Bree & The Birthday Card(s)

Birthday cards are an endless source of entertainment for Bree - especially those that play music or "talk." This started with a card that Leslie sent me last year that played "Pretty Woman." Bree will eventually destroy the card in her excitement to figure out where in the heck the people ARE and how did they get in the card?

This year, Bree made short work of a musical/talking card sent by Marilyn. I got one today from Kathy, and I made sure that I got it on video before Bree destroys it. So far, she's content to dance with it, but it is inevitable that she'll tear it apart. She can't help herself -her curiosity gets the better of her.

The music is "These Boots Were Made for Walking" - and it cracks me up when it gets to the part where Nancy Sinatra says, "Are you ready boots?" because Bree says "YEAH!" in response. Every. Single. Time.

Enjoy. :)

Pictures from the Park

Forgive the lack of commentary - I didn't feel that any was needed! :)

Amusement Park Adventure, Take 2

Saturday was a gorgeous day here, so I decided to suck it up and try Busch Gardens again. We've been working on appropriate "Elmopark" behavior - because Bree asks every day if she can go to Elmopark. I told her yesterday was the day, and if she wanted to have a great day at Elmopark, she had to listen to Mommy and not run away from me.

We had a great time. A few ungraceful moments, but overall, Bree did great. We lasted FIVE HOURS at the park yesterday. A rousing success by my standards. Also, she wasn't screaming the whole way out of the park, which was a huge plus for me.

I think it helped that Bree wore her swimsuit under her clothes as "proof" that she would be playing in water at some point during the day. It also helped that I started away from Elmo/Sesame Street Forest because it was so obvious that there was plenty of fun to be had in the park.

The ladybug chase was the first ride that Bree has ever been on by herself. When we went before, I had to ride with her on the (two) rides that we went on. And I wish that I could have videotaped the expression on her face when Bree realized that there was movement on this ride - she was so very excited. So excited, in fact, that she rode this ride FIVE TIMES in a row. She would not get off. Well, I take that back, she got off once to trade the yellow ladybug model for the red ladybug model.

One thing that I thought was really funny was that Bree chose the backseat of every ride that she went on. The other kids? Headed right for the front seat. Bree took the back seat every time. I suspect she's going to want a chauffer when she turns 16, not just a car. Or, this is the start of a very long career as a backseat driver.

Right next to the ladybug ride was a boat ride. Bree rode this one FIVE TIMES as well. The ladies there thought she was so cute, though, so they didn't mind. There was even one time where Bree was the only child on the ride. She loved every minute of it.

Okay, there's not much difference between the two photos of her on the boat ride - one is a little further back than the other. I can't tell if this was a separate turn or what. But she loved this ride.

Oh! And I have just found a picture of Bree in the red ladybug, and she is in the front seat! What a surprise! it must have been why I took some more pictures of her on that ride. (I have about 50 pictures, for the record.)

I didn't take any pictures of her at the water play area at Sesame Street Forest because there were about a million kids there with their parents, and it took every ouce of attention to keep my eye on Bree. I let her play for as long as she wanted, and she lasted 45 minutes. The end came when she was shivering so badly that she could barely walk over to me. It was very easy for me to pick her up, dry her off, take her to the bathroom and put her clothes back on.

We took another train ride (our 2nd for the day) all around the park, and then left the park. Bree was asleep before we were even out of the parking lot. It was a wonderful time.

So good, in fact, that I'm contemplating going again tomorrow. We'll see. It's a great way to spend the day outside wearing out a very active 2 year old.

The Story of the Tummy Bear

Bree has been asking me for the Tummy Bear, at least that's what I thought she was asking me for. I had no idea what that was. I finally remembered to ask Miss Jenna if there was something at day care that they played with called the Tummy Bear.


Tuns out that it's actually called GummyBear, and it's a YouTube video. She said, "just put in GummyBear and it will come up for you." What she didn't mention was that this video is available in English, French, Spanish, German and Slovak, and Bree wanted to watch them ALL. (Of course, right?)

I'm not sure if I'm just late to the party with this video or not, but it's actually quite cute. Naturally, after the 1,000th time it does become a tad annoying, but Bree loves this little green gummy bear.

There's a part where the gummy bear is bouncing up & down in a car, and Bree ylls "BOING! BOING! BOING!" Then there's a part where the gummy bear is in a cowboy hat and Bree yells, "YEEHAW! YEEHAW!"

But you can see for yourself, I shot a video of her jumping up & down and screaming to the video. There's a part at the end where she just stops, and I think that she's going to say something really insightful and clever, and well, you can see for yourself what she does. :)

Mommy As Horsey

So Bree likes to play Horsey. Normally, she'll start this after her dinner, but while I'm only halfway through mine. To say that this annoys me is an understatement.

But oh I wish these photos conveyed just how much Bree LOVES this when I hop/skip/jump around the house as the Horsey. Bree just laughs and laughs these big belly laughs.

On our trek through the house we stop at all the mirrors so that Bree can wave at the little girl in the mirror.

Tonight I decided to try to take some pictures of her. They didn't turn out so bad, but the lighting wasn't the best.

This weekend we had a slightly better weekend when venturing out in public. We did have a little episode at the Rite Aid where she almost got busted for shoplifting (picture Bree running for the door with toys in her hands, with a total disregard to me asking her to stop.) We're diligently working on listening skills, obviously with sloooooow progress . . . .

On Mother's Day we went to the zoo with Miss Marilyn, who came down to spend the day with us. Bree listened better on Sunday. And ironically, of ALL the animals at the zoo, the ones that got her the most excited? GEESE. Picture us "Bree, look at the elephant!" and Bree: "Mama! GEEEEESSSSE!" and my favorite: "Mari, c'mon! c'mon! GEEEESSSSE!"

Lord help me when she actually gains more weight! Having a 22 pounder crawl all over me is bad enough - I have NO IDEA what I'm going to do when she's 30 pounds. Then again, she'll probably be six by the time that happens, and then she'll undoubtedly want to do other things than climb on her mommy. :)

To Uncle Shaun & Pam

Dear Uncle Shaun & Pam,

remember when you gave me these really cool awesome sun dresses? It was a looooong time ago.

I am FINALLY big enough to wear them! Yay! (Mommy shakes her head and says that only I can wear a 12-18 month sundress at 28 months old!)

It was really hot on Saturday here, so I got to wear my pretty sun dress. I love it because it has bananas, watermelons, pears and oranges on it. I can name them all, but I do have some trouble with saying "watermelon."

My new Dora sunglasses go great with my pretty pink dress. It was really hard for me to sit still on the front steps. But I did it because Mommy said that we were taking these pictures for you.

You see those sandals? My Mommy couldn't find one of them for a WHOLE WEEK but I knew where it was because I put it under my chair. I like to hide things. Mommy says that she's going to keep better track of my sandals from now on. I say, "let her try!"

If you could see my legs I'd show you all my boo boos. I have a lot and I like to show them to people. I also have a boo boo on my elbow, but sometimes I can't remember which elbow has the boo boo, but I'll show you both of them anyway.

Thank you again for the dresses. I'm happy that I can finally wear them! :)

Love,

Bree

Goofing Off

We were goofing around tonight and I got some really great pictures of Bree!

This is the BEST picture I have ever taken of Bree. Look at that smile!

We were playing on the couch and goofing around.

Look at how she's coming at me! She was totally going to bite my nose off. Little cannibal!

I cut my own head off - the things I do to get a good shot of Bree . . . . :)

A goofy self-portrait!

It was hard to have my arm out to the side and get Bree in the center of the picture. Needless to say, I took a LOT of photos and was lucky to get this crop. :)

Whoa - that's not a forehead, that's a FIVEhead! (Ba dum dum!)

This is Bree's "cheese" face. See how she squints her eyes when she says "cheese!"

I was getting a sweet kiss from my sweet girl.



Aw, I cut off the top of her head in this shot - it could have been another great picture! There's always next time!

More From Our 90 Minute Park Adventure

Look out! My mood is changing rapidly!

I'm not sure if I want to be happy.



Oh, okay! I'm happy! Kind of.



Don't let my Dora sunglasses fool you. I don't have a rosy view of life right now!




Don't! Wanna! Leave! Want! More! Elmo!

Bree @ Sesame Forest

This is Bree running around Sesame Forest @ Busch Gardens. She was having a blast.

Our First Amusement Park Experience

So Busch Gardens is not that far away from where we live, and we can buy a "fun pass" for the same price as a single day pass and have access to the park all summer. This year they have a new feature, Sesame Forest, featuring the always beloved Elmo! So I decided to give it a go.

It turns out that Bree is actually too small to ride one of the kiddie rides. What a kick in the pants, huh? They have a roller coaster (a 30 second ride, actually) for kids, but you have to be 38 inches tall to ride it. Bree is about 6 inches too short. But there were other rides that she could go on. We went on a Wiggly Worm Ride and a wate ride. Bree loved them both.

But the big hit was obviously the water play are in front of Elmo's castle. I was unprepared for this and yes, I was the sucker to buy a licensed character bathing suit AT the amusement park. Gah. Anyway, Bree LOVED LVOED LOVED this. She ran, non-stop, for about a half hour. The only reason she stopped was because they turned off the water for a show featuring Elmo and his friends.

Bree did not want to stop, despite the fact that she shivering and yawning. Good grief. This girl is like the energizer bunny multiplied by 1,000. Bree also doesn't listen very well - especially when she doesn't want to.

Bree has become that kid - you know the one - the one who screams so loudly and throws the biggest tantrum, and you wonder, "why can't her mother control her?" This is a combination of two factors: 1). she's 2; and 2). she has a temper. Of course, 2 year olds want what they want, when they want it, and anything less is unacceptable. Add a temper and stubborness to the mix and you get BREE.

At the mall yesterday, I had to pick up some shoes that were being re-soled. After, I thought we'd get lunch at the food court. Bree had other ideas. She was screaming so lound and throwing the most obnoxious tantrum, that I actually had people coming up to me to ask me if I needed help. I had to take the food back to the vendor and have them box it up so I could take it with me. It's actually the first time that I've been embarrassed by Bree in public. But again, she's 2.

Today, Bree didn't want to get changed and go get lunch. That's it. We weren't going to leave the park, I was going to feed her french fries and ice cream - but she wasn't having any of it. Then she started to run away from me. So, we left. And she screamed all the way through the park, all the way to the car, and all the way home.

Our total time at the park? 90 minutes. Maybe we'll do better next time. I think that having Scott there would have helped tremendously. He's more patient with Bree, and she responds better to him. She'll listen to her daddy. :)

Okay, this last picture is more proof that I take terrible pictures of Bree. I caught her while running with her mouth open. It's just a goofy picture.