more music.
Went down to the lake to check out the geese.
We did not stay for the fireworks (too late, too loud, etc.), but I am sure we will some day in the not too distant future.
We closed out the weekend by repotting all our plants to give them more room to grow (with some luck, we may even get to find out what veggies we planted!), and watching School House Rock! with Brianna for the first time. As an added bonus, Tatie Kat made some more macaroni & cheese for me – individual servings I can store in the freezer. Yay!
This past week, my friend Marty was gracious enough to invite Brianna and I over for a playdate with William (2) and Julia (7 months). We had a WONDERFUL time painting, playing in the yard, trading toys, etc. Any Marty made us a super yummy lunch (quesadilla, guacamole, peaches, melon, mmmmmm). Unfortunately, I only remembered to take a couple of pictures at the very beginning. But here are they are – William and Brianna were having a great time painting, and they actually managed to get most of the paint on the paper!
This past weekend, Brianna’s Grandma & Grandpa came for a visit. Brianna is still a little shy when people come to visit, but I think all of the Grandparents would agree that she has been soooooo much better during each of their last visits (more social, more hugs and kisses, etc.). For this visit, Grandma and Grandpa brought my old toddler bed (made by my Dad and Grandpa when I was Brianna’s age) with them so we could paint it and get it ready for Brianna to use. I’ll post pictures of that once it is all cleaned up and freshly painted. My Dad also spent a goodly amount of the visit building banquette seating for us in our breakfast nook. It looks great! We still need to paint everything and put the cabinet doors on, but here is a quick picture just to give you an idea. When it is all done, I’ll post some before, during, and after shots.
I think Leia likes it, don’t you?
Grandpa may have worked a lot on the banquette, but he and Grandma also found lots of time to spend with Brianna. Here are a few shots from their visit.
In her new bumble bee dress (which matches her bumble bee rain boots!)…
Playing in the pool at my company’s picnic…
Lots and lots of play doh time…
Repeating her favorite word (no, no, no, no,…)…
Clowning around in her pretty dress..
We had a wonderful visit and now have lots of painting projects to tackle!
