Something New

I'm a big fan of Craig's List. I started looking for a toddler bed about a month or so ago, just seeing what was out there and what people wanted for them. This past week I found one that proved to be a good deal. So Bree & I went on Friday night to pick it up. The woman had a little boy who wouldn't sleep in this, so he went straight to a twin bed. So to say that this is "lightly used" wouldn't be an exaggeration.



This matches the finish & coloring of the changing table, so it was a good fit. Bree seemed to think that it was just another toy for her to play with/on at first. She was a bit confused when I took her crib apart.


Bree is okay with taking naps in the bed. But she hasn't yet been successful at falling asleep in the bed. And there's only so long that I can let her cry, so for now she's still sleeping with Mommy in the big bed. Aside from the kicking, it's not bad, but I'm hoping that she'll get used to her new bed soon.

Her hair is actually growing, and it's starting to curl a little bit. Can't wait until we have something to comb!

And in true toddler fashion, she loses interest in the bed very quickly and turns her attention to other more, important things. Like her belly button.

In other news, it's Kelly: 4, Mice: 0. And while I would never again buy glue traps to catch mice, they are very effective. Oh, and if you count the mouse that drowned itself in our a/c condensation bucket, that brings the total rodent count to 5. But I can't take credit for that one - he did it to himself and that was way back in July. So far, that's the only one that Bree has seen, and that's the way it should be. She did, however, give him a proper send off, waving and screaming "BYE!" as I disposed of it.

I'm hoping that's the end of our unwanted guests. But I've got one glue trap remaining, so we'll see if anything gets stuck in there.

Okay, someone is throwing a tantrum so I need to go. I'm going to let her run around at the mall play area for a while. God help the other people there!

In Home Shopping Experience

One of my friends was gracious enough to gift Bree with some toys that her children had outgrown - thanks, Wendy! One of the items was a shopping cart. Bree LOVES this shopping cart. In fact, I don't think that anyone could possibly understand how much she loves this unless you saw it in person.

She pushes this cart all over the house, in the bathroom, through the kitchen, around the living room table - everywhere.


Tonight I looked in the shopping cart to see what she was carrying. Usually it's her babies, or Elmo. But surprisingly, she had some interesting articles in the shopping cart:

That's her daddy's electric beard trimmer on the left, her pacifier in the middle, a fork and spoon set that I haven't yet detached from each other, a styrofoam packing peanut, a soft ball, books, and the ridiculous measuring toy that Burger King passes out in their kids' meals. (It measures things in centimeters. I'm not sure how this is supposed to be a "toy" for kids.) (It's the pink thing that looks like a whistle.)

I am not sure how she got her daddy's beard trimmer in there. But she climbs like a monkey now, and no surface is safe. It used to be that there was a certain height above which I could put things where she wouldn't reach them. Those days are long gone. Now she can stand on the toilet herself, and apparently she can reach the bottom shelf of where we keep things in the bathroom. Fun!

I have since put the beard trimmer up one shelf higher. I'm not sure that she's noticed that it's no longer in the shopping cart. Maybe I can put something else in there to distract her. She enjoys playing with the basting brush - maybe I throw that in there and let her push that around the house with the rest of the collection.

Klepto-what? I'm just playing, Mama!

As she runs off, giggling. Running around discovering what else she can put in her cart!

Vacation!

Bree and I are in vacation in Michigan. Rumor has it that my 20 year high school reunion is coming up on the 23rd, but really, I'm not that old. But I'm playing along and I'll show up - I'm sure it's not going to be MY classmates. Because 1988 can't possibly be 20 years ago.

In fact, I'm sure that I just saw pegged jeans and leggings on display at the local Express. That's EXACTLY what they were wearing in 1988! So really, I'm almost positive that 20 years hasn't passed.

In any event, we're having a great time in Michigan. The Pickle Festival was going on last weekend when we arrived. It's gotten much much smaller since I lived here, and they didn't have any rides for kids anymore. Well, they didn't have rides, period. Only the beer tent (of course!) the bingo tent (naturally), the food tent and the ball tournament.

Bree is enjoying her time at Grandma & Papa's house. They bought Bree a lot of fun toys to play with while she's here. I think we get to take some of them back with us, but some of them will stay here.


Bree is still getting the hang of coloring. Not only does she eat the crayons (still!) but if she has a pencil, she'll chew off the eraser. I think we just need to wait until she's done teething before she'll stop. At least, I hope. Her last two teeth are coming in - the bottom incisors.

Not only does Bree like to balance things on her head, she likes to balance things on Elmo's head. Tickle Me Elmo, to be exact. She's fascinated by this Elmo who laughs and laughs, falls down on the ground and can get back up, laughing the whole time. In this picture, she's balancing a roll of tape on Elmo's head. Oh, and that's just water on her shirt. It looks like she had a rough day, when in fact she just had a very busy day.

We met my brother at The Olive Garden for lunch today. They were so kind to give us crayons (picture me rolling my eyes) and Bree had them as her appetizer. Oh, and she's also taken to sticking them up her nose. I guess it's because she can?

After lunch we went to the mall where we found some rides for Bree. It was a bit crowded in the safari jeep, what with the lion cub in the front seat, and a monkey and a hippo in the back. Bree prefers to drive solo, apparently, because she wanted OFF this ride as soon as it started.

All in all we're having a great time. Bree has made friends with all the neighborhood dogs: Diesel, Daisy, Maya and Lexus. She'll bark at them, pet them, then give them a tug on their tails. She's having fun!

We head back home on Sunday, I hope to get an early start. If I get a chance, I'll post photos from a barbeque that we're going to tomorrow night.

Toddler Stuff

It's hard to believe, but Bree is 19 months already. Only 5 months away from her 2nd birthday! She's full into the toddler stage, with having to do everything herself, and of course, not listening to anything that her mommy says.


We have to watch Elmo every day. Every. Single. Day. She'd watch her Elmo video nonstop if I'd let her. In fact, I think that for my sake I'm going to try to find a new Elmo video. Elmo's Adventure in Grouchland is fun, I'll give it that, but after seeing & hearing it for the thousandth time, I'm ready for something new. And if you've not seen this cinematic masterpiece, I'll tell you that you're missing Mandy Pantankin in his most dramatic role yet. And Vanessa Williams as the Queen of Trash is not to be missed! Bree doesn't yet appreciate their acting abilities, all she wants to see is Elmo singing & dancing. Hey, who doesn't?

We're trying again with coloring, since she does so well at it at daycare. I asked Jenna how she got Bree to actually color and not eat the crayons, she said, "well, I give her the pacifier if she starts eating the crayons." Brilliant! Why didn't I think of that?

Bree is starting to really adjust to the new daycare setting. Although she had some band aids on her arms when I picked her up earlier this week. I asked what happened, and Jenna told me that the dog will allow the kids to hold onto her tail and she'll drag them across the floor. But Bree tried it with the cat. Kitty cat did NOT like that, and scratched Bree.

Our neighbors on one side of us just moved out a few days ago. They had a son who was about six months younger than Bree - I was hoping that they would stay becuase Bree & Austin were just getting to the stage where they'd play together outside if we were all out there in the yard. They were good neighbors. The new person moving in is the son of the owners of the house, and he gets released from prison in September, and will be moving in as soon as he's released. Fun! Our neighbor Chris, who just moved out, is a policeman, so I asked if he knew what the guy was in for - and he said it was for domestic violence. Greeeaaat. But hey, it could have been a lot worse, so I hope that he turns out to be a good neighbor.

Maybe you've noticed that Bree is getting a bit more hair? Very exciting times. Oh, and I learned that even if the pacifier is in the mouth, you still have to pay attention, becuase the next thing I knew, she had eaten the red crayon. We'll try again later with the crayons . . . . .