Four

It took me a while to figure out why Bree was asking for certain things. Like, I'd ask her how many eggs she'd want for breakfast - usually either one or two. Her answer: "Four."

In the grocery store, Bree threw a fit if we didn't go to register number 4. So then I realized that she is making the connection that she's four years old. She's asked me if I've already been four - to which I say "yes." That lead to the question of how old I am. Fortunately for me, she misunderstood me when I told her my age, so now she says, "Mommy, you're fourteen!" So I just say, "Yeah! I am!"

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Between the months of October and March, it seemed like my car was in and out of the shop on a regular basis. The bad thing about driving a car that is no longer made is that they no longer make parts for it either. I needed a part in October that had been on back order for more than a few months already, and by the time my car couldn't go faster than 45 mph, the part still wasn't available. Thank goodness for creative mechanics and modified after market parts. Then there's the issue that there's not a whole lot of people who can fix my car anymore. I actually got a call from one dealer that they couldn't figure out what was wrong with my car, so they suggested I take it to another dealer in the area. First time I'd ever have that happen.

When my car was finally finished we planned a quick trip to Michigan to spend a week with my family. We had a great time. Bree did great in the car for the trip. Bree loves spending time with Grandma, Papa, Uncle Shaun & Uncle Pam. Yeah, I tried to get her to say Aunt Pam, but for some reason, it comes easier for Bree to call her Uncle Pam. Good thing Uncle Pam doesn't mind! :)

Bree is also more aware of friends. They're no longer just other kids to hang out with every once in a while. It's gotten to the point where she will ask if certain friends can come over. Given the usual state of our house (i.e. wrecked by Hurricane Bree) there are few people who I am comfortable with having over. Miss Andi and Sophie are two of those people, so we've had them over to play board games and play outside. The picture below was taken on a beautiful day in March, I think. Definitely earlier this year. Can you believe that Sophie is a year younger than Bree?

Bree loves to pick flowers. From anyone's yard, any type of flowering plant. She especially likes dandelions, as evidenced by the flowers in her hair.

Spring meant that we were closer than ever to the opening day for Busch Gardens. In fact, members pass preview day was in mid-March, and while it was cool, it was a beautiful sunny day. Bree got a face painting - she wanted a princess crown (of course!) on her forehead.

It's harder and harder to take Bree's picture these days, because she poses for them. And by "posing" I mean not smiling and she gets this look on her face that I'm sure she feels is very beautiful, but it comes across as being completely disinterested, and a bit bershon. Here is the link to the Urban Dictionary's definition of bershon: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bershon

I'm sure you'll agree that Bree understands the concept very well. I might have to do a separate blog post on a collection of bershon pictures.

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Bree got caught sticking her tongue out at me. I threatened to tell her Daddy that she was doing it, and she quickly said, "No, Mama, I'm just scratching my tongue with my teeth!" Uh huh. I had to give her points for creativity.

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Bree locked me out of the house one night. We had gone through a drive-thru for dinner, so my first trip inside was to let the dog out and to get Bree set up with her food so she could eat and then get in the bath. I made a second trip outside to get my laptop, my purse & the mail. When I walked back up the steps, I found that Bree had locked the door on me. Remembering that I had only pulled the screen door across the back patio door, I walked around to the back and let myself in.

As I walked in, I saw Bree at the front door, standing on her chair in front of the door, giggling. I said, "Get in your room and put your pyjamas on. You're going to bed." She wailed and cried and begged to stay up. I was adamant that she be punished. I asked her why in the world she did it, and she said, "I thought it would be funny." At some point during her wailing I asked her, "so, do you still think it was funny?" To which she wailed, "Yeeessss!" Point to Bree.

Every 20 minutes or so she'd yell out, "Can I come out now?" And I'd say, "No, you're being punished." Bree would reply, "But I'm really sorry." I would say, "Thank you, and I hope you never do that again." Bree: "So can I come out?" Me: "NO!"

It was a long night.

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We continue with swimming lessons, although we've changed from going once a week for 8 weeks to going twice a week for 4 weeks. Going on a weeknight makes for a long day - thankfully Sly has awesome bladder control! The last swim instructor admitted to me that he didn't like teaching kids Bree's age, which explained A LOT. Now that it's confirmed, I feel comfortable saying that he out and out favored one child and did not seem to like Bree at all. So we switched to a lesson time that I knew he would not teach. We have a much better instructor this time around, but there are also 6 kids in the class. In a 30 minute time frame, that means Bree only gets an average of 5 minutes of one-on-one time with the instructor. Not sure how much she'll advance with swimming, but the interaction with the other kids and having to wait her turn are good lessons to learn anyway. We've completed two weeks of this session and we have two more to go.

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And that's about it for this blog post. :)