This past weekend we took a trip to the beach with our friends (Ms. Emmy, Mr. Wes, and the babies). We had a marvelous time! Even though we took an extended weekend, it was still too short, of course. We all checked out the beach a little the day we arrived, but we really spent some time there the following morning. She almost always wears her cute blue bathing suit, but we brought this one to help provide more protection against the sun, and she actually chose it for beach day (declared her blue suit to be her “pool suit”).
B started with her sand toys and building sand “castles,” but like her Daddy, she just is not sure she likes all that sand!
So, she decided that I should stay and relax while she and Daddy played in the waves. She was much braver this time - she would step closer and closer and closer until the waves got her feet, and then she would run gleefully away, only to start the whole process over again.
She also decided to “rest” - all that running and skipping in the waves is hard work!
The twins had a great time too!! They loved their little pool,
but spent more time throwing shells in the water and generally playing down by the water’s edge with their Mommy and Daddy.
The next day we went to the Aquarium in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. Sorry, but I don’t have much in the way of pictures of all that. You’ll have to settle for these - B had a GREAT time sticking her hand in the touching pool and “petting” the sting rays. Honestly, I think she could have stayed there all day.
B was VERY sad to leave (weren’t we all), but it was time to head home. Until the next time!
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for the 4th of July weekend, and the men basically spent the whole time putting in the floors and putting up the walls in B’s playroom.
Before:
After their last visit, when Grandpa installed the wall studs and insulation:
After this visit:
Next up: painting, flooring, and trim!
Every night, Jason and I check in on Brianna before we go to bed. This is what we found last night:
I assure you, she did not have that tutu on when we put her to bed! She also did not have it on when we got her up this morning… 
I think it is safe to say that Jason got a pretty awesome Father’s Day present today when Brianna finished her potty training sticker sheet and earned the coveted Mack! Here she is putting the last sticker on her potty training sticker sheet:
The completed sticker sheet!
The highly coveted Mack!
Daddy & B figuring out how to put McQueen in the back of Mack.
She is growing up so fast!
This past weekend Brianna had an extra special weekend visiting Thomas the Train with her best buddy Hawke. I assure you, Thomas came in a distant second to spending the day with Hawke! Can you tell they were excited to have finally arrived??
The day was jam-packed with fun new experiences. Brianna played her first amusement park game (some kind of ball toss) - and won! She also rode on her first ride without us - a kiddie airplane ride where Hawke was the pilot.
Way up high!
That was fun!
She also got to drive some cars (Daddy operated the pedals) - sorry, but those pics didn’t turn out very well. Of course, life just is not the same without riding the merry-go-round!
At the end of the day, we got to ride the train being pulled by Thomas!
Thomas sure is loud…
The kids didn’t quite understand why we didn’t go home after that, but they were pretty excited to see each other first thing the next morning. While we all got ready, they played all kinds of games, including Uno.
After breakfast we took them to a local park to play and toss the ball around.
Getting ready to throw…
She likes to put her whole body into it…
Hawke is an excellent jumper!
We had an excellent weekend - so much so that Brianna was quite distressed to see it end. Until next time!
We have tried off and on for about a year to potty train B. She is not interested. At all. We tried every trick we could think of, and every trick everyone else told us about. NOT INTERESTED! So, we did what we always do when we are faced with a question we can’t answer. We did some research. Apparently, our little angel was engaged in a power struggle with us. As several sources pointed out, this is not and never will be a power struggle we can win. Only she has control over her body.
So, with that in mind, we set our sites for Memorial Day weekend and set up the following plan/rules: She has to wear underwear when awake (diapers only used for sleeping and pool time). She is responsible for her pee and poop. If she needs to go, she is to stop what she is doing and go. If we are out and about, she is to ask and we will take her to the potty. If she has an accident (akkident in B speak), she has to clean it up and change her clothes. We will not remind her. We do not go in and sit with her or otherwise keep her company. We will only help as needed. She gets one M&M for pee, two for poop, and if she stays clean and dry all day she gets to add a sticker to her prize chart:
As you can see, there are four prizes on the prize chart: Guido, Luigi, Doc, and the creme-de-la-creme: Mack! The first day (Saturday) she did o.k., but not great. I had visions of having to do a load of underwear everyday just so she would have clean underwear. But the next day (Sunday), she did GREAT! She had one accident, but we did not fault her for that because I was in her bathroom, she did not really know what to do, and she held in the poop until I got out. In our book, that was my bad and not hers. So, Sunday night she earned her first sticker and prize!
Adding the sticker to her prize chart:
Showing off her prize (Guido):
Since then, she has done GREAT. She has already earned Luigi, and if she stays clean and dry today and tomorrow, she will earn Doc by tomorrow night (Wednesday)! In case you are wondering, that means she has only had accidents on 3 of the last 9 days, and on each of those days she only had one accident. Even better, all accidents have been of the wet variety!
We are hopeful this means this power struggle is now over. I know…there will be more…
It is HOT out there. So, rather than deal with all that heat, we decided to head to B’s favorite museum for some fun. I think she spent more than 30 minutes playing in the kitchen section - mostly making smoothies and cutting up fruit and veggies.
Then at least another 30 minutes was spent playing with the giant leggos. Here she is with her “house.”
But the vast majority of time was spent in the pizza parlor - just call her Chef B!
Tossing her pizza crust way up high…
Putting her pizza in the oven…
All done!
This past week Brianna participated in a linguistics study regarding comprehension of passives in 3-5 year old kids. This study will help Halley (a co-worker’s fiancee) get her masters degree in linguistics. Brianna’s part involved listening to a series of short stories with pictures (not surprisingly, the stories had lots of passives in them). After each story, Halley would ask Rex the puppet to tell something he remembers from the story. After Rex answered, it was Brianna’s job to say whether Rex was correct or not by giving him the small blue sucker if he was wrong and the big red sucker if he was right. Her comprehension of passives is measured based on whether or not she correctly assessed the accuracy of Rex’s sentence.
B checking out Rex (Mommy - he has big teeth!):
ROAR!!!
Ooops! Rex - you got that one wrong…
Brianna did GREAT! As you might expect with a study involving 3-5 year olds, the older kids tend to do better than the younger kids. Brianna, however, got most of them correct, which is pretty remarkable for a 3 year old (so I am told). Yeah, well, we all know she is pretty remarkable!
There was so much going on Easter weekend, that we did not get to make the suckers Uncle Matt and Aunt Carrie gave Brianna. BUT, that just meant we had them available on a rainy afternoon! The sucker part was pre-made, so Brianna just had to decorate them - I think she did great!
Her suckers (one for each of us per her instructions):
The proud artist:
B and I took advantage of some cool, cloudy weather (with rain a possibility any minute) to have the entire strawberry patch to ourselves and pick tons of strawberries, literally without having to move much.
YUM!
