Trick or Treat!

We couldn't have asked for a nicer Halloween this year. It was a beautiful evening and Bryn and I had a great time. Poor Girard missed out on all the fun since he works evenings. We only visited a few houses but she came home with tons of loot. She was our cute little kitty this year and we think she looked adorable.

We've been busy lately with our music and gym classes. Bryn loves music and singing (her latest song is Take Me Out To the Ball Game) and still makes up her own songs all the time to entertain us. She's getting more comfortable in gym and loves the trampoline so much we bought her a little one for home. The other day at gym she was playing with a hula hoop. She had it around her waist and said "Look mom, I'm Saturn!" The days are never boring and we always have a chuckle over something she's said or done.

It seems like she's grown a foot in the past couple of months -- she's now 36" and just shy of 30 lbs.  She loves reading books, doing puzzles, playing with play-doh, coloring and painting "like Pubba". Her latest thing is band-aids -- we go through them like crazy. Her stuffies are covered with them and Bryn always has some sort of owie she thinks she needs a band-aid for even if it just ends up on her clothes. She loves to tease and giggle and is constantly on the go.

Potty training is going slow to say the least. Even with rewards (bribes?) of Smarties and stickers Bryn doesn't have much interest in using her potty. She's still a non-sleeper and is becoming more of a night owl all the time. And (sigh) the later she goes to bed the earlier she gets up. Her favorite question is "why?" and her favorite answers are "I can't" and "no". She's become very good at asserting herself lately and we have a lot of lively discussions, most of them at meal time when she's saying "I don't want that". We've always tried to tell her to say yes, please and no, thank you in a nice voice and usually she's pretty good.  One day during one of our discussions I was trying to convince her to do something and she said "did you say please in a nice boice, mom?" I try not to think about what she'll be like when she's 14 and keep telling myself it's good that she has her own mind. :)

Busy making pizza.

Our little Beethoven.

Having fun on the tramp.

She gets her fashion sense from me.

All dressed up to go to her first wedding.

My girl.

Bryn's Nana and Pubba were visiting a few weeks ago. When Nana pulled out her crocheting Bryn ran and grabbed a pencil to use as a hook so Nana could show her how.

Rembryn.

Papa and Bryn looking through our already well-worn Christmas catalog.

Happy Birthday, Jessie!

Today Jessie turns 7. Jessie was our baby for a long time before Bryn came along but doesn't get quite as much attention as she used to so I thought I'd make it up to her by giving her her very own post on Bryn's blog. (Yeah, I know she won't know the difference but maybe it will ease my guilt a little.) She's such a good dog and adjusted well to having a new baby in the house.

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is watch Jessie with a beach ball. She loves beach balls. She goes crazy when we blow one up and has such a great time with one it's usually full of holes within 10 minutes. I took this video of our "first born" in early summer (please excuse Girard's potty mouth.)

 

A Musical Interlude

A little air guitar...

some harmonica...

a bit of ad libbing...





and an encore...(the second song is dedicated to our Maritime friends!).

In case you're wondering, Bryn does not spend all her time eating. It's just the best place to get her on video.  :)

Fall Cleaning

Without any excuses or preamble as to why it's been so long since I've last posted, here is our summer in review.

It was a busy summer and it really didn't seem like it was even here. The weather in June was terrible, July was hit and miss and the warm weather didn't really start until August. The Labor Day weekend brought fall with it and it came fast. The leaves are turning color now and it's dark by 8 o'clock. It's definitely not summer anymore.

In late July we had the pleasure of meeting one of our blog families -- Janice, Scott, Kyle, Kira and Emma who live in northern Ontario. We've been communicating through email and our blogs for a few months and were able to get together when they were here visiting Janice's mom, who lives in Saskatoon. (In fact she only lives about 3 or 4 blocks from us -- it really is a small world.) We had a four-family gathering -- Shea and Caia had us over (thanks, Shea!) and Lorraine, Rowan and Adia, who also live in the city, were there too. It was a great visit and so nice to see all the kids together. We're so glad Janice and Scott could take time out of their busy holiday schedule to meet with us and we're hoping to make it an annual reunion. We've met so many amazing people in the adoption community through blogs and email and it's wonderful to be able to connect in person.

Five kids in one room can create a little bit of chaos!

Adia, the youngest of the group at 16 months.

Trying to get all the girls to look at the camera at the same time was quite a challenge.

The happy moms and our girls -- Shea and Caia, Lorraine and Adia, Kira, Janice and Emma, Bryn and me.

With Janice's mom living so close to us we were able to meet at our park one evening and then came back to our place so the kids could play. Here's Emma (she's 3-1/2) having fun on Bryn's play centre.

Kira is almost 9 and a super big (and little) sister!

Bryn and Emma.

Luckily Janice took of photo with Kyle, her mom Gwen, and Scott because I forgot to (sorry guys, I'll remember next time.)

In August we finally managed a long overdue visit with Sharon, Daryl, Tanys and Regan who also live in the city. They travelled to China to meet Regan the week before we went for Bryn. We don't get to see them as often as we want but it's always a good time when we do. Shea and Caia came too and it was another great time.

Jessie has a new friend, Tanys.

Regan, Bryn and Tanys having a picnic.

Well, three happy kids out of four is still pretty good. (Maybe it was an ice cream headache.)

Caia and Tanys had a blast running around the yard while Regan and Bryn were happy playing in the splash table.

The latest news in our house is Bryn is now in a "big girl" bed. A few weeks ago she suddenly decided she didn't like her crib. It was okay for naps but she put up a huge fuss every night for about two weeks when it was bedtime. It got to the point that she had to sit on my lap to fall asleep and then I'd put her in her crib. One night I asked her why she didn't want to sleep in her crib and she said "I don't like my crib. It doesn't work very good." The next day Girard brought the bed we'd been storing for her up from downstairs and the first time she was in it she slept through the night. For two whole nights! Since then she's back to her nightly wake ups but at least I have a place to lay down with her now when I go in to settle her down.

Bryn was so excited to have her new bed she didn't even wait for me to put sheets on it before she climbed in.

I've enrolled Bryn in a couple of activities again this fall which start next week. We're taking a music class with Shea and Caia and a gym class with Lorraine and Adia and we're really looking forward to having weekly visits with them. We've got so used to seeing Shea and Caia every week last spring at gym we've been suffering withdrawal all summer.

Bryn has really turned into a little girl this summer. She's grown up so much and seems so much more into everything. I'm continually amazed at the fact that at only 2-1/2 we are able to actualy have a conversation! Her latest saying is "instead". "I would like yogurt instead of fruit, please." Then she'll say "Did I say please in a nice voice?" We're still trying to work on the yes, please and no, thank you. She needs a little reminding but she's very good at correcting me when I don't respond right. The other day she asked if I was going to work that day and I said no. She told me I should say "no, thank you". She's also big on "because". Bryn, let's get ready for your bath. No, because I want to play a little bit. Bryn why aren't you eating your fruit? Because I have an owie on my leg. (We're going to start working on logic one of these days.)

She's also turned into a really good informant. When she says something I haven't heard her say before I'll ask where she heard it and she often tell me where. Usually it's from a TV show or something she heard at daycare. The other day she said "Mom, do you have a huge head?" Yes, Bryn, as a matter of fact I do have a large head, who told you that? "Dad said that." Ha! Busted!!

I wasn't expecting it to happen when she was this young but Bryn has already started asking a million questions. "Why does food make me grow? Does Jessie eat food? Why doesn't Jessie get bigger? Why is it daytime? Where does a cow poop? Why is Papa your dad?" And my favorite of the past week: "Why is the moon not a circle today? Because it's a half moon, Bryn. Where is the other half moon, mom?" Yikes.

No post would be complete without a couple of cute-to-me where does she come up with this stuff stories. One day Bryn was sitting on her bike and was having trouble getting going. She said the bike wasn't working very good and I should put new batteries in it. And a few weeks ago we went to see Sesame Street Live and since then we've been singing the Sesame Street theme song. She had her little broom out one day and was holding it up in the air and waving it back and forth. I asked what she was doing and she told me she was "sweeping the clouds away". If I had thought of that myself we might have had better weather this summer. :)

My big girl.

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...