Days at the Park

Celeste has been finishing up her degree and to do so has been enrolled in a class on Saturdays. So for the past several weeks, Saturdays have turned into a Daddy-Daughter day which always includes a trip to Brindi's favorite place, the Park. The park begins with her running from one playground component to the next until she has played on each one and then its her "babies" turn and she becomes the mom. You gotta love that creative imagination:) Gotta love the static from the slide. I love this picture! The climbing wall is her new favorite thing at the park. She is actually pretty good and can climb almost half way up before she falls and insists on me helping her all the way up. But she is pretty determined to try first herself.

She is getting pretty brave and does things that I know scares both Celeste and I.

Another great shot of the static:)

She also loves to pretend she is a cowgirl and has a pretty good "Ye Ha" when she rides.

Carving Pumpkins

We headed out this past weekend and picked up a few pumpkins to carve. Brindi needed to have her own pumpkin and insisted on carrying her pumpkin through out the store. Sad to say they were too big and heavy so she allowed us to help.

Brindi watching patiently as mom takes her knife to the pumpkin.

Last year Brindi was not a fan of grabbing the guts and taking them out. This year was not any different. She reached in once and quickly took her hand out. She was willing, however, to use the spoon to scrape the insides as long as she did not have to touch any of it.

If you notice, Brindi found a marker and instead of helping to carve she started to draw faces on the all the pumpkins.

This was about as close as she would get to them when they were lit with candles. Kind of a funny girl. Below are out master pieces. Sad to say with the humidity of STL they will be rotten before Halloween arrives:(

My BABY!!!!

As I have mentioned Brindi loves to "pretend" she has a baby where ever we go. Even if I bring one with us, she'd rather leave it in the car and just pretend she is carrying one. Well, she and I walked into Costco and she imediately puts her "baby" in a cart. I kept telling her we didn't need one because we were only taking something back and started walking to the return counter, but she would not budge, so I went to get her the cart. Well it was stuck to another cart so I grab a different one and started to walk away again telling her to come on. She starts screaming "no, no...my baby", so I go and pretend to grab her baby, but that apparently wasn't good enough because she had put "the baby" in the front seat so I go to the front and pretend to grab the baby again, still doesn't work. Anyway, by now I'm getting frustrated at her because she refuses to grab her baby and come. So I grab her and start to walk away with her screaming, kicking, and hitting. I glance at the lady at the enterance door,who is just staring at Brindi and don't even try to explain...I know thinking this child is insane! Right then a couple grabs the cart with her "baby" in it and the guy untangles it and sticks their kids in the back...this makes Brin lose it even more, so I brake down and ask the man if she can grab her baby out of the cart....he looks down and asks what baby and I then have to explain how it is a pretend baby. He just laughs and pretends to hand it to her...well apparently that was good enough because she stopped crying and puts her baby in the new cart, why it didn't work when I did the same thing is a mystery to me! All I have to say is Wow... I really don't know where she gets it.

Potty Training

Brindi has successfully learned when she needs to go potty and has been pretty good about not having accidents. Even though they still happen from time to time when she gets too involved with playing or being intensely involved in other activities. And then there are the accidents that are not really accidents. Its her way of rebelling and proving a point or trying to get what she wants. If this little girl does not get what she wants she quickly lets loose and pees where ever she is currently located.

The other day she decided she wanted to go to the park. Sad to say she was not getting her way this day because of other obligations but she obviously did not understand the other obligations so she threw a fit. Screaming, crying, and then comes the hitting. Still no reaction from the parents so what is next...peeing in the front room. But then to punish her by making her clean it up does not work because before we say anything she is already in the process of helping us clean it up. Plus it is so hard to be mad when she looks so innocent above the pool of pee.

She has also learned to use potty training as a way to get out of time out or for staying up late. As soon as we put her to bed or in time out the first thing she says is "need go pee." As a parent what are we suppose to do? We are trying to teach her to recognize when she needs to pee but we also have a suspicion that she is just using as a way to get out of her room. Of course we usually give in because...well what if she really does need to go to the potty! It seems to be a lose lose situation for us.

When we started potty training Brindi we would give her a treat for every time she went to the potty. She would get so excited and stand up and say "YAY Num Nums" all while clapping her hands. She would then give us high five and pound it and then request her num num. However, she then figured out the loop hole. That is learn to go a little and then hold the rest for a half hour. So now she goes to the potty but only goes a few drops or small pool and request her num num. Then 30 minutes later guess what, she is back on the potty with a few more drops and another request for num nums.

We sure love our daughter and it does gives us hope that she will be pretty smart because of these stories. She seems to find the loop holes and understands how to use them for her benefit:)