My almost 3 year old.

This girl, I tell ya. She is a riot.

inside the dr office waiting room

I am so proud to be her mama. She is now at the age where she loves to tell me everything, and even explain how things work. It gets a bit complicated and awkward when her sentences in public start off with, "Well, my mama says..." I never know what she is going to say. Granted, I try to sensor what I say around her just in case that it might come back and bite me in the butt, but she hears and remembers just about everything I say. But every now and then I do say, freaking, sucks, hate, idiot, etc. Isn't that any parent though? I don't think I'm the only one out there!

One of my favorite times with Brinley is when we are driving places. She recognizes where we are, loves to know the names of the streets, wants to know who is singing on the radio/cd, loves to point out people, and dogs, and just about anything to spark a conversation with me :-) 

her hair is STILL ridiculous. This was taken a few months ago, and it much longer now! Those curls are amazing!

I still can't believe I have a potty trained toddler! She still sleeps in a diaper at night, but other than that, we've rarely had a problem or accidents since the second week we started potty training back in June. I am just amazed she took to it so quickly. She has made it to the "mommy I need to go pee pee" stage but not that I can get up on the potty by myself and know how to properly clean myself stage. So I am still there with her 100% of the time in the process, but I am just glad my asking if she needs to go has drastically settled down.

my little buddy!

We are only 2 months away from her 3rd birthday and she is still taking a 2 hour nap each afternoon from 1pm-3pm. We go so hard during the mornings that she looks forward to her nap time. She is so precious when she sleeps! Ah! It just recharges my Mama Spirit when I see her so tender. We are still having her sleep in a crib right now. She hasn't outgrown it, yet! I think we are going to try and move her to a bed soon, but I'm in NO rush because I really want her to still nap when the baby comes. She has quite the entourage of stuffed animals that MUST be in her crib at all times.
The line up: Apache-dalmation dog, Bugzie Lamby-the lamb with big eyes, Love Puppy-the dog with a red heart on his body, Zoe-the mini dog Grandma-Great Steele got her at the beach, Purple elephant-a purple elephant Grandma-Great Steele got her awhile back, Prayer Lamby-a cream lamb that is kneeling and praying, Baby Jaguar-a multi colored jaguar looking thing, and Pillow Pet-a small ladybug pillow pet Grandma Briggs got her. I think that is it! And I'm NOT kidding!! If one is missing, she KNOWS!

sleeeepy head

post nap grump still twirling that hair! 

I must say, having a toddler who can tell me what hurts, or how she hurt it, or if she was picked on in nursery, or what she exactly wants for lunch, or if she's tired or hungry, it is pretty sweet. We were driving in the car the other day and she just spoke up and said, "Mom, sometimes ____ and _____ are not very nice in nursery." I kind of could guess why, but it was the first moment where she told me something that had been obviously bothering her, but hadn't mentioned anything until then. I asked her if they hit her or made her cry, but she just said they are loud and crazy. I told her that if they ever hit her, she needed to tell the nursery leader about it. At the same time, I was so glad she told me about it, but then it just stressed me out that this is just the beginning of her handling her own situations and problems when I'm not around. I wish I could be there with her all the time to protect her or be a fly on the wall, but that just isn't possible, and won't ever let her grow.

before Church. Love her cheesy smiles! 

We have been loving out weekly trips to the library. She loves picking out new books and reading them over and over again when we get home. After we pick out some books, we have the Baby Song Time for 30 minutes. The people (well I guess mama) watching is always at an all-time high and Brinley is getting more and more confident going up to the front and dancing with her friends.

the library bag I sewed for Brinley but it is a BIT too small. I've only been picking out library books that will actually FIT inside. I just need to sew her a bigger bag! 

She LOVES talking about her baby sister and including her in everything. She prays for her and loves to give her kisses all the time. She often tells me with a scrunchy face, "Mama, your belly is getting really big." Umm, thank you? I really hope she loves her baby sister in the flesh and not just imagining that she will love her!

smooches for baby sissy

Brinley's imagination has completely taken off in the past few months. She loves to pretend she is a doctor, or a mommy, or a baby, or an animal, or basically anything she watches in a show, she loves to play along. I always have to make sure she is pretending when she wants me to play doctor because she will complain about lots of hurt things and I just want her to know that if she really IS sick, she needs to tell me, and it is good to distinguish between pretend and real. It is also nice that if she wants something filled with water, I usually say, "Brin, just pretend there is water in there!" Most times, she goes along with it :-)

wearing a 12 month duck Halloween costume. Silly girl! It still sorta fit her!  

Pretending to sleep :-)

I also love that she loves to play by herself and keep herself busy when I'm cleaning or just lounging on the couch. When I took the picture below, she was having a full on conversation between all her animals, using different voices, and she had a whole story line down. I couldn't believe it. It made me laugh SO hard.

always wanting to snack on that popcorn!

reading her new favorite book from Miss Greta! 

Finally, this girl and her daddy. She loves him sooooo much. When we take him to work/school in the mornings, she always needs a kiss from him when he gets out of the car, and then when he is walking towards the building, she wants one last wave. So I roll the window down, and she waves, he waves, and then we head back home. She is a girl of routines let me tell you!! When he gets home from work, she cannot stop talking! Those two! She has to tell him everything from her day, show him her toys, cuddle, play pretend, and if Ryan even THINKS about talking to ME, she starts saying "No Daddy!!! Talk to meeee!!!" I mean, can you blame her? He's the coolest guy I know, too! So after we put Brinley to bed, that is when we usually have our adult conversations about both our days and discuss life.

I sure love this girl, and I am so grateful she is my first born. She is so special to me and it just amazes me how big she is getting. She is changing all the time and constantly learning new things. I hope she is learning some life lessons of making friends, and being nice to others too along with all that we talk about and discuss. She loves her friends and talks about them nonstop. I am so happy that she transitioned so well into a new group of friends!