Growing Up

I remember my first blog post. Brooklyn was two days shy of turning 5 months old. I reminisced and was in awe over how she was growing up and changing so fast and right before my eyes. It's always something that veteran parents warn you about, but it's not until you actually become a parent that you understand the full meaning of what they are saying. You really, really have to be careful not to take for granted your children growing up, because it happens so fast and in my case, without my even realizing it at times.

At the beginning of June, we started something new, but something that we wanted to tackle before the baby is born. Kevin and I had talked in great length about it and when the right time was to start, and we figured it would take a good amount of time to be set in place. It's okay to admit we were wrong. After only 10 days, Brooklyn was officially potty trained, and wearing her Little Mermaid panties. Of course, we're still in the process of doing a complete and total potty training, because she is still wearing, but not wetting a diaper during her nap, and then again overnight. We are charting her process through her Potty Chart which was an idea that we stole from my parents as the chart idea was something they did to encourage me to do chores when I was growing up. At the end of the week, she gets a special surprise to reward her for being a big girl! She's very aware of when she feels the need to go and will tell us whether we are home or in public. It's wonderful. And, it does give Mommy and Daddy a nice break of changing diapers before the baby is born. We couldn't be more proud of her.

Brooklyn has always been interested in music, from a very young age. She has staked her claim of favorite songs and bands over her two and a half years, and most recently her favorite is Maroon 5's Makes Me Wonder. Kevin and I have become a bit tired of the song as she requests we play it over and over again on the iPod. She loves to jump and dance to the music and tries out all kinds of new moves. She is quite the dancer. So, I guess this next part comes because she enjoys music so much, but she has really, really taken to singing. She sings songs all the time. They are not necessarily ones that we taught her, as she has really taken to making up her own songs, but whatever the lyrics, she's always singing or humming. She sometimes sings herself to sleep at night. She sings while we are driving in the car, usually along with the radio. She sings while she is showering or getting a bath. She really sings a lot. It's very sweet, and she has such a sweet singing voice, something she obviously didn't inherit from her parents.

On Tuesday, her and I went on a date to a late breakfast, shopping and a movie. It's amazing how she can carry and lead a conversation the whole time. While we were eating breakfast, I just looked at her and realized, holy cow, I really don't have a baby anymore, just look at her! She's just so much fun to be around and it's incredible to think that she's my little girl, my precious daughter. And, to watch her grow up is something both Kevin and I delight in. We loved holding her on our chests as a baby, but every milestone or new thing she learns, we're right there with her celebrating and encouraging it. We so blessed to be her parents and start every day with her, trying to capture every moment, because she really is growing up so fast!

Piecing it together

Over the weekend, we picked up a couple 25-piece puzzles for Brooklyn. Her pediatrician told us at her two-year-old checkup back in December that it would be terrific and a great way for her to advance in her skills if she were to learn how to put puzzles together.

We let her pick out the two puzzles that she wanted to get. She chose a Five Little Monkeys one and a Winnie the Pooh one. She was more than excited when we got home and opened the boxes the next morning after breakfast. We're sure that she just wasn't too sure what to expect, because when all the puzzle pieces fell out, she had a confused look on her face. With some explaining and guidance for what a puzzle is and how you go about getting one pieced together she started smiling and snapping the pieces in one at a time. Once the first one was done, she had to move onto the second one and that meant tearing the first one apart as fast as she could. She started getting the hang of how to do things a little better once we began the second puzzle, although she still wanted to stick the edge pieces in the middle.

She's learning though, and that's what matters. Some day she'll be able to put puzzles together without anyone's help. Maybe once that happens, we'll have to buy a 1,000-piece puzzle for the whole family to be involved with. It could be fun!

As I was finishing this post, my little prccious daughter walked in the room with a pair of my heels on. Isn't she just so cute!?!

Mmm... Strawberries

We just got home from our weekly grocery store run. While in the produce section, I always let Brooklyn pick out a berry of her choice that looks good to her. This week she choose strawberries. The strawberries were buy one get one free, and as I examined the strawberries through their plastic containers to make sure they all looked fresh, I noticed one that was huge toward the bottom. I showed it to Brooklyn right away and boy was she just so excited. She said, I have that when I go home, and I said absolutely! When we got home, I pulled out that strawberry, washed it and gave it to her whole. It is about the size of a lime! She sat down at the table with her strawberry and began munching on it. Pretty soon, she offered me a bite, and then the strawberry was gone. She told me it was "really yummy."

Now, you have to understand where we have been with Brooklyn and fruit. She has hated it for as long as I can remember. She didn't like the baby food to begin with, so I made her baby food with the help of a baby cookbook and my trusty food processor. I can't tell you how many times I steamed fruit and pureed it only to have her give me a look like yea right Mom! We kept trying though with no luck. She'll eat all the vegetables in the world, in fact they have always been more of a favorite to her than meat, but fruit, no way. It's only within the past six months or so, that she has really decided that fruit would be okay to try. First we started with bananas, and she ate a couple bites every once in a while. We eventually started mixing more and more fruits into the mix. Now, I'm proud to say that she'll eat oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and on occasion, peaches. We're still working on introducing her to all the rest of the fruit world, but this is a huge step for her. She will now ask for a specific fruit by name for a snack.

So, when we came home today and she sat down and pretty much divoured the strawberry, I felt so happy. And, the strawberry did taste pretty good too.

Potty Talk

Lately, Brooklyn has taken a huge interest in her baby doll's potty. An interest to the point of pulling down her pants, taking off her diaper and positioning herself to just sit back on the tiny, tiny seat to take care of business. She always tells us what she plans to do, but after having changed her diaper, we didn't think she'd actually go. We were right. But, this inspired me yesterday to make a lunch-hour run to Target to purchase her very own big girl potty. Initially the thought of getting an actual potty for her to use grossed me out, but it does make some sense. (I still won't be putting it in the kitchen, though!) After perusing the potty aisle at Target, I found one that was simple, yet fun and rewarding as it plays music when she does something in the potty. And, the best part is, you can take the toliet seat and put it on a normal toliet!

I called Kevin right away and told him what I had gotten, and told him not to mention it to her as he would be home before me. When I was on my way home, I got to talk to Brooklyn for a few minutes. I told her I had a surprise for her and she said "oh yeah!" As I walked into the house, I unveiled her surprise, and she helped me take it out of the box. The minute it was ready to use, she rushed and got her pants down, and her diaper went flying. She sat on it for quite a while, telling me she had to "poopy bad." As I sat there with her talking about her day and reading her a book, I realized she was having success. She had done it! She was so proud. As Kevin and I clapped for her, she got all bashful and she had just the biggest smile on her face. She kept sitting down again and again on her new potty. I really think she's going to like it and maybe potty training will be a breeze.