Back in the Game

I have come back to blogging after a year because, well, my memory is not as great as I like to think it is these days. And with the technology available to us today, basically carrying computers/cameras/video recorders in our purses, there is really no excuse for not recording the memories and events that we want to remember in that format. I take pictures on my phone nearly everyday and send them to interested parties (i.e. family) so I have a pretty good record there, but I'm also on my 3rd phone since Brantley was born...
So too much has happened in a year to totally recap, so let's just start here- September 5, 2012.

Brantley

• Attends play school 3 days a week, Mommy & Me on Tuesdays, and dance on Thursdays. 
• She is potty trained as of last Thursday. We have been working on it all summer but had to get serious about panties all the time in August because the class she was going into this fall (Young 3's) does not facilitate diaper changing. School started last Friday...She still wears a pull up at rest time but has been dry for the last 2 days when getting up, so she may be ready for panties there too. But then there's the whole issue of taking off the front side of her crib which I'll give the backstory to at a later post...And of course she still wears an overnight diaper.
• She started dance in August and is LOVING it! I am so proud of her. She does everything the teacher asks and is so confident & outgoing! There are 4 other girls in her class and we know 3 of them from Mommy & Me. It is so precious  and I am constantly amazed at how well she does! Not that I thought she would do badly, but seeing her do so well & genuinely enjoying something new makes my heart swell, and my eyes watery. Looking at her for the entire 45 minutes behind the one-way mirror glass.She attended a dance camp (with the same studio) back in July and came back with the phrases "That's cool", "It'll be so much fun!", and "Y'all"...
• She gave daily recitals in August in old dance costumes of mine that Nana had given to her. Requesting that they be recorded on my phone. I will have to figure out how to get videos posted on here.
• Brantley surprises us daily with the way things come together in her mind and there are so many that I regret I can't remember now. But one of my favorites was on a Saturday after we had been to a dear friend's, named Baby Sam, baptism. After the ceremony we went to a lovely luncheon at Baby Sam's house. The rest of the day went on as every other Saturday does with a nap that afternoon and then Kris being home when they woke up. She told Kris that she wanted to "go somewhere" and he asked her where she wanted to go. She said Target. A favorite date place of theirs. I said "How about Sam's?" (there were a few bulk items we needed). She thought about the day and said she "didn't want to go back to Sam's". We explained that it was Sam's Club and we weren't going back over to their house. Don't misunderstand, she love love loves these friends and we see each other weekly  but she was wanting something for her & her Daddy to do. She was a little put off that Emery & I were along for the ride but after being in Sam's Club for a little while she declared that she liked "Baby Sam's Target". Precious. Then a couple weeks ago she had an old trophy of mine, gold cup style with 2 handles on the sides, that she said looked like "church". Saying it looked like the chalice. She then took the trophy, put it to Emery's mouth, and said "Jesus Christ". She was administering the Eucharist! I was elated!
• She is still a particular eater and doesn't try a lot of new things. I don't push it. She likes fruits, cheese, turkey, rice & beans, wraps, oatmeal, and waffles.She does NOT like eggplant! Telling me one time that "It's not her favorite."
• She has really exploded with her imaginative play! I am constantly charmed to peek in on her playing with all of the ark animals or her baby dolls or random stuffed animals and there's a plot! Her imagination is amazing. And of course she still loves books muuuuuch to her mother's delight!
• She is a rule follower for the most part. And she does want to please those around her.
• She is usually very kind to Emery, trying to console her or trying to include her in things or just trying to make her laugh in general!

Emery

• Mommy & Me is now a shared class. Since the girls are basically the same schedule Emery had to leave her "Just Movin'" class a little early & graduate to the "Toddlers Class". Although, she has been going twice a week for so long now that I think this single class will be a relief to her! We will be there for a loooong time!
• She also goes to school 3 days a week now and is in the Young 2's class. The director asked me if I would mind moving her up early because she did so well with the big kids during the Summer Fun Days and thought she would probably be bored with the babies in the nursery.
• But Emery LOVES babies! You have to physically restrain her from them in public. She gets SO excited when she sees them but she is still not fully in control of herself and sometimes you have to help her "be gentle". One morning in church an older little girl was trying to get to Emery and her mother was being the "restrainer", and the little girl said "I just want to feel how cute she is!" Then the mother whispered "Sometimes she grabs too hard" to me. I just smiled.
• She is a very confident, some may say fearless, child. She meets NO stranger. Loud noises do not bother her in the least. The only thing that we have seen to cause her a moment's pause is thunder. She's not scared of it, it just stops her and she says "eeeerrrrr".
• Her vocabulary is growing daily and she's already putting words together- "Bye bye, Dada" "Dada work".
• She calls Brantley "Mimi". Brantley calls her "Sissy" or "My Sissy".
• She loves music and responds to it like nothing else. She has her own baby dances that she does and will go to the stereo in the play room and ask for "Song". She says "Yaaaaay!" after songs on the radio or cd in the car.
• Still doesn't care much for books. The only books she will sit through, unless she is dead tired, are Baby's House and Is Your Mama a Lama?
• She has "the balance of a gazelle" as Uncle Briggs says. She can walk in anything- high heels of any height, a swim ring, tip toes, whatever. But she also LOVES shoes! My shoes, her shoes, Kris's shoes, Brantley's shoes, any shoe. Anywhere. Anytime.
• She is still a voracious eater. She will try anything you put in front of her. If she likes it, she will eat it until it's gone. This pleases my father to no end.
• And she is still as great sleeper as she was from day one.

Mommy

• Drives.

Daddy

• Works.
• And did recently have a Happy Birthday! Complete with being greeted at the door after work by his favorite little ladies bearing balloons, then on to all of the closet organizational accessories of his dreams (I will add that he did also get a nice shirt to go in his closet), followed by a dinner of stuffed pork chops, cheesy mashed potatoes & green beans, topped off with a cookie cake. He said to Brantley, "Oh, they put my name on it!" she said "No. They squeezed your name on there".