Two and a Half!

I know this is cliche, but I can't believe how the time has flown. Today Bryn is 2-1/2! It's hard to believe six months ago we had her first real birthday party and six months from now we'll be having another. We're halfway to her turning three! She's changing before our eyes, almost daily, and it's been amazing to watch the transformation from baby to toddler. Also, August 5th was our 18 month anniversary of being a family, another milestone that's hard to believe.

Bryn now measures in almost 35" tall and weighs 27.5 lbs. which means she's grown about 1" and has gained 1/2 lb. in 6 months. She's still a good eater but has been more active in the past 6 months and is slimming down a little and losing some of her baby fat. (Unfortunately I think it's somehow morphed into me, but that's another story.) At 2-1/2 she still hasn't had a haircut other than the occasional trim of her bangs -- her hair is growing but it's still soft and fine.

It's been a busy summer and we've been having lots of fun despite the fact the weather hasn't been very summer-like until this past week. Daycare is going well but working full-time sure cuts into our together time. By the time I pick Bryn up after work and we get through supper we don't have a whole lot of time to play before it's time to get ready for bed. I'm having to start our bedtime routine earlier now because she's gotten very good at stalling before bed. It takes her forever to eat her pre-bath snack now, something she used to be finished in 5 minutes. "Are you done, Bryn?", I'll ask. "Almost but I need more pretzels", is usually the answer. Then she has to "play a little bit" and do a "sen tecond" tidy of her toys. Then she realizes she still has to get all her stuffed animals changed and ready for bed. This is all before her bath.

Of course her bath takes awhile and by the time we get around to her glass of milk and bedtime story it's usually close to an hour later. Then it's "one more song, mom, a big one" or "one more story" or "I just want to cuddle a little" or "but I'm still awake" -- the list of excuses not to go to bed goes on and on. One night told her it was time for bed and she said "not yet, mom, let's talk a little."







Other than loving to be outside playing in the sandbox or her splash table, some of Bryn's favorite pastimes are singing, coloring and playing with her playdoh. She also loves paints and markers and lately is really into "I Spy". Her imagination is taking off and she plays pretend a lot with her little kitchen and her toys and she's started making up her own words for songs to the tunes of other songs she knows. She still loves books and has memorized parts of some of her favorites.

She loves her stuffed animals and is always busy changing one of them "because he's stinky" (of course she has to use wipes and the whole bit so we're going through wipes like crazy) and putting them down for naps. We help her out with putting the diapers on her them because she can't manage it on her own. Poor Girard, who hadn't even changed a baby's diaper before becoming a dad, is now putting diapers on stuffed lions and bears. He's amazed at the things Bryn can talk him into doing.

The things she comes up with continue to amaze and amuse us. Some of her favorite foods are "cot of cheese and canola bars". The other day she started really enunciating her "th" sound and she looks so cute when she thrusts out her tongue to say things like "three". "First a ball" is something new -- as in "first a ball I want a snack then I'll go in the tub." When she sees a gas station she'll say "look, there's a gas station, mom goes potty there". One night at supper Girard took his plate into the livingroom to watch a few minutes of football and Bryn yelled at him from the kitchen "you're not s'pose to eat in the livingroom, Dad!" There's never a dull moment around here, that's for sure.

The big thing now is "when I get bigger". When she wants something she can't have I always say she can when she gets bigger. The list is long -- "when I get bigger I can have coffee...earrings...black (dark) chocolate...beer (yikes!)...peanuts...paint (makeup) on my face...drive a car...go to school" and on and on it goes.

Today we went to the Ex and Bryn's favorite thing was a pony ride, her first time on a horse, She also had her first sno-cone (I know, she's been deprived for the past 18 months!)  :)











I had to include this video, it just cracked me up when Bryn rolled up a magazine one day started smacking the livingroom window...