Brynlee- summer 2013

 

I was hoping that Brynlee would be interested in potty training this summer.  She was 2 1/2 in May so I thought that was a pretty good age to start.  Well, she was having none of it.  One day I thought maybe if we took her out of the crib and into a big girl bed, she would think of herself as a big girl and want to go on the potty.  It didn't work at all.  But after all that work of taking down the crib and storing it at my moms house and getting the toddler bed out of storage and cleaning it, we weren't going back.  Even though we wanted to.  Often.  Probably every night.

Why?  Because for the first month or 2 she would get out of the bed and end up on the floor.  Then she would wake up in the night at least once, sometimes 2 or 3 times and cry until we came and put her back in her bed.  I don't know why she would wake up and cry- if she was cold, uncomfortable, whatever.  But it was annoying.  It is the end of October now that I am writing this and she still wakes up a few times a week crying in the night.  At least it's not 2-3 times a night anymore.  But lately her thing is to turn the lamp on after we have read books and sang songs and turned the lights out.  The she plays in there (in her playhouse, looks at books, puts on dress up clothes, makes a mess, etc.) for sometimes 2-3 hours.  So then she was going to bed super late every night.

 

Here is an example of a crazy night with Brynlee:

John put her to bed around 8 pm.  She turned on her lamp and played for a while.  John went in to turn the lamp off and tell her to go to sleep, but she was asleep in the playhouse.  So he left her there.  She was crying at 2:30 the next morning (she was on the floor next to her bed) so I went in to put her back in bed.  She says "Will you sing me a song?"  Even though that wakes me up more and makes it harder to go back to sleep, it's such a cute request I can never say no.  So I sing her 1 verse of a song.  Then she asks for water.  I hand her the sippy cup.  She says, "Can I please have more water?"  Again, how can I say no?  So I go in the bathroom to get more water, hitting my shoulder and elbow on the door frame then stepping in a pool of water (from the bathtub) and soaking my sock.  After all that, she quiets down and goes back to sleep.  At least for a few hours.

At 6 AM, she is knocking on the door "Come in!"  "Come in!"  This is what she says when she wants to be let out.   It's obviously way too early to get up, so John goes in there.  She had the light on again and was wearing her church shoes.  She thought it was time to start the day.  Somehow John got her to go back to sleep. 

Then, guess what time she woke up that morning?  She did not wake up until 11:30 AM!  She had been in her room (sleeping off and on) from 8 PM to 11:30 the next morning.  It was kind of nice, but of course I always worry that she is not breathing.

At 11:30, she started saying "Come in!" again, so I went to her room.  She had taken off her pajama pants, unbuttoned her pajama top, put on her dress up skirt and church shoes (pictured below).  She looked rediculous and I could not stop laughing!  She thought it was pretty funny too.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

I found this Minnie Mouse paint set for cheap and thought Brynlee would like it.  She looooved it!  She loves painting.  And it kept her entertained for a little while, which is always helpful. 

Perhaps I am naive, but I thought for a 2 1/2 year old this was an amazing job of staying in the lines.  She did that without any help or guidance.

 

 

 

 July 2013 was the month of monsoon rains.  We love it so much because it's nice to be cooled off in the summer.  The rains pour down like buckets for a few minutes, then stop.  Unfortunately for some people this causes flooding in the basements and lots of damage.  John helped a family in our ward clean up their flooded basement.  But thankfully it doesn't affect us and we looove to sit in the garage and watch the rain and listen to the thunder.  When it is just sprinkling we like to sit in it (pictured above).

 

Brynlee was really starting to get into taking care of her baby dolls.  She saw the bottle at my moms house and insisted on taking it home to feed her babies.  I played with that bottle when I was little.  It is sooo cute to watch her holding her babies, reading stories to them, putting them to bed, telling us to be quiet because they are sleeping, etc.